Always Never Yours - Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka
Shouldn't a girl get to star in her own love story? Book Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Megan Harper is about due for her next sweeping romance. It's inevitable—each of her relationships starts with the perfect guy and ends with him falling in love . . . with someone else. But instead of feeling sorry for herself, Megan focuses on pursuing her next fling, directing theater, and fulfilling her dream college's acting requirement in the smallest role possible. So when she’s cast as Juliet (yes, that Juliet) in her high school’s production, it’s a complete nightmare. Megan’s not an actress, and she’s used to being upstaged—both in and out of the theater. In fact, with her mom off in Texas and her dad remarried and on to baby #2 with his new wife, Megan worries that, just like her exes, her family is moving on without her. Then she meets Owen Okita, an aspiring playwright inspired by Rosaline from Shakespeare's R+J. A character who, like Megan, knows a thing or two about short-lived relationships. Megan agrees to help Owen with his play in exchange for help catching the eye of a sexy stagehand/potential new boyfriend. Yet Megan finds herself growing closer to Owen, and wonders if he could be the Romeo she never expected. In their fresh and funny debut, Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka break down the high school drama to find there's always room for familial love, romantic love, and—most importantly—self-love.
Always Never Yours, funnily enough, when I read this book, I had finally started getting back into reading after a year long reading slump. Looking back on my rating on Goodreads.com, I actually rated this book a three out of five stars? I was just as surprised as you are, but what was I thinking? Was it because I was cynical of love or something, or because I didn't give this book enough chance.
Re-reading this book is something that I have taken the liberty of doing and will continue to do it until I figure out why I rated the book so low.
After careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that I was being too harsh and was probably taking others opinions of the book while not taking the time to formulate my own true opinion.
Megan Harper is the heroine of this book, the Rosaline typecast girl, of the Romeo and Juliet claim to fame, you know, the girl that gets to live, also known as Romeo's first love. Owen Okita was just swoon-worthy, I know I've been saying this a lot lately, but love is not just a strong enough word, the way the book was written was so wonderfully relatable.
Also, I never really liked the Romeo and Juliet tragedy, I hate the trope and I was glad to see that this book is not focused on the two main characters of Romeo and Juliet, but the unsung character of Rosaline. I just adored this story so much, and I guess I just needed a re-read in order to experience how great this story was.
I just finished reading the second book from Wibberley and Broka and that one has easily become my favorite of 2019.
Don't forget to read that book and my review, I'll link it as a related post. You can find this book at the library or bookstore or Amazon.com
That book is called, If I'm Being Honest and spoiler alert, it was fantastical. Until the next review, please feel free to send book recommendations my way.
Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5 Stars!