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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
Such an amazing book!!! I loved how it was told through notes, webpages, texts and e-mails. This book had a really strong plot line that I loved and had a twist that I didn't see coming. But I didn't like the ending, it didn't feel like an ending, the story just stopped.
So this book was a fast read! I was not expecting to finish this book in one day. I think it’s mainly because of the way the story is presented, it’s told through online journals, emails, text messages, etc. There actually is never a normal story form set up in this book. Which worked really well for the first half of the book. For the last half, I think that’s part of why this story just didn’t feel like I was connecting to it. I felt like I was connecting so well with the characters in the beginning. But in the last part, I think that it really should have switched to a more normal story telling mode because the journal writing was so strange. Gena was writing for someone to read in the future. But just the fact that she was actually writing while doing something else? I was like, yeah, that’s basically impossible.
It really made me disconnect with the story because all I was thinking during the journal writing was, just tell us the story from a normal perspective. Just let it play out, you don’t need to keep this “screen” between the story anymore, this isn’t adding anything like it was earlier. So that was kind of disappointing because I was totally on board for this story and then I just became so disconnected.
The other part that really disconnected me from the story was Gena’s relationship with Charlie. The relationship you have with a significant other is so tender there in the beginning. The way Gena was treating Charlie was just bad. It was not the way you treat someone. Like I wanted Charlie to get away from her because she obviously was NEVER going to be ready for what he wanted. Ever. She had too much she needed to figure out about herself and good on her for seeing that she needed to do that. But not good on her for stringing him along. It was also a problem for me with how wonderful Charlie was. There are great guys in the world. A lot of them. I made so many cringe faces reading the parts when he was interacting with Gena and Finn. It was just overkill.
Also, sorry. I didn’t expect to start this off so negative. I DID enjoy the layout of the book in the first half. It made it feel more real than telling the story in a normal story mode would have done. Because I see this play out all day on the internet. It’s one of the things I love most about the internet! I loved how the fandom worked out in the pages. Their relationship with TylerGirl was hilarious. All throughout the book. Because there’s always someone like that.
I really liked the way they talked about fandoms and how it can help you connect to people. I grew up right as the internet was coming into our daily lives. I was a pre-teen when this was happening. I remember having a group of friends online where we played characters from A League of Their Own. I was Betty Spaghetti. Haha! But it was awesome! I also made great friends on various message boards, people I’ve gone on to meet in real life. My husband has a whole group of friends he’s met through Twitter and they get to meet up sometimes at GenCon. I love it and I think it’s wonderful when a book handles this as well as this book did. I think the first half of this book is what Scarlett Epstein Hates it Here was hoping to be. Because Gena/Finn handled this beautifully.
Gena’s thoughts after a fan Con they went to perfectly describes every Con I’ve ever been to. You get to be with your PEOPLE. When I leave book cons or when I’ve left various fan cons, you so get that down after that rush of being around other people who get what you feel. So yeah, that whole part really stood out to me.
Overall, this wasn’t a bad book and it was a really fast read. I think if they had broken their “this has to be told through writing and not from first or third perspective”, this book would’ve been solid all the way through. I borrowed this from the library and I’m glad I did. It was a nice, fast read.
It really made me disconnect with the story because all I was thinking during the journal writing was, just tell us the story from a normal perspective. Just let it play out, you don’t need to keep this “screen” between the story anymore, this isn’t adding anything like it was earlier. So that was kind of disappointing because I was totally on board for this story and then I just became so disconnected.
The other part that really disconnected me from the story was Gena’s relationship with Charlie. The relationship you have with a significant other is so tender there in the beginning. The way Gena was treating Charlie was just bad. It was not the way you treat someone. Like I wanted Charlie to get away from her because she obviously was NEVER going to be ready for what he wanted. Ever. She had too much she needed to figure out about herself and good on her for seeing that she needed to do that. But not good on her for stringing him along. It was also a problem for me with how wonderful Charlie was. There are great guys in the world. A lot of them. I made so many cringe faces reading the parts when he was interacting with Gena and Finn. It was just overkill.
Also, sorry. I didn’t expect to start this off so negative. I DID enjoy the layout of the book in the first half. It made it feel more real than telling the story in a normal story mode would have done. Because I see this play out all day on the internet. It’s one of the things I love most about the internet! I loved how the fandom worked out in the pages. Their relationship with TylerGirl was hilarious. All throughout the book. Because there’s always someone like that.
I really liked the way they talked about fandoms and how it can help you connect to people. I grew up right as the internet was coming into our daily lives. I was a pre-teen when this was happening. I remember having a group of friends online where we played characters from A League of Their Own. I was Betty Spaghetti. Haha! But it was awesome! I also made great friends on various message boards, people I’ve gone on to meet in real life. My husband has a whole group of friends he’s met through Twitter and they get to meet up sometimes at GenCon. I love it and I think it’s wonderful when a book handles this as well as this book did. I think the first half of this book is what Scarlett Epstein Hates it Here was hoping to be. Because Gena/Finn handled this beautifully.
