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justmeandmybooks_'s review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars
This book was a wholeass mess.
THE GOOD
- Charming. Charming was the one and only (mostly) likeable character in this book.
- It was easy to read - I read it in one sitting no problem. And I was somewhat invested I guess.
- It was very short and therefore I didn't waste too much of my time on it.
THE BAD (and trust me, there's a lot of it)
-Everything else.
Okay, okay, I'll be serious.
- First off, Ash annoyed the hell out of me. She had this obnoxious 'holier-than-thou' attitude. But also she was sort of a jerk to Charming so like,,, it wasn't even deserved. And for god's sake she apparently couldn't even snap at the dickheads in her life, because she was too nice and she'd been taught better than that, and honestly that's not even a healthy message to send because she was so fucking spineless like omg STAND UP FOR YOURSELF YOU DUMBASS
- Secondly this majorly suffered from Not Like Other Girls syndrome like wow enough already I GET it you're so perfect and lovely and unusual and all the other girls are trash. And like wow talk about girl hate. I just wanted to hurl the book across the room most of the time.
- Thirdly the writing wasn't even good. It was jumpy and forced and suffered from a little too much telling and not enough showing.
- Also the relationship had zero development whatsoever like I get that they were talking a bunch off page, but you need to show us at least some of that if you want us to believe it.
- Everything needed more development tbh
- And wow can we discuss the gay rep?? I was unimpressed. It wasn't horrible per se, but she sort of didn't question? at all? It was like 'oh this girl is cute oh I have a crush oh I'm gay then. cool. no biggie.' and look I know everyone's experience is different, and maybe this is what it's like for some people, but I know that in my experience, and the experience of everyone I've ever talked to about it, there's usually some amount of questioning if you didn't know from an early age. But Ash was just like 'girl is hot. I have crush on girl. okay I'm gay obviously. bc there's no other options whatsoever, and this isn't in any way a difficult conclusion to come to or anything'
- Plus there were no stakes. Whatsoever. I was never concerned about anything.
- bleh
***Pre-review, December 28, 2018***
Look the cover is hideous, but this book is a queer Cinderella retelling!! So I need it!
This book was a wholeass mess.
THE GOOD
- Charming. Charming was the one and only (mostly) likeable character in this book.
- It was easy to read - I read it in one sitting no problem. And I was somewhat invested I guess.
- It was very short and therefore I didn't waste too much of my time on it.
THE BAD (and trust me, there's a lot of it)
-
Okay, okay, I'll be serious.
- First off, Ash annoyed the hell out of me. She had this obnoxious 'holier-than-thou' attitude. But also she was sort of a jerk to Charming so like,,, it wasn't even deserved. And for god's sake she apparently couldn't even snap at the dickheads in her life, because she was too nice and she'd been taught better than that, and honestly that's not even a healthy message to send because she was so fucking spineless like omg STAND UP FOR YOURSELF YOU DUMBASS
- Secondly this majorly suffered from Not Like Other Girls syndrome like wow enough already I GET it you're so perfect and lovely and unusual and all the other girls are trash. And like wow talk about girl hate. I just wanted to hurl the book across the room most of the time.
- Thirdly the writing wasn't even good. It was jumpy and forced and suffered from a little too much telling and not enough showing.
- Also the relationship had zero development whatsoever like I get that they were talking a bunch off page, but you need to show us at least some of that if you want us to believe it.
- Everything needed more development tbh
- And wow can we discuss the gay rep?? I was unimpressed. It wasn't horrible per se, but she sort of didn't question? at all? It was like 'oh this girl is cute oh I have a crush oh I'm gay then. cool. no biggie.' and look I know everyone's experience is different, and maybe this is what it's like for some people, but I know that in my experience, and the experience of everyone I've ever talked to about it, there's usually some amount of questioning if you didn't know from an early age. But Ash was just like 'girl is hot. I have crush on girl. okay I'm gay obviously. bc there's no other options whatsoever, and this isn't in any way a difficult conclusion to come to or anything'
- Plus there were no stakes. Whatsoever. I was never concerned about anything.
- bleh
***Pre-review, December 28, 2018***
Look the cover is hideous, but this book is a queer Cinderella retelling!! So I need it!
caseythecanadianlesbrarian's review against another edition
4.0
The much better hi-lo YA companion to Charming by the same author, which I just reviewed. It feels pretry clear this one was written first, and I'm honestly not sure it needed a companion. If you are going to read both, I would definitely suggest Cinders first. It establishes the love story that I wasn't convinced of in Charming.
This book is a modern Cinderella retelling about a teen girl, Ash, whose mom has recently died. She's living with her (clueless) stepdad and (evil) stepsiblings who alternately threaten to get her kicked out if she doesn't do their homework and play cruel pranks on her and post the videos online.
Ash is great at coding, and she makes an app called SendLove where girls being bullied online can go for support. There she meets Charming. They fall in love online, and eventually realize they go to the same school. But Ash doesn't trust that Char will like the real her. After all, she's known as Garbage Girl at school.
A heartfelt story about a teen with precarious housing, coming out, and being resilient in the face of a lot of tough stuff. While it does have the happily ever after the girls deserve, I like that it doesn't tie up every issue with a neat bow. Sometimes things (and people) suck, they don't change their ways, and you just have to move on. I also like how frankly the book dealt with lesbian teen sexuality.
