sophiesometimesreads's reviews
221 reviews

What an emotional roller coaster this was, and I mean that in the absolute best way possible. Every time I thought I knew what was coming, the story got turned on its head, and it was great.

As much as I enjoyed Solitaire, this was a huge step up. I have read three of Oseman’s four books so far and I can definitively say this was the best. 

I loved the characters, I loved the storyline, I loved it all. One note would be that the content and pop culture references may feel slightly outdated the further from 2014 we get, though that didn’t matter to me as I was involved in the Tumblr scene for quite a while. Though, if you hadn’t been on Tumblr around that time, some of those references may be lost. In saying this, I think that could be looked past for the rest of the story, as it does not rely too heavily on the reader’s knowledge of 2014 Tumblr.

Would definitely recommend and will probably be a book I reread for years to come.

Loved the drawings and the three points of view. I really wanted it to be longer though and hear more about their lives because I just love these characters so much.

So heartwarming, so pure. I love seeing all the representation in stories, as well as the young love and coming of age that everyone who has been through their teenage years can relate to, no matter their sexuality.

I read after watching (and absolutely loving) the Netflix adaption and still loved every single moment.

Reread Dec 2023: Still wonderful, amazing, heartwarming. I love Nick and Charlie so much 🥹

Re-read (July 2023):
Is this book perfect? No. Is it an accurate portrayal of the inner workings of the White House and Royal Family? Probably not. Is it cheesy? Yes. But is it a whole lot of fun? Absolutely. Still five stars just for the sheer enjoyment and happiness I get out of reading this and I cannot wait for the movie next week.

Original review (July 2022):
“Sometimes you just jump and hope it’s not a cliff.”

Honestly, I loved this book. It’s the alternate political reality to 2016 (and 2020) a lot of us wished was the reality. It is the America (and UK, to some extent) I think a lot of us hope for, though it may be slightly unrealistic. But I can suspend disbelief for the sake of a cute love story in a world I would prefer to be in.

Even though I expected the resolution, it still gave me goosebumps and made me feel warm and fuzzy. And, yeah, I’m a sucker for happy endings even if they’re mildly unrealistic. Sue me.

The banter in the book was excellent and there were some genuinely hilarious scenes (particularly the turkey scene). The characters were flawed and real, frustrating but absolutely adorable. I loved the romance between Alex and Henry, it was heart-warming but also frustrating at times, because a love story is not complete without a bit of angst.

It was a really good read and I honestly didn’t want to read the last two chapters because I didn’t want it to end. I could see this being on rotation as a re-read.

I can’t really pinpoint exactly how this book made me feel. I wanted to keep reading but it felt like nothing significant happened through the first three quarters of the book. I think I wanted to keep reading in hopes of getting to an ending where everything finally turned out relevant but unfortunately it didn’t do that for me.

I think part of the issue is that this is marketed as a psychological thriller when it is far from. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more going in and expecting it to be a family drama novel, I’m not sure.

The blurb intrigued me enough that I decided to give it a try from a second hand book sale, but honestly the first 280 pages or so barely covered anything to do with her brother and what happened, it was all about her marital problems, drinking problems and finding a new job. 

Not to mention the fact that she dated someone who was 23 when she was 16 and literally NO ONE pointed out how weird and wrong that was. It’s also mentioned that her brother’s older friends all “look at her differently” since she turned 16 which is icky and not sure how it was relevant to the story at all.

I’ll give it a point for the fact that I didn’t expect the culprit at the end but it was a bit far fetched and it wasn’t a big AHA moment. There was not enough foreshadowing for my liking so it kind of felt like a weak attempt at a plot twist. When we did find out what happened “that night”, however, there was no big revelation and it was… exactly what I expected to happen.

You could get through this book just fine by reading only the flashback chapters and the last 50 pages or so, that’s really the only parts that had anything really going on.

I really enjoyed this book but so much happened that it kind of felt like a lot to read and it took me a while to get out of my reading slump to finish it because I kept losing track of all the things that happened. In saying that, that’s mostly a me problem and not a problem with the book and overall it was a good read.

I was invested in the characters so much so that I got quite emotional at the ending, which is always a good sign. I would recommend this duology, even to those who may not have enjoyed Shadow and Bone as much.

I enjoyed this book, it was an easy read but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I was still in my band obsession phase.

