— 2.75* stars —

I love the soundtrack of the musical, and every time I picked this book up, the songs got stuck in my head. Thus my hopes for this book.

Unfortunately, it was a let down.

TW: anxiety, depression, suicide, talk of drug use

I enjoyed reading it, otherwise, I would have dropped my rating at 2 stars. I had a great time and I appreciated the addition of Connor's point of view here and there (though, I would have loved to read more about him, but it's Evan's story, so I understand why it was this way).

However, I guess the story itself didn't really work for me, and I'm sad about it.
Reading wise, I found the first part to be a quicker read then the second, which dragged a little. Seeing the lies piling one after the other was tedious, and not matter how much Evan wanted to tell the truth, he felt compelled to add more and more, which of course doesn't help at all. It was something I didn't really like. I would have love to see some of the other characters a bit more developed, especially Jared and Zoe. I wasn't a fan of the way the book ended too...

I won't be re-reading this one again, but I will still be enjoying the soundtrack for sure.

Though, I wonder if seeing it performed on stage could change the way I feel about it. The soundtrack, the first time I listened to it, made me emotional. Some parts spoke to me. The story... not so much. Maybe it's just because I already knew some plot elements, or because it lacked a little of... I don't know... emotions? or maybe I just wasn't invested in the story as much as I hoped.