A review by angelicasreads
Paper Hearts by Ali Novak
3.0
Real Rating: 2.5
Ok, so admittedly, I went into this book without having read its predecessor, [b:The Heartbreakers|28078635|The Heartbreakers|Ali Novak|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1459115097s/28078635.jpg|42072803]. So, as you can imagine, I did not know who the Heartbreakers were or what had happened before Felicity showed up. But, since this is more of a companion novel, or so I’ve been told, I don’t think it had anything to do with my enjoyment of the novel. That said, all of my opinions come from reading this book alone.
Now, to the review.
I recently read a book, [b:Songs About a Girl|25336218|Songs About a Girl (Songs About a Girl, #1)|Chris Russell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1461937792s/25336218.jpg|45072669], by Chris Russell, a book with the same basic premise as this one. It’s about a young high school girl who one days meets and befriends the members of a boy band and as you can guess, much drama follows and she falls in love. Sadly, I didn’t like that novel very much. I was bored out of my mind, it dragged, and it was almost 500 pages. Basically, I didn’t have a good time reading it.
Ok, so admittedly, I went into this book without having read its predecessor, The Heartbreakers. So, as you can imagine, I did not know who the Heartbreakers were or what had happened before Felicity showed up. But, since this is more of a companion novel, or so I’ve been told, I don’t think it had anything to do with my enjoyment of the novel. That said, all of my opinions come from reading this book alone.
Now, to the review.
I recently read a book, Songs About a Girl, by Chris Russell, a book with the same basic premise as this one. It’s about a young high school girl who one day meets and befriends the members of a boy band and as you can guess, much drama follows and she falls in love. Sadly, I didn’t like that novel very much. I was bored out of my mind, it dragged, and it was almost 500 pages. Basically, I didn’t have a good time reading it.
This book, thank goodness, was better than that. For starters, I enjoyed it more and was less prone to skimming through the latter half. That said, I wasn’t too much a fan of it either.
My main problem with this novel is that it uses a lot of the common tropes we see in YA contemporaries. And the thing about tropes and cliches and all those terrible things is that I don’t always hate them. When they are handled by an expert writer, someone whose work completely engages you, I will completely overlook them. Sadly, this was not one of those cases.
One of those tropes here, one of my least favorites, was the lack communication. Why is talking so hard? Why can we not live in a world where people can just tell each other what they think and how they feel. Had Felicity and Alec spent some time having a couple of conversations, I do not doubt that a lot of things could have been resolved.
Another issue I had was that the romance didn’t feel real. It was a bit too forced. A bit too cliche. A bit too insta-love. I just wasn’t buying it. Is one road trip all it takes to fall in love? I clearly need to be taking more road trips because authors seem to think that they are the ultimate match makers. And again, these cliches are some that I constantly over look when done well, but I really wasn’t feeling them all that much here.
Still, I must admit that despite the issues I had, I was entertained. It was a quick read and I had a fairly good time reading it. I do think that I would have liked it more if I’d read it back when I was 15 when I was fairly new to YA and its slew of cliches. Sadly, I’m now 20 and have read too many YA novels to count, many of which were better done than this one. I like it, I guess, but I really wish I would have loved it.
**I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**
Ok, so admittedly, I went into this book without having read its predecessor, [b:The Heartbreakers|28078635|The Heartbreakers|Ali Novak|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1459115097s/28078635.jpg|42072803]. So, as you can imagine, I did not know who the Heartbreakers were or what had happened before Felicity showed up. But, since this is more of a companion novel, or so I’ve been told, I don’t think it had anything to do with my enjoyment of the novel. That said, all of my opinions come from reading this book alone.
Now, to the review.
I recently read a book, [b:Songs About a Girl|25336218|Songs About a Girl (Songs About a Girl, #1)|Chris Russell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1461937792s/25336218.jpg|45072669], by Chris Russell, a book with the same basic premise as this one. It’s about a young high school girl who one days meets and befriends the members of a boy band and as you can guess, much drama follows and she falls in love. Sadly, I didn’t like that novel very much. I was bored out of my mind, it dragged, and it was almost 500 pages. Basically, I didn’t have a good time reading it.
Ok, so admittedly, I went into this book without having read its predecessor, The Heartbreakers. So, as you can imagine, I did not know who the Heartbreakers were or what had happened before Felicity showed up. But, since this is more of a companion novel, or so I’ve been told, I don’t think it had anything to do with my enjoyment of the novel. That said, all of my opinions come from reading this book alone.
Now, to the review.
I recently read a book, Songs About a Girl, by Chris Russell, a book with the same basic premise as this one. It’s about a young high school girl who one day meets and befriends the members of a boy band and as you can guess, much drama follows and she falls in love. Sadly, I didn’t like that novel very much. I was bored out of my mind, it dragged, and it was almost 500 pages. Basically, I didn’t have a good time reading it.
This book, thank goodness, was better than that. For starters, I enjoyed it more and was less prone to skimming through the latter half. That said, I wasn’t too much a fan of it either.
My main problem with this novel is that it uses a lot of the common tropes we see in YA contemporaries. And the thing about tropes and cliches and all those terrible things is that I don’t always hate them. When they are handled by an expert writer, someone whose work completely engages you, I will completely overlook them. Sadly, this was not one of those cases.
One of those tropes here, one of my least favorites, was the lack communication. Why is talking so hard? Why can we not live in a world where people can just tell each other what they think and how they feel. Had Felicity and Alec spent some time having a couple of conversations, I do not doubt that a lot of things could have been resolved.
Another issue I had was that the romance didn’t feel real. It was a bit too forced. A bit too cliche. A bit too insta-love. I just wasn’t buying it. Is one road trip all it takes to fall in love? I clearly need to be taking more road trips because authors seem to think that they are the ultimate match makers. And again, these cliches are some that I constantly over look when done well, but I really wasn’t feeling them all that much here.
Still, I must admit that despite the issues I had, I was entertained. It was a quick read and I had a fairly good time reading it. I do think that I would have liked it more if I’d read it back when I was 15 when I was fairly new to YA and its slew of cliches. Sadly, I’m now 20 and have read too many YA novels to count, many of which were better done than this one. I like it, I guess, but I really wish I would have loved it.
**I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**