Loveless by Alice Oseman
Loveless is a story about Georgia, who has not had a “normal” romantic life. To be honest, she hasn’t had any—no crushes, no dates, nothing. When she gets to college, she thinks everything will fall into place, but instead, she begins to question everything.
Loveless recognizes the asexual/aromantic people in the LGBTQ community. I really love how accessible this book is to anyone. Oseman’s writing style showcases how difficult life can be for anybody, especially a young adult in this world. She shows this talent in all her other books as well.
That said, the plot becomes a little repetitive after a while and ultimately the novel could have been a little shorter. Because of this, this book was not one of my favorites of Osemans. I see where she was going with the story, but I think some of it missed the mark. Georgia and her friends were good characters and meshed well together. I felt the way the story was going felt very unsure of itself, which made it harder to read and caused the repetition.
I give this story a 4/10
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is about Hollywood icon Evelyn Hugo, who wants to tell her truth within her final days. Instead of picking a journalism bigwig, Evelyn picked an intern to share her story with the world. As the book goes on, Evelyn’s story becomes more twisted in ways never expected and begins to intertwine with the intern’s as well.
Reid has written a story unlike anything I have read before. I loved how she seamlessly switches between history and modern life, leaving me wanting more. She puts the reader in the same boat as the intern, Monique. Evelyn’s past has never been told before, and the character is very mysterious. You want to get to the end just as much as Monique does.
The book itself is extremely captivating, making it extremely hard to put down. Reid writes with a purpose, and every word seems extremely intentional. She works with characters and development really well and it made the story that much better. I can not give this book enough praise. I loved every part of it. There were definitely some parts that may be triggering so I would check the trigger warnings before reading.
I give this book a 10/10
She Gets The Girl by Rachael Lippincott
She Gets The Girl is a gorgeously written enemies-to-friends-to-lovers story about polar opposite girls who come together under unlikely circumstances and how a five-step plan can turn into a lifetime.
Lippincott knows her way around a heart-wrenching story, writing stories like All This Time and Five Feet Apart. Going into the book, I expected to come out of it crying, but Lippincott surprised me by making a feel-good rom-com instead of a tear-jerker.
This story centered around a “will they won’t they” lesbian romance. Lippincott does a great job developing the characters Alex and Molly. I loved watching Alex become more comfortable opening up to people and appreciated how the story slowly integrated the relationship between Alex and her mom. This was a nice contrast to Molly who learned more independence and stopped relying on her mom. Molly was a tad annoying at times, but as Alex got her out of her shell, she became more confident and agreed to more instead of always resisting. Overall, the writing style was very well done, and Lippincott turned out another great story.
I give this a 6/10
