Title: 37 Things I Love (in no particular order)
Author: Kekla Magoon
Release date: May 22, 2012
Publisher: Henry Holt
Pages: 224
Source: Publisher
Ellis only has four days of her sophomore year left, and summer is so close that she can almost taste it. But even with vacation just within reach, Ellis isn’t exactly relaxed. Her father has been in a coma for years, the result of a construction accident, and her already-fragile relationship with her mother is strained over whether or not to remove him from life support. Her best friend fails even to notice that anything is wrong and Ellis feels like her world is falling apart. But when all seems bleak, Ellis finds comfort in the most unexpected places.
Life goes on, but in those four fleeting days friends are lost and found, promises are made, and Ellis realizes that nothing will ever quite be the same.
37 Things I Love is a very deceiving book. From the cover I expected something light and fun. What I got was a rather serious story that touched on first love, lost friendships, and the death of a loved one. I don’t know if maybe my expectations were just set for something completely different or what but I just didn’t really care much for 37 Things I Love.
The characters in 37 Things I Love were lacking quite a bit. The main character, Ellis, had very little personality and almost no backbone. She never stood up for herself and she acted like it was her job to just take the crap her friend Abby was dishing out. And Abby was not a friend. She was a Grade A bitch. She made fun of Ