What’s Not To Love by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka Book Review
“‘If I wasn’t sworn to hate you until graduation, I’d say I missed this.’
‘Good thing you’re sworn to hate me then,’ I say.
His grin shifts into a smirk. ‘Good thing.'”
(pg. 180)
About
Authors: Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
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Synopsis
Since high school began, Alison Sanger and Ethan Molloy have competed on almost everything. AP classes, the school paper, community service, it never ends. If Alison could avoid Ethan until graduation, she would. Except, naturally, for two over-achieving seniors with their sights on valedictorian and Harvard, they share all the same classes and extracurriculars. So when their school’s principal assigns them the task of co-planning a previous class’s ten-year reunion, with the promise of a recommendation for Harvard if they do, Ethan and Alison are willing to endure one more activity together if it means beating the other out of the lead.
But with all this extra time spent in each other’s company, their rivalry begins to feel closer to friendship. And as tension between them builds, Alison fights the growing realization that the only thing she wants more than winning…is Ethan.
Review
Spoilers Contained Below
To the enemies,
This is my fourth Wibberley-Broka book I’ve read, and one thing I noticed is how Wibberley-Broka never fail to transport me right back to all the emotions I felt in high school 💜.
What a joyride of banter, wit, and thoughtful reflection that I enjoyed. I genuinely felt like I needed this book my senior year of high school. But honestly, reading What’s Not To Love a few years out of high school, I felt the story took on a whole different meaning to me, which I loved.
It’s actually kind of scarily funny how much I could relate to Alison. Alison is very Type A, she loves to study, she puts academics first, she’s highly organized, she’s driven (no pun intended if you know what I mean 😉), and she’s relentless. She wants to be the valedictorian and get into Harvard, so she joined all these esteemed academic clubs and positions to add to her resume to secure a place in Harvard—her dream school. I was similar to Alison in high school (and college) in putting school first and being more organized than a ruler. I remember every day after school, I would do homework and then study at night. I had multiple planners where I scheduled what I wanted to get done for the day, any classwork I needed to do, homework I needed to finish, and projects I wanted to get a head start on. I color coded my planner and everything. I would sometimes wake up so early that the sky was still a midnight blue, and I would get dressed, put on my shoes, and walk myself to school so I could get help from my teacher if I was absolutely confused about an assignment. Sometimes I would stay late for tutoring or study sessions with my friends even though I felt confident in the answers to an upcoming test. I would go just to feel reassured that I would do well. School, homework, projects, and getting straight A’s was my life when I was fourteen to seventeen, honestly since I started school to now even. But I worked my butt off in high school because like Alison, I wanted to be valedictorian because my brother and sister were valedictorians. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel some sort of pressure to be valedictorian. My parents didn’t place pressure on me to be so, but it would have felt off to me that both my siblings had such prestigious honors in high school and I would be the only sibling who didn’t. So, I worked hard so I could also graduate with a title. To be really honest, there were fifteen valedictorians in my high school and I was in the top ten 🙈. I think I was ninth or something, but hey, I made it!
I say this not to brag, but to highlight how much I connected to Alison. Graduating as a valedictorian with two honor chords and being in the National Honors Society (an officer no less), I didn’t aspire for Harvard 😆. So I wouldn’t understand the pressure of trying to go to an Ivy League school, but I can understand how nerve wracking everything feels in high school, especially if you are a junior or senior. You have to take all the SATs, ACTs, these school wide tests, and you have to pass certain classes to graduate. It’s a freaking LOT. It’s honestly exhausting how much we place on students when high scores on standardized tests absolutely mean nothing because a student or a persons’ worth shouldn’t be determined by a moment in time where they sit down and take a gosh forsaken boring test. It honestly shouldn’t. I didn’t get high test scores because I don’t test well, and the same could be for many people. I don’t like standardized tests, but I digress.
Anyway, I didn’t aspire for an esteemed Ivy League even though I definitely could have. I just felt like an Ivy League school wasn’t for me because I wanted to study education, and I don’t think Harvard, Princeton, Brown, or other schools had an education program I was looking for. So I went to my local college. So I just to say as my piece of wisdom 🙈 that it honestly doesn’t matter what college you go to because either way, you are going to receive a good education. It is all about what you make of your experience and what classes you take that provide you the education you want. You can go to your community or local university and it doesn’t mean that the education you will receive will be bad. I go to my local university and I’ve taken a plethora of classes from honest to gosh, amazing, intelligent, and kind professors. I felt like I have learned so much to the point where I know that I am getting a good education. Sure, my education may not be on the same level or reputation of an Ivy League school, but I am still learning things I never knew about and I’m growing. That’s what matters—that you are learning and making meaning from your education. That’s not to say don’t strive for an Ivy League if that’s what you want or that’s your goal because that’s wonderful! I know there are certain aspects, qualities, or degrees that Ivy League schools can provide a profoundly enlightening education for, but I think it depends on your degree of study and what you want. For example, if you’re studying law, go for the Ivy League if you want! If you’re studying business, music, or whatever, try an Ivy League if you want! But also know other schools have a great education and you won’t regret it. Just don’t put so much pressure on yourself to feel like you will only be amazing if you go to an Ivy League because you will be amazing no matter where you go. I know nowadays, there is so much pressure for students when it comes to applying for college, even more so than three years ago when I was applying to college. There’s all this pressure, but don’t make other people’s idea of a good college be another pressure you add to your plate during such a transformative and complicated part of your life. This was a very long spiel, but I just wanted to write some advice as someone who is now in college and who has been through it.
Speaking of advice, Alison has her admirable qualities, but she also had qualities that I kind of didn’t like. I mean, we all have good and not-so-good qualities, so harsh judgment on her! I just felt like her character was very petty, rude, pretentious at points, judgmental, and juvenile. I would describe her best as a kid who loves to play with fire. That’s not to say I didn’t like Alison, I just didn’t love her character.
First, she thinks she knows everything/ she has all the answers. This can be seen with her saying obviously as her go-to response. I think acting like she knew everything came across pretentious and like she was better than everyone. I know she said that she didn’t work hard to prove she was better than anyone but herself, but I feel like other people wouldn’t see it that way. I liked how she did want to be better than herself because I respect anyone who has inartistic motivation in wanting to prove she could do anything she set her mind to. I liked that.
But then there was this whole running idea in the book about maturity.
