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connif_han's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
alex shouldn’t have forgiven all of them so easily, especially efia. his dad was also too neglectful and let kendra verbally abuse his son so he doesn’t deserve easy forgiveness either, regardless of him pulling through at the very end. alex, ben, caleb and eve are my favorites.
fishfish's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
beckymcinerney's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
mehsi's review against another edition
5.0
"I was all fireworks emoji, love hearts emoji, two boys holding hands emoji.”
My fifth Simon James Green and I can tell you one thing, he is one of my favourite authors now. I have loved his picture book Llama Glamarama (5). I loved his MG books: Sleepover Takeover (5) and Life of Riley (5). And I loved two of his Young Adult books: this one (4.5) and You’re the One That I Want (4*). I definitely need to get Gay Club and his other books soon!
In this book we meet Alex. Chaotic, a misfit, tons of bad luck, but also a sweet boy who just tries his best to manoeuvre through puberty and life in general. It is summer and while he had plans.. his friends ditched him and so he ends up working in a falling-apart arcade near the pier. If only he had known that his doomed summer wasn’t so doomed, because this summer is going to be wild. With friends. With work. With making something out of that work and try to keep it alive. We see him with Lemon Boy. We see him fall in love and struggle with that. And there is more. Alex was a very wonderful character. I am also glad that I am not the only one with a pillow obsession. Haha, my parents at times wondered why I had so many pillows and my husband is now also wondering why I need so many or why I need new ones. XD
I loved the arcade and wished I could visit it. Especially later when the teens put in more effort to make it awesome. That museum-make-over? I wanted to be part of it. Wanted to visit it. Get scared shitless.
I also loved the various other characters we got in the book. Like Efia, sweet and determined Efia who is willing to go a long mile for her friends. Or Caleb who at first I wasn’t sure about but then absolutely adored. Maggie was just fantastic. I loved how she was all tough but sweet underneath.
I had such a big laugh the two times that Alex drank just a little bit of alcohol and got completely drunk just from that. Well, at least he turned honest when he was that, though haha, some things I am not sure if he wanted to do. XD Like pee in the shrubs.
There was tons of shipping. First up with Lemon Boy, though for me that quickly stopped given things. But there is plenty of Ben to ship with Alex and just hope that the girlfriend stuff is either not real or just falls apart. Yes, I know harsh, but seriously, I needed to get these boys together, pronto. And I loved that I wasn’t the only one shipping them. Everyone at the arcade did it and even Alex his dad was into it. Haha. I love that Efia made their shipname Bex, that is so adorbs! I loved the quick glances between the guys. The little moments. The sweet moments that you want them to kiss, but oh yes, Bella is still in the picture lets just not. I loved that Alex was pining and kept pining, but kept it all respectful. He knew that Ben had someone and he wasn’t going to initiate anything without knowing that that relationship is over. There were so many cute moments and then when they were finally able to get together… oh boy, I was cheering. I don’t think it is a spoiler, I knew from the start that Ben x Alex was the only true pairing. The one meant to get together at the end or well hopefully sooner than that. There was one very romantic moment and I was just squeeing and yasing!
Then there is the mystery. Who is targeting the arcade? Why? Who? What? I loved seeing our group try to figure things out. Try to follow hints and clues. It definitely added a lot of excitement to the book.
I wasn’t a fan of Kendra. Holy crap. This woman. Constantly making harsh remarks, critiquing Alex whenever she had the chance, putting him down, not giving him privacy, making him feel shit. And all along his dad apparently didn’t mind. Well until the end, but seriously, I would have liked him to step up sooner. This is your son. He is more important than your new girlfriend.
I wasn’t a fan of the drama near the end, I mean, seriously, we already have enough of that crap in romance novels, please don’t put it in my YA or MG. I was just so surprised to see it and it just didn’t make any sense how everyone went 360 on poor Alex. Instead of talking, or listening, they did this. I am glad it was resolved quickly because for a moment I was thinking of giving minus points.
The ending, that one was a rollercoaster ride, especially with THAT revelation.
All in all, a fun read that had me laughing, shipping, giggling, and having tons of fun! I would recommend it.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
My fifth Simon James Green and I can tell you one thing, he is one of my favourite authors now. I have loved his picture book Llama Glamarama (5). I loved his MG books: Sleepover Takeover (5) and Life of Riley (5). And I loved two of his Young Adult books: this one (4.5) and You’re the One That I Want (4*). I definitely need to get Gay Club and his other books soon!
