I actually went into this thinking I wouldn't have as much fun as I did! I'm not normally a romance person, but because of the Goodreads challenge I wanted to give it shot. This story was cute and cozy and the majority of the characters were fun to read about. I liked that it wasn't completely focused on the romance, but when it didn't it feel so cloying. The ending was cheesy, but also very fitting for this book and I wouldn't mind revisiting this world. 

Interesting premise, but sadly execution did not live up to my hopes and dreams here. One of the biggest problems I had with this book was the main character, who just so carelessly deals with people in her life as if they're not real and she faces zero consequences. Also the whole plot about building an AI to solve the world's loneliness problem was interesting to read about, but I never felt any real urgency to finish the project like the book was telling me I should. There were a few plot holes that just didn't make sense to me and I felt like the ending was overall rushed. 

I'm interested to see where Dyroff goes next and if it also be tech-y based. I did really enjoy reading about how technology in the future could both help save us and also ruin us further.

I normally love stories that follow a lost media plot line, but I found myself really underwhelmed by this one. There was so much build up to this big potential reveal about what was behind it all and then the reveal was just a big "meh". I didn't find myself caring or even liking any of the characters and so many of their choices just made me annoyed. Also something Tremblay's writing style in this was obnoxious to me. 

All that to say though, I will continue to give his work another shot. 

Freida McFadden .... I can't stop reading your books despite how bad I think they are.

I have nothing really to say because I already forgot my feelings for this, but I know that it went by super quick and I had a good laugh at some scenes. Yes I will be picking up her other books from the library. 

I really wanted to like this more. 

I started off actually enjoying this book and how easy it was to follow the story despite having some questions. Things progress really fast and I usually like that in a story, however, this quickly started to become really chaotic and not in a fun way. The pacing just felt really bad and didn't allow for the story to develop in a much more meaningful way. There were a lot of "deep" one liners that just fell short every time. I did not realize this would be insta love and I was just really thrown in for a loop. But I can also see how the insta love really fits within all of this chaos. 

Overall, I felt like the author had some really fun, cool concepts that they wanted to write about and they decided to just throw them all in one big novel. It was scene change after scene change that very quickly got dull despite how cool of a world this seemed. 

I found myself never reaching for this book after getting it again from the library to finish it and since it’s once again due tomorrow I thought I’d binge read it but wow … I really don’t care about this story so best I just DNF and move on. Definitely a specific book for a specific type of humor but after 100 pages it gets old quick. 

I really wanted to like this book more. It had a really great start and I was laughing out loud quite a few times, but about halfway through it really started to feel repetitive and the office setting didn't help. Unfortunately too much of this story takes place with the characters sitting down either at their cubicle or in another part of the office. Maybe this wouldn't have been so bad if we were given more email/dm/text inserts instead of just a bunch of descriptions of other characters also staring at their computers. 

I also don't know how to feel about the main character Jolene. I wanted to root for her so bad, but some of the choices she kept making not only held back her character development, but felt like obvious choices to keep the plot running. One thing I always have a problem with books like these is that they always feel too drawn out that when the ending finally arrives they're not quite sure how to realistically wrap it all up. 

I will say though that the parts I did enjoy had me either laughing out loud or bringing some tears to my eyes. I do think that this story was an interesting concept, just not all that well executed. 

I found this to be a really fun, quick story with a slight philosophical view about cloning and what it really means to be someone. I liked that the main story was broken up with interjections about the universe in which these characters live in and how the actions of others indirectly and directly affect the lives of the people we were reading about. Also it was just fun to read some (basic) world building. I also enjoyed reading the more science-y parts of this and being like "oh I know about that!" Also how it didn't bog down the story with too much science descriptions.

A few things I didn't like too much involved the lack of involvement with the native alien species on the planet they are inhabiting. They spend time talking about them, but hardly any time at all engaging with them in any meaningful way. Also the ending was just very quick and convenient, almost as if Ashton wasn't sure of to resolve the conflict. Because of this, I found that it took way from the overall message that the story was trying to convey. As well at the characters themselves having slightly too much of a "dudebro" attitude when it came to feelings. For a book that was touching on some decent philosophical questions it failed to go any deeper than surface level.

Overall, it was fun and quick and I had a few laughs. I ultimately can't wait to watch the movie adaptation now.

DNF @ about 50% (?)

This book really hooked me from the beginning and although the writing felt something to be desired I could overlook it. I found the way that the characters conversed, although awkward and unrealistic, to really add to the overall weirdness and tension of the story. 

Things took a turn when the "twist" happens at the end of part 1, about 50% in the book. I will not spoil anything, but I found that this twist really changed the tone of the book in a way that made me lose interest completely. I actually went ahead and read spoilers of what happens next and I just found it completely uninteresting and reductive to what I was hoping was going to be a much more compelling story.

I was actually really interested in this book and the topic. I personally have also struggled with depersonalization (and some derealization) and I really connected to some of the descriptions in this book. I also found it interesting to read about someone who is not open to accepting that their feelings are something more common and possibly treatable; but also the feeling that even though there is an "answer" it's hard to feel as if there just be an "easy" solution. 

However, the more I read the more I just found myself losing interest. This seems to take place during therapy sessions and I just found it slightly boring and repetitive even in the first 50 pages. I think that the writing style is unique and really fits the story being told, but I just couldn't bring myself to continue reading. The more I lost interest the more I found it hard to keep track of what was happening.

Maybe one day I will return to this, but for now I have other books I want to read more.