Alison feels like she lags behind her peers because all their parents’ are younger and her parents are older. So she felt like she had to mature to be on the same page or level as her sister, Jamie, and her older parents. But I just wanted to tell her to stop wanting to grow the heck up! I honestly felt like her acting all mature made her immature because she would put down other people or turn her nose at them when she didn’t know what they were going through. Whenever someone would give her advice, specifically an adult, she would brush off their comment as condescending and she wouldn’t listen to them because she felt she was too mature or too good for their advice. I understand where she was coming from because I don’t like being talked down to either by adults who think they also know everything. There are some comments and advice that I say, heck yea ignore and do your own thing because they don’t know you. But there were some really sound comments and advice that the adults were giving her that I felt like she needed to listen to. Those comments weren’t being rude, but trying to impart advice they wished someone told them when they were her age. I think adults do it all the time not to be rude but because they have regrets.
Regret was another big topic that Wibberley-Broka explored, which I loved.
“‘Do you think we’ll regret not doing it?’
‘Not doing what?’ Ethan’s question holds no skepticism or scorn.
I gesture in the direction of the water. ‘Skinny-dipping,’ I say. ‘You know. The things they do while we’re studying. The romanticized high school experience everyone says we should have.’
. . .
‘I just wonder if I’m . . . overlooking something. I don’t understand why everyone thinks high school is special. Why Is now the time to go skinny-dipping or we’ll regret it? We could go skinny-dipping next year or the year after or when we’re sixty. But it’s high school everyone holds up like it’s this epicenter of your life. This milestone we feel compelled to revisit every ten years for the rest of forever.'”
(pg. 185-6)
Because Alison and Ethan were studious, they never did all the typical high school things like partying, drinking, hanging out late at night, sneaking out, or skinny-dipping. I never did any of those things in high school too because I was studious as well.
I really liked the one honest and vulnerable conversation they had in this scene 😆. Because when I first started reading about Alison and how much she studied and did homework, I was like, “Sis, go out and live! Put down the homework and do something fun and teenage-like rather than study.” I said this to myself because I would have liked someone to tell me that when I buried my whole life in homework and school and projects.I absolutely did nothing in high school and I have always looked back and regretted not doing more. I think about how I would have at least loved to spend more time with my friends and go out whenever they went to the mall or to a movie. I don’t regret not going to parties, drinking, sneaking out, or heck, skinny-dipping because those things didn’t matter to me and I would have been too uncomfortable to do them. But I do have regrets about things I didn’t do–the things people typically did in high school.
Not lots of regrets, but some.
I actually loved how Alison had no regrets. She said NO RAGRETS!!! 😂
I legit thought of this Gif when thinking about Alison 🤪.
I respected that she had no regrets because not a lot of people can say that with absolution. I think though when we all look back on things, we have regrets, but we wouldn’t change what we did. The same goes for me. But I found it admirable that she didn’t regret studying and working towards her goals and dreams because that’s what she wanted in high school. She wanted to be valedictorian and get into an excellent college, that everything she did led her to her goals. Other people might have just wanted to graduate and party it up, which is fine because everyone has different goals. But it really put in perspective for me how high school doesn’t have to be just this one thing. High school doesn’t have to be a regret.
“I only hoped they’d done high school their way.”
(pg. 387)
When I read this quote, I was like, “Wow.” I was gobsmacked because Wibberley-Broka were right.
Do high school the way you want to. There is no right way.
Whether that means partying or getting straight C’s.
Whether that means joining all these clubs or being in the band.
Whether that means dating all these people just to experience what dating is like.
Whether it be studying your butt off each day.
No matter how you do high school, it shouldn’t matter because there is no right way. Don’t let anyone make you feel like you will have all these high school regrets just because you didn’t do all the extravagant things everyone else did in high school or what everyone else tells you to do. I mean, sure you can take someone’s advice, but you don’t really because you know what’s best for you in what you want.
I agree with how Alison said that everyone puts high school at the epicenter of life and this milestone we relive.
I heard it all the time growing up: “High school is the best four years of your life.”
I heard and watched all the parties, drinking, dating, and whatnot from movies. And yea, I felt like I did high school wrong when I look back on it. But movies and shows don’t really depict what high school is like. Gosh, if I wasn’t an enneagram four I wouldn’t have romanticized high school as what the shows or movies made it to be. But we do hold high school on a pedestal because the teenage years are pivotal years where we do try to figure out who we are. Ethan talked about how people try new things in high school because it can allow them to figure out who they want to be. I heard from someone recently—I think on a podcast—about how they write YA books because being a young adult, you are experiencing everything for the first time in a more heightened way. You may fall in love for the first time, drink for the first time, party for the first time, get your first job. All these firsts. Writing YA is exciting because it encapsulates all these firsts—the emotions, experiences, the exuberance. And I feel like that is what high school is like—it encapsulates a time people experience all these firsts that you can’t help but want to relive it in your mind.
Another thing I hear often from people is how much they wish they could go back to high school or how much they miss high school. I never understood this sentiment until I was out of high school. But I think people feel this way because they miss how new and fresh–the firsts–of everything. A time where life felt like endless possibilities and freedoms instead of being tied down to work, paying bills, making ends meet and all these responsibilities that come with growing up. When you’re in high school, gosh, the world is this distant concept and place you live in. High school is your world. Or for me, that’s how it felt. Every single thing felt like high school. The people, the work, the jokes, the life. That when I went to college, I was so shocked–stunned, even—how much the world becomes yours. The world opens up. High school is minuscule and doesn’t matter because you barely see the same people outside of high school and every single detail about high school isn’t as grand as we thought it was when we were in high school—the popularity, the coolness, the trends, the dating. But because everything is new in high school, it feels grand—pivotal.
High school becomes this milestone in our life because it is. It’s a time where we grow up and try things. We look back because we love the feeling of firsts. Because when you grow up, there are many firsts still, but not as much and not as exciting. I mean, paying your first house bill can be exciting, but compared to the first time you sneak out or do something juvenile, paying bills isn’t that exciting 🙃. More like stressful.
“‘You might want memories of high school to look back on besides studying, and exams, and . . . selling s’mores.'”
(pg. 176)
Which, I mean, yea.
But this quote goes back to how everyone reminisces about the past because high school holds all these memories. People who have been through high school know what it’s like to be young and to only focus on school, that they think they did high school wrong too. Sometimes they project that regret onto other people like Alison in the hopes they could have a better experience.
“‘Homework? For real?’ He laughs like I’ve just successfully told a joke. ‘You know homework isn’t actually important though, Like the real world has nothing to do with that stuff.'”
(pg. 153-4)
There was Ted who was a recent grad and now lived back home. He joined Jamie’s band because he wasn’t doing much/trying to figure it out.
When he told Alison this, I laughed because homework honestly doesn’t matter as much as we think it does. Ted was also right. But in high school, homework has this weight, especially if you have big goals like Alison. I liked this scene between Ted and Alison because she found him attractive on the surface level, but the minute he degraded homework, she didn’t like him. I thought it was interesting because attraction can be surface level, but it also runs deeper.