In this book we meet Alex. Chaotic, a misfit, tons of bad luck, but also a sweet boy who just tries his best to manoeuvre through puberty and life in general. It is summer and while he had plans.. his friends ditched him and so he ends up working in a falling-apart arcade near the pier. If only he had known that his doomed summer wasn’t so doomed, because this summer is going to be wild. With friends. With work. With making something out of that work and try to keep it alive. We see him with Lemon Boy. We see him fall in love and struggle with that. And there is more. Alex was a very wonderful character. I am also glad that I am not the only one with a pillow obsession. Haha, my parents at times wondered why I had so many pillows and my husband is now also wondering why I need so many or why I need new ones. XD
I loved the arcade and wished I could visit it. Especially later when the teens put in more effort to make it awesome. That museum-make-over? I wanted to be part of it. Wanted to visit it. Get scared shitless.
I also loved the various other characters we got in the book. Like Efia, sweet and determined Efia who is willing to go a long mile for her friends. Or Caleb who at first I wasn’t sure about but then absolutely adored. Maggie was just fantastic. I loved how she was all tough but sweet underneath.
I had such a big laugh the two times that Alex drank just a little bit of alcohol and got completely drunk just from that. Well, at least he turned honest when he was that, though haha, some things I am not sure if he wanted to do. XD Like pee in the shrubs.
There was tons of shipping. First up with Lemon Boy, though for me that quickly stopped given things. But there is plenty of Ben to ship with Alex and just hope that the girlfriend stuff is either not real or just falls apart. Yes, I know harsh, but seriously, I needed to get these boys together, pronto. And I loved that I wasn’t the only one shipping them. Everyone at the arcade did it and even Alex his dad was into it. Haha. I love that Efia made their shipname Bex, that is so adorbs! I loved the quick glances between the guys. The little moments. The sweet moments that you want them to kiss, but oh yes, Bella is still in the picture lets just not. I loved that Alex was pining and kept pining, but kept it all respectful. He knew that Ben had someone and he wasn’t going to initiate anything without knowing that that relationship is over. There were so many cute moments and then when they were finally able to get together… oh boy, I was cheering. I don’t think it is a spoiler, I knew from the start that Ben x Alex was the only true pairing. The one meant to get together at the end or well hopefully sooner than that. There was one very romantic moment and I was just squeeing and yasing!
Then there is the mystery. Who is targeting the arcade? Why? Who? What? I loved seeing our group try to figure things out. Try to follow hints and clues. It definitely added a lot of excitement to the book.
I wasn’t a fan of Kendra. Holy crap. This woman. Constantly making harsh remarks, critiquing Alex whenever she had the chance, putting him down, not giving him privacy, making him feel shit. And all along his dad apparently didn’t mind. Well until the end, but seriously, I would have liked him to step up sooner. This is your son. He is more important than your new girlfriend.
I wasn’t a fan of the drama near the end, I mean, seriously, we already have enough of that crap in romance novels, please don’t put it in my YA or MG. I was just so surprised to see it and it just didn’t make any sense how everyone went 360 on poor Alex. Instead of talking, or listening, they did this. I am glad it was resolved quickly because for a moment I was thinking of giving minus points.
The ending, that one was a rollercoaster ride, especially with THAT revelation.
All in all, a fun read that had me laughing, shipping, giggling, and having tons of fun! I would recommend it.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
hattie_mc's review
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
joanna1905's review against another edition
3.0
*Rating a 3.5*
This book was a pretty good read, better than I expected when I realised this was by the same author as 'Noah can't even' a book I tried to read but just could not jive with the overly awkward character, dialogue etc.
I did still find that this book has a lot of that (more than I'd like) but not so much that I couldn't get through it.
So let's talk about the characters...
I didn't mind Alex as a protag though I wish he'd have stuck up for himself once and a while, it was hard watching him be a doormat for everyone all the time but overall he was a fairly endearing character and I did root for him.
I liked Ben, Caleb and Efia were nice side characters and were the only people who actually seemed to treat Alex right, though I didn't love quite how pushy Efia was about getting Alex and Caleb together even though Alex protested so many times.
His friends that we see in the first chapter we're very unnecessary and I'm not sure why they were even included. They were only in one scene and after that Alex only even thought about them once when he thought 'haven't heard from x, thought we'd always be friends but oh well'. Which was so weird, yeah friends growing apart happens but this was given so little attention I don't know why they were even included at all.
