Title: When It Happens
Author: Susane Colasanti
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 310
Publisher: Speak
Year Published: 2006
Format: Paperback Copy
First Line: "'So.'"
"A boy, a girl, and the possibility of something real...
Seniors in high school, Sara and Tobey couldn't be more different. She wants to get into her first-choice college; he wants to win Battle of the Bands. Sara's other goal is to find true love, so when popular Dave asks her out, she's thrilled. But Tobey always creeps into her thoughts. Lucky for Sara, one of Tobey's goals is also to make her fall in love with him. Told in alternating point of view, Sara and Tobey's real connection will have everyone rooting for them from the minute they meet."
My Rating: 1/5
This is a low rating, even for me. This is a book that's been sitting on my shelf for years on years on years. So I pulled it out of my TBR jars and that forced me to read it. And I freaking hated it. It reminded me why I hated YA Romance books in the 2000s. This book was so hurtful to read and used so many tropes. I hated the way the characters acted, were portrayed and the writing just overall. This book uses slut shaming in many aspects of the book and I just couldn't relate to the characters. In my opinion, the author seemed to be writing about teens without knowing anything about teens.
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
Wow, I've never rated a book so low and thought so lowly of a book that I read. That is harsh, I'm aware. I just didn't like how the author portrayed teenagers and used stereotypes throughout the story as a whole. I think that this story portrayed teenage boys as only thinking about sex and getting off without thinking about others feelings overall. Even confusing lust and love. The teenage girls in this book were worried about not being pretty enough, smart enough or thin enough for boys to call them and ask them out. I was just so upset throughout this book.
Characters:
Sarah: Spends far to much time thinking about how she's the smart girl, not the pretty popular girl. She also seems to think that if you think about sex and you're a girl you should have the label as a slut. It was so frustrating to read about such a negative sex oriented story.
Tobey: The one thing that made up for this book was the fact that Tobey brought up birth control and it is brought up a few times in this story. I think that his constant narration about how bad he wants to bang Sara is just irritating. I'm aware teenagers are hormonal but girls are allowed to have positive thoughts about sex. Shook. I know.
Dave: Obviously all jocks are jerks and can't be trusted. All they want to do is pressure you into sex and think about having sex with your way hotter friend... right?
Josh: Kinda a blah character.
Laila: Another blah character.
Maggie: I liked her, she was someone I think would have a better perspective for a contemporary novel, that being said if it was written the same way.
Mike: Super static character.
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