“High school holds a unique immortality for everyone. . . For whatever reason high school lingers.”
(pg. 165)
It does.
High school lingers because of all the things I mentioned previously, but I also believe it’s immortalized in our brain because high school was a time where things were simple. We weren’t too young to not understand the world or we weren’t in awkward middle school stages where we hate the world. In high school, we’re just old enough to understand the world and not as weird to feel comfortable in ourselves that we do things with newfound independence. Because of that, high school is a pivotal time—where we get a taste of life. Then when we actually get the full taste with being an adult, we want to go back to when we were young, dumb, (care)free—when things were easier.
I also highly appreciated the conversations about friendships or relationships in high school.
I loved how Wibberley-Broka contrasted Alison with all these new adults because it provided remarkable insight and enlightenment between someone who is going through high school and people who wish they could go through it again. I also loved how they created this contrast through the reunion. I thought that was SUCH a good touch 👌🏼💜.
I’m going to take a second to POP OFF on this principal 🤪.
As an education major, Williams was out of LINE 😆. I’m sorry, what the actual living freak???!!! She could NOT ask two minors/seniors to plan a FREAKING ten year reunion that wasn’t for her class. I’m sorry????? Like, what the—??? She’s principal, I get it, but she abused her power to tell Alison and Ethan to plan a reunion that had nothing to do with them just because the class president, Adam, of that year didn’t follow through on planning the reunion. Alison and Ethan have their own issues to deal with as seniors no less, so I just found it completely unbelievable and wrong that a principal would ask them to plan something like this. I also was APPALLED that she BLACKMAILED or kind of forced them to plan this reunion 😆. She said she said if they planned the reunion she was going to write them a good review or get a recommendation from Adam who went to Harvard. She also blackmailed them into saying she would make them valedictorians and she used their obvious competition against them to get them to agree. UNETHICAL!!! Someone take away her principal license!!! 😅
I’m not even joking! Like what the heck. She should have asked someone else on this gosh darn student government to plan the reunion. I think she said they were busy too, but even if they were busy, I don’t understand why she couldn’t have called someone else to plan the reunion—like, I don’t know, AN ADULT 🙃. Why didn’t she ask one of the many people in her staff to plan this reunion??????? HMMMMM. I could not. I also didn’t like how she said some teachers complained about Alison and Ethan’s rivalry so they had to work together on this. She was a very rude principal if I’m being honest 😉 and she didn’t seem to have a caring bone in her body.
I digress.
I get it, Alison and Ethan had to be the ones to plan the reunion, but realistically, that wouldn’t be a thing 🤪.
“It’s like the reunion. High school relationships, high school drama, high school rivalries–they’re not meant to be revisited every ten years. They’re meant to be outgrown.”
(pg. 143)
Yea.
I say high school drama, rivalries, and unhealthy relationships can stay in high school 👏🏼 Gosh knows that’s where I left them 🤪.
But there are things about high school that aren’t meant to be outgrown or that shouldn’t be outgrown.
Alison had this rigid mindset that after high school, she would move on. The high school book would close and she would be in college—a whole new book entirely.
“College isn’t about reliving high school.”
(pg. 324)
She also believed that her rivalry with Ethan would stop, she would suddenly be mature, and she could work towards achieving her bigger goals. She’s not wrong. But just because the high school book closes, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take with you the things that mattered. You know?
So Alison didn’t see the point of reunions when they were only a way of holding onto the past and people that should have been left behind.
“There are certain people in your life you’re supposed to graduate from. Returning to them is like forcing yourself to play with the toys you enjoyed when you were in kindergarten.”
(pg. 139-40)
In some cases, yes, in other cases, absolutely no.
I think that’s a very fixed perspective about high school. Just because you move on from something doesn’t mean everything you moved on from was bad. You can hold onto the things or the people who make you happy. You don’t have to leave or outgrow certain people or experiences.
“Hoping high school relationships won’t change isn’t realistic. But maintaining them while giving them room to grow could be.”
(pg. 368)
I liked this quote because high school relationships do change—they change while in high school and afterwards. Sometimes it’s a good change and other times it’s a hard change. No matter the change, if you want a person to still be in your life, you should try to keep the relationship going and allow it to grow in whatever way it can. Maybe it grows in your favor, maybe it doesn’t. But you tried.
There was this one conversation between Alison and her driver’s ed instructor, Hector, who was rambling about how nervous he was to reunite with an old friend at the reunion. And Alison asked:
“‘Don’t you think the fact you fell out of touch means you shouldn’t be friends anymore?’
. . . ‘Sometimes you only think you outgrew someone when you finally let them go.'”
(pg. 335-6)
I loved this question.
Not being in high school anymore, I have fallen out of touch with soooooo many people—people who were like my extended family. Many people moved away after high school and we are all scattered across the world, and I miss every single person I went to school with. To be honest, I enjoyed high school because I was fortunate enough to go to school with the kindest, fun-loving, accepting, and joyful people ever. I’ve known some of the people in my class since kindergarten, so I grew up with them like family. The people I went to high school with will always be my family. So when I went to college my first year, the one thing I couldn’t’ get over for so long was the people. I missed the people from high school. I missed seeing them every day, talking to them, laughing with them, crying with them.
And I found myself constantly wondering what they were doing or how they were doing. But you know, as life goes, we never talked as much. We grew apart. I still see them on social media or occasionally around town, but I still miss them. I don’t think if you fall out of touch with people, you should stop being their friend. I think it just means you grow up and your relationship and life changes. One day, hopefully, I will find my way back to the people I went to high school with because I will always love them and care for them. But we’re all just going through life right now, figuring out what works best for us and what we want. They’re on their journey and I’m rooting for them, and sometimes that’s the best you can do—sit on the sidelines and root for the people you love and hope for the best for them.
Even with people who I was closer to in high school, I still feel scared to reach ou sometimes because I think they might not want to talk to me, they might not remember me, they are doing better without me.
And when I do reach out and talk to that person, I have come to realize, it’s always the fear of reaching out that prevents us from reconnecting.
Because we’re scared. A chapter of our life or a book (high school) closed, so we fear toeing the line of reopening the book to be with people because we’re not sure what will happen. But I say, reach out. Chances are they are thinking about you too and are scared to reach out as well. Something I heard recently was how if you think of someone, just text or call them to say, “Hey, I was thinking of you and this memory we had . . . I hope you’re doing well.” Doing that starts the conversation and it makes someone’s day to know you were thinking about them.