Gena’s thoughts after a fan Con they went to perfectly describes every Con I’ve ever been to. You get to be with your PEOPLE. When I leave book cons or when I’ve left various fan cons, you so get that down after that rush of being around other people who get what you feel. So yeah, that whole part really stood out to me.
Overall, this wasn’t a bad book and it was a really fast read. I think if they had broken their “this has to be told through writing and not from first or third perspective”, this book would’ve been solid all the way through. I borrowed this from the library and I’m glad I did. It was a nice, fast read.
3.5
The first half of this book for me was 5 stars. I loved it and found it super relatable. Up Below reminded me a lot of Supernatural (and considering the authors' included Sam Winchester and Castiel in their favourite characters lists in the back of the book, I'm guessing this was a big influence) and I think they really nailed the tone and voice of people writing about fandom. I've read so many books that try to write teen-style blogs and completely fail at making it sound realistic, so I was really glad this book managed to do it successfully.
However, the second part of the book felt like a total 180 for me. This gets spoiler-y, so I'll hide it:
So overall, I really enjoyed it, but feel like the second half kind of let it down for me.
The first half of this book for me was 5 stars. I loved it and found it super relatable. Up Below reminded me a lot of Supernatural (and considering the authors' included Sam Winchester and Castiel in their favourite characters lists in the back of the book, I'm guessing this was a big influence) and I think they really nailed the tone and voice of people writing about fandom. I've read so many books that try to write teen-style blogs and completely fail at making it sound realistic, so I was really glad this book managed to do it successfully.
However, the second part of the book felt like a total 180 for me. This gets spoiler-y, so I'll hide it:
Spoiler
I felt like that accident came out of no where, and suddenly the whole tone of the book changed. I guess I should have realised more serious themes were going to crop up seeing as Gena's childhood hallucinations were a plot point, but it felt so sudden. And I really feet left hanging with that ending - I feel like Gena's last post (the fic) was meant to be some kind of closure, but it felt kind of abrupt to me. All I'm thinking is, what happened after? Did Gena get better? What happened with this Gena-Finn-Charlie situation they've got going on? I'm a little disappointed that the story didn't end with Gena and Finn getting together, but that's probably just because I like a good happy ending haha.So overall, I really enjoyed it, but feel like the second half kind of let it down for me.
*2.5 stars*
Since I cruised through this and ended up reading it in one sitting, I obviously didn't hate this book. But really I didn't love it either. The book starts off nicely, showing how two people from the same fandom online can connect and become great friends. That all felt realistic and had the appropriate amount of interesting drama without being too silly or out there. But then about halfway through, the book got REALLY dark and deep. I can't reveal too much without spoiling the book, but I felt that the events and the aftermath felt so dramatic that the story was no longer realistic. Things were just kind of crazy and I started rolling my eyes more and more. So I guess in the end this was an pretty ok book for me, as the first half was very cute and fun, but I didn't love the entire story.
Since I cruised through this and ended up reading it in one sitting, I obviously didn't hate this book. But really I didn't love it either. The book starts off nicely, showing how two people from the same fandom online can connect and become great friends. That all felt realistic and had the appropriate amount of interesting drama without being too silly or out there. But then about halfway through, the book got REALLY dark and deep. I can't reveal too much without spoiling the book, but I felt that the events and the aftermath felt so dramatic that the story was no longer realistic. Things were just kind of crazy and I started rolling my eyes more and more. So I guess in the end this was an pretty ok book for me, as the first half was very cute and fun, but I didn't love the entire story.
Sharp turn. Dark turn. The format isn’t suitable for kindle.
Still enjoyed it.
Still enjoyed it.
Holy shit I loved this. So unique and lovely. Fandom and internet friendships, love story and grief and mental illness--this book touches on so many messy things and touches on them so damn well. I just really, really loved this.
It was okay, I don't really have that many options about it to be honest.
Blog post here: http://kaylasbookinsanity.blogspot.com/2016/05/genafinn.html
Blog post here: http://kaylasbookinsanity.blogspot.com/2016/05/genafinn.html
The format of this book was nice, but because of it, I felt like I missed a lot of how the relationship between Gena & Finn actually developed. Everything just happened really fast all of a sudden and I wasn't really able to get attached to the characters. The ending of this book was really moving though and I loved the writing. I just thought the switch from being a light and funny book to one that deals with serious issues was a little too rough.
Spoiler
The actual end was also way too fast for me. I normally appreciate open endings, but this one was just unsatisfying.
What the fuck???????? I am not going to rate this??.?..?. I didnt expect this? I didnt sign up for this xD like, i just wanted a light, fun read for the fucking day xD so yeah, it was really good, thats undeniable, but it wasnt what i wanted xD so there you have it
Fucking fuck
Fucking fuck
tbh the book was 2 stars for plot but i fucking loved the format of it so much that i gave it 3 stars