Alice Oseman

The third novel from the phenomenally talented Alice Oseman – one of the most talked about YA writers in recent years.

I Was Born for This

jana 

I wanna go back to when everything in my mind was real. When I could read a story and it would be real and real life didn't matter, real life was inferior! Real life has arrived to punch us all in the face.

I shake my head. "I don't know. I just am."

all of alice oseman's characters are so relatible-

I've always had friends. People I sit with at school, people I talk to  people I hang out with sometimes. But I've never had a best friend. I've never had a friend, or anyone really, whom I can talk to about anything and everything. Someone who actually cared about the stuff I'm interested in. Someone who didn't roll their eyes when I got too excited about stuff. Someone whose eyes didn't glaze over when I told a linkedin anecdote. Someone who actuallly liked me for who I am. Not just because I'm easy to talk to and good at filling awkward silences. Until i started talking to Juliet.

Internet friendships aren't that different from real ones nowadays and Juliet knows more about me than my closest school friends.

The third novel from the phenomenally talented Alice Oseman, author of Solitaire and the graphic novel series Heartstopper - soon to be a major Netflix series.

Franzi

They kept trying to put these girls down by saying how pathetic they were, but in reality the garls were more powertul than anybody. 

They gave these girls something very safe to love. Something that would never bite them back. In the sixties, everything would bite you back if you were a girl. 

 Me. The human embodiment of a caterpillar.

this hits harder when you know the end, trust me 

You wanted to meet her because you have this selfish need to have someone to talk to about the things you care about.

Rowan stares at me. The flashing lights reflect in his glasses. "But we're gods, Jimmy. What's better than that?"

I never know what to put in my Twitter bio so I usually just put an Ark lyric in there. 

Being a male fan of obscure old bands is, for some reason, more acceptable than being a female fan of a twenty-first-centurx boy band. 

... proving to the World that being transgender is just one tiny part of you." 

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Being trans has been a pretty big part of my life so far, thanks. 

I suppose sometimes it makes me feel a bit awkward. Knowing that a fair percentage of the people who come to meet us or see our concerts have probably read extremely explicit fanfiction about me and my best friend having sex. 

On the internet only, yeah, but internet friendships aren't that different to real ones nowadays

From the bestselling creator of HEARTSTOPPER and LOVELESS, a deeply funny and deeply moving exploration of identity, friendship, and fame. For Angel Rahimi life is about one thing: The Ark -- a boy band that's taking the world by storm. Being part of The Ark's fandom has given her everything she loves -- her friend Juliet, her dreams, her place in the world. Her Muslim family doesn't understand the band's allure -- but Angel feels there are things about her they'll never understand. Jimmy Kaga-Ricci owes everything to The Ark. He's their frontman -- and playing in a band with his mates is all he ever dreamed of doing, even it only amplifies his anxiety. The fans are very accepting that he's trans -- but they also keep shipping with him with his longtime friend and bandmate, Rowan. But Jimmy and Rowan are just friends -- and Rowan has a secret girlfriend the fans can never know about. Dreams don't always turn out the way you think and when Jimmy and Angel are unexpectedly thrust together, they find out how strange and surprising facing up to reality can be. A funny, wise, and heartbreakingly true coming of age novel. I Was Born for This is a stunning reflection of modern teenage life, and the power of believing in something -- especially yourself.

Suze

“If we can talk about anxiety, we can talk about poo. They’re basically the same thing.”

“I'm excellent at faking being okay with things, even when inside my brain there is a tiny screaming gnome who is definitely not okay.”

“Most adults see teenagers as confused kids who don't understand much, while they're the pillars of knowledge and experience and know exactly what is right at all times.

I think the truth is that everyone in the entire world is confused and nobody understands much of anything at all.”

 ☆RoRo☆

‘You’re my special internet friend, Angel,’

faith hurren

Laura 

Nikita

Anna 

I was born for this is very different from alice's other books. it's way darker in some ways. the main theme is expectations meeting reality, which is sometimes (I'm not afraid to say most of the times) really disappointing. 
I couldn't really relate to Angel since I am not a part of any fanbase and I do not tend to watch celebrity's life so much that I sometimes forget to live my own. so that was a new point of view for me. 
on the other hand I've learned more about anxiety and myself through jimmy, since we both tend to get stressed really easily. 
I also liked the portrayal of what famous people deal with on a daily basis and I started to feel really sad for most of celebrities, mainly members of famous boy bands. I cannot even imagine what it's like not being able to go for a walk or to not see your family members more than 3 times a year. 
even though this book sometimes feels like a fanfiction of 1D or some k-pop band, I enjoyed it. was it all over the place? yes. was it not really believable? yes. 
but it still gave me lots of things to think about and made me realize that celebrities are after all just normal people and that fans are not necessarily just annoying people that do not know how to act.

anna

Bless Alice Oseman and her books for getting me out of a big reading slump.

