So many of the girlies writing today wish they had Caroline's heat but they simply DO NOT

I loved this book. Sally Rooney-esque nostalgic slow burn.

This book made me wanna go back in time and give 21 aeryn a hug 🥹 girlhood!!!! It’s a lot!!!

High drama! Very relatable even though I haven’t been through basically anything any of characters went through lol

A lot of summary but the voice was strong enough to carry it. Enjoyed it.

This was pretty uninteresting to me and I feel like the first third of the book was pretty hard to get through since the pacing was so slow. I found that the way James was described wasn’t nearly as glamorous or alluring as I would’ve liked to picture him, so it made it so incredibly easy to vilify him (I mean, he was clearly the villain). After the “incident” I hoped there would be more depth into Rachel and James’ relationship post-heartbreak/trauma/misfortune, but it unfortunately ended very flatly. I will say there were some funny lines and that kept me interested enough to finish.

nice easy good read. not much happens but still makes you want to read more. conversations with friends esque. enjoyed

Loved this book! It encompasses so much of life in college and navigating love and life! Beautiful!

“I was twenty and I needed two things: to be respected, and to be in love” I really enjoyed this book I love the way it was written and the way the story is told the perspective it takes over it all the unfolds is really captivating. I think Rachel is a really endearing protagonist and I really enjoyed seeing how her character progressed throughout the reactions she has to the things she’s done and the way she lives so freely? I don’t know if that’s the right word but her character building is so good. I love how messy and complicated and the way everyone was intertwined in this story and I will be reading again

oh fuck yea

a coming of age novel, cleverly narrated by our main character, rachel, retelling her early 20s from 10 or so years later. a very easy read, i flew through it pretty quickly. it’s very funny but also deals with more serious topics well too. my favourite thing about the book being the platonic love between rachel and her best friend james, their friendship is truly what drives this book. 3.5 out of 5. thank you NetGalley for providing the advanced copy.

Clever, relatable. Some pieces felt so familiar. The flippancy of youth, the airiness, the frivolity, the casual affairs, everything inlaid with emotional meaning while also being so meaningless. A reflection on what follows you and what doesn’t, what shapes your life and what falls away.

Reading this book was an experiment for me (I’ve never been very interested in this genre) but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it! The prose was well written and easy to follow, the characters were complex and full of life, and I really liked the structure of the story.
Something that saved this book (in my opinion) is that it was narrated by Rachel’s older self and she has the benefit of hindsight, which she uses to talk frankly about the “questionable” decisions she made in her early 20s. I think if the book had been narrated solely by “young” Rachel, her immaturity would have been grating. But when it’s framed as a retrospect, it’s easier to laugh and remember that no one has anything figured out at that age. 
I also really liked that this was a platonic love story. Yes, it’s also about romantic love, but the story always comes back to the friendship between Rachel and James. Even though their friendship was codependent at times, I loved how important it was to the story.
The book also had some very interesting things to say about reproductive rights. I won’t talk about it too much to avoid spoilers, but I’ll just say I have a lot of thoughts. I like having a lot of thoughts when I finish a book. 

Overall this was some good litfic about being young and trying to build a life for yourself while the world’s falling apart around you. I wouldn’t say it really changed my life but it was an enjoyable read.

Obsessed with this book. It touches on so many important topics via characters and a story that feels somehow both cozy and devastating? Loved it. Listened on audiobook and the narration was delightful as well.

This book really filled my heart up, and made me laugh out loud. I'm so happy to have read it.