I definitely enjoyed this, but I kinda had a feeling beforehand that this would be a 4 star read for me and that turned out to be right. I wasn’t feeling the romance between Saoirse and Ruby as much as I would’ve liked. Maybe it’s because it’s YA and I’ve gotten more used to reading adult romance? Idk 🤷🏻‍♀️it was very cute, don’t get me wrong, but I want to be able to feel the romantic tension, I want to get those butterflies in my stomach and  I didn’t really. 

Saoirse’s struggle with her mother’s  disease is heartbreaking and I could definitely feel that sadness. Just imagining something like that happening to my own mother makes me want to bawl my eyes out. Add to that her fear that it might be her future too and you have a nice misery cocktail 😭

What I didn’t like is how obtuse Saoirse could be and especially her utter disbelief when her assumptions are proven wrong. She’s so convinced that she’s right and she can be a jerk about it. Especially to her dad, whom she doesn’t treat very nicely. That’s teenagers for you I guess? 🙄 but then again, her dad is a dick to Saoirse too at times. He basically lets her take care of all the packing when they move houses and then scolds her for not working hard enough? Like sorry, what?! 🙃

The development of Saoirse’s relationships with Oliver and Beth were my favourite part of the story. Especially Saoirse’s realisation that she might actually like Beth and that Oliver is just as alone as she is were precious.

I really enjoyed all the references to romcoms and I relate to Ruby so much with her love for the genre. Romcoms are so often looked down on and dismissed as chick flicks. At one point Saoirse and Ruby are talking about “quirky character traits” romcom characters often have and it’s actually kind of funny because Saoirse’s quirky character trait is basically: “I hate romcoms and prefer horror movies”. Which also didn’t make me too keen on her character because I’m a huge romcom fan and hopeless romantic. She has this discussion with Oliver about how romcoms are so unbelievable and non-realistic and I was shouting at the book “that’s the whole point!”. It’s pure escapism for me. That’s why the genre is so popular. I just want to unwind at the end of the day and watch a romantic story that probably wouldn’t happen irl with dreamy actors, silly jokes and a happy ending. It makes me happy.