By using The StoryGraph, you agree to our use of cookies. We use a small number of cookies to provide you with a great experience. Find out more. Go back. Explore Challenges Community Giveaways Sign in. Clear search input. Open main menu. Plot or Character Driven: A mix. Strong character development: Yes. Loveable characters: Yes. Diverse cast of characters: Yes. Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes.
Expand filter menu Collapse filter menu Content Warnings. Buckle up friends, because as my co-workers can attest to, I have a lot of feelings about this book and they mostly have to do with the current state of YA. First, let's start out with the positives! I appreciate that this book shows a path other than college for high school seniors, because not everyone has to go to college.
The narrator for the audiobook also did a great job; the narration style was reallly engaging. I think a lot of adult fiction writers think that if you make your characters teenagers which the love interest is not a teenager, but I digress , that means it's young adult. This book very much just feels like Hazelwood's other books, but the characters just happen to be younger and the sex scenes are just fade to black.
In a way, the tone reminded me of Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzalez, which would have worked much better as an adult romance. Mallory is said to be 18, but in my opinion, she reads older than that for most of the book. The entire vibe of the book feels like more college, new adult to me, which fine!
But indicative of the current problem in YA which is: characters being aged up. When YA was just starting to gain traction with publishers, the average age of protagonists was probably , and you'd get the occasional older protagonist.
