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671 reviews by:
pucksandpaperbacks
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The main character is bisexual and Rosie's father is also bisexual. Elias is also implied to be queer. There's a non-binary side character, Rosie's best friend, Quinn.
I've read all of Ashley Poston's Once Upon a Con series and this is by far my favorite. I loved the elements of grief - personally my favorite trope in books. I loved how meticulously she got every beat from Beauty and the Beast and put a Starfield twist on it. This was such a clever book and I loooved the characters especially Rosie's friend group! I really love this series and this book took me on a roller coaster of emotions. Highly recommend
I've read all of Ashley Poston's Once Upon a Con series and this is by far my favorite. I loved the elements of grief - personally my favorite trope in books. I loved how meticulously she got every beat from Beauty and the Beast and put a Starfield twist on it. This was such a clever book and I loooved the characters especially Rosie's friend group! I really love this series and this book took me on a roller coaster of emotions. Highly recommend
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
mentions of Harry Potter and Hogwarts Houses, death of a parent, grief and loss, small kitchen fire
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Hands down a great young adult book and #ownvoices story. I've read Becky's other collaboration, What If It's Us and it wasn't my favorite. However, this is the best collaborative work I've read by Becky and cannot wait to pick up Aisha Saeed's work.
Jamie and Maya feel very much like teens in 2017. The subtle pop culture references to Fortnite, & Mario Bros games. The metaphor of Bowser vs the Koopa Troopas was brilliant.
They went above and beyond to even include clicking a message on iMessage and giving it a thumbs up. This is a novel that will show teens who are not eligible to vote because of their age that they can do something and make a change just like Jamie and Maya did. Stan culture references, I think went too far as Maya and her friend, Sarah mentioned they "stanned" Elmo... Could've been done in a different, more relevant way.
There's a nice balance of politics, family drama, and friendship issues as well as a slow burn romance aka a "slowmance".
I also really enjoyed how the book wrapped up it wasn't a happy ending which is what made it so realistic. . The book comes full circle at the end and the characters really grow.
Jamie and Maya feel very much like teens in 2017. The subtle pop culture references to Fortnite, & Mario Bros games. The metaphor of Bowser vs the Koopa Troopas was brilliant.
They went above and beyond to even include clicking a message on iMessage and giving it a thumbs up. This is a novel that will show teens who are not eligible to vote because of their age that they can do something and make a change just like Jamie and Maya did. Stan culture references, I think went too far as Maya and her friend, Sarah mentioned they "stanned" Elmo... Could've been done in a different, more relevant way.
There's a nice balance of politics, family drama, and friendship issues as well as a slow burn romance aka a "slowmance".
I also really enjoyed how the book wrapped up
Content Warnings
Moderate: Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry
Talk of Harry Potter - Jamie has two boxsets which Maya points out. There's also some Hogwarts house talk.
I loved how the book was written. great story. I really connected to these characters. At times, it had me blown away by the many plot twists. The ending was good.
I will review all the books before Christmas. Felt it was very long and some of the stories were strange.
This was a nice, interesting story. Very different from anything I have ever read. I did have a problem with Clay's dialogue when he says he "wonders" & the conversation still going, I didn't know that he was still talking. I was amazed towards the end of this book, I liked the way it ended. More to come!
This made me think of the characters in the movie, 13 going on 30. I enjoyed it, but needed some suspense. For me, it was okay. The illustrations kept me reading, but some chapters had me forgetting about the object. In short, I just needed some major plot twist or happy ending. I will say, it was fun to read.
