To read or not to read, that is the question… and when it comes to this book, ‘read’ is the answer!
Always Never Yours by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka follows Megan Harper, an aspiring director and shameless flirt, who inadvertently lands the starring role in her high school’s production of Romeo and Juliet to earn an acting credit for the college of her dreams. However, Megan isn’t Juliet material, in her opinion she’s more of a Rosaline since every guy she dates finds “the one” after they break up. With the help of Owen, who will help her land her new crush if she helps with his play, she may break the curse once and for all.
I’ve recently read two books by this author duo, Always Never Yours and If I’m Being Honest and this book. If I had to choose a favorite Always Never Yours would win. While I’m typically not a fan of books that involve plays or acting, I thoroughly enjoyed Always Never Yours (I couldn’t put it down!) and can see it landing on one of my end of the year favorites list.
In both this book and If I’m Being Honest, I enjoyed that the authors decided to create a main female character that is bold, outgoing, and completely confident in herself. While I definitely identify more with shy and introverted characters, that is the typical YA main character in a contemporary novel, so it’s a refreshing to see a character like Megan, who doesn’t fit that mold.
In this book, I also really appreciated how the author incorporated Shakespeare and the school play. Like I mentioned previously, I always find myself underwhelmed and unimpressed with book that focus on this topic. However, the authors completely nailed what it’s like to be in a school play. I also liked the whole Rosaline idea and how it expanded outside of Megan’s romantic relationships and related to how she felt in her new family situation as well.
One aspect of the book that irritated me was one hypocritical action Megan takes in the story. Megan learns in the book some harsh truths about a past relationship where her boyfriend wasn’t faithful to her like she expected. Obviously, this makes her angry. However, it doesn’t stop her from making advances at Owen, who has a girlfriend. While Owen definitely isn’t innocent in this situation either, Megan brushes off any come ons to Owen because she pretends that he made up this girlfriend from a summer camp. The author probably included this for Megan to feel like the cast off girl again, but I found it completely unnecessary to the story. While I did like Megan and Owen together, this part of their story bothered me because it didn’t need to be included and left a sour taste in my mouth.
Despite some minor issues with this book, I overall really enjoyed Always Never Yours. I read this book from start to finish in one day because I couldn’t put it down. For me, this book made me put these authors on my auto-buy list for contemporaries in the future. I give Always Never Yours five of five stars.
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Top reviews from other countries
Moutusi Das
A charming story about love, heartbreak, family and Shakespeare 🍁
Reviewed in India on August 30, 2020
Moutusi Das
Reviewed in India on August 30, 2020
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Stuti Pant
A fun and fluffy contemporary that warms your heart!!!
Reviewed in India on January 8, 2021