Daria Snadowsky
Rate: 5
As a side note before I start my review, this book is a sequel, but I did not read the first book. I think the book does fine as a standalone novel and only people super curious about the ex Dominique talks about need to read the first book.
I enjoyed this book much more than I expected. When I read the first few pages of the book, and especially the first sentence (“The logical thing would be for me to date Calvin Brandon.”), reminded me so much of Never Have I Ever that I thought I was going to hate this book. I was wrong!
Of course, like with most books there were moments that annoyed me, but nothing that overshadowed how amazing this book was.
First of all, Snadowsky does a great job of narrating the story in an educated teen voice. So often authors either use a tone that makes the narrator sound stupid or completely miss the young adult voice. It was refreshing to have teenagers, who are in college, use an advanced vocabulary and not dumb anything down as if they’re still freshman in high school. Additionally, the characters use profanity,but not in a manner that seems forced. Many times I could imagine myself having a similar conversation as the characters and using the same language, which makes the story relatable.
Secondly, this book was enjoyable because Snadowsky does a fantastic job of tackling important topics like monogamy, love, and sexual health. I mean how often do you find a book where the female character tells the male character that they both have to undergo STD testing before they can have sex? I’ve never read a book like that before so I was impressed when it was included in the story. Plus, Snadowsky shows, through dialogue, that people may have different opinions on these subjects and that when engaging in even a sort of relationship these things need to be discussed.
Overall, there are so many good things about this book, but discussing anything more would be giving things away. What I will warn though is that Snadowsky does include some adult scenes. It isn’t outright smut, but there are some scenes that reflect today’s hook-up behavior. Nonetheless, it doesn’t take away from the story, but I understand that some people would be uncomfortable reading such a thing so I thought I’d address it.
What Am I Reading? 