I also loved what Hector said about how you sometimes think you outgrew a person when you let them go. This quote makes me think of the sentiment distance makes the heart grow fonder. Because when you think you’re not right or the same person you were when you fell out of a relationship, you miss them—you miss what you used to have. And then that’s when the regret and the sorrow comes in because you let them go when you wished you would have tried to maintain the relationship while letting it grow the way it needed to.
Relationships change all the time, especially after high school.
Many of us don’t have those friendships because we let them fade.
That’s the one thing I had to learn the hard way my first year: that relationships after high school take work.
It’s scary, but it’s worth it. You have to try if you want to try. And if someone isn’t meeting you halfway, I guarantee you that there will be people in your life who will meet you halfway.
I just really loved how Hector represented this inner new adult in us that missed relationships he had and what he wished he had still.
“Of how growing up could look like growing sideways.”
(pg. 137)
I also LOVED this quote.
When I think of growing up, I think of UP, you know, like to the sky. But I forgot that growing isn’t always linear.
Jamie was everything Alison was scared of becoming.
Jamie was the chief editor of the Fairview paper and was valedictorian in high school—all the things Alison was aspiring for. She recently graduated from Columbia where she was engaged to someone for three months before he called it off, which by the way SUCKS. If that wasn’t the cherry on top of her ice cream cone, she also lost this prestigious internship she had. SO THINGS SUCKED. Jamie naturally moved back home to figure things out and have time to heal. I wanted to hug Jamie because I understood what she was going through. Have I been through what she was going through? Not particularly, but I have two older siblings who I have watched follow a similar path.
My older brother came home after graduating with a science degree. He had big dreams, but then he came home, took a year off to find a job and study to get into another school to achieve his big dream. However, that didn’t work out well for him, so he got a different job—a job he wouldn’t have ever thought he would get. He absolutely detested his job for months and it made me honest to gosh sad to see him so downcast about his job because I wanted him to be happy doing what he loved. He’s still working that same job. He doesn’t complain about it as much, but I know he doesn’t love it either. It wasn’t his plan.
My older sister went to college in the mainland and then she came back her junior year because she didn’t like being in the mainland. She felt alone and wasn’t having as fun as she thought she was, so she came home. At the time, I was like Alison and I didn’t understand why she came back when she was halfway through college and should have just stayed there to finish; she did finish college however by doing the online option. Being younger, I saw it as weird that she would do something halfway. It wasn’t until I went to college and felt that loneliness that I understood my sister. Heck, I was an hour away from home and I felt the same loneliness she felt 2,605 miles away from home. Loneliness doesn’t need a time or a limit. After she graduated online, she had absolutely no clue what she wanted to do. She worked at a vet center, as a barista, a salesperson, and now she works a computer job with a bunch of older people more than twice her age. She doesn’t love it. She rages about her job all the time. I have a hunch about what she actually wants to do, but it’s hard because I feel like she didn’t know what she wanted to do. It wasn’t her plan.
Plans or paths change and sometimes people don’t have plans and that is perfectly okay.
People grow up and grow sideways. At least they’re growing. And heck, if they grow slowly, that’s still growth. Just because someone is growing exponentially in ways you aren’t, it doesn’t take away from your growth.
So suffice to say I understood Jamie because she reminded me of my siblings. They were both driven and still are driven to this day, but after college, the real world becomes even more real. It’s a reality I’ve been pondering even more so with my last year of college because in my freshman year, it felt like I had time to still be a young adult and figure things out. But with a year left of school, that means 365 days left until the real honest to gosh world opens up where I have to get a freaking job, pay bills, start saving money to pay off my student loan debt, and do all these other adult-like things that I had the privilege not to worry about when in college and high school. When college ends, it’s difficult because you may not know what you want to do and sometimes plans we originally had fall out. It’s tough when we go our whole life dreaming or thinking of one thing or path for us and we veer sideways. It’s tough when we go our whole life feeling like we don’t even have a path so we grow all willy-nilly (or so we think). In the great words of Olivia Rodrigo: “Gosh, it’s brutal out here.” It is.
Alison didn’t understand that because she was still in high school—that’s not to say she was immature and too young to understand, just that she had a specific mindset her whole life about success, that when she saw her sister not thrive, it scared her.
That’s what I felt Alison was: scared. She was unsettled to see her former high-achieving sister bum it out everyday, wake up late, do Starbucks runs, and watch Netflix like each day’s a holiday. When Alison said that, I was like, gosh that’s rude! She has no idea what her sister is feeling. Her sister probably feels lost and confused and sad! 😢She lost everything she thought she knew for herself. But Alison was angry and rude to her sister because she was nervous that if she worked this hard in high school like Jamie, that she would also turn out like Jamie—at home without drive. I think it was also difficult to see her driven sister have the energy knocked so completely out of her because Alison felt like that could happen to her too. She wouldn’t know who she would be without her drive or her work. I understand how scary that must have felt for Alison. It felt weird too when I saw my siblings not as motivated as they were in high school because it feels like they gave up in a way. I mean, it’s not like they did, I think life just changed where they didn’t have to constantly marry their life to school/education where they could just breathe and figure things out. It’s not giving up, it’s breathing out.
“Life feels like a tightrope walk, but I want to reach the end, not lounge in the net.”
(pg. 170)
So I didn’t appreciate how stand-offish and patronizing Alison was to Jamie. She needed to be kinder. When Jamie invited Alison to go watch Netflix or run to Starbucks with her, Alison constantly turned her down in the beginning. Alison turned her down for homework and because she didn’t want to be Jamie’s excuse because Jamie had nothing going on, which by the way was extremely condescending towards her sister. There was also the fact that Alison was much younger than Jamie so they never had time to bond growing up because they were both in different phases of their lives. That made me sad to hear because it sucks when you want to have a close relationship with a sibling and you feel far behind them. I guess this was also another reason Alison wanted to grow up so quickly because she thought if she was older, she would suddenly be wise or mature enough for the people around her.
I mean, stop being prissy to your sissy! 😆
Speaking of maturity, Alison was so quick to act mature. She constantly acted like she was “so mature” when she was not. She was still acting like a petty teenager. I mean, no hate to Alison, but in her act of trying to be “mature” she was acting childish. She was so quick to grow up and to prove herself to all these adults like she was better or smarter than them. She was a teenager and yes she could be better or smarter than them and I’m not saying because she was young she wasn’t, it’s just her thinking was immature and rude. She didn’t need to be better than the adults around her or prove her maturity because that would come with time. If she stopped focusing on the next thing or growing too fast, she could appreciate where she was in life and enjoy it. Because, ultimately, I think that’s what everyone around her was telling her to do–enjoy being young and not having to worry about all these grown-up things that you will probably not enjoy later.
“Try not to let thinking about where you’re headed distract you from what you’re doing.”
