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selfiegrandpa 's review for:

Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman
2.5
mysterious reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was okay, not good and also not bad, just okay. This story is split into timelines, the present where the characters are adults and the past when they're teenagers and everything first takes place. I found myself enjoying the present far more than the past, but I still wasn't having a ton of fun with this book. I think the characters were just so completely unlikable and so entitled that anytime one of them had anything to say I would roll my eyes. The story is interesting enough and yet it also feels like nothing happens in the long run. I feel like I say this a lot, but this book would have most certainly benefited from being a couple hundred pages shorter. 

It often felt like the author was trying to drive the same point over and over about how these characters had such a toxic relationship. However, I think the actions that were shown did that perfectly without also the narrator going on and on about "being a teenage girl". The twist, if you want to call it that, wasn't really anything the reader didn't seem coming from the first few chapters and the ending just felt weak. The author also really, really, really loves a long sentence.