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bookdevouringmisfit's review against another edition
2.0
2-2.5 stars
I'm not sure. I could see this working much better as a movie though.
I'm not sure. I could see this working much better as a movie though.
ambeesbookishpages's review against another edition
4.0
The full review can be found at The Book Bratz!
**Please note: I recieved an eARC from the publisher via Edelweiss. All thoughts are my own**
This book was sweet, and then a punch in the gut. I wasn't aware that this book would only take place over the course of one night, before Matt left and when Matt returns. I found it quite interesting for a love story to be told in the course of only a few hours, but Lauren made sure that happened. I read The Night We Said Yes in only three hours, only moving from the couch when my leg would fall asleep.
The book alternated between then and now. We see how Matt and Ella fall and in love in the before, which was incredibly cute, then we see Matt come back and Matt and Ella fall back into love with each other. All in one night. I figured that because of the time frame of this book that Lauren was going to end up rushing it, but she didn't. The story flowed nicely and switching back and forth through time gave you a bigger appreciation of the characters and what was going on.
When we first meet Ella you can tell she has been hurt. She funny, sweet, sarcastic, and her best friend Meg hangs over her, protecting her. Meg basically gives you the impression that if she doesn't like you she will punch you in the face. Pretty much someone I would be friends with. I loved Meg and Ella's friendship and how the story focused a bit on their friendship as well. Through both now and then these girls have an incredibly strong friendship.
I liked Matt from the moment he came back. There was something about his character that I completely fell in love with, but I also wanted to hit him upside the head at some points. He just wouldn't open up to Ella. Ella is hurting because of his secrets. I never expected the reason for why he left, at this point my heart was no longer just breaking for Ella it was breaking for Matt too. Matt's leaving didn't just affect Ella, it affected Jake and Meg as well. Jake was Matt's best friend, and he didn't know why Matt left either.
One thing that I especially loved about this book was Meg and Jake's relationship. Because it wasn't a main point in the book it happened subtly in the background but in the "then" part of the novel, they grow through a rough patch in their relationship and then Jake confesses about how much her loves her. It was beautiful. Jake thinks he is a complete screw up and doesn't deserve Meg, and Meg doesn't need Jake. She loves home. I love that Lauren added that in there.
I could gush all day about how much I love this book. I did knock a star off because of the time. I do wish we would get more time with these characters. Other then that though The Night We Said Yes is defiantly a book I will be looking for in the book stores when it is published.
**Please note: I recieved an eARC from the publisher via Edelweiss. All thoughts are my own**
This book was sweet, and then a punch in the gut. I wasn't aware that this book would only take place over the course of one night, before Matt left and when Matt returns. I found it quite interesting for a love story to be told in the course of only a few hours, but Lauren made sure that happened. I read The Night We Said Yes in only three hours, only moving from the couch when my leg would fall asleep.
The book alternated between then and now. We see how Matt and Ella fall and in love in the before, which was incredibly cute, then we see Matt come back and Matt and Ella fall back into love with each other. All in one night. I figured that because of the time frame of this book that Lauren was going to end up rushing it, but she didn't. The story flowed nicely and switching back and forth through time gave you a bigger appreciation of the characters and what was going on.
When we first meet Ella you can tell she has been hurt. She funny, sweet, sarcastic, and her best friend Meg hangs over her, protecting her. Meg basically gives you the impression that if she doesn't like you she will punch you in the face. Pretty much someone I would be friends with. I loved Meg and Ella's friendship and how the story focused a bit on their friendship as well. Through both now and then these girls have an incredibly strong friendship.
I liked Matt from the moment he came back. There was something about his character that I completely fell in love with, but I also wanted to hit him upside the head at some points. He just wouldn't open up to Ella. Ella is hurting because of his secrets. I never expected the reason for why he left, at this point my heart was no longer just breaking for Ella it was breaking for Matt too. Matt's leaving didn't just affect Ella, it affected Jake and Meg as well. Jake was Matt's best friend, and he didn't know why Matt left either.
One thing that I especially loved about this book was Meg and Jake's relationship. Because it wasn't a main point in the book it happened subtly in the background but in the "then" part of the novel, they grow through a rough patch in their relationship and then Jake confesses about how much her loves her. It was beautiful. Jake thinks he is a complete screw up and doesn't deserve Meg, and Meg doesn't need Jake. She loves home. I love that Lauren added that in there.
I could gush all day about how much I love this book. I did knock a star off because of the time. I do wish we would get more time with these characters. Other then that though The Night We Said Yes is defiantly a book I will be looking for in the book stores when it is published.
steph01924's review against another edition
1.0
I was debating on whether or not to give this book two stars or one and then I realized...what would be the point of giving it two? I mean, this isn't the worst book I've ever read, but it's very not good. I ended up skimming half the book, and I don't think I missed much. It wasn't SO bad I wanted to throw it across the room, so, I guess...one and a half stars?