(pg. 337)
Freaking Hector dropped words of wisdom like it was his second job 👏🏼! I absolutely adored Hector, whom I’ll talk about more later.
Hector was right, we can get so lost in where we are heading—the direction of our future, the next thing—that we can miss what’s right in front of us—the present, what we are doing. Spending so much time on the next thing, isn’t allowing us to be present to enjoy what we have right now. Because sometimes we might get lost in wanting to grow up, especially when we’re younger, we want to grow up. But we should slow down and savor every minute of just being young without responsibility or admonition. That’s what most older people who have grown up would say—enjoy the time now.
I loved how the mom called her out on being rude to Jamie that one trip in the car. The mom also told her to let her be the parent and she be the teenager because Alison in fact did not know gosh darn freaking everything like she thought she did.
I didn’t like how she was rude to Alison’s friends too because she didn’t understand how they were all in their twenties and they didn’t have it figured out. It’s because she didn’t know yet that when you’re in your twenties, you absolutely have no clue what you’re doing as much as you would like to think. Being twenty means learning, growing, and discovering things about yourself and the world—it’s prime-time in growing up. And it’s hard because things change all the time in your twenties and nothing is scheduled or planned to a T like Alison has with her whole calendar shrine. Being twenty is a spontaneous, beautiful mess. I also didn’t like when Alison was so rude to write a condescending article about Jamie and her new band. LIKE HOW FREAKING RUDE!!! YOU CHILD. If I was Jamie, I would have felt betrayed and hurt because Alison’s article basically said I think lowly of you. I loved that Jamie called her out on being a biased writer because Alison needed to be slapped back to earth 😂
But I did like when they made up. I would have liked a longer or more fleshed out conversation between Alison and Jamie because I felt like there could have been more said between them. Jamie was honestly one of my favorite characters in the book because she had such a dynamic and interesting backstory that I could relate to and understand.
“With grades and degrees, I had these obvious signs of success. It became easy to mistake them for what I really wanted and easier to let those markers guide my decisions. When I was in the real world, I had to choose for myself what success should mean.”
(pg. 315)
She’s right, she’s right 👌🏼.
It’s hard when you’re in the real world because no one tells you what success is, you have to create your own success. It’s kind of like missing the structure and routine of school and having things to work towards, you know? Because when you have no one telling you what to do or what to work towards, it’s like you have to tell yourself and then sometimes it’s even harder to know what you tell yourself.
I liked that at the end of their conversation, Alison sort of understood her sister. Alison shouldn’t have made the conversation about her, when it was about Jamie, but I guess whatever 🤪. I liked that they went to Starbucks together. But again, I would have liked more said between them.
I also would have liked more said between Dylan and Alisons’s friendship in the end.
I think Dylan was a good friend to Alison because she never pushed Alison to do things she didn’t want to and she never judged Alison for not being the typical high school person. She would encourage Alison to do things, but not forced. I also liked the fact Dylan also did her own thing with the yearbook, photography, and her own group of friends. The only thing that bothered me about Dylan was her relationship with Olivia. Olivia screamed toxic from the get-go and I didn’t like how Alison would describe Dylan throwing herself away or changing just for Olivia. Dylan shouldn’t change for Olivia or feel the need to change for someone she loved because if Olivia genuinely loved her, Olivia would have loved Dylan for her. But it seemed Alison and I knew Dylan was letting herself be the person Olivia would love just so she could feel loved. I’m not trying to rag on Dylan, I just felt like she deserved so much more than someone who didn’t love her for her and she sounds like such an awesome person as she is. But with Olivia, it felt like she was less than who she wanted to be because she had to be what Olivia wanted of her. It just wasn’t a healthy relationship all around and I wasn’t really here for it. I could tell Dylan was hung up on Olivia when they saw Olivia at the coffee shop parking lot and Dylan ogled at Olivia. I also could tell Dylan was resorting back to Olivia because it was easier and to them, it was a comfortable relationship.
I could also understand Olivia wanting to get back together with Dylan. She was adjusting to being away from home and doing this whole college thing, that it’s daunting and scary. You want to have some sort of familiarity and tether to the past and that’s who Dylan was to Olivia. But I didn’t feel like it was healthy for Olivia to string Dylan along and make her change who she was just because she was still adjusting to college life. I get it, I just didn’t like it. I think this goes with the sentiment that sometimes we are the villain in someone’s life even if we didn’t want to be. So Olivia and Dylan got back together. I didn’t like when Dylan surprisingly brought Olivia to Michaels and how much of a downer Olivia was. She wasn’t supportive at all and you could just feel Dylan vying for her approval 🙁. I don’t think it should be like that.
Even though Dylan was dating her unhealthy ex, I respect that Alison tried to be supportive of Dylan. She tried to be her friend by saying some comments here and there about Olivia, but also trying to keep neutral ground to not give off the vibes that she was attacking Dylan’s relationship. When Dylan wanted to apply to Berkeley because Olivia was going there, I was like. “That’s going to be a hard no for me.” 😅 Sis shouldn’t go to the same college as her used to be ex, and probably would be ex again. There was this whole scene where Alison and Dylan went to the play rehearsals because Dylan had to take pictures for the yearbook and Alison laid it out there how she thought Olivia and Dylan’s relationship wasn’t healthy. I mean, Dylan needed to hear that and Alison was just looking out for Dylan because she cared. Sure, to Dylan it was probably hard to hear because there was truth in Alison’s words but I know Alison meant well. I didn’t really like how they left things—with Dylan walking away and then Alison letting her go. Alison let her go because there were only a few more months of high school, so she thought what the hey, let’s just let this friendship end right now because it would end anyway sort of thing. That’s such a negative thought. If Dylan was her best friend, yes, give her time to cool down, but reach out afterwards to mend the relationship. Don’t just let it fade away because high school was ending. High school closes a chapter, but it doesn’t mean you have to leave things behind.
” . . . I worry Dylan won’t graduate the same way I will. If she doesn’t, I don’t know what happens next. Maybe we’ll end up like Hector and AJ, wondering in ten years if we’ll reconnect.
Maybe we won’t even have that.”
(pg. 199)
I thought they could have said more when they made up because I felt like their conversation glossed over the underlying anger Dylan felt when she called Alison judgmental. I will say I loved that Alison did a bold thing and dared to be tardy for the first time in her life to make up with Dylan. That’s a real friendship move to do, so I appreciated that. I just would have liked them to talk it out more. Also, I was glad Dylan and Olivia broke up because they weren’t healthy for each other and Dylan could find someone else. Honestly, college is sooooo big that you barely see anybody or the same people all the time, so she absolutely had nothing to worry about in seeing Olivia around campus. . . unless they had the same major.
