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A review by jugglingpup
How We Roll by Natasha Friend
3.0
To see more reviews check out MI Book Reviews.
I got an ARC of this book.
I was all about this book. Do you see that cover? YES! I was all excited for characters with varying degrees of mobility. I was all excited for my first character with alopecia. The book didn’t quite deliver on what the description said, which is shocking that I noticed since I actually read a description fully this time.
The main plots of the book can be broken down into four plots:
Quinn dealing with her alopecia/her past.
Nick dealing with his accident (and his brother for causing it)
Quin and Nick’s potential romance
Julius being a nine year old with autism.
So the back of the cover talks about 1-3. However the main plot just always felt like it was 4. There was so much focus on Julius that all the other drama felt secondary. Nick dealing with his brother causing the accident (which was why this mentioned in the small description, took away an emotional punch) happened around an incident with Julius trying to set a world record. Quinn dealing with her past, again revolves around Julius since her mother is so wrapped up in trying to keep Julius calm that Quinn doesn’t feel like her issues matter. Quinn is also incredibly embarrassed by her brother, so that impacts how she can interact with Nick, she only lets Nick know about Julius because she was hiding her hair loss.
So while I wanted to love this book, I only liked it. It was fun. It was sweet. There was sexual assault and sexual harassment talked about frankly. Quinn handled it on her own and wasn’t emotionally traumatized by it. Instead it read as a way for people to see a range of responses to sexual trauma. Quinn’s mother ad father were beyond upset and she was like “it happened. Move on”. It allowed for people who aren’t traumatized to see themselves in a character. It allows people to see that sexual assault and harassment can exist in many forms and seventies. The main downside to this book was the romance. Nick and Quinn’s romance was very mild and very blah. There was nothing that sold the relationship to me. It happened, without effort. It happened in a weird way. I just couldn’t buy into it. If Quinn and Nick were just friends in the end, then I wouldn’t feel as let down by the book. It would have gotten extra points for focusing on friendship. I would have loved to see Nick get back with his ex. I wanted him to make amends and I wanted her to realize that Nick was coming to terms with everything. It would have been a more fulfilling ending for me.
I got an ARC of this book.
I was all about this book. Do you see that cover? YES! I was all excited for characters with varying degrees of mobility. I was all excited for my first character with alopecia. The book didn’t quite deliver on what the description said, which is shocking that I noticed since I actually read a description fully this time.
The main plots of the book can be broken down into four plots:
Quinn dealing with her alopecia/her past.
Nick dealing with his accident (and his brother for causing it)
Quin and Nick’s potential romance
Julius being a nine year old with autism.
So the back of the cover talks about 1-3. However the main plot just always felt like it was 4. There was so much focus on Julius that all the other drama felt secondary. Nick dealing with his brother causing the accident (which was why this mentioned in the small description, took away an emotional punch) happened around an incident with Julius trying to set a world record. Quinn dealing with her past, again revolves around Julius since her mother is so wrapped up in trying to keep Julius calm that Quinn doesn’t feel like her issues matter. Quinn is also incredibly embarrassed by her brother, so that impacts how she can interact with Nick, she only lets Nick know about Julius because she was hiding her hair loss.
So while I wanted to love this book, I only liked it. It was fun. It was sweet. There was sexual assault and sexual harassment talked about frankly. Quinn handled it on her own and wasn’t emotionally traumatized by it. Instead it read as a way for people to see a range of responses to sexual trauma. Quinn’s mother ad father were beyond upset and she was like “it happened. Move on”. It allowed for people who aren’t traumatized to see themselves in a character. It allows people to see that sexual assault and harassment can exist in many forms and seventies. The main downside to this book was the romance. Nick and Quinn’s romance was very mild and very blah. There was nothing that sold the relationship to me. It happened, without effort. It happened in a weird way. I just couldn’t buy into it. If Quinn and Nick were just friends in the end, then I wouldn’t feel as let down by the book. It would have gotten extra points for focusing on friendship. I would have loved to see Nick get back with his ex. I wanted him to make amends and I wanted her to realize that Nick was coming to terms with everything. It would have been a more fulfilling ending for me.