Rating: ★★★☆☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: May 22, 2018
Source: Borrowed
Megan Harper is the girl before. All her exes find their one true love right after dating her. It’s not a curse or anything, it’s just the way things are, and Megan refuses to waste time feeling sorry for herself. Instead, she focuses on pursuing her next fling, directing theatre, and fulfilling her dream school’s acting requirement in the smallest role possible.
But her plans quickly crumble when she’s cast as none other than Juliet–yes, that Juliet–in her high school’s production. It’s a nightmare. No–a disaster. Megan’s not an actress and she’s certainly not a Juliet. Then she meets Owen Okita, an aspiring playwright who agrees to help Megan catch the eye of a sexy stagehand in exchange for help writing his new script.
Between rehearsals and contending with her divided family, Megan begins to notice Owen–thoughtful, unconventional, and utterly unlike her exes, and wonders: shouldn’t a girl get to play the lead in her own love story?
Always Never Yours was easily one of my most-anticipated debuts of 2018. As soon as I first saw the cover and synopsis (in a Twitter thread, of all places) I knew that I had to read it. The thing is, I kind of struggled to read this book, and I’m really sad about that.
The first third of the book is just… so… boring. It’s just Megan running around trying to find a boyfriend, which is fine but I felt like it was a little overdone. I mean, she’s hopping from one crush to the next and I appreciated that the authors never tried to condemn her for being unabashedly flirty and boy-crazy, but I was so bored. Then the play starts up and it gets marginally more interesting, but it’s so clear that Megan’s after the wrong boy that, again, it’s just boring. We’re just sitting there waiting for her to catch up. I mean, come on, now we’re like fifty percent in and everything that’s happened so far is in the synopsis. I hate it when that happens.
The second half of the book is better. I felt like the pacing improved and, let’s be honest, despite my problems with how the romance developed, Owen was pretty cute. (But, again, all of this is in the synopsis, so what’s even the point of reading this book?) I liked how Megan started taking control of her own life and I liked the exploration of her family dynamics. But, all in all, did I like this book? Not really.
I also want to mention (and thanks to Becky for the warning going in!) that this book features a lot of cheating. Like, so much cheating. I’m not sure I’ve read a book (certainly not a YA romance) that features quite this much cheating. Everybody is cheating on everybody and it’s exhausting. And it’s hardly even addressed! I was really disappointed by that.
I guess, in the end, I’d recommend this book if you were a theater kid and you want a nostalgic look back at those days. I don’t know that I’d necessarily recommend it as a romance, but you could certainly do worse if you’re looking for a quick summer read.
(I also totally missed the fact that Emily Wibberley attended Princeton University while I was living down the street from the campus, so for all I know, we could’ve been neighbors.)
Have you read Always Never Yours? Does cheating in books drive you crazy?
Let’s talk in the comments!
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I want to read it ASAP 😍 ❣
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I hope you like it ❤️
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Awww, I had my eyes on this book because of the cute cover but I guess I should skip this. XD Great review! 😀
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Thank you! ❤️ It really does have a great cover!
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Ah, boo. I’ll be passing on this one, I guess. Great review, as always.
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Thank you! But yeah, you can probably skip it.
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Yes!! I felt the same. I was so disappointed! I also hated all the cheating 🙄
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It was so weird to have all that cheating in a YA book!! It would even be weird in an adult book, I think, but in YA was just especially weird.
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Yeah, totally agree. I don’t really know what she was trying to convey with it. All I know, is that I didn’t like it one bit!
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I was looking forward to reading it! But it’s not the type of the book I would read. And the cheating and running around boys would drive me crazy tbh. Great review 👍🏻😊
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Thank you! It’s too bad that it sounds like something you wouldn’t enjoy, but I’m glad you know now before you take the time to read it. 🙂
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Sorry you didn’t love it 😦 You were absolutely right that nothing interesting really happens. lol. I keep seeing a lot of press this week for their new book… I honestly think I might just skip that one.
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You warned me!
I keep seeing stuff about their new book too! If I’m Being Honest…… the synopsis doesn’t sound that exciting, but Mean Girls meets The Taming of the Shrew could be really good? I’ll probably wait and see what the reviews look like before I decide.
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Yep, a plot can definitely start to feel a bit predictable when you know the girl’s got the wrong guy again, and you’re just waiting for the relationship to fall apart lol. I guess it’s a pass on this one then, but great review! 🙂
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Thank you! And, I mean, really… if you’re going to put “then she meets Owen” right there in the synopsis, do you really expect me to root for the other guy she’s dating??
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lololols major spoiler fail… 😂
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