Speaking of Hector, I found him quite funny 👌🏼.
“‘It’s always the overachievers who put off driving.'”
(pg. 86)😆
I freaking cackled at that 😂.
That was me to a T! Honestly, Alison should have done what I did and taken driver’s ed during the summer so she didn’t have to focus on school, extra curricular, and driver’s ed.
I quite liked that Wibberley-Broka included driving because it’s such a relatable task people learn when they grow up. I was taken back to my driving instructor and how in the first session he would use the brakes on his side so much because I had no idea how to drive the best. YIKES . It’s also funny because I could understand how Alison felt as a new/under-experienced driver. It’s so freaking nerve wracking to be on the road with people who have been driving for years because you feel like you don’t know if you are doing something right or how they will judge or look at you as a driver. It’s intimidating. Heck, I still get nervous to do right turns on red 🤪. Honestly, I give credit to driving instructors because I would be TERRIFIED.
LAUGHED when Hector showed up a graphic-tee, basketball shorts, and socks and slides. Nothing says laid back for a drivers instructor than Hector. I think that’s what makes him a pretty cool driver’s ed instructor because he was sooo chill so no one would feel overwhelmingly nervous to drive around him. I liked how he would casually have conversations with Alison and then use his brakes or steering wheel like nothing happened. He was also very chill about not correcting her very harshly.I also loved how he would let Alison drive wherever she wants to go—to get groceries or whatnot. My driving instructor would take us on random routes around the city, so it was extremely boring and dull. But hey, I learned to drive. I freaking loved that he took Alison to Dairy Queen 😂. ICONIC. What a fun teacher. He was also such a cool dude to have conversations with. He listened, he was respectful, he picked up a vibe.
The thing I liked most about Hector was his friendship with this guy named AJ. Hector and AJ were close friends in high school but drifted apart as one does with people from high school. It seemed like Hector was sad he never kept in touch with such a close friend, and Alison had to hear Hector talk about AJ because Hector was nervous to meet up with him after all these years. Because Alison was going through her own friendship trials and tribulations, she asked Hector if AJ and him should have remained friends if they fell out (the question I quoted earlier). I really loved what AJ and Hector represented because there are people from high school I tend to think about too and wonder if we should have remained friends. Or what are they doing now. Or if they missed me. Or if things changed. You know, things have changed and I think that it’s somewhat unrealistic and hard on ourselves if we expect things to stay the same as they were in high school when people grow up and that can shift a relationship. So it goes back to that quote about letting the relationship shift and be what it is—give it room to grow.
” . . . heavy with the weight of everything we wish we hadn’t given up.”
(pg. 384)
I absolutely loved the moment when they are at the reunion and Hector’s all skittish and terrified to see this friend he wants to reconnect with. And gosh darn, it was Adam as in the person who didn’t finish planning the reunion. He had a middle name that started with a J, hence AJ. That kind of shook me. It was really sweet and endearing when Hector tapped on his shoulder and Adam turned around, visibly shocked. It was cute how they seemed to look at each other. Honestly, Adam and Hector should be a ship 🙈. I think that would have done it for me. I would have liked to see what happened between them because I was highly invested in their relationship.
At last, the relationship I need to get into: Alison and Ethan.
Before I get into their relationship, I just want to say I have absolutely nothing against Wibberley-Broka and their writing. I love them as people and as a couple and I think they are extremely strong writers 💜! I mean, if you follow them on Instagram, they are such cool, kind-hearted amazing people! So what I say next isn’t a reflection of them or their writing, I just wasn’t Ethan’s biggest fan, nor did I quite like the romance.
With that said, they weren’t perfect for each other. Like at all 🤪. That’s not to say I didn’t like their characters, I just didn’t feel the romance or feel it’s authenticity.
I mean, here’s my unsolicited advice, but if someone freaking continuously ticks you off on purpose and makes you feel like absolute garbage, you can for sure find someone who continuously makes you feel like the queen you are and who will treat you with utter respect. Because I don’t think it’s healthy for someone to peez you off so much and mistake it for love. Someone can and will treat you better 👏🏼.
Their relationship just felt like a classic case of a boy teasing a girl on the playground because he likes her.
You know what made me kind of turned off by their relationship too? It was how Ehtan didn’t even like her until after they first kissed. So you had to be gosh DARN kidding me that he was competing with her his entire life for the F*** of IT 🤪????! He really said I had nothing better to do than pi** this girl off for the sake of doing so and because it’s fun to make her irritated. I’m sorry!???!?! That’s not a healthy relationship, that’s TOXIC. Like, bro GET A LIFE 👏🏼😆. I’m not even joking. Like if he liked her his entire life, then yea I wouldn’t think too poorly about their relationship, but the fact that he just started to like her after they kissed just felt off and honestly wrong to me. Also, this bro really had the AUDACITY and the FREAKING privilege to get accepted into FREAKING Harvard and say he was going to take a gap year at the end because he didn’t know who he was. I’m SOOOOORRYRYRYRYRYYRYR???!?!?!?!?
I wasn’t surprised because Ethan absolutely had no depth. I met cardboard with more depth than Ethan 🙃.
I just didn’t like Ethan all that much because I didn’t get his game. He obviously had game because all the ladies loved him, but why?! He pretty much smiled, smirked, and snarked his whole way through the book and apparently called it love. I’m not hating on Ethan, I just would have liked to understand him more by knowing his backstory or his perspective because I felt like we didn’t know Ethan beyond this cardboard, pretentious irksome cutout that you just want to put on a dart board and throw things at 🤪. I felt like if we had backstory or knew why he acted the way he did, I think I would have liked him better. But it was difficult to like him when I didn’t know him.
I know we got some intimate conversations with him. But seriously? Ethan changed his whole life around Alison for WHAT? Literally WHAT??? He changed his wardrobe because he thought she would like it. Then he joined all the same clubs as her to one-up her. And then he challenged her on everything because it was fun for him. I mean, who was Ethan? And honestly, again, what kind of mother sucker just says let me go screw this girl over for fun and just not do anything for myself. You know no wonder he said let me take a year off of Harvard because I spent the last seventeen years trying to pi** off this one girl because I had nothing better to do except I should have been focusing on figuring out who I was rather than ticking off this one girl 🤪. I just could not.
I mean he literally said “I don’t know,” when she asked him why he competes with her. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T KNOW?????! ARE YOU AN IDIOT 😆. GET A LIFE. And he had the audacity to act like this entire time he didn’t get to make his own choices?????? I’m sorry, did you or did you not get to choose your classes and extracurriculars???????? 🙈
YOU DUMMY 😑.
Suffice to say, I didn’t buy their relationship.
Honestly, I wanted to tell Alison to run 😆! That’s not love, that’s lust.
