Opposite Of Always - Justin A. Reynolds
Book Synopsis: Jack Ellison King. King of Almost.
He almost made valedictorian. He almost made varsity. He almost got the girl... When Jack and Kate meet at a party, bonding until sunrise over their mutual love of Froot Loops and their favorite flicks, Jack knows he’s falling—hard. Soon she’s meeting his best friends, Jillian and Franny, and Kate wins them over as easily as she did Jack. Jack’s curse of almost is finally over. But this love story is . . . complicated. It is an almost happily ever after. Because Kate dies. And their story should end there. Yet Kate’s death sends Jack back to the beginning, the moment they first meet, and Kate’s there again. Beautiful, radiant Kate. Healthy, happy, and charming as ever. Jack isn’t sure if he’s losing his mind. Still, if he has a chance to prevent Kate’s death, he’ll take it. Even if that means believing in time travel. However, Jack will learn that his actions are not without consequences. And when one choice turns deadly for someone else close to him, he has to figure out what he’s willing to do—and let go—to save the people he loves.
This is one of the most complicated and anticipated reads that I've read this year. Maybe complicated is not the best word, however the storyline is complex. I would like to know more about story after because the author didn't really go into detail about what happens next, yes there was an epilogue. However, that was not enough to satisfy me.
To be completely honest, this book was not one that was on my radar, but I could not understand why the whole "dying teenage love story" is so popular nowadays. Ever since The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, I've seen so many authors do stories about cancer or whatever illness, real or made up they could possibly imagine. It's pretty ridiculous how they romanticize being sick, I'm not saying that people with diseases can't fall in love, I just wish their was more delicacy and sensitiveness when it comes to doing novels with those aforementioned plots.
Being unbiased, there was a lot of mixed reviews when it came to this book, and I didn't read those reviews, but the positive ones seemed to really enjoy this book, whereas the others could not be bothered to even finish it. DNF'ing is so common in the book community and I wish that more people could give books another shot, but if not that's okay too. Not everyone has to love something, but to deliberately not finish reading something and then rating it poorly is exactly why the rating is so mixed.
My opinion, is that if you have a full understanding of this book, then you can really write a honest and fair review without letting too much personal feelings get in the way.
Emotions are great, they are what make reading so much fun; but you have to remember that at the end of the day, authors are people too, they have feelings and writing is their job - they probably spent years/months, many hours pouring over this book.
Yes, everyone is entitled to their own opinions and some may be negative, but I'd prefer to spread a more positive message even if the review content tends to be on the not so amazing side for the book. Surely, this is a good thing to remember, back to this review...
Sorry about the intermission/rant. TLDR; basically to sum all of that up, don't be a jerk.
Speaking of jerks, can you believe Franny, and even the main character Jack, also Kate, and also Jillian - as you can see I didn't really fall for any of the characters' charms, but I did relate to some parts of the book.
Without giving too much away, there is a trigger warning: sickness, death, cheating, gambling, and violence - just to name a few.
Ugh. I just wish that some parts of this book was better. For example, Kate dying over and over again like some Groundhog Day Movie-esque type of thing, it was just so unnecessary and I just felt that I could do without.
Even though there are a lot of negatives, I thought that the writing made up for that, the style not the content of words and actions.
Since, this is a debut book for this author and I know that I will be reading more from him in the future. Whatever he has next, I'm game to read.
Well, that's all, I want to make this clear that this is not sponsored, nor not an ad, all thoughts and opinions are mine.
Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5 Stars!