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A review by bookbybook
90 Days of Different by Eric Walters
3.0
2.5 Stars
I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no ways changes my opinion and all the words below are my own.
I requested this book because I’ve read Eric Walters' books before and enjoyed them, and I thought the concept of this book sounded like fun! I’m not too sure what happened but I, unfortunately, found this book neither enjoyable or fun. I still like the idea of the plot, and the topic of change was well addressed but everything else kind of fell through for me.
Our main characters, Sophie and Ella, are an accumulation of all the awful and toxic parts of teenage girls. All peer pressure, jealousy, back-stabbing, and “I’m better than everyone" attitude. Not a scrap of what usually makes teenage girls perfect main characters in a contemporary novel. I kept waiting for one of them to tell the other they were being a bad friend and really a bad person most of the time, but neither did. I was expecting a summer of fun with two friends and got more of a lesson on how all girls should fit this exact mould and they are boring and lame if they don’t. Not to mention the only time anyone came close to pointing out the insane amount of privilege behind the characters it was brushed aside like it hadn’t happened at all. I couldn't connect to the characters at all, and I’m the kind of person who typically gravitates towards unlikeable characters so this was a real struggle. A lot of the “different" weren’t even fun for the characters, they were just things stereotypically placed on the list of things teens must do to be considered fun.
I still like the author's writing style, the book was incredibly easy and quick to read, and a super light-hearted contemporary. I just think in this one he picked characters and topics either too far out of his comfort zone or that he didn’t actually want to write about. It didn’t feel like a passion project but more of a required assignment. This book was also heavier on dialogue than other books of his I have read, but I think that was mostly because so much was happening the dialogue was needed to break things up. It was pretty disappointing but it won’t stop me from trying other books of his at some point in the future.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no ways changes my opinion and all the words below are my own.
I requested this book because I’ve read Eric Walters' books before and enjoyed them, and I thought the concept of this book sounded like fun! I’m not too sure what happened but I, unfortunately, found this book neither enjoyable or fun. I still like the idea of the plot, and the topic of change was well addressed but everything else kind of fell through for me.
Our main characters, Sophie and Ella, are an accumulation of all the awful and toxic parts of teenage girls. All peer pressure, jealousy, back-stabbing, and “I’m better than everyone" attitude. Not a scrap of what usually makes teenage girls perfect main characters in a contemporary novel. I kept waiting for one of them to tell the other they were being a bad friend and really a bad person most of the time, but neither did. I was expecting a summer of fun with two friends and got more of a lesson on how all girls should fit this exact mould and they are boring and lame if they don’t. Not to mention the only time anyone came close to pointing out the insane amount of privilege behind the characters it was brushed aside like it hadn’t happened at all. I couldn't connect to the characters at all, and I’m the kind of person who typically gravitates towards unlikeable characters so this was a real struggle. A lot of the “different" weren’t even fun for the characters, they were just things stereotypically placed on the list of things teens must do to be considered fun.
I still like the author's writing style, the book was incredibly easy and quick to read, and a super light-hearted contemporary. I just think in this one he picked characters and topics either too far out of his comfort zone or that he didn’t actually want to write about. It didn’t feel like a passion project but more of a required assignment. This book was also heavier on dialogue than other books of his I have read, but I think that was mostly because so much was happening the dialogue was needed to break things up. It was pretty disappointing but it won’t stop me from trying other books of his at some point in the future.