As much as I loved the effortless diversity of the characters, in terms of storyline I enjoyed Jimmy’s perspective a bit more and I think I could’ve just read the whole story from his POV.

This book gave me big One Direction fandom vibes, with the actual band reminding me of 5SOS. And the whole Jowan thing SCREAMED Larry, which may be why the fan part of this book didn’t resonate with me because I definitely didn’t like that side of being in a fandom.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad read and I did enjoy it but I think I’m past the stage of my life where this book is relatable which is where the rating dropped a bit. That, and it did read a little bit like fan fiction, albeit well-written and interesting fan fiction.

I have SO MANY THOUGHTS ON THIS BOOK that I cannot express without some (hopefully minor) spoilers, so buckle up and read at your own risk.

First of all, I could tell James was a cheating gaslighter from the get go, when he asked Lucy to apologise for accusing him of cheating when someone sent HER a text from HIS phone about it. But I guess at first she could’ve been excused for wanting it to not be true and not seeing his true personality, but even when she did see this I can’t believe she stuck with him! 

The first part in Sydney was really good, I enjoyed it and I could understand her wondering if developing feelings for Nathan were a result of the text message or if they were true. I liked the characters and the dynamic between them, and Lucy’s inner monologue was bearable in terms of pining over Nathan when she had a boyfriend.

But, oh my god, did it get far more annoying and frustrating once she got back to London. She was constantly angry at James for possibly cheating but she had thoughts and feelings for someone else, too. She kept saying how she didn’t trust James but then would NOT break up with him. I do understand how that situation is hard for someone in it but I think it was drawn out too long in the book and by the end I was just frustrated over being able to empathise with Lucy. I would have liked her take the plunge, leave him earlier in the book and live on her own to figure out what she wants that way, instead of thinking she either HAS to settle for James or go back to Australia with Nathan. 

Lucy was always calling Nathan “my Nathan” even though SHE was the one in a relationship she didn’t want to leave, which was really frustrating, and she didn’t really have the self awareness to realise how annoying that was. She ended up becoming quite entitled, pining over two guys and stringing them both along and expecting them to both just hang around for it. I don’t mind reading characters with flaws and that are imperfect and frustrating, but I think it got too much by the end of the book and it would’ve been nice to see a bit of development in her character to become self-aware about how she was the one who put herself in this situation.

There were quite a few moments that obviously dated the book back to 2007. The subtle fat shaming through the prologue gave me the ick, but I will give Paige Toon the benefit of the doubt and put it down to the fact that it was more normalised in 2007 (unfortunately). Also, the fact that YouTube had to be prefaced with the descriptor “infamous internet site” then called “the YouTube website” in the next line was absolutely hilarious.

The ending was a bit lacklustre for me. I would’ve liked to see what she decided to do, even if it was just a summary paragraph or something at the end, or a longer epilogue. I assume the epilogue suggested they got engaged and moved back to Australia, but it wasn’t all that clear. After the amount of pining I read, I should have at least gotten a clear and epic ending!

The writing style was easy to read but I think parts were over-explained for no reason. It didn’t really impact the reading experience too much but I sometimes found myself wondering what the point of some descriptions were, such as where Mosman is relative to Manly or in-depth descriptions of clothes and make up looks that span multiple sentences. 

In the end, I did enjoy reading the majority of this book. There’s definitely ways it could have been made better but I was intrigued and invested enough that I think it warrants 3 out of 5 stars. 

EDIT: I wrote this review immediately after finishing the book but I honestly thought about this book for DAYS after finishing it, both in frustration and admiration. Therefore, for the sole fact this book stayed with me for days after, I’ve decided to up my rating to 3.5 stars. This book made me feel something and I enjoy those sorts of books, even if half the time that feeling was frustration.

I really enjoyed this book, it was really cute and I felt a deep connection with all the characters.

It was effortlessly diverse, with each character being well developed and each finding their own special place in my heart.

I did find myself more drawn into the mystery/fantasy/sci-fi elements of the book moreso than the romance. Don’t get me wrong, the romance was adorable but some of the ✨spicy✨ subway scenes were… a lot. But the other storylines were so interesting and there were a lot of cute moments between Jane and August that I could look past that.

There were a few things I was hoping would turn out differently but I’m not upset with how it ended, and the ending really made me feel things because I had grown to love each character so much.

Once again, another great read provided by Casey McQuiston.