After enjoying Frankly in Love last year, I anticipated that this book would also be a winner for me. Yoon once again gave me characters to fall in love with and a storyline and narrator voice that felt authentic. I enjoyed the message of finding your identity and trying to decide how much of your real self you want to show the world and what parts you want to keep hidden.
The story line tackled friendship drama, family relationships, and tough issues such as bullying. Although the motivation for Sunny to put on a false image was romance (a realistic reason people pretend to be something other than themselves), this was the weakest part of the book for me. I never really enjoyed Cirrus and Sunny together and would have preferred them to develop a strong friendship first or even instead of becoming romantically involved.
The surprise relationship for me turned out to be the sibling one between Gray and Sunny. I enjoyed how they worked through their feelings and renewed their strong bond that had been lost when Gray left home. This deepened the meaning of this book for me.
Another favorite part of this story was the male friendships Sunny, Milo, and Jamal formed. Unlike other novels with male friends, these boys broke the stereotypical male bonds--they dreamed together, worked together, supported each other, and best of all, shared their feelings and fears.
This book was overall a fun read that I never wanted to put down. Sunny's sarcastic humor and cynicism made me laugh out loud often (I appreciate more laughter in my life) and I am looking forward to reading the next book by Yoon.
The story line tackled friendship drama, family relationships, and tough issues such as bullying. Although the motivation for Sunny to put on a false image was romance (a realistic reason people pretend to be something other than themselves), this was the weakest part of the book for me. I never really enjoyed Cirrus and Sunny together and would have preferred them to develop a strong friendship first or even instead of becoming romantically involved.
The surprise relationship for me turned out to be the sibling one between Gray and Sunny. I enjoyed how they worked through their feelings and renewed their strong bond that had been lost when Gray left home. This deepened the meaning of this book for me.
Another favorite part of this story was the male friendships Sunny, Milo, and Jamal formed. Unlike other novels with male friends, these boys broke the stereotypical male bonds--they dreamed together, worked together, supported each other, and best of all, shared their feelings and fears.
This book was overall a fun read that I never wanted to put down. Sunny's sarcastic humor and cynicism made me laugh out loud often (I appreciate more laughter in my life) and I am looking forward to reading the next book by Yoon.