Emily Wibberley

Austin Siegemund-Broka

"Every page bursts with humor, squee-inducing romance, and an abiding sense of the deep love and joy of its two writers . . . Always Never Yours is a necessary, feel-good addition to the YA canon.”—Entertainment Weekly Megan Harper is the girl before. All her exes find their one true love right after dating her. It's not a curse or anything, it's just the way things are. and Megan refuses to waste time feeling sorry for herself. Instead, she focuses on pursuing her next fling, directing theater, and fulfilling her dream school's acting requirement in the smallest role possible. But her plans quickly crumble when she's cast as none other than Juliet--yes, that Juliet--in her high school's production. It's a nightmare. Megan's not an actress and she's certainly not a Juliet. Then she meets Owen Okita, an aspiring playwright who agrees to help Megan catch the eye of a sexy stagehand in exchange for help writing his new script. Between rehearsals and contending with her divided family, Megan begins to notice Owen--thoughtful, unconventional, and utterly unlike her exes, and wonders: shouldn't a girl get to star in her own love story?

Always Never Yours

Emi Gilmore 

I wish this book was 5/5 stars like the cover is, but I guess 3 stars will do.

Camila 

A fun, cute and quick read! Just what a good contemporary romance should be!

Tânia Borges

3.5. It's the typical fluffy, summery romance, which fortunately dragged me out of the reading slump Emergency Contact put me into. I liked the way the writer incorporated Romeo & Juliet into the plot and the characters, because it was not the typical forbidden love between the main characters - instead, the interpretation was quite original. The only reason why I didn't rate it higher is because I've read better - it's a good book nonetheless, if you're in the mood for fluffy, contemporary romance.

Between rehearsals for the school play and managing her divided family, seventeen-year-old Megan meets aspiring playwright Owen Okita, who agrees to help her attract the attention of a cute stagehand in exchange for help writing his new script.

Candyce Kirk

Kendra Jones

This is a cute story following Megan, the Rosaline to everyone's Romeo and Juliet. Her best friend is dating her ex boyfriend and has the most perfect relationship. Megan loves directing and has hopes to enter an acting university as a director but she needs an acting credit first. Her attempt to be Lady Montague in her high school rendition of Romeo and Juliet backfires and she is cast as Juliet. During the course of the play, she makes friends with Owen, a quiet and sweet senior who wants to write a play on Rosaline, and so, enlists the knowledge of Megan so that he can fully understand her character.
This was sweet and I loved Megan and Owen's relationship. I also liked that Madeleine, the perfect best friend, had flaws and fought hard for their friendship even when Megan thought that they had given up. 
Megan's relationships with her parents and their partners were interesting and dynamic, even between each other. Megan was uneasy about her place in her new families and worried about whether there was still a place for her there. I liked how her parents, though separated, were willing to be civil with each other and didn't constantly fight. 
There were a couple of instances of cheating, but they were dealt with well.
I liked that this book had a positive attitude towards teens having a sex life and that it didn't shame Megan for having sex.
The writing style was easy to read, not flowery or overly descriptive, but kind of introspective.

laura

I really enjoyed this read. I thought the backdrop of romeo and juilet production was so prefect. I also was really drawn to the character of megan. I thought she was unique character because she was not likable from page one but she grew on me throughout the read. I thought this was also a very sex positive novel and thought it was a super realistic read. I loved the complicated family dynamics off all the characters and also the connection this story had to Romeo and Juliet. I will def read more by this duo of authors in the future.

Anna Wilson

Adorable!! I absolutely love Owen. Also I like that we get an insight into Megan and her home life and it wasn’t just about the romance! 😍

Anna Agarwal

Alexis 

This was such a cute book. I enjoyed it very much. I loved the plot and the majority of the characters, I honestly don't think I have anything bad to say about it. It was cute, funny and gave you the feels at times. It's only a great contemporary book!

Kymberly L McNabb

I loved this book!! I was very skeptical and a cynic but I loved this book. I enjoyed learning about Megan, her relationships and her insecurities. She was a very fun and relatable character. This is definitely a book series for fans of rom-coms and of Jenny Han.

Alejandra

Celia Adams

As someone who always really felt fro Rosalind in Romeo and Juliet, reading what is essentially a modern-day Rosalind's tale was awesome! I read If I'm Being Honest First and totally fell in love with these authors, and this book just pushed me deeper into that whole. Their take on teenage relationships is realistic and perfectly aged; I love the romance but whats more is I love the real growth we see these protagonists go through. I cannot wait for this next novel to come out.

Chelsea White

This was a cute book, a very light read that felt a little bit too much at times. There were lots of YA tropes thrown in, and while some worked, others felt a little off. Overall it was a quick read but not that memorable.

Helena

Belle Ellrich

THANK YOU TO FRIYA AT PENGUINTEEN FOR ALLOWING ME TO JOIN THIS BLOG TOUR!

From co-authors Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka comes a witty, romantic, and relatable contemporary novel.

Megan Harper—the main character of this beautiful novel—is the girl before, as the synopsis states. Every boy she’s ever known to date has found someone after their break-ups, someone better than what she could have ever been.

