♫✯Em loves Hollenstein✯♫❤the summertime and butterflies all belong to your creation❤'s Reviews > Not Otherwise Specified

reaction after reading:
Eh. Nothing special
Mason was just there for Etta to have sex with, James was cool, Etta was annoying as fuck, Bianca was sad.
Rachel and Ettas relationship was fucking weird. They were best friends who Etta was sort of in love with they had sex tons, then fell out, became friends again and then Etta goes all 'who cares that I have feelings for her and we've been friends since forever, I'm leaving her behind, fuck this'
In fact, 'fuck this' is pretty much Ettas whole attitude towards everything. :/

FULL REVIEW:

I picked up this book expecting, I don't know, a story of friendship. And that's mostly what I got.
It was a nice (if not flimsy) friendship and getting better story, but it didn't really do much for me.
On one hand, I liked that we had a bisexual narrator. There are many (actually, most) YA books about straight girls, and some about lesbians- but rarely do we get a bisexual narrator. So many people don't "get" or "believe in" bisexuality, and this book definitely shows you it's a "real" thing. (sorry, I "love" doing that)
I also did like Bianca's getting better story, it was very uplifting. The side story with James, Bianca's brother, being gay and Bianca trying to accept that (being from a religious upbringing) was a complex part of the book, too.
I liked that Etta chased her dreams, and eventually realised that her best friend, Rachel, wasn't that good for her- they had such a weird relationship. It was obvious that they had feelings for each other, and it mentioned that they'd slept together on numerous occasions, yet they didn't ever officially get together.
I didn't like Etta's attitude for most of the book- she calls herself a "slut", she complains about everything- I mean, sure, she had a hard time but lemons make lemonade, you know?

She was way too hard on herself. It was hard to not feel sorry for her when her ex-friends started bullying her, though.

I didn't like that she used Mason, James' friend, when she knew full well that he liked her more than she liked him. She led him on, when it was clear she wasn't over her ex, Danielle, or her best friend, Rachel.
I didn't like that at first she was willing to just date girls so her friends would like her again. I didn't like that she was bullied- severely, in fact, Natasha was physically violent towards her, and Etta was locked in a bathroom by her old friends- and never got help from anyone. It gave the message that if you ignore bullying it goes away, and that is NOT a message teens should be hearing.
I was glad that Etta got some self-confidence back by the end, realised she was a curve and not a line, got into a dance school, and everything, but lots was left not completed.
The book was pretty much what I expected- not bad, but nothing special.