(I received an egalley of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I am super thankful for NetGalley and to the publisher, Amulet Books, for letting me review this novel. I later also received a paperback copy of this arc through an event, and read the book that way.)
To start off The Romantics is a young adult contemporary romance novel, told in the perspective of love. I really liked this book and highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a twist on a normal contemporary novel. The specific age group would probably be from 12-18 mainly because it does have a little bit of mature content but not too much to be considered even close to New Adult. The Romantics is written by Leah Konen and is published by Abrams Kids, Amulet Books. This book is 321 pages long, so not too long of a read. This book also comes out on November 1st and should be highly anticipated as it is a pretty good read.
Now I'll go into a bit of my own personal opinions. I truly really liked this book, I didn't love it but it was a pretty fast paced and cutesy read. I am a die-hard romantic (classified by the book, ;)), and I really liked the "rom-com, told by love" feel to this book. I honestly almost couldn't put this book down which is saying a lot, as I have a lot of school work to do as well. I really appreciated the whole told by love perspective because it gives it a new take on the whole rom-com idea, and also makes the novel that much more interesting and detailed. I actually think that one of my favourite characters in this book was love and in my opinion love was the best narrator ever. Hearing the story being told from love's perspective was at time's a bit confusing, because you couldn't tell what perspective it was being told from, but It was also hilarious and so much fun! Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a romantic contemporary that isn't just like any other. (The story kind of follows the exact same plot as usual, but it does have some great twists and turns, especially the whole love perspective aspect). So as you can tell I liked this book, it was pretty modern and cute so therefore I would give it a 7.6/10 stars. Even though it was a pretty great modern take, the actually writing style and plot weren't that great which is why I wouldn't give it higher. Overall, though I would recommend it and I would read it again if I hadn't already read it.
A Quick Synopsis:
This book is a love story told by love. That's putting it in one sentence, but it's actually so much more than that. This book is about a boy named Gael who has never had a successful experience with love, and even though he's a classified, by love, romantic, he's kind of scared of the real experience. This book is about how he has to navigate life after his parents split up, and learn to manage life with a both complete and not complete family. Gael has a few love interests in this book that he has to explore (but I can't tell you which one actually matters because spoilers). As well Gael goes through a really tough breakup at the beginning of this book, which only further enhances the idea, for him, that love never lasts. Love being the semi-narrator of this book, knows all, and sees exactly what Gael needs. The only problem is actually accomplishing that.
Going more into the characters... The main characters of this book were obviously Gael, Love (somewhat as we never actually got to know it as a character), Gael's younger sister Piper, Sammy (Piper's babysitter), Cara (one of his love interests), Anika (his ex), and Mason (a friend). There were some others characters that played a smaller role in novel like his parents, and his other friends but most of the novel focused on Gael and his relationships. Overall, I actually think Gael wasn't bad. He wasn't my favourite character and I didn't like how he seemed to jump into a lot of things, but never the right things. However, I really did like how he interacted with his sister and how he genuinely cared about other people. He always poured his heart into every relationship dear to him, which was sweet, but also not very well planned on his part, because he often got his heart broken. I actually really felt bad for Gael for many parts during this book, especially the beginning. He had to go through a lot in this book, and I'm not quite sure if he grew as a character but he grew on me. I also really liked his Dad, even though I said he wasn't as major a character he was sweet, and once Gael gave him a chance to actually explain things, I really enjoyed hearing his opinions. Another character I really liked was Piper, she seemed super sweet, and as Gael said super annoying at times, but you can tell he really cares about her and she feels the same. They really look out for each other, especially since they has to go through such a hard thing at a pretty early age, and they were the only ones who actually understood each other. The final person, and the one I most liked... Let me rephrase the one I LOVED, was Sammy! Sammy was just such a genuinely nice person too, but she wasn't immature. She was super smart, kind, and I honestly could relate to all her feelings so well. I really love how she interacts with both Gael and Piper, and how she's super well balanced overall. I loved her part in this novel and wish it focused more on her rather than on Gael.
Now on to the settings and plot! The settings of this book also played a pretty big role in this book but they weren't as important. I think the biggest importance a setting played in this book was the difference between Gael's Dad's apartment and Gael's mom's house. This was very important to take notice of because it wasn't just the setting but they also had very different atmospheres and also very different but important roles in the book. It often showed how hard it was for Gael and Piper to really switch their lives around to accommodate the divorce. It also really showed how much people really take things for granted that they think will always be there. This was actually a big issue for Gael, with a few things. There were also the settings of Gael's school, the collage near them, UNC, which both Cara and Sammy attended, and also just the surroundings shops and area that Gael walked to (movies, restaurants, nacho place). The plot of this book was very similar to a typically contemporary romance. They was drama involved, a big choice, the parents, and obviously more than one love interests. Overall, however I found that the modern take that Leah took on the otherwise pretty basic outline highlighted a few key things and made this novel that much more fun to read. I really like how she made the narrator love (not for the whole time though), and that love was also really funny and all knowing, as well as very self-aware. The plot could've used some other events to spice things up, but overall Leah did a good job and made this book a really fast and easy read (interesting, and not hard to finish). I would stick to younger audiences however, because the book is mainly dealing with the younger motion of love, probably the best experience for ages 12-15. However, this book was still pretty enjoyable for me, and I really liked it!
