Hello Readers,
So I dived back into my bookclub lists which are growing with a great number of books that I have to read before I catch up to them. This was one of them and it was bought in Waterstones which surprised me as they don't normally have the American trends all the time in the store. I think I will becoming more friendly with Amazon in the future if this keeps up.
Never date your best friend
Always be original
Sometimes rules are meant to be broken
Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be cliche high school kids--the ones who sit at the same lunch table every day, dissecting the drama from homeroom and plotting their campaigns for prom king and queen. They even wrote their own Never List of everything they vowed they'd never, "ever" do in high school.
Some of the rules have been easy to follow, like #5, "never die your hair a color of the rainbow," or #7, "never hook up with a teacher." But Dave has a secret: he's broken rule #8, "never pine silently after someone for the entirety of high school." It's either that or break rule #10, "never date your best friend." Dave has loved Julia for as long as he can remember.
Julia is beautiful, wild and impetuous. So when she suggests they do every Never on the list, Dave is happy to play along. He even dyes his hair an unfortunate shade of green. It starts as a joke, but then a funny thing happens: Dave and Julia discover that by skipping the cliches, they've actually been missing out on high school. And maybe even on love.
So I dived back into my bookclub lists which are growing with a great number of books that I have to read before I catch up to them. This was one of them and it was bought in Waterstones which surprised me as they don't normally have the American trends all the time in the store. I think I will becoming more friendly with Amazon in the future if this keeps up.
Never Always Sometimes- Ali Alsaid
Never date your best friend Always be original
Sometimes rules are meant to be broken
Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be cliche high school kids--the ones who sit at the same lunch table every day, dissecting the drama from homeroom and plotting their campaigns for prom king and queen. They even wrote their own Never List of everything they vowed they'd never, "ever" do in high school.
Some of the rules have been easy to follow, like #5, "never die your hair a color of the rainbow," or #7, "never hook up with a teacher." But Dave has a secret: he's broken rule #8, "never pine silently after someone for the entirety of high school." It's either that or break rule #10, "never date your best friend." Dave has loved Julia for as long as he can remember.
Julia is beautiful, wild and impetuous. So when she suggests they do every Never on the list, Dave is happy to play along. He even dyes his hair an unfortunate shade of green. It starts as a joke, but then a funny thing happens: Dave and Julia discover that by skipping the cliches, they've actually been missing out on high school. And maybe even on love.
5 Star Review
I have no idea how am going to do this review without spoilers but am going to do my best to do so. I took my time with this book as it was the first YA I was picking up after the Susan Hill Series of books that I have been reading from my library. I have to say that this couldn't be a better book for me to pick up on my road back to the YA genre.
Ali Alsaid came up with the typical teenage problems and in a love story setting that reminded me of my own teens that doesn't feel like its all that far behind me. He captured the struggles that teenagers have with their emotions, The desire that they have to cling to each other, stand out and to be different than what people think they will be. Even the rebellion elements of Julia in the story were perfectly set up and designed to show a wonderful thoughts of what most teenagers think of as fun yet adults are scared of.
Julia struggles are more troubled than Dave's are as she finds her fake of a mother who put her up for adoption to a gay couple has had a huge impact on her. She structured her life to impress her mother when it doesn't work then she is cut more a drift than she ever believes possible.
Dave lost his mother young and finds himself clinging to Julia due to the cold exterior that Dave's father shows to him. The death of his mother has had a huge impact on his family leaving them all damaged in their own way. He sees some life return to his father when Gretchen comes into their lives and complicates Dave's even further.
The overall writing of the characters and plot couldn't have been done better. He showed so much style and thought when it came to this. Ali Alsaid shows that he is a writer of depth and can do even more great things with his plots than most writers can. He shows that there is more to teenage love and heartbreak than just romance. I take my hat off for him trying this and pulling this off so well.
It didn't even cross my mind to not give this book 5 stars. He has out done my expectations for this book and I look forward to reading more of his work. I invite the author himself to share his future releases with me for honest and more personal reviews. Even sending them to him before I post them online.
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Thank you so much for stopping by the blog and seeing what I'm up too. Next up is The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater.
CLICK HERE AMAZON US
CLICK HERE AMAZON UK
Thank you so much for stopping by the blog and seeing what I'm up too. Next up is The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater.
Kristal McKerrington
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