So 'the night we said yes'. Sounds like a lot of crazy shit is going to happen, yeah?! Well, no. Our characters buy alcohol with fake IDs (but Ella doesn't actually DO this; she sits outside with Matt blushing and pinkie-touching), they go skinny-dipping but in their underwear, and, oh! they do karaoke. OMG WHAT A WILD AND CRAZY NIGHT. I barely got into bed in my PJs before one! No, seriously, their night ends before 2am, complete with a discussion on whose house they will sleep at.
A major issue with the book, unfortunately, is the writing. The story isn't original, but I've read plenty of books that sound similar to others than end up being stand-outs based on the strength of the writing and the characters. Well, this book didn't do that. From the very first chapter I was going 'uh-oh' because it just reeked of immaturity. It managed to be straightforward AND boring.
The main character is a dish-rag. She is a limp noodle. When the book opens, she is still super depressed about her boyfriend of six months that left abruptly six months ago. Let's just think about that. The world is somehow duller and pointless since he's been gone. This guy she barely knew. Ella, honey, no. Then we flash back to a year ago, and, surprise!, Ella is still dull. She's depressed about another ex-boyfriend, shocker. Even when she's attempting to have fun, she's constantly insecure, worried about getting in trouble, and spending most of her time being super-concerned about her two asshole destructive BFFs and their relationship.
The problem with these characters comes back to the writing. They are caricatures. They have zero depth. Their problems are small and yet dragged out in the typical teenage drama that may be exciting when you're in it, but definitely not when you're reading about it.
Matt's secret reason for leaving was boring and his justifications were really pathetic. The conversations between him and Ella where they're supposed to be falling in love were the most hum-drum basic conversations between two people, I just...I was so darn bored.
So in summation, I would've totally stopped reading this book within the first two chapters if we weren't reading it for a book club. I can't even say that the reason I didn't like this book is because I'm not a teenager anymore, because I really hope and think that actual teenagers would also be rolling their eyes at this book. The only interesting parts were the references to places in central Florida, since that is where I live.
So 'the night we said yes'. Sounds like a lot of crazy shit is going to happen, yeah?! Well, no. Our characters buy alcohol with fake IDs (but Ella doesn't actually DO this; she sits outside with Matt blushing and pinkie-touching), they go skinny-dipping but in their underwear, and, oh! they do karaoke. OMG WHAT A WILD AND CRAZY NIGHT. I barely got into bed in my PJs before one! No, seriously, their night ends before 2am, complete with a discussion on whose house they will sleep at.
A major issue with the book, unfortunately, is the writing. The story isn't original, but I've read plenty of books that sound similar to others than end up being stand-outs based on the strength of the writing and the characters. Well, this book didn't do that. From the very first chapter I was going 'uh-oh' because it just reeked of immaturity. It managed to be straightforward AND boring.
The main character is a dish-rag. She is a limp noodle. When the book opens, she is still super depressed about her boyfriend of six months that left abruptly six months ago. Let's just think about that. The world is somehow duller and pointless since he's been gone. This guy she barely knew. Ella, honey, no. Then we flash back to a year ago, and, surprise!, Ella is still dull. She's depressed about another ex-boyfriend, shocker. Even when she's attempting to have fun, she's constantly insecure, worried about getting in trouble, and spending most of her time being super-concerned about her two asshole destructive BFFs and their relationship.
The problem with these characters comes back to the writing. They are caricatures. They have zero depth. Their problems are small and yet dragged out in the typical teenage drama that may be exciting when you're in it, but definitely not when you're reading about it.
Matt's secret reason for leaving was boring and his justifications were really pathetic. The conversations between him and Ella where they're supposed to be falling in love were the most hum-drum basic conversations between two people, I just...I was so darn bored.
So in summation, I would've totally stopped reading this book within the first two chapters if we weren't reading it for a book club. I can't even say that the reason I didn't like this book is because I'm not a teenager anymore, because I really hope and think that actual teenagers would also be rolling their eyes at this book. The only interesting parts were the references to places in central Florida, since that is where I live.
jackiehorne's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 Told in chapters that alternate in time (now, and 1 year ago) is the story of somewhat shy high schooler Ella, her bff melodramatic Meg, Meg's on-again, off-again boyfriend rock star high schooler Jake, and Jake's new bandmate Matt. Both the "then" and "now" chapters take place over the course of single nights, a decision that does not work well to reinforce the theme of change and growth over time. The "then" chapters relate how Ella and Matt first started to fall for each other, while the "now" chapters tell of the night when Matt comes back to town after having moved away and not stayed in touch with his friends six months ago. Only seeing E & M the first night, it's hard to care much about the fact that Matt never officially broke up with Ella, and never called her after moving. And its hard to get invested in Ella's heartbreak or mixed feelings when Matt shows up again.