This being the first memoir I have read, I enjoyed it very much. I loved to be able to see how the children displayed resiliency and how everything came into place. At times, it was hard to read because I could not believe the events that were going on. The children were treated poorly at home, at school and at play which broke my heart. It was so amazing to read about resiliency in reality. The parent’s traits and actions made for the children to rely on themselves to get tasks done or learn how to do something. The incidents that occurred just disgusted me, I couldn’t help but gasp. Rex Walls (father), his alcoholism was out of hand and I really felt for the children because of how he affected them. The Walls children were treated so unfairly it was ridiculous. I will never get past Jeanette’s first grade teacher, Miss Cook she was very mean towards her. Throughout the book, I tried to discover what Jeanette’s passion was throughout school – it was writing. I loved that she was writing and editing the news paper for her high school. She is so creative. When Lori left for NYC, I believe that her decision motivated Jeanette to follow her dreams and grow out of her past. I love how Jeanette, Brian and Maureen left Welch and came to NYC. I was so proud of their accomplishments. I feel that this memoir touched me and made me think differently about what I take for granted. I enjoyed this book so much and I am glad to have gotten a chance to read it.
This is my first audiobook review. I have learned to enjoy audiobooks shortly after listening to this one! I was on my way to a week long trip which was roughly 2hrs away. This was short and so I chose it - also, I saw it reviewed on my Goodreads feed.
One Direction are our narrators which is amazing! I was able to hear the emotion in their voices as they talked about each topic or experience they've had. Whereas, in a book you don't see that. You're reading the emotion for yourself.
I was able to learn more about the boys individually like their outlook on leaving home at just sixteen or seventeen years old or simply their lives before X-Factor. I learned things I didn't know before, and I know a lot about One Direction.
I couldn't imagine leaving my house at about sixteen and never going back. That's what happened for them, the last time they left their homes was to go to their X-Factor audition and they never returned after. That was so scary to think about.
What stuck out to me the most was each boy's POV on visiting Ghana to shoot the One Way or Another Music Video. They all had different views that touched my heart. Especially Harry and Niall. Niall talked about how we take water for granted. He was sitting around drinking water from his bottle and a swarm of kids stood around him, so he squirted it into each child's mouth. He said it's something we don't think about, you can go home and have a refrigerator full of water and they don't even have a drop. Harry also had an open mind about being there. He expressed his opinion on how we shouldn't dwell on little things that happen when something bigger is happening out in the world.
They also talk about what they think of being called a "celebrity". Most of them said they don't see themselves as celebrities. They feel like celebrities act different and order. They aren't like that.
I enjoyed every minute of this biography. I learned so much and it really made me think. This is definitely a great read or listen, if you're a fan or not. If you like hearing different POV's or 5, this may be the one for you! I rated this full five stars because I couldn't pick out any flaws :)
One Direction are our narrators which is amazing! I was able to hear the emotion in their voices as they talked about each topic or experience they've had. Whereas, in a book you don't see that. You're reading the emotion for yourself.
I was able to learn more about the boys individually like their outlook on leaving home at just sixteen or seventeen years old or simply their lives before X-Factor. I learned things I didn't know before, and I know a lot about One Direction.
I couldn't imagine leaving my house at about sixteen and never going back. That's what happened for them, the last time they left their homes was to go to their X-Factor audition and they never returned after. That was so scary to think about.
What stuck out to me the most was each boy's POV on visiting Ghana to shoot the One Way or Another Music Video. They all had different views that touched my heart. Especially Harry and Niall. Niall talked about how we take water for granted. He was sitting around drinking water from his bottle and a swarm of kids stood around him, so he squirted it into each child's mouth. He said it's something we don't think about, you can go home and have a refrigerator full of water and they don't even have a drop. Harry also had an open mind about being there. He expressed his opinion on how we shouldn't dwell on little things that happen when something bigger is happening out in the world.
They also talk about what they think of being called a "celebrity". Most of them said they don't see themselves as celebrities. They feel like celebrities act different and order. They aren't like that.
I enjoyed every minute of this biography. I learned so much and it really made me think. This is definitely a great read or listen, if you're a fan or not. If you like hearing different POV's or 5, this may be the one for you! I rated this full five stars because I couldn't pick out any flaws :)
From all of John Green's books, I feel that this was most different and I enjoyed that a whole lot. I really didn't have any problems with it and the ending was great - surprisingly. I thought the characters were very unique aside from John's other characters. Out of all of his books, these characters are my favorite. I am setting this as no.1 on my invisible list of my favorite books of his.