Nomin-Erdene Tsogtgerel

The storyline for this book was very original, to the point where I wasn’t able to predict exactly where the events of the book would occur next. The ending tied the story off perfectly.

Charlotte Squire

becky oh

Jasmin

Nessa Luna

I know I keep saying I'm not a contemporary person, but maybe I am an Alice Oseman person. I've loved all of the books she's written so far and just need more books like these (barely any romance, queer as fuck, diverse as fuck, just give it to me). 

This book also hit kind of close to home, because I've been Angel. I was around the same age when I found out about this band that completely changed my life for the next seven years (until they broke up in 2014). I went to so many of their shows, bought all the merch, all the albums. I even followed them to the UK when they played a couple of shows there. This band just completely took over my life and when they broke up, I had no idea what I was going to do. (As you can see, I guess I turned out alright after all). 

I do have to say I liked Jimmy's POVs a bit more than Angel's, because I am not a fan of the type of fan Angel was, but she grew on me towards the end. (view spoiler)[Naturally, she changed a lot by the end of the book, but saints I hate the type of fan that ships two of the band members and writes/reads fanfiction about them. There's just something so annoying about shipping two people who are literally just friends. It's even creepier when they're real life people. (hide spoiler)]

But yeah, like I said, I love anything Alice Oseman writes so I wasn't surprised I really enjoyed this one too!

emily

this book... it had it's ups and downs i guess. it was enjoyable overall (and i'm saying that as an absolute fangirl)

The whole concept of the book, the insiders, the characters (Angel's spirit is so genuine and fun), how they view some things so differently and some as if they were the same makes it so tough not to keep reading all night (I did).

Though the book reminds me of the pandemic HarryStyles Twitter era.

Nina May

The whole concept of the book, the insiders, the characters (Angel's spirit is so genuine and fun), how they view some things so differently and some as if they were the same makes it so tough not to keep reading all night (I did).

Though the book reminds me of the pandemic HarryStyles Twitter era.

Jamieson

I ADORED THIS BOOK SO FREAKIN MUCH IT WAS AMAZING AND IF YOU WANT TO READ MY FULL REVIEW YOU CAN  DO THAT RIGHT HERE 

ALSO, YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK

amber baardsen

SHE NEVER MISSES.
I would read Alice’s grocery list ong

- just, the way they write and the characters and everything 
- i love how Alice writes mental health, and how she writes it so realistically every. time.
- and they write so lovable and diverse characters, without even trying
- Jimmy and the boys😭😭 i love their relationship and closeness and platonic intimacy. and how they’re not perfect and they have issues, but still love each other so much
- Angel is my new kin. i cannot. the way she’s so dedicated to one single thing and forgets to care about herself because all of her love goes to this one thing, that gives her joy. and how she doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life, but is so dedicated to keep trying
- Lister, my love💔 he deserves so much better
- the whole book is 🤌chefs kiss 🤌

anyways, Alice is my favourite author and i love them and their books so much

loved it, modern subjects, modern set-mind, teenage love. 

chiyoko

Jantien 

** spoiler alert **
           DNF at page 182.

I so wanted to like this book because I loved Heartstopper, but man, this was just bad 😭. 

“Angel” just disappears to London after a huge fight with her mom who told her very specifically she couldn’t go, but somehow they don’t even come after her and her dad even backs her up… or at least he does the first 2 days… ?
My parents would literally call the police and ground me for life if I pulled that.
then on the day of the concert the dad goes all “what is it you like about this band?” The girl can’t talk about anything else so the parents should already know, and dad was just fine with her ditching mom and the house rules 3 days ago so it doesn’t make any sense to start a scene at that point.

She has zero friends because all she can talk about is a boysband that is apparently HUGE and has won multiple awards and all the teens apparently adore them, except for every single person that goes to her school? Very realistic.

Angel nor Mac knew the other was coming on this trip, though Juliet can’t remember not having told them at all 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️ because it’s such a minor thing like, it’s very normal to just forget to mention this ofcourse.
Also, they should be like best friends so juliet should know Angel doesn’t make friends easily and should not have invited a total stranger, crush or no.

