Book Review: Awkwardly Ever After by Marni Bates

I first heard of Awkward when Julie Kagawa wrote a few glowing sentences about it. Yes, I’m a Julie Kagawa fan. And perhaps more importantly, that’s how I ended up reading Awkward. I wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of Awkward, but I did enjoy it enough to actually read the sequel. Unbeknownst to me, though, Awkwardly Ever After is actually the fourth book in the series. GASP. Oops, I skipped the second and the third book. Whatever. My thoughts would probably be the same had I read the second and the third, so here goes nothing.

Awkwardly Ever After is a collection of three novellas centering around certain characters we’ve met before. Needed closure but didn’t want to hunt down Marni Bates? Well, here you go, the perfect solution to your very prominent problem. Awkwardly Ever After, is told in the views of Melanie Morris, Isobel Peters, and Corey O’Neal. Basically, they all have issues with their love lives and must figure out how to deal. Boo hoo. Cheesiness begins now.

I think I was most annoyed by the writing style. I will admit that it’s not the worst writing, but OMG I was so annoyed. Was it the cheesiness or the cliches or what that had me annoyed? Actually, scratch all of this. IT’S THE CHEESE. Every single novella is just so cheesy. Like cheesier than Swiss or whatever. OMG I DON’T CARE. It was just so cheesy. SO MANY CLICHES.

Another issue I had was the fact that Marni Bates literally uses the same plot over and over and over again. I don’t care if it’s recycled or whatever. A repeated plot but with a different girl or guy every time is NOT COOL. It gets annoying. It’s repetitive and uncreative. (See what I’m doing here?! If you don’t, I’m being very repetitive.) Obviously. Additionally, not only does Marni Bates repeat within her own plots, but she also repeats the generic plots. Personally, I am not a big fan of these plots, but I will concede that it is no worse than the bulk of chick lit. Thus, this book is not that bad.

Good things now! I love the fact that Marni Bates believes in diversity. There’s females and males narrating. Different sexual orientations are represented. Isobel Peters does not have a perfect body. I love all of these facts. The fact that not all the characters are the same is extremely important to me. And OMG Marni Bates is cool like that.

Rating: 5 out of 10

Publisher: K- Teen (June 24, 2014)

Length: 304 pages (Paperback)

ISBN #: 9780758295163

Source: Netgalley