This can be found to the readers as quite a sad position for Megan. She’s just a girl trying to get accepted into the college of her dreams, where she can become the director she wants to be. However, when she is cast as Juliet—the lead role in her high school’s upcoming play—she is outright with anger, agitation, and nervousness. She only tried out to fill and complete the acting requirement for the college she dreams of.

For this part, I can honestly feel for her. I’m more into the acting role myself, but that doesn’t take away the fear and nervousness I feel every time I’m in front an audience, no matter the size.

It’s during this acting period where she meets Owen—a shy, playwriter who’s Italian girlfriend no one has ever seen or heard of. It’s hard not to crush on him during this book, especially because of the fact that he’s so sweet to Megan. By that, it is meant that he basically became a wingman for her.

This is where things kind of shift toward the “really?” side. Megan is independent. She’s strong, she’s witty, and she’s a bit of a flirt. She’s completely boy-crazy, is what you could say. It’s really hard to find characters like this in YA Contemporary nowadays because everyone is so transfixed on making their female main characters these feeble, helpless girls that require handholding for the majority of the book.

I was really excited to see such a headstrong, independent character for once. However, that doesn’t mean she didn’t come with faults—because boy, she definitely has some faults. But it meant that we would get a character that us independent girls—and some guys—can relate to. Lots of praise to the authors for that.

"'I didn’t audition for the part, you know,' I say, hoping to diffuse the tension. This kind of drama is yet another reason I prefer directing."
Megan makes it really clear in this book that there are girls who really don’t like her. Her best friend happens to be someone that is friends with a lot of people, and it was mentioned more than once that Megan didn’t want to just be known as the girl who was friends with Madeleine.

This is yet another really relatable part of the story. When comparing Contemporary to real-life, it’s really important to capture the realistic aspects. The authors did a really great job of capturing those aspects, and it was really exciting and easy to catch those parts.

For that, I rate this book 5/5 stars. The characters were funny, relatable, and all-out favorites of mine, the plot was well written and received, and the story, in general, was amazing. I can’t wait to read more from these two in the future.

Lisa van der Heijden 

*3.5/5

“Rosaline could be the central character of her own story. Just because Romeo didn’t want her doesn’t mean no one else will.” 

Have you ever wondered how Rosaline’s life turned out after Romeo left her for Juliette? Always never yours is inspired by that idea. Seventeen-year-old Megan Harper has seen all her ex-boyfriends fall in love with their perfect girlfriends right after their relationship with Megan breaks down. Therefore, she thinks herself of “the girl before”. She thinks she is okay of this fact. However, once she is casted as Juliette in de school’s interpretation of Romeo and Juliette, she is forced to face her own insecurities and that maybe she does not want to be a supporting character in her own life. 

Always never yours was an interesting and enjoyable YA contemporary romance. While the romance is predictable, there are many elements to this story that make it stand out. First of all, theatre plays a major role in the story. Megan is a huge theatre nerd and her passion is directing. Throughout the story the reader sees her struggling as Juliette, but also experiences her passion for theatre when she talks to other characters and when she directs and produces a school show case. This passion and drive made Megan relatable to me. It is was fascinating to read about her interpretation of Shakespeare’s play as well as the progress from script to an actual play on stage. It was clear that the authors have a lot of knowledge about Shakespeare. 

Another element that stood out for me was Megan’s growth as a character. She comes across as if she does not care her relationships do not work out and is happy to be the school’s flirt. However, she slowly comes to realise that she is worth someone else’s commitment and she is worth the attention. Her realisation of her own issues and her journey to self-love made this book feel more complete. This growth was also extended to the relationships with her family. The family dynamics added an interesting layer to story, and I loved how the whole family worked through their problems in the end. Furthermore, I loved Megan’s relationships with her friends and the chemistry she had with the love interest. While the side characters were not complex, they had unique and fun personalities. 

There were two things I did not like about Always never yours. First, the pacing of the story felt too quick. The author choice a complex but vibrant life of their protagonist. She comes across many problems and issues. However, these are so quickly resolved that the reader does not have time to develop much sympathy for Megan. Continuing, the plot is also dramatic, which is not a good combination with the pacing of the story. Dramatic events need a longer healing time. Also, I thought the premise of the book did need the dramatics the authors introduced to the story. 

In conclusion, Always never yours is an enjoyable YA contemporary romance with an adorable couple and interesting character dynamics. I highly recommend this book if you love YA contemporary romance. If you love Shakespeare this might be a fun book too.

Tabassum Irin Zaman

Always Never Yours was a really refreshing read. I haven't read a high school romance in such a long time, so I'm glad I picked this up. Megan's story gave me all the sweet and cheesy feelings I needed! I loved how straightforward and determined Megan was. Her character development was definitely the highlight of the book for me. There were some parts from the book which I didn't like at all ~ specially the friendship between Megan and her friends. I really wished the authors gave Megan a storyline with better friends, because she went through so much and deserved more. Owen was my favorite character from the entire book. He was so adorable I died. ( New fictional crush maybee????) Owen made the book a lot better for me. Now about Megan 's family ~ Her family life was a weird one definitely. But I loved how her family supported her in the end. It was really sweet. Each chapter from the book had a relatable quote from Romeo and Juliet, and they were really interesting. 😁 Always Never Yours reminded me a lot of Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills, so if you loved that book, you should definitely pick this up!

Always Never Yours

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