Finally, Alex's father and Kendra. Kendra was so constantly horrible and nothing short of emotionally abusive. It's no wonder Alex has such low self-esteem when that horrible woman gets on his back for literally everything. Also considering she isn't his mother and the relationship with his father seems fairly new she sure loves playing the mother in the worst possible ways i.e. refusing to give him privacy for no reason. She also constantly talks crap about his mother and her ability to parent as if she's not a literal home wrecker (this isn't explicitly stated but it is inferred a few times).
Alex's father is just as bad because he just lets Kendra get away with everything and never once sticks up for his son when she's being horrible to him. It's not until the very end he actually acknowledges that Kendra is terrible to his son. Also, the small things we find out about his mother makes her sound pretty interesting so I was pretty bummed we never got to meet her.
The mystery plot was pretty well done, a number of suspects were all introduced to keep you guessing but I wasn't totally satisfied with the conclusion. I liked that Maggie was responsible for the fire but I'm confused about what that meant for the rest of the mystery... Did Maggie plan it all because she always wanted to burn it down and start over or did she just take advantage of those circumstances that were really someone else terrorising Wonderland? and if so, who was it?
One thing I did really like was that Alex was just gay and that was that, it's nice reading a queer romance where the main character is out and comfortable so that doesn't arise as a point of tension in the story.
All in all, this is an alright read, I can absolutely see why some people would totally adore it but while I enjoyed it, It's not one of my fav lgbtq+ contemporaries.
This book was a pretty good read, better than I expected when I realised this was by the same author as 'Noah can't even' a book I tried to read but just could not jive with the overly awkward character, dialogue etc.
I did still find that this book has a lot of that (more than I'd like) but not so much that I couldn't get through it.
So let's talk about the characters...
I didn't mind Alex as a protag though I wish he'd have stuck up for himself once and a while, it was hard watching him be a doormat for everyone all the time but overall he was a fairly endearing character and I did root for him.
I liked Ben, Caleb and Efia were nice side characters and were the only people who actually seemed to treat Alex right, though I didn't love quite how pushy Efia was about getting Alex and Caleb together even though Alex protested so many times.
His friends that we see in the first chapter we're very unnecessary and I'm not sure why they were even included. They were only in one scene and after that Alex only even thought about them once when he thought 'haven't heard from x, thought we'd always be friends but oh well'. Which was so weird, yeah friends growing apart happens but this was given so little attention I don't know why they were even included at all.
Finally, Alex's father and Kendra. Kendra was so constantly horrible and nothing short of emotionally abusive. It's no wonder Alex has such low self-esteem when that horrible woman gets on his back for literally everything. Also considering she isn't his mother and the relationship with his father seems fairly new she sure loves playing the mother in the worst possible ways i.e. refusing to give him privacy for no reason. She also constantly talks crap about his mother and her ability to parent as if she's not a literal home wrecker (this isn't explicitly stated but it is inferred a few times).
Alex's father is just as bad because he just lets Kendra get away with everything and never once sticks up for his son when she's being horrible to him. It's not until the very end he actually acknowledges that Kendra is terrible to his son. Also, the small things we find out about his mother makes her sound pretty interesting so I was pretty bummed we never got to meet her.
The mystery plot was pretty well done, a number of suspects were all introduced to keep you guessing but I wasn't totally satisfied with the conclusion. I liked that Maggie was responsible for the fire but I'm confused about what that meant for the rest of the mystery... Did Maggie plan it all because she always wanted to burn it down and start over or did she just take advantage of those circumstances that were really someone else terrorising Wonderland? and if so, who was it?
One thing I did really like was that Alex was just gay and that was that, it's nice reading a queer romance where the main character is out and comfortable so that doesn't arise as a point of tension in the story.
All in all, this is an alright read, I can absolutely see why some people would totally adore it but while I enjoyed it, It's not one of my fav lgbtq+ contemporaries.
stefanh's review
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
callybee's review
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
drakoulis's review against another edition
5.0
Such a cute book!
Alex is adorably awkward, Ben is the sweetest, the mystery and the slow burn romance go hand in hand, the funny scenes and the cute ones follow one another!
This book has the perfect summer romance/adventure feel!
Alex is adorably awkward, Ben is the sweetest, the mystery and the slow burn romance go hand in hand, the funny scenes and the cute ones follow one another!
This book has the perfect summer romance/adventure feel!
the_gare_bear's review against another edition
4.0
Such a joy to read. Sure some of the book seemed a little predictable, but it was a fun read and brought with it a lot of great feelings of nostalgia and what it's like to first like your in love. Not to mention the bit of mystery thrown in. A great little book for those looking for something not to deep, but gives you enough to think about life and the pursuit of happiness.