I probably now understand why most Goodreaders rated this so low. It’s probably the last 25% of the book where the plot started to mess up but during the first good portion of the novel, I thought it was really good. It was very well written, smart, creative, funny and relatable. The plot started out really interesting about these childhood best friends ,Daveand Julia, and their goal at defying clichés while proving there aren’t clichés after all, only personal truths to individual stories.
I was pretty impressed at the author’s ability to shift narrative perspectives so easily in just a matter of sentences. The first part was Dave’s, the second part was Julia’s while the third was a combination of both. I was pretty pissed at Julia during Dave’s POV for being too quirky even for my taste and for believing she was way too special and better than everybody else until I finally read her perspective and started to root for her.
I was really getting into the novel when suddenly the plot got really messed up especially the part where Dave seemed to have won a two-way cheat ticket, got away with it not just once but twice. I know the author was simply aiming at originality but the best friends-to-lovers trope (for once) would have been the perfect ending to the story. But perhaps, there is still a truth to that outturn. Just because I don’t agree with it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t happen.
Overall, this was still a refreshing read for me. It may not have turned out the way I hoped it would but I could respect the author for deviating from the expected.