Angel sounds more depressed than anything else.
Psychology might not be the best major for her seeing as she has only 1 (internet) friend she talks and relates too.. and she would literally take a bullet for 3 guys she hasn’t met and who don’t know she exists. Sounds healthy.
Juliet is very clearly going through something and “Angel” never knows how to react, doesn’t ask about it for days and just simply ignores the fact that her best friend is struggling with something. 

Angel “rescues” Bliss from the paparazzi by running after her doing literally nothing but just that, running after her. 
And they magically escape by going inside the metro station with the photographers only meters away, because we all know that paparazzi can’t enter the subway 🤔 right?

What was up with that chapter on Jimmy going outside after reminiscing how BAD last time was when he had Rowan and Lister with him to distract the crowd and help him with his anxiety attack. But going out at night by yourself WITHOUT YOUR PHONE sounds like a great idea, after a day filled with anxious thoughts. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

More and more readers are starting to be quite a bit allergic to the “snowhite syndrom” a lot of main characters have.
Angel is the opposite of that. How can you like or even love yourself when you find yourself and your entire life average? And what does that mean?? What is average?? 

Mac and juliet completely dump Angel twice in the short span of two days, but heyyy it’s cool.
Even though she is a girl alone in a strange city. 

I had to give up after 182 pages of all of this.
It’s absolutely dreadful and did not make me happy at all. There was nothing about this book that I liked.

wolfen gray

there are parts that are definitely terrific but they are surrounded by parts that are not.

one glaring problem was though that it was peppered with the crazy coincidences. now coincidences aren't necessarily a bad thing but in this case it was overdone and weakened the plot in my opinion. entertaining definitely but not believable.

I'd say this was a pretty enjoyable read. it's utterly delightful that the romance isn't the major plot point.

sophia

Marloes

Jude Moon

“That's why people get into fandom and bands and stuff. They just want something to hold on to something that makes them feel good. Even if it's all a big lie.” 
― Alice Oseman, I Was Born for This

I had only read Heartstopper before going into this book, but it was enough for me to know I was going to enjoy (and relate) anything she has written. Even in this mindset, I did not expect to like it as much as I did, which has been amazing.

Firstly, as a person who is part of the lgbt+ community and deals with anxiety myself i really really enjoyed how those two themes where represented in the book. Sometimes it's hard to fall into clichés or even make the plot all around those two things, but in this, we can see that they become two separate things: a plot, where things happen and the characters grow and evolve and fuck up, and then those few other things that give the protagonists a realness to them, something that is a part of them but doesn't make them who they are.

Speaking of the characters, I loved all of them oh my god. I have actually adopted them and I'm really proud with my decision!! I must admit that at first I wasn't really getting on well with Angel. She seemed too much in a sense I couldn't quite grasp (maybe because I saw my teenage self in her, just maybe). This has been mainly the only problem I've had with this story and even that was solved as the story went on and I was getting to know every character's back story. 

In general I feel like if you're a fan of something this is the best book for you, and if you're not and you're one of those people who call us crazy, you should probably read this and reflect on your opinions.

9/10


(ps: I could actually write for hours about my thoughts on the fan phenomenon but im just gonna say that this woman knows exactly what she's talking about, and that it felt great to read this point of view in a book♥️)

giorgia :)

this book was amazing. i cannot put into words how good it was other than that. wish there was more friendship between jimmy and angel tho.

I loved it sm. Rlly didnt expect the ending!!

Rachel Evans

(4.75/5) Audiobook - 6 hours 30 minutes - I absolutely loved this book. I loved the characters, I loved the concept, I loved nearly everything about it. I found the exploration of fame really interesting, and how similar the viewpoints of 'the other half' were, which makes sense. I really, really connected with so many of the characters, more so than I usually do when reading books. I think some of it just felt quite close to home sometimes. There were only a few things I didn't like, one being that sometimes, Angel's ramblings about the Ark lasted slightly too long, and Jimmy's complaints about the fans lasted slightly too long, but this is a bit nit-picky to be honest. This book actually managed to make me cry (quite a rare feat), and when I finished it, it left me feeling a little bit hollow, which is something that only occurs when reading a brilliant book. Overall, I just loved it so much, that this review probably makes no sense because I'm just rambling.

Sophie

Alice Oseman's writing never fails to amaze me. Read this book in two sittings and I already wish I could read it again for the first time. 
Also: Emotional Rollercoaster!

Amazing! Showstopping! Spectacular! I read this at the perfect time, me being in my fangirl stan era myself, and this was just so good. Tackles some really personal and hard hitting topics, in a way that is not exploitative. If you’ve ever been a fangirl of someone famous, this is something to pick up!

I Was Born for This

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