Though published as a YA, this one has a distinct NA feel to me—there is little to no distance between what the first-person narrator (Ella) knows/believes and what the implied adult author knows. Ella and her friends come across as annoyingly (rather than compellingly or vulnerably) immature, reinforcing each others' bad decisions and behaviors. Every now and then there is more emotionally deep or subtle incident or passage (the moment when Ella realizes that friend Meg's anger at her is more about Ella moving away for college and leaving her behind than about any of Ella's choices regarding her relationship with Matt, for example). But for the most part, we're just in teen drama land, not a place I enjoy being without some more mature insights on the part of the author coming through.
Though published as a YA, this one has a distinct NA feel to me—there is little to no distance between what the first-person narrator (Ella) knows/believes and what the implied adult author knows. Ella and her friends come across as annoyingly (rather than compellingly or vulnerably) immature, reinforcing each others' bad decisions and behaviors. Every now and then there is more emotionally deep or subtle incident or passage (the moment when Ella realizes that friend Meg's anger at her is more about Ella moving away for college and leaving her behind than about any of Ella's choices regarding her relationship with Matt, for example). But for the most part, we're just in teen drama land, not a place I enjoy being without some more mature insights on the part of the author coming through.
books4susie's review against another edition
4.0
This is another book that had been on my TBR list for a while. The story takes place over two different nights, Then and Now. Then is the night Ella first meets Matt through her best friend, Meg and her boyfriend, Jake. Matt is the new bassist for Jake's band. Now is when Matt turns up six months after leaving town breaking Ella's heart and never communicating with his friends again.
When Matt turns up unexpectedly at a party thrown by Meg's brother, Ella is floored. Deciding to go off with him despite Meg's objections, Ella realizes that Matt is trying to recreate the night they first met. A night where they said yes to everything that was suggested. Told between Then and Now, the author beautifully weaves together the story to show how Matt tried to make both nights similar.
When Matt turns up unexpectedly at a party thrown by Meg's brother, Ella is floored. Deciding to go off with him despite Meg's objections, Ella realizes that Matt is trying to recreate the night they first met. A night where they said yes to everything that was suggested. Told between Then and Now, the author beautifully weaves together the story to show how Matt tried to make both nights similar.
nicolemhewitt's review against another edition
4.0
This review and many more can be found on my blog: Feed Your Fiction Addiction
The Night We Said Yes is a sweet, fun romance with a unique spin - it is told over the span of just two nights. The book switches back and forth between the night that Ella and Matt met and a night, a year later, when he returns after disappearing for six months. You learn about their relationship in between through Ella's thoughts and memories on the latter night.
What I loved:
The alternating story.
I really enjoyed learning about Ella and Matt's beginnings as it was interspersed with their current story. I thought that Gibaldi did a great job of weaving the two stories together. Most of the connection between Emmy and Oliver was built in the past, on the first day they met, but it never felt like insta-love because you knew you weren't seeing their full relationship in that one night. You got to see how Ella and Matt got together, but you understood that the real bonds between them formed over the next six months that they dated. Seeing Ella and Matt in the present - the awkwardness mixed with hope and a bit of sadness and anger - was an interesting contrast to seeing them on that first night together when everything was so sweet and new.
Meg and Jake.
Ella's friendship with Meg played a major role in the story - as well as the on-again-off-again romance between Meg and Jake. There was a big focus on supporting your friends, even when you don't agree with all of their decisions, and I loved the way that played out. Meg and Jake were an interesting couple because they were very dysfunctional in a lot of ways, so it was hard to know whether or not to root for them (which was kind of Ella's problem as well). Still, you could see that they were both trying to work through things together (and, in the case of Jake, trying to work through his own personal demons), so there was definitely a part of you that wanted them to make it!
The night they said yes.
The things that the group did on the first "night we said yes" weren't super crazy or dangerous things, but they were the types of things that would have felt very risky to relatively non-rebellious teens. For me, this was perfect because I could relate to them (my friends and I were pretty straight-laced in high school) - it was kind of refreshing to see teens act like teens in their rebellion instead of like juvenile delinquents! The story wasn't so much about how crazy they were, but about how these characters felt when they stretched their wings a little bit and how their relationships were affected.
The negatives:
Matt's reasoning for disappearing.