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Amulet Books for letting me review such a great book, and to all my readers for reading my reviews and blog posts. Look out for this book, when it comes out to bookshelves near you tomorrow, November 1st! <3
To start off The Romantics is a young adult contemporary romance novel, told in the perspective of love. I really liked this book and highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a twist on a normal contemporary novel. The specific age group would probably be from 12-18 mainly because it does have a little bit of mature content but not too much to be considered even close to New Adult. The Romantics is written by Leah Konen and is published by Abrams Kids, Amulet Books. This book is 321 pages long, so not too long of a read. This book also comes out on November 1st and should be highly anticipated as it is a pretty good read.
Now I'll go into a bit of my own personal opinions. I truly really liked this book, I didn't love it but it was a pretty fast paced and cutesy read. I am a die-hard romantic (classified by the book, ;)), and I really liked the "rom-com, told by love" feel to this book. I honestly almost couldn't put this book down which is saying a lot, as I have a lot of school work to do as well. I really appreciated the whole told by love perspective because it gives it a new take on the whole rom-com idea, and also makes the novel that much more interesting and detailed. I actually think that one of my favourite characters in this book was love and in my opinion love was the best narrator ever. Hearing the story being told from love's perspective was at time's a bit confusing, because you couldn't tell what perspective it was being told from, but It was also hilarious and so much fun! Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a romantic contemporary that isn't just like any other. (The story kind of follows the exact same plot as usual, but it does have some great twists and turns, especially the whole love perspective aspect). So as you can tell I liked this book, it was pretty modern and cute so therefore I would give it a 7.6/10 stars. Even though it was a pretty great modern take, the actually writing style and plot weren't that great which is why I wouldn't give it higher. Overall, though I would recommend it and I would read it again if I hadn't already read it.A Quick Synopsis:
This book is a love story told by love. That's putting it in one sentence, but it's actually so much more than that. This book is about a boy named Gael who has never had a successful experience with love, and even though he's a classified, by love, romantic, he's kind of scared of the real experience. This book is about how he has to navigate life after his parents split up, and learn to manage life with a both complete and not complete family. Gael has a few love interests in this book that he has to explore (but I can't tell you which one actually matters because spoilers). As well Gael goes through a really tough breakup at the beginning of this book, which only further enhances the idea, for him, that love never lasts. Love being the semi-narrator of this book, knows all, and sees exactly what Gael needs. The only problem is actually accomplishing that.
Going more into the characters... The main characters of this book were obviously Gael, Love (somewhat as we never actually got to know it as a character), Gael's younger sister Piper, Sammy (Piper's babysitter), Cara (one of his love interests), Anika (his ex), and Mason (a friend). There were some others characters that played a smaller role in novel like his parents, and his other friends but most of the novel focused on Gael and his relationships. Overall, I actually think Gael wasn't bad. He wasn't my favourite character and I didn't like how he seemed to jump into a lot of things, but never the right things. However, I really did like how he interacted with his sister and how he genuinely cared about other people. He always poured his heart into every relationship dear to him, which was sweet, but also not very well planned on his part, because he often got his heart broken. I actually really felt bad for Gael for many parts during this book, especially the beginning. He had to go through a lot in this book, and I'm not quite sure if he grew as a character but he grew on me. I also really liked his Dad, even though I said he wasn't as major a character he was sweet, and once Gael gave him a chance to actually explain things, I really enjoyed hearing his opinions. Another character I really liked was Piper, she seemed super sweet, and as Gael said super annoying at times, but you can tell he really cares about her and she feels the same. They really look out for each other, especially since they has to go through such a hard thing at a pretty early age, and they were the only ones who actually understood each other. The final person, and the one I most liked... Let me rephrase the one I LOVED, was Sammy! Sammy was just such a genuinely nice person too, but she wasn't immature. She was super smart, kind, and I honestly could relate to all her feelings so well. I really love how she interacts with both Gael and Piper, and how she's super well balanced overall. I loved her part in this novel and wish it focused more on her rather than on Gael.
Now on to the settings and plot! The settings of this book also played a pretty big role in this book but they weren't as important. I think the biggest importance a setting played in this book was the difference between Gael's Dad's apartment and Gael's mom's house. This was very important to take notice of because it wasn't just the setting but they also had very different atmospheres and also very different but important roles in the book. It often showed how hard it was for Gael and Piper to really switch their lives around to accommodate the divorce. It also really showed how much people really take things for granted that they think will always be there. This was actually a big issue for Gael, with a few things. There were also the settings of Gael's school, the collage near them, UNC, which both Cara and Sammy attended, and also just the surroundings shops and area that Gael walked to (movies, restaurants, nacho place). The plot of this book was very similar to a typically contemporary romance. They was drama involved, a big choice, the parents, and obviously more than one love interests. Overall, however I found that the modern take that Leah took on the otherwise pretty basic outline highlighted a few key things and made this novel that much more fun to read. I really like how she made the narrator love (not for the whole time though), and that love was also really funny and all knowing, as well as very self-aware. The plot could've used some other events to spice things up, but overall Leah did a good job and made this book a really fast and easy read (interesting, and not hard to finish). I would stick to younger audiences however, because the book is mainly dealing with the younger motion of love, probably the best experience for ages 12-15. However, this book was still pretty enjoyable for me, and I really liked it!
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Amulet Books for letting me review such a great book, and to all my readers for reading my reviews and blog posts. Look out for this book, when it comes out to bookshelves near you tomorrow, November 1st! <3
No comments:
Post a Comment