This book is a modern Cinderella retelling about a teen girl, Ash, whose mom has recently died. She's living with her (clueless) stepdad and (evil) stepsiblings who alternately threaten to get her kicked out if she doesn't do their homework and play cruel pranks on her and post the videos online.
Ash is great at coding, and she makes an app called SendLove where girls being bullied online can go for support. There she meets Charming. They fall in love online, and eventually realize they go to the same school. But Ash doesn't trust that Char will like the real her. After all, she's known as Garbage Girl at school.
A heartfelt story about a teen with precarious housing, coming out, and being resilient in the face of a lot of tough stuff. While it does have the happily ever after the girls deserve, I like that it doesn't tie up every issue with a neat bow. Sometimes things (and people) suck, they don't change their ways, and you just have to move on. I also like how frankly the book dealt with lesbian teen sexuality.
iris's review
2.0
2.5 stars
This book was a wholeass mess.
THE GOOD
- Charming. Charming was the one and only (mostly) likeable character in this book.
- It was easy to read - I read it in one sitting no problem. And I was somewhat invested I guess.
- It was very short and therefore I didn't waste too much of my time on it.
THE BAD (and trust me, there's a lot of it)
-Everything else.
Okay, okay, I'll be serious.
- First off, Ash annoyed the hell out of me. She had this obnoxious 'holier-than-thou' attitude. But also she was sort of a jerk to Charming so like,,, it wasn't even deserved. And for god's sake she apparently couldn't even snap at the dickheads in her life, because she was too nice and she'd been taught better than that, and honestly that's not even a healthy message to send because she was so fucking spineless like omg STAND UP FOR YOURSELF YOU DUMBASS
- Secondly this majorly suffered from Not Like Other Girls syndrome like wow enough already I GET it you're so perfect and lovely and unusual and all the other girls are trash. And like wow talk about girl hate. I just wanted to hurl the book across the room most of the time.
- Thirdly the writing wasn't even good. It was jumpy and forced and suffered from a little too much telling and not enough showing.
- Also the relationship had zero development whatsoever like I get that they were talking a bunch off page, but you need to show us at least some of that if you want us to believe it.
- Everything needed more development tbh
- And wow can we discuss the gay rep?? I was unimpressed. It wasn't horrible per se, but she sort of didn't question? at all? It was like 'oh this girl is cute oh I have a crush oh I'm gay then. cool. no biggie.' and look I know everyone's experience is different, and maybe this is what it's like for some people, but I know that in my experience, and the experience of everyone I've ever talked to about it, there's usually some amount of questioning if you didn't know from an early age. But Ash was just like 'girl is hot. I have crush on girl. okay I'm gay obviously. bc there's no other options whatsoever, and this isn't in any way a difficult conclusion to come to or anything'
- Plus there were no stakes. Whatsoever. I was never concerned about anything.
- bleh
***Pre-review, December 28, 2018***
Look the cover is hideous, but this book is a queer Cinderella retelling!! So I need it!
This book was a wholeass mess.
THE GOOD
- Charming. Charming was the one and only (mostly) likeable character in this book.
- It was easy to read - I read it in one sitting no problem. And I was somewhat invested I guess.
- It was very short and therefore I didn't waste too much of my time on it.
THE BAD (and trust me, there's a lot of it)
-
Okay, okay, I'll be serious.
- First off, Ash annoyed the hell out of me. She had this obnoxious 'holier-than-thou' attitude. But also she was sort of a jerk to Charming so like,,, it wasn't even deserved. And for god's sake she apparently couldn't even snap at the dickheads in her life, because she was too nice and she'd been taught better than that, and honestly that's not even a healthy message to send because she was so fucking spineless like omg STAND UP FOR YOURSELF YOU DUMBASS
- Secondly this majorly suffered from Not Like Other Girls syndrome like wow enough already I GET it you're so perfect and lovely and unusual and all the other girls are trash. And like wow talk about girl hate. I just wanted to hurl the book across the room most of the time.
- Thirdly the writing wasn't even good. It was jumpy and forced and suffered from a little too much telling and not enough showing.
- Also the relationship had zero development whatsoever like I get that they were talking a bunch off page, but you need to show us at least some of that if you want us to believe it.
- Everything needed more development tbh
- And wow can we discuss the gay rep?? I was unimpressed. It wasn't horrible per se, but she sort of didn't question? at all? It was like 'oh this girl is cute oh I have a crush oh I'm gay then. cool. no biggie.' and look I know everyone's experience is different, and maybe this is what it's like for some people, but I know that in my experience, and the experience of everyone I've ever talked to about it, there's usually some amount of questioning if you didn't know from an early age. But Ash was just like 'girl is hot. I have crush on girl. okay I'm gay obviously. bc there's no other options whatsoever, and this isn't in any way a difficult conclusion to come to or anything'
- Plus there were no stakes. Whatsoever. I was never concerned about anything.
- bleh
***Pre-review, December 28, 2018***
Look the cover is hideous, but this book is a queer Cinderella retelling!! So I need it!
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