Author: Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin
Genre: New Adult Contemporary
Release Date: September 5th, 2017
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Source: ARC received from Publisher
My rating: 4.5 stars
Synopsis:
Dear Best Friend,
I can already tell that I will hate everyone but you.
Sincerely,
Ava Helmer
(that brunette who won’t leave you alone)
We're still in the same room, you weirdo.
Stop crying.
G
So begins a series of texts and emails sent between two best friends, Ava and Gen, as they head off to their first semesters of college on opposite sides of the country. From first loves to weird roommates, heartbreak, self-discovery, coming out and mental health, the two best friends will document every moment to each other. But as each changes and grows into her new life, will their friendship be able to survive the distance?
My Review:
Okay, this book was a lot of fun, hard to put down, laugh out loud fun! I would be reading this on my lunch break at work, or sitting in a restaurant and couldn't help but laugh as I was reading. It was definitely more of a New Adult as opposed to Young Adult book. It is college aged, yeah, freshman year, but it definitely goes into all the sex and drinking and drugs. The experimenting that many kids do when they go away to college.
Honestly, I liked a lot of the issues the two characters had and how they were handled. But personally, I felt like Gen was often unlikable and kind of a jerk to Ava. Ava was not someone who understood what Gen was going through with her changing or questioning her sexuality. I feel like I've been in similar situations with friends who were changing because of moving or who they were dating, or whatever. And for them to not be understanding was hard when I was still trying to be a friend, even trying to understand them. I get that Gen was also probably dealing with a lot with her issues and what she was going through, but she definitely was being mean in my opinion.
I also was not a fan of all the drug use that Gen kind of actually did at the start of the book. That made me lose some respect for her. As well as how she behaved with a professor. In a way, that part of the story might have been a little bit cliche. You know, the older woman initiates the girl out on her own into lesbianism. Just a thought. I could be overthinking it.
So far I guess you might be wondering why I gave it such a high rating. Well, I do feel like it was probably realistic even in a lot of the things I didn't like that I mentioned above. Not only that, but it was hard to put down. And as I mentioned first thing in my review, I laughed so much at this book. The times their quirky friendship did show through, it was exactly the type of friendship I've had in the past, the kind that I love and makes a great friend. And I do love the format of telling a story through emails and texts, so that made it good for me as well.
