Publisher: Poppy
Page Count: 272
Usually when I talk about books and movies in one post, the movie came AFTER the book. I am not sure that’s the case here. Please don’t hold me accountable for that info, but from what I gathered online, the movie is based on a Japanese film from the year 2006 and therefore they wrote the book for the American movie. I guess this is one of the rare occasions where you wouldn’t have to read the book before watching the movie? The two could still differ from one another, but looking at the trailer it looks exactly the same.
But now on to the actual content! To me, it felt like Everything, Everything meets A Walk to Remember but a tinsy bit less emotional? Despite the seemingly heavy topic, I mostly had a lot of fun reading this book. Admittedly, there were some rather cringey exchanges at times, but I never took them too seriously and therefore could laugh through them. The characters were cute and relatable teens with dreams and aspirations of how they and their love might change the world. The pacing seemed well chosen for the progression of the story and never seemed too rushed. It’s also not a very long read, which is something I gravitate more towards when my schedule gets busy.
All of that is well and fine, except that it never truly hit home on the emotional component with me. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the book a lot, but I just think that there was more room for depth and character development. A lot of it felt cliché or stereotypical, for example the mean girl that remains a mean girl for a century and becomes personified evil just because she is jealous of the seemingly perfectly adorkable but hot MC. I prefer a little more reasoning and nuance with my villains. Also, while I get that the lonely girl trapped in her house enjoys people watching and will inevitably develop crushes on reoccurring faces, please don’t ever normalise stalky behaviour as cute. Again, I understand that this is a very particular situation, but I just want to point out that the person on the receiving end should always be a bit wary if they notice tendencies like that.
If that doesn’t bother you, I am sure you will enjoy this sweet love story. I am not going to promise you a happy ending, but a wild ride of adorably awkward dates, some great female friendship, caring parents, melancholy and a tad of broken heart.
Before I leave you with the trailer, I just want to say that I really appreciated that little definition and the provided links to explain XP at the end of the book. They clearly stated that they may have taken a couple liberties (e.g. how fast it progresses in Katie’s case) but they also showed that they have done their research and wanted to portray it as accurately as possible.
But enough from me, here’s the trailer:
Fazit: 3/5 stars! A really great and fast read that could have used some more depth.
Have you read the book? Are you interested in checking it out? Are you going to watch the movie? Let’s talk!
Life and Other Disasters 
I’ve been seeing so many commercials for this movie lately. I didn’t know there was a book to go along with it. Not sure this is one I will read or watch, but I’m even more curious about it after your review! Nice job!
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I think it’s very cute but neither a must-read or must-watch!
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Lovely review, Kat! I’m glad you overall enjoyed that one, even if you thought it could have used a bit more development. Still, it managed to distract you overall so… mission accomplished for that one, I’d say 🙂
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Thanks, Marie! Yeah, as I said, I really enjoyed reading it and that’s what counts the most. But at the same time I am not going to run around recommending it to everyone haha
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Is that true about the novel being based on a Japanese movie? I’d like to see that, actually. And you know, it kind of makes sense, seeing as XP is more prevalent in the Japanese than in any other community.
I actually have an idea for a story with characters that have XP. I hope when I write it, it’s not as lacking in depth and character development as this book apparently was.
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Well, the US movie is based on the Japanese film, so I guess that also means the book is based on it. Although it is really more like a companion book for the US movie.
The XP aspect wasn’t underdeveloped in my opinion. They did a great deal of research. It was the general characters lacking depth.
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That’s what I meant. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to find a Japanese movie.
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Oh wow they wrote the book after the movie- that’s unusual. It sounds like fun, even if it’s a shame it never really hit on the emotional component (A Walk to Remember combined with Everything Everything, but less emotional, sounds like a good description going off the trailer) Ah yeah I do get what you mean- I really wish books wouldn’t make stalking or stalky behaviour as cute/quirky/sexy or anything- it’s a serious crime (sorry to be a downer) It’s good that they’ve tried to portray it accurately. Great review!
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I only had that “book after movie” thing happen for big franchises like Pirates of the Caribbean before, but I did a double take if I was really seeing that right ahaha
And don’t worry about being a downer. As someone who has been victim to stalker-like behaviour, I am very much against it. I think that these really were unique circumstances, but I still feel like it should have been addressed a little differently by the receiving end of the advances. The girl herself knew that her behaviour was too much.
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hehe yeah it’s not that common!
Yep, same unfortunately. I don’t think it’s a good idea that it’s treated as this quirky thing in a lot of stories. Yeah for sure.
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Wow that trailer is like the whole movie? Haha. This seems like the right amount of silly and emotional.
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It shows a lot but not everything, everything (no pun intended). I thought it was really nice the way it was, even if it maybe could have gone deeper. I think it will be easier to connect with them on screen maybe?
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So I did short movie recommendation on this movie lol, I really enjoyed the movie so I would give it a 10/10 definitely for just the movie. ❤ I kind of love Bella Thorne too… sooo… yeah. That's pretty interesting about the book part. 🙂 I think I will stick to just watching the movie for this one though!
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I am actually not a Bella Thorne fan, so I always consider well if I want to watch her movies/shows or not, but the story for this one was nice and emotional. And yeah, i really don’t think you have to read the book if you watched the movie. That might turn out pretty boring.
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I really love her show Famous In Love, I’m not sure what type of movies/T.V shows you are into but if you like romantic shows and such.. it would be a great T.V show to watch! 🙂
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Hahaha, yeah, I know. I have a separate post on Famous in Love.
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Did you like the show? I saw your book review but once again (I didn’t know it was also a book lol)
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I didn’t just do a book review. I did a book vs. TV show post 🙂 I like to do those when I watched and read it both. The show won that one.
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Oh okay! 🙂 Good! I absolutely love the show lol, I really hope there is a third season. Have you ever watched a show called Charmed?
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Yeah, they weren’t quite sure on that third season yet. I think their live ratings weren’t that great.
And YES! I was obsessed with Charmed when I was little.
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