She deserved someone “mature” 🤪. She honest to gosh sounded exhausted from this entire petty childish competition with Ethan anyway. Throughout the entire book she also questioned why the freak she competed with him anyway? I mean, yea sis, why did you? Because it wasn’t worth it! Showing up this guy who doesn’t even know why he wants to beat you anyway. Just let him go! You do you. If she really feared she wasted all this time on competing with Ethan, she was probably worried for good reason because she did waste time on this dumb rivalry that had absolutely served nothing than to pi** her off. And their rivalry was gosh darn uncomfortable. They made other people soooooo uncomfortable whenever they were around. They made teachers uncomfortable. They made the principal uncomfortable. They made Avery from Sweet Weiner’s uncomfortable. They made Hector uncomfortable. They made Clint uncomfortable. They made everyone at ASG uncomfortable. They made the paper crew uncomfortable. Everyone was literally uncomfortable by their relationship because they also found it ridiculous and petty. No one wanted to be around them, and Isabella literally told them they made everyone uncomfortable at ASG when they were painting posters and Alison showed up. I mean, that should say something to Alison about how dumb this rivalry was. It was making people irritated and uncomfortable with her and Ethan. No one was going to want to be around her if they constantly saw her arguing with every person.
Gosh I was uncomfortable.
I liked their banter though. They were funny and had good lines. I liked how Ethan teased her for not owning a t-shirt and then after winning the Blitz, he told her to wear a t-shirt. Gosh, I cracked up when she went to school with a Sweet Wieners tee-shirt because how iconic 🤪. Good for her and her sense of humor. I have to say Alison really doesn’t know when to quit or take care of herself. If I had to blow chunks, I wouldn’t sit in on a test just so I could Blitz it out with my nemesis. She needed to put herself first and stop pushing herself to do school work all the time. I am talking about her all nighters and feeling like she had to do everything for everyone. I understand that it’s her duty and responsibility as chief of the paper to make sure everything gets done, but it shouldn’t fall completely on her shoulders—she has a team for a reason. And don’t even get me started on the teacher who just let a bunch of high schoolers stay at school WAAAAY past closing. I’m sorry, that’s not legal and right. Someone needs to fire that teacher because Alison needed to go home and get some sleep! You literally can’t just let students pull an all-nighter at the school, especially if they are minors. I felt like Alison was heading straight to being burnt out. Honestly, I was burnt out for her.
They really had this back and forth game that got tiring after a while. She tried to be nice to him and then reverted to their competition because Ethan was sooooo bothered that she was being a decent human being to her. To me that just emphasized how much he liked the game. There was also the fact that when they first started dating, Alison missed this banter and competition she had with Ethan, so that made me also believe she only liked this game they had. Yea, I understood Ethan pushed and motivated her to be better, but she didn’t like like him if you know what I mean. Even after Alison thought about how dull their first date was she still found a way to rile him and make their relationship a competition, which didn’t seem the healthiest. I mean, if she really wanted to be in a long term relationship with Ethan, she shouldn’t have felt so bothered by their lack of fighting on their first date that she would make a competition out of everything. Heck, dating was a competition.
“‘We’re dating. Isn’t it obvious?’ Ethan replies, and I have to applaud him for his directness.
‘This–Dylan’s eyes widen–‘is dating?'”
(pg. 372)
I was with Dylan on that one 😆!!!
This was not dating. Absolutely not. It’s going to be a no from me.
THEY WEREN’T dating. And don’t even get me started on how they said they were “hooking up?” 🙈
I’m so sorry, it’s been a few years since I’ve been in high school, but I kid you not that I don’t think the definition of “hooking up” has changed. Hooking up means you know . . . doing “it,” kissing was not hooking up. I mean, I guess everyone’s definition of hooking up is different, but I was really out here questioning what hooking up meant!? I still think it’s doing “it.” By my definition Ethan and Alison weren’t hooking up just because they kissed in his bedroom once, near the lockers, in the bathroom, and in his car. That’s called macking out 😆. Yes, MACKING, as in macking their lips together.
And I could see that kiss at the lockers coming FROM A MILE AWAY! That’s not to say I didn’t like the scene, I was like they are going to argue and kiss it out because that’s what they always do in movies and shows 🤪. And yes they did. I wasn’t surprised. But the fact Ethan liked her after that was what surprised me. It took him that long to realize he liked her? It’s going to be a no from me. Before that, I thought it was extremely petty and irresponsible that Alison went behind the entire paper’s back to screw Ethan over just because he screwed her over. I get that she wanted to get back at him because what he did was unforgivable to the paper, but scraping his article and ruining the paper’s chance at an award just so Ethan wouldn’t shine or get an award was super childish. She wasn’t thinking like a leader and she let her rage blindside her from ethical and moral duties.
Her parents were honestly right when they said Alison was obsessed with Ethan because they were both obsessed with this game they had where none of them were truly winning. It was just tiring. If I was Alison I would have given up on this game.
Let’s take a moment to say how much I LOVED Alison’s parents. They were honestly the highlight of the book. I adored them 💜. They made me legit crack up. I loved how unconventional they were in telling Alison to do all these teenage rebellious things like go party, get drunk, date guys, have sex, get pregnant (not really). But they really were freaking hilarious about it. I also loved how invested they were in Alison’s love life—literally and metaphorically. They had a running bet about Ethan 🤪. If that wasn’t funny, I don’t know what was. I loved when the dad was like, “Do you want a cut of the money?” Yea, because that’s why Alison was disturbed by what they were doing. I also found it funny when she watched Ethan’s stories on Instagram and the parents and Jamie heard it and they gave her soooo many jokes about it! We love. I also loved how they knew Alison was going on a date with Ethan when they were watching The Proposal. It really was in the little details with the parents with how the mom read the paper and the dad knitted. So cute 👌🏼. the parents were just a joy and I loved how excited they were for Alison when she did get into Harvard. To be really honest, I thought she wasn’t going to get into Harvard so she would learn what Jamie was feeling to not have your initial plan work out. I thought that not getting admitted would be something that woke her up to the realities of growing up, but you know, I was happy she did get in. However, I liked that Wibberley-Broka added a touch of hardship to Alison’s story because we all should experience not succeeding. I don’t want to say failure because I think we don’t fail, we try and we learn and we grow. I felt like Alison got everything she wanted because she worked hard for it, and I respect and admire a person who works hard for what she wants. I didn’t mind that. But a person grows more when they don’t succeed the first time around because it teaches them what they can do for next time to be better. There’s a video I watched in one of my education classes that talked about how we learn more by not being perfect because if we were good at everything we grow comfortable and we don’t challenge ourselves, so when our brain is at a disequilibrium from what we thought we knew and what we learned, we grow. Alison needed one moment to truly grow and know that not everything she does will be successful. I mean, I would love for everyone to be successful in their good intentioned goals but that’s not always what happens and it sucks. It’s hard. But not being perfect and learning teaches resilience. I could feel Alison was torn up about not passing her driver’s test on her first try because that was one of her first fails.