So, the only thing that didn't really work for me was Matt's excuses for why he completely disappeared from his friends' lives. Once the story was revealed, it was just a little underwhelming, and I couldn't really understand or believe why he'd made the decisions he did (he blamed some of it on the fact that his parents didn't allow him to tell people what was going on, which didn't ring true to me for a teenage boy - most kids would totally disregard their parents' wishes on something like this - it's not like he didn't have access to phones). Still, I do give him a little leeway on being uncommunicative because ... well, because he was a teenage boy. They're not known for their stellar communication skills. (And I just read that Matt's story is coming out as a novella on August 8th, so maybe that will clear up some of his motivations.)
So, overall, I really enjoyed this story. I connected to Ella and especially loved her friendship with Meg. If you're looking for a sweet YA romantic read, this one should hit the spot! I give it 4/5 stars.
***Disclosure: This book was provided to me by Edelweiss and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
The Night We Said Yes is a sweet, fun romance with a unique spin - it is told over the span of just two nights. The book switches back and forth between the night that Ella and Matt met and a night, a year later, when he returns after disappearing for six months. You learn about their relationship in between through Ella's thoughts and memories on the latter night.
What I loved:
The alternating story.
I really enjoyed learning about Ella and Matt's beginnings as it was interspersed with their current story. I thought that Gibaldi did a great job of weaving the two stories together. Most of the connection between Emmy and Oliver was built in the past, on the first day they met, but it never felt like insta-love because you knew you weren't seeing their full relationship in that one night. You got to see how Ella and Matt got together, but you understood that the real bonds between them formed over the next six months that they dated. Seeing Ella and Matt in the present - the awkwardness mixed with hope and a bit of sadness and anger - was an interesting contrast to seeing them on that first night together when everything was so sweet and new.
Meg and Jake.
Ella's friendship with Meg played a major role in the story - as well as the on-again-off-again romance between Meg and Jake. There was a big focus on supporting your friends, even when you don't agree with all of their decisions, and I loved the way that played out. Meg and Jake were an interesting couple because they were very dysfunctional in a lot of ways, so it was hard to know whether or not to root for them (which was kind of Ella's problem as well). Still, you could see that they were both trying to work through things together (and, in the case of Jake, trying to work through his own personal demons), so there was definitely a part of you that wanted them to make it!
The night they said yes.
The things that the group did on the first "night we said yes" weren't super crazy or dangerous things, but they were the types of things that would have felt very risky to relatively non-rebellious teens. For me, this was perfect because I could relate to them (my friends and I were pretty straight-laced in high school) - it was kind of refreshing to see teens act like teens in their rebellion instead of like juvenile delinquents! The story wasn't so much about how crazy they were, but about how these characters felt when they stretched their wings a little bit and how their relationships were affected.
The negatives:
Matt's reasoning for disappearing.
So, the only thing that didn't really work for me was Matt's excuses for why he completely disappeared from his friends' lives. Once the story was revealed, it was just a little underwhelming, and I couldn't really understand or believe why he'd made the decisions he did (he blamed some of it on the fact that his parents didn't allow him to tell people what was going on, which didn't ring true to me for a teenage boy - most kids would totally disregard their parents' wishes on something like this - it's not like he didn't have access to phones). Still, I do give him a little leeway on being uncommunicative because ... well, because he was a teenage boy. They're not known for their stellar communication skills. (And I just read that Matt's story is coming out as a novella on August 8th, so maybe that will clear up some of his motivations.)
So, overall, I really enjoyed this story. I connected to Ella and especially loved her friendship with Meg. If you're looking for a sweet YA romantic read, this one should hit the spot! I give it 4/5 stars.
***Disclosure: This book was provided to me by Edelweiss and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
catcervone's review against another edition
3.0
Maybe 3.5?
If you like:
-one night
-second chance romance
-back-and-forth timeline
-bands/music (think a little bit of YA Daisy Jones, though that’s not the plot at all)
-miscommunication
You’ll probably like this book! It was sweet and wholesome but also incredibly immature. Some plot holes were def there but nothing too horrible. If you’re considering picking it up, I still would.
If you like:
-one night
-second chance romance
-back-and-forth timeline
-bands/music (think a little bit of YA Daisy Jones, though that’s not the plot at all)
-miscommunication
You’ll probably like this book! It was sweet and wholesome but also incredibly immature. Some plot holes were def there but nothing too horrible. If you’re considering picking it up, I still would.
cindershelby's review against another edition
3.0
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
I got this from OwlCrate, and while it's not a book I generally would have picked up myself, it was a cute, fun read; but, don't expect a lot of substance. Good book to read if you're just looking for something quick and simple between bigger books. Kind of doubtful that I'll ever pick it up again for a reread - but at least it will look pretty on my bookshelf.
I got this from OwlCrate, and while it's not a book I generally would have picked up myself, it was a cute, fun read; but, don't expect a lot of substance. Good book to read if you're just looking for something quick and simple between bigger books. Kind of doubtful that I'll ever pick it up again for a reread - but at least it will look pretty on my bookshelf.