BOOK REVIEW: ALWAYS NEVER YOURS BY EMILY WIBBERLEY & AUSTIN SIEGEMUND-BROKA

WTF THIS WAS SO CUTE

Easily one of the best contemporaries I've read this year. I don't know what to tell y'all, I just loved this a whole lot. I mean, I started this book at 10:30PM and finished it at 5:30AM. In one sitting. My questionable decisions speak for themselves. 

When you read a lot—and I mean a lot—of YA contemporaries, you quickly become able to tell if the contemporary you're reading is just another disappointingly average story or if it's an actual standout. And like 20 pages into Always Never Yours, I could tell that it was a definite standout. My search for good contemporaries has been such an arduous, exhausting journey filled with mind-numbing mediocrity and characters I couldn't care less about. And by "good contemporaries" I mean anything cute that even vaguely resembles any book by Emma Mills (aka the author who has incontrovertibly mastered the art of the YA Contemporary). And I'm just so happy—and frankly relieved—to have found a book that is not only tolerable, but genuinely GOOD. 

I just loved Always Never Yours. One thing I always look for in a contemporary is conversations that feel organic—1000000 bonus points if those conversations involve banter of any kind. And Always Never Yours nailed that. Megan and Owen's conversations were so much fun to read. I honestly don't remember the last time a book made me laugh, and I'm so glad this book gave me that back. I also loved the way Megan was unabashedly allowed to be herself throughout the whole story. She was never slut-shamed for flirting or pursuing guys or having had a lot of boyfriends, and that was something I'd so rarely seen in other contemporaries. As for Owen, I also loved the shit out of him. What else did I love? All the theater, the Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet!!!!), the TROPES (i'm a sucker for the we're-fake-dates-but-I-actually-kinda-like-you trope ok), the exploration of what it's like to have divorced parents. Basically, I loved everything. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