Please note that I did not give this book any stars. I rounded up to one star on Goodreads.I read this for Romance Book Bingo 2017: Insta-love square.
This is going to be a bit ranty so I apologize in advance. I loathed this book. From beginning to end. I can't believe that a movie that I enjoyed spun off from this source material. I think at one time I wonder how many times Nick said the "f" word and decided I was too lazy to do a search via my Kindle because I just wanted this book to be over. At least it counted towards a romance book bingo. I realized after I finished I could count it towards the insta-love square. I initially was told that this was New Adult. It's not, it is Young Adult, though due to the actions of this two nitwits you have to think it was for a bunch of middle schoolers.
The book shifts POV between Nick and Norah. I am trying to think of something positive to say. I got nothing. This whole book is just a cliche wrapped in something terrible. Like lima beans. I hate lima beans. So let's go with this book is wrapped in lima beans. It has been left outside to rot in the sun for seven days as well. And then a dog comes along, sniffs it, carries it away, and buries it in the backyard.
Nick is performing with his band in New York City. He is still recovering from having his heart broken by his ex-girlfriend Tris. When he sees her in the audience with another dude, he pretty much starts spiraling. He goes up to Norah and asks her to be his girlfriend for five minutes in order to make Tris jealous (middle school actions). And then somehow they are kissing and feeling something has happened between them. I don't think they even told each other their names at this point by the way. Norah finds herself attracted to Nick, but tells herself because of her breakup with her ex Tal (by the way why the hell are these exes names beginning with the letter "T"?) that she is frigid (GOD JUST GET THROUGH THIS SO YOU CAN STOP TALKING ABOUT THIS BOOK) that Nick can't possibly want to be with a girl like her.
Deep breath.
I maybe started rocking back and forth with the whole frigid talk. Cause I don't think that the character Norah got what it meant and I am pretty surprised the author didn't seem to get she was using that word wrong. And don't get me started on how Nick was the one to get Norah to thaw out. SHUT UP BOOK! Deep breath again.
And considering that Nick at one point was like one freaking second away from never leaving his room again and writing bad break-up poetry, I have some feelings toward the way he was all yes I guess I am no longer in love with Tris. I mean, I have given John Green's "The Fault in Our Stars" rightful crap for how teens are portrayed, but man. I feel like going back and upping my rating on that book due to this mess.
The secondary characters are Cliche 1, 2, 3, and 4. I refuse to go back and tell you who is who besides Tris who I started calling Cliche 1. Cause apparently, she realizes that Nick loves her too much, and she doesn't feel that way, so you know, break up. Though she still wants him I think. But she doesn't. And gives her used to be friend Norah tips on how to kiss by actually kissing her outside. And Norah somehow is getting turned on (and wonders if she is really frigid again). I at one point wondered did I somehow wonder onto the Literotica site and realized, nope, still reading this book and thought about hunting down the Book gods and sacrificing 10 dictionaries in order to have something like this never happen to me again this year. I can't read any more terrible books. I may go into a reading slump and not climb out for three months like the year before last.
The plot is just two teens chasing each other around New York playing a game of do you really like me. That's all I got.
The writing felt and read very amateurish to me too. And repetitive.
“Fuck this.
Fuck this wondering. Fuck this trying and trying. Fuck this belief that two people can become one ideal. Fuck this helplessness. Fuck this waiting for something to happen that probably won't ever happen.”
“We are the ones who take this thing called music and line it up with this thing called time. We are the ticking, we are the pulsing, we are underneath every part of this moment. And by making the moment our own, we are rendering it timeless. There is no audience. There are no instruments. There are only bodies and thoughts and murmurs and looks. It's the concert rush to end all concert rushes, because this is what matters. When the heart races, this is what it's racing towards.”
“My heartbeat accelerates. I am in the here, in the now. I am also in the future. I am holding her and wanting and knowing and hoping all at once. We are the ones who take this thing called music and line it up with this thing called time. We are the ticking, we are the pulsing, we are the underneath every part of this moment. And by making this moment our own, we are rendering it timeless. There is no audience. There are no instruments. There are only bodies and thoughts and murmurs and looks. It's the concert rush to end all concert rushes, because this is what matters. When the heart races, this is what it's racing toward.”
The flow of the book was not great either. It just snaps back and forth between Nick and Norah. And since when we see Norah's POV, Nick seems kind and control, and when we switch to Nick he is too busy thinking of the "f" word or some other damn thing, I was not getting this kind, wise, and sweet guy that she was. Also who the hell falls in love in like a few hours? Ugh. I have to stop, I just want this book done.
New York would not be a place I want to visit after finishing this book. It never comes alive. We have Nick and Norah rushing from points A to B throughout the book and I never got a sense at all where the heck they were. I just gave up and kept reading so I could finally be at the end.
Bah to the whole ending.
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