Name: Final Draft
Rating: 3.473684210526316 (19 reviews)
ISBN: 9781419728723

Riley Redgate

From the acclaimed author of "Noteworthy" and "Seven Ways We Lie" comes the story of an aspiring writer who comes of age under the tutelage of a sadistic, Pulitzer PrizeDwinning mentor.

Final Draft

Emelie

Nope... not sure what The author was trying to do but the end was just horrible... the last 60 pages was literally a wreck!

Laila Piedra doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, and definitely doesn’t sneak into the 21-and-over clubs on the Lower East Side. The only sort of risk Laila enjoys is the peril she writes for the characters in her stories: epic sci-fi worlds full of quests, forbidden love, and robots. Her creative writing teacher has always told her she has a special talent. But three months before graduation, Laila’s number one fan is replaced by Nadiya Nazarenko, a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist who sees nothing at all special about Laila’s writing. A growing obsession with gaining Nazarenko’s approval—and fixing her first-ever failing grade—leads to a series of unexpected adventures. Soon Laila is discovering the psychedelic highs and perilous lows of nightlife, and the beauty of temporary flings and ambiguity. But with her sanity and happiness on the line, Laila must figure out if enduring the unendurable really is the only way to greatness.

Tegan Anderson

I saw that this was available on NetGalley (shoutout to them) and I was instantly hooked by the description. It said something about being ‘sadistically critical and perpetually unimpressed’ and I’ve never related to something so much in my life.

This book is a treasure. It’s about Laila’s obsession with artistic perfection, and that’s a feeling I know very well. It’s about how the growth of her writing corresponds to her own personal growth. It’s about being shy and learning to expand horizons and branch out into ‘real life’ in a way that is interesting rather than overdone.

Here’s a few more things you need to know about Laila:
•	Laila is biracial – half Ecuadorian and half French Canadian
•	She’s queer (she reflects on how she thinks the label ‘pansexual’ would fit her best)
•	She was raised to be ashamed of sex and attraction
•	She’s tall and plus size
•	Her best friend Hannah is Korean and a lesbian
•	All of this is on the page

This is my first Riley Redgate book so I don’t have much of a reference for her writing style across other works, but I’ve read some other reviews and someone pointed out that she discusses and dissects a topic in a lot of detail but doesn’t come back to it again. But I did notice it a bit in ‘Final Draft’: it feels a bit like going through a checklist of things that have to be mentioned instead of being woven in seamlessly. But I did like that the discussions were happening, and that they were detailed.

The only ‘fault’ I have with this book is how the show and story Laila is writing was tied in with the rest of the book. I skimmed through a lot of those parts: it was a struggle to pay attention or care (mainly because sci-fi is not a genre that hugely interests me). I don’t like when characters go into massive amounts of detail about plots that aren’t relevant to the main plot, but that’s just a personal preference of mine.

Overall, ‘Final Draft’ is a relatable, interesting, and diverse read for readers and writers alike. I can imagine that Riley Redgate will quickly find herself on my list of favourite authors.

Nikki Sojkowski

Final Draft is the story of a pansexual girl in her senior year of high school struggling to find balance between her life and her writing. Struggling with her relationships, the death of her mentor, and criticisms of her teacher, and most importantly struggling to find herself. 

It had a slow uptake but was an important read. It definitely made me reminisce on my own high school years, comparing Laila’s choices with my own. While it was a bit underwhelming for my own personal experiences, I would highly recommend this to 16 and 17 year olds- there is much to learn from Laila’s experiences. Don’t be afraid to do things just because they require risk.

Laila Piedra doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, and definitely doesn't sneak into the 21-and-over clubs on the Lower East Side. The only sort of risk Laila enjoys is the peril she writes for the characters in her stories. But just before her graduation, Laila's creative writing teacher and number one fan is replaced by Nadiya Nazarenko, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who sees nothing at all special about Laila's writing. A growing obsession with gaining Nazarenko's approval leads to a series of unexpected adventures. With her sanity and happiness on the line, Laila must figure out if enduring the unendurable really is the only way to greatness. The third novel from the beloved author of Seven Ways We Lie, Final Draft is "an intensely focused portrait of a girl who, through first love and first loss, begins to find the story she wants to tell" (Booklist).

Final Draft

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