meghin's reviews
107 reviews

first of all this book is NA, not YA, and I'd like to pour one out for the age classification group we killed before it even had a chance.

I've noticed that with Mary H.K. Choi's writing it takes me a minute to get going. Emergency Contact was slow and I wasn't sure I liked it but something kept me going and I ended up absolutely loving it and Permanent Record was the same.

I did not care about the romance AT ALL, but it isn't as prominent as the summary and the cover make you think it's going to be, so I guess that was a bonus for me personally. I did care a lot about the fact that this is very much a story about a 20 something who has no idea how to simply be a person, because that's a pretty universal experience and yet I never see it in books? Give me more 20 somethings afraid to go to the doctor because they're off their parents health insurance but can't afford their own, more 20 somethings that are spiraling into debt because the credit card company came to their campus and gave them a cool water bottle and no one told them how interest works, who's working a not ideal job and living in a bad apartment with 30 roommates. This book was the relatable content I craved when all the books about that age group I read when I was in that age group either 1. didn't exist at all lol or 2. were about rich people. 

I had the pleasure of meeting Jennifer Dugan a few years ago during her Hot Dog Girl tour and I was pretty sure I would read everything she ever wrote just because I really liked her as a person but this book has cemented her as an auto buy author for me. This book has possibly the greatest depiction of anxiety I have ever seen, and it does a wonderful job not romanticizing mental illness, which a lot of YA books seem to struggle with.

I just want to gently remind anyone reading this review and considering this book that it is a Romeo & Juliet retelling - and Romeo & Juliet is not a happy love story filled with healthy relationships and good choices. If that's what you're looking for you're going to want to keep looking.

I will say, I was incredibly pleased with the ending. Actually getting help for your mental health! Loving yourself first!!! NOT having a misunderstand that ends in a double suicide!! 

This book just wasn't for me. I think my biggest problem with it was just the characterizations in general. It felt like every character had one personality trait (other than Nevaeh) and that was all they were. Unfortunately, one of the characters was assigned the personality of "fat" and every scene he was in talked about his weight and had him say something about how hungry he was, which, you know, always fun. The mother's one personality trait was that she had severe depression until she went to one (1) therapy session and was magically cured? Therapy is amazing, absolutely go if you can afford it, but tragically I have been going for years and my mental illness has not magical vanished and turned into a sudden all consuming need to sew. Would have loved to see more of Corrinne's journey back to herself and being able to be there for her daughter instead of just "hey I can get out of bed now we're good!".

The villains all felt kind of cartoony - imagine a stereotypical bad dad, annoying step mom, and popular white girl. That's it, that's the show.

I feel like the romance just didn't really need to be there? Jesus just shows up and is cute and then they're together and honestly I kept forgetting he existed because there were so many other things going on.

Overall I liked the bones of this book, I just didn't love the characters which made me not love the execution. I will definitely give Natasha Diaz another shot in the future.

And this is not the author's fault because I assume she did not know when she was writing this book, most of us got that big awful reveal at the same time, but the HP references. I AM BEGGING ANY AUTHOR WHO MAY BE READING THIS TO STOP. This was nowhere near the worst offender (stares in What if it's Us) but it was definitely a lot. 

Emira's friend group is iconic. We love solid female friendships. If a book has a group of women that love and support each other and also lovingly call each other out on their shit I'm immediately here for it.

Other than that I have no idea how to review this book hahah. I liked it! Sometimes it made me cringe so hard I thought I was going to black out but I'm pretty sure that was part of the point.

Also, honestly, it was so nice to read about a MC who has no idea what she's doing with her life and no particularly strong passion for anything specific even though she's a full adult and it seems like everyone else knows exactly who they are and what they want from life. Can relate. 

I don't know that I can write a coherent review of this, but know that I will be screaming in everyone's face about how they should read it for the rest of my life.

“Remember, you have the right to be proud; remember, you have the right to be you.” 

 Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This book is the perfect YA romance summer read for me. It was a fast, fun read and I can see myself rereading it in future summers. Maybe it won't sweep the book awards, but it is exactly what I have been searching for. While there were some aspects I didn't love, overall I really, really enjoyed this book. Though I had a suspicion on who Lara would end up with both of the love interests got to be actual people which is such a rare thing in love triangle books?

The questioning aspect! As an adult I can look at Lara and be like "girl." but it was like reading old diaries from high school honestly.

The sex positivity (both with a partner and on your own) was an absolute delight as it always is when I find it in a book that isn't blatantly about sex positivity. Are all teenagers having sex? Of course not. But all teenagers who think maybe someday they want to have sex should know that that's totally fine and sex isn't evil.

I also loved that while it would have been very easy for me to hate some of (one of) Lara's friends, Dahlia made a point to stress the positive qualities of this person as well. Friendship is messy and no one is perfect, but if the good regularly outweighs the bad I think you're doing okay. Especially if you're only 17. In this house we absolutely stan Kiki though.

Also I had almost zero knowledge of Demi Lovato's music before reading the book as her Disney channel time was beginning right when mine was ending and I'm an audiobooks in the car no radio ever person, but I of course had to listen to Cool for the Summer. And then the entire album. And now she's all over my Spotify. You got me there Dahlia. 

Listen, I would lay down in traffic for Aiden Thomas but this book just... Didn't work for me. I historically don't really care about Peter Pan but I thought hey, I love Aiden, this one will definitely work for me!

I was mistaken.

I really struggled to get through this, if you couldn't tell by it taking me two months. I finally put down the print copy and requested the audiobook from my library (which was part of the two months, it was already checked out when I went searching for it) and I just still did not care. I usually only listen to audiobooks at 1.2 because I'm not a hero, but I did a speed run through the back half of this book. I am so sorry.

The cover is gorgeous, Aiden Thomas is a national treasure, I'll see you all for Untitled Duology and Gay Titanic in Space.