Written by Kiara Co
Shouldn’t a girl get to star in her own love story? With the amount of YA romance fiction novels that are populating the genre currently, Always Never Yours was refreshing as this book broke the mould of tropes.
The story is about a 17-year-old girl named Megan who focuses on pursuing her next fling, directing theatre, and fulfilling her dream college’s acting requirement by landing the smallest role possible. However, she ends up landing the role of the lead of the play in her high school’s production. Megan has no acting experience which makes it a nightmare for her until she meets Owen an aspiring playwright who she forms a close friendship with. Will this lead to something else? Surprisingly, this book contained many concepts that aren’t common in most books.
Firstly, the concept of theatre. In many other mediums, this form art was not portrayed realistically but was rather stereotypical, but in most cases, the concept of theatre is not really exposed as much to people in pop culture. Since theatre does play a role in the story, it sure is mandatory to discuss here! The amount of references were very well appreciated. For example, the mentions of different musicals such as “Grease”, “West Side Story”, “Cats”, and many more! What also was neat was the author was able to put BOTH the concept of plays and musicals in theatre.
In addition is the portrayal of theatre kids. Most people don’t know that a theatre kid doesn’t consist of just being an actor on stage because it can also mean being the stage manager or in the tech team, or in this case, a director like Megan. For something like Glee or High School Musical, it portrayed theatre kids somewhat inaccurately and coming across as losers or being bratty. However, in this book, it wasn’t like that. Theatre kids are a mix of different people who are just like any student who is a part of any extra curricular activity.
Lastly, what stood out in the theatre aspect of the book was something that was actually true. There was a part in the story where Megan didn’t understand the importance of being an actress on stage was just as important as being a director. Since in order to become a director, you must understand the emotion of the character being portrayed on stage. That’s another thing that’s true about being in theatre and learning about the art as you learn every aspect and have to experience it yourself. You learn to act, direct, do set or costume design etc!
What was also outstanding was the characters! Megan is, essentially, the school slut, but she doesn’t fit that mould. However, it is very clear to not slut shame her or to point out she is someone who is dating so many guys in a short amount at her age. Megan is a character who believes she is not worthy of a permanent relationship and has trouble being confident in continuing her relationships. She also faces the negative beliefs of those around her who aren’t willing to consider that perhaps she truly cares about each relationship. Also, the fact that Megan was totally fine when her best friend dates her ex-boyfriend, Tyler!!! Like there was no tension indicated between the three and I was very surprised how there was no friendship fight in the story.
In the book, there was some diversity as representation does matter. A minor character was this African-American boy who was part of their high school production, Romeo and Juliet. Then there’s Owen, Megan’s friend, that’s Japanese-American. It was refreshing to see a male Asian main character who wasn’t a way to check off the diversity box, but the portrayal was well done. It wasn’t clearly mentioned much that Owen was Japanese unless you paid clear attention to the character, however, the author confirmed it on Goodreads about his character’s heritage.
What was not the best thing about this book was the connection between the characters, aside from the friendship between Owen and Megan. Megan and all the other characters, such as her family or her best friend, felt so flat. Speaking of flat, all the other characters had little to no personality as well (except Owen). Another issue was the pacing of the story. The book is 336 pages, but it felt longer than that. This book is supposed to be a feel good type of book and therefore being an easy light read. The story goes from the months from September to December, but it felt longer than that due to the slow pace. The worst part was some parts of the story were boring and it felt like they were fillers just to get to the climax of the story!
With the huge success of many YA romance contemporary novels, this book is a unique one and it is still worth reading!
Always Never Yours is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Shouldn’t a girl get to star in her own love story?
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 Wibberly 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.