Now here’s the thing I didn’t enjoy about their relationship either: the fact that Alison couldn’t trust it. She felt everything was a game. If a relationship feels like a game to you and you can’t trust the person, that’s not a relationship. I don’t think so.
When Alison first started to like Ethan, something just felt off about how she would chalk it up to him playing these mind-manipulation games with her to get under her skin. If she constantly thought that, I didn’t see how their relationship could be healthy because she would continue to think like that, not knowing Ethan’s full intentions. To me, that’s not really healthy. Before her driving test, Ethan texted her some flirty messages and Alison took it as a distraction—part of Ethan’s game. First, that’s not a healthy thought. Then when Ethan was being nice to her, she thought it weird—also part of his game. Second, that’s not a healthy thought. Everything felt and would feel like a game to her.
Back to Alison and Ethan getting into Harvard. I thought it was much more powerful though that Ethan also got in because it symbolized how she thought she could start a new life after high school, but then it sunk into her this impending doom that their rivalry would continue for four more years. Honestly, if she dreaded that rivalry, then I don’t know why she even wanted to be in a relationship with him 😂.
I don’t know.
I also didn’t like their relationship because the minute they said they were “dating,” they were both super chill about breaking things off—giving their relationship a deadline. I understand why they wanted to break up so they could experience new things and see new people in college, which was good. But I was like, what the freak was the point of this relationship then? To date in the moment, yea I get it. But it just seemed unnecessary that they date when their relationship wasn’t good and they were planning to call it off anyway. So personally, I didn’t see the point.
The reunion was a nice touch. I liked the Milliard Fillmore. If Ethan and Alison ever get married (that’s a big if), they should get married there. I think Clint would be happy about that 😆. You know for a pair of high achieving teens, they did good. I loved how Jamie and the Stragglers were going to play at the reunion because Amy from Sweet Wieners got food poisoning. We love a full circle moment. I knew that Jamie and her band would play the reunion because it made sense that she was in a decent band and would play at the end. I also liked how we learned Jamie got the college counseling job at Alison’s school. I loved that for her because she didn’t know exactly what she was doing, but she was figuring things out.
“Even when you think you’re found your story, you might need to change it later if the one you’re living doesn’t work out. It would require finding new “facts”‘—what Jamie’s doing now—and conceiving of a new narrative. I could be a completely different person in ten years. It scares me.”
(pg. 316)
Most likely Alison will be a different person in ten years because people change and grow. It’s human nature. It’s also human nature to fear things that we don’t know about and that scare us. It’s scary growing up. Change is terrifying. But as someone who has graduated from high school, the first year after I graduated, I noticed I wasn’t the same person. Two years out of high school, I wasn’t the same person the year before that and the year I graduated. Now three years out of high school, I am not the same person I was two, one, or the same year I graduated. People change. Change doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
I liked how at the end, Wibberley-Broka closed the story/chapter metaphor of high school with Alison and Ethan dancing at the reunion. I loved how when they’re dancing, Alison was thinking about ten years from now if they will be in the same place or feel the same emotions. I think that’s kind of cool that she could experience a reunion before her reunion to reflect. Alison made a spur of the moment decision for Ethan and her to try to date through college and see where it takes them. I have a HEAVY hunch that they will break up based on the foreshadowing that Wibberley-Broka put in there 🤪. It’s honestly so freaking funny how it seems like no Wibberley-Broka couple stay together because us readers like to think HEA stays that way, but sometimes it doesn’t. But I respect their honest writing in showing that sometimes it doesn’t always work out and sometimes it doesn’t for the better. I think that’s pretty cool.
My favorite part of the book was when Fitz and Juniper showed up!!!!!! 💜🥺
I live for the Wibberley-Broka cameos.
I loved how we hear about how they go on a road trip every year now because of their infamous college road trip where they first met; it was their sort of reunion 🥺. CUTE.
“Everyone and their reunions, carrying people from the past into the present and on, no matter how much changes.”
(pg. 285)
I loved how Wibberley-Broka kept all these cute tidbits about Juniper and Fitz—Juniper with her fierce, but kind nature and her curly hair. And Fitz with his dictionary of words, red hair, and smattering of freckles. I love to see he’s still pining away for Juniper 😅. I also loved how Fitz was respectfully being in the friend zone while they were both at different colleges. It’s nice to see that Fitz is doing the out-of-state college thing. Also, the one bed sounds like Fitz might not be in the friend zone for long 😏!!! One of the things I distinctly remember from Time of Our Lives (which isn’t really a spoiler spoiler) is that Fitz and Juniper got it on in a car 😂. So there’s that. They said let’s upgrade to a hotel!
Funny. I just loved to see them. I feel like Owen and Megan might be the only couple left that actually stayed together. . . or I hope 🤞🏼.
The ending ending was somewhat fitting to bring their rivalry full circle with that one teacher. I thought we didn’t need the whole asking the English teacher what our grade was moment because that was kind of rude of them. I would have been irritated as the teacher.
Another thing I want to mention in connection with the English teacher was how I didn’t really feel the Shakespeare that much in this book. I felt like in previous books, there was more of a Shakespeare presence, or it was talked about more. I really missed that. I know there was a connection with their rivalry and Macbeth.
“Lady Macbeth wouldn’t have been queen without having Macbeth to manipulate.”
(pg. 157)
it was mentioned once, but I just would have liked more said about it. But overall, I thought the book was enjoyable, I loved the writing, the banter, the underlying storylines, and the parents. I also think Wibberley-Broka created some really intricate and interesting side characters!
Anyway, what was your favorite part of the book? Least favorite part? What would your high school superlative be? Anything I mentioned that you want to discuss more about? Let me know below in the comments as I love hearing from you all 💕
I hope you have a beautiful day whenever and wherever you might be reading this 😊.
And as always, with love,
Rating
3.45 Full Bloom Flowers
Characters: I understood Alison’s character, but she had moments where I wasn’t sure I liked her all that much. I’m still not sure about that Ethan guy 🤪. But I loved Alisons’ parents, Jamie, and Hector.
Plot: When Wibberely-Broka really put the enemies in enemies to lovers
Writing: Wibberley-Broka knows how to make you feel like you are straight back in high school, reliving every emotion and experience with fresh eyes 💜
Romance: I’m not sure Ethan and Alison were romantic per say, more like lustful.