Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Two main reasons for the two-star rating: the plot and the characters. And, well, those are two pretty important aspects of novels.
Most of the characters were completely unlikable to me, and they weren't supposed to be. I found them all super basic, like not interesting at all, and they were also just horrible people. CASSIE was the WORST. And I imagine that at times we were supposed to be mad at Cassie as Molly was, but generally I think she was supposed to be seen as a quirky cute LGBT character, and it just completely fell flat. Where she was meant to be strong, she came off as abrasive; where she was meant to be transparent, she was bratty; where she was meant to be teenage relatable, she was just an immature little girl trying to act older than she was.
I also was really rubbed the wrong way by Molly. This girl does not know how to act! She's had 27 unrequited crushes (first of all, who counts their crushes? I mean I guess that was supposed to be the cutesy part of the novel's theme but I'm not here for it), and yet she still doesn't know how to not be a jealous you-know-what as soon as she thinks one might like her back. And straight off the bat she was a judgmental you-know-what! Like ya girl's had 27 unrequited crushes but she's ready to come in here making fun of people because they enjoy GOT and LOTR? At least they have some kind of personality...
I guess I'm wondering this: can a person be fundamentally sexually repulsive? I mean, maybe Reid's not cool or muscular enough for sex. And if I like him anyway, what does that say about me? Is it because I'm scared to like someone hotter?
LIKE Y'ALL THAT IS LITERALLY A QUOTE FROM THIS BOOK. I cannot. I canNOT. Molly is also just not nice. I mean, maybe I should start carrying flyers with my list of schools, ranked by preference. Or maybe--maybe--these random adults should reflect on why they give a shit in the first place. Like girl, who hurt you?! You have no reason to be this jaded. Clean up your act, it's not cute. People are just trying to show they care and are interested in your life, and you know that if no one ever asked this kind of stuff you'd be complaining about how you don't get enough attention. I've never been so heated over a fictional character.
I feel like I've made it obvious that Reid was, IMO, the only likable character in the book and I actually did like him a lot and he did not get the appreciation he deserves. Mina was a dumb, forgettable character, and so were the two boys (can't even remember their names now). Molly does get some points because her personal narrative does admit that she knows she's being a terrible human, so at least she's self aware sometimes. I can't get over how much I hated Cassie though, oops.
And the plot was also just super basic. I didn't hate it, but I was never surprised or excited by it. As soon as Molly met Reid, we all knew how this story was going to end. We just had to get through 340 pages to get there. I feel like the author was trying to do a John Green An Abundance of Katherines thing with the whole 27 crushes plot, but the references/backstories of the crushes were just randomly inserted into the story and didn't make a lot of sense in supporting the plot or the character development.
I'd also like to complain a little bit about the writing. There were just some sentences added onto paragraphs where they did not flow at all, and it was honestly distracting. Reid tugs the front end and guides me over to a bench outside the store. Then, he pushes the cart to the side and sits, looking up at me expectantly. I sit down next to him. The writing is just so choppy and basic. It's literally just writing out actions sequentially.
So yeah, this one was not for me. It gets a bonus star because the diversity is so freaking there, and I appreciate that. At times I felt like the plot relied too much on the quirky diverse character traits, like how Cassie goes off about feminism that one time. I mean, sure girl go off, but I was cringing.
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