Review: Always Never Yours

Authors; Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka

Publisher; Speak

Genres; YA contemporary, YA romance

Pages; 336

Rating; 5/5 stars

Synopsis;

“Seventeen-year-old Megan Harper is about due for her next sweeping romance. It’s inevitable—each of her relationships starts with the perfect guy and ends with him falling in love . . . with someone else. But instead of feeling sorry for herself, Megan focuses on pursuing her next fling, directing theater, and fulfilling her dream college’s acting requirement in the smallest role possible.

So when she’s cast as Juliet (yes, that Juliet) in her high school’s production, it’s a complete nightmare. Megan’s not an actress, and she’s used to being upstaged—both in and out of the theater. In fact, with her mom off in Texas and her dad remarried and on to baby #2 with his new wife, Megan worries that, just like her exes, her family is moving on without her.

Then she meets Owen Okita, an aspiring playwright inspired by Rosaline from Shakespeare’s R+J. A character who, like Megan, knows a thing or two about short-lived relationships. Megan agrees to help Owen with his play in exchange for help catching the eye of a sexy stagehand/potential new boyfriend. Yet Megan finds herself growing closer to Owen, and wonders if he could be the Romeo she never expected.”

Can we talk about how ADORABLE this book is? I am still in full swoon mode. How could the equation of theater, the sweetest guy to exist, and a friend-to-lovers relationship not turn out like a batch of perfection? (Hint, there’s no way. It’s one of the best contemporary books to exist)

Megan is the most memorable contemporary protagonists I’ve ever read; which is saying a lot since I read contemporaries as often as I breath. She’s the side character to everyone’s romances, the before to everyone’s happily ever afters. She embodies Rosaline from Romeo & Juliet, forgotten when the next girl grabs Romeo’s attention. And she’s accepted that.

One of the best things about Megan’s character is how the author choose a trope and essentially developed a person from it. Megan is that girl at school that’s known for her flirty parades and string of boyfriends. It’s was quite sad to watch her struggle through her friend’s judgement and assumptions that the relationships were nothing to her. In a way, she self-sabotaged her relationships by preparing for them to end. So used to being the girl before, Megan never believes she could be THE GIRL. I just wanted to wrap her in a hug because she’s deserves the love she doesn’t expect, but of course some of that changes when my boy Owen shows up.

Owen is such a precious character. The protect at all times type of character. He’s so genuinely kind, sweet and has a creative side. When the two characters collide (not actually, they meet at a pizza place) the cute banter begins. Their sorta flirting is super cute and actually funny. THEY’RE ADORABLE. THEY’RE FUNNY. I love them, okay? I just love them so much.

All the cute moments, theater references and plot of this book are so perfect and swoon-worthy. My heart is so happy with this book!! It’s so quick and will definitely leave you sleep deprived if you read it before going to bed. I stayed up until 3am finishing this one. Be careful. It’s such a quick read that will drag you from the grips of a reading slump. This is a must read. Seriously! Go pick it up!