**Thank you to NetGalley, Text Publishing, and author Georgina Young for sending me an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of Loner in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and feelings expressed in this review are solely my own.**

2/5 (e-book)

Well, I did not love this one. I didn't feel like I knew a lot going into it, and after finishing it, I still feel like I don't know a lot about the book. I am not sure what the overall message or purpose or point of this book is, and that really frustrates me as a reader.

I know this is an ARC, so changes are still going to be made to the book before publication, but there seemed to be many mechanical and grammatical errors, and the organization was kind of all over the place. The paragraphs are broken up into small, single-spaced sections with some bolded headers. I was so much bothered by this as I was bothered by the lack of cohesiveness between the section headers. It seems like the sections would jump from one thing to the next without a clear transition. This became confusing at some points because the jumps were so jarring.

I also felt that a lot of the characters were static, thus making the relationships between all the characters weak. There was little to no growth in characters throughout, and this makes them feel boring and unrelatable. Looking specifically at Lona's character, I was initially annoyed by how persistently pessimistic she was. I felt like it was a little overdone and there was no give to it. But, after finishing the book, I thought more about how that is the mindset that some people get stuck in.

This, however, leads me to a point that I liked about the book. I felt like the characters were real. And maybe this was part of the boring part, but the lives they were living felt realistic, like something that everyday young adults would be doing. So, though they were pretty static, the activities they participated in felt real. And the one relationship I liked was Lona's and George's. Their relationship felt raw and true. There were some ups and downs and the break up was not smooth. This was nice to read after the flatness of the other relationships.

I was really sad that there was not more about Lona's photography. The book started with her sneaking into the darkroom of her old school, and then it felt like it was done. She talks about needing to build creativity and makes the books, but the description of the book made it seem like her photography was going to be a large part of the book. I guess I was disappointed it was not in there more.
SPOILER AHEAD!!!
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The ending of Loner was actually pretty good. I really like how it ended back at Planet Skate with Lona closing down the place one last time, seemingly closing out her youth and moving forward into her new adult life. The only thing that ruined it for me was the phone ringing at the end. This felt weird and out of place and seemed to ruin the nostalgic state. But, besides that, I thought the ending was really nice.
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SPOILER OVER!!!

I am not sure that I would recommend this book to others because of the lack of organization and growth with characters, but I think the author did a nice job creating the average life of a new adult living on their own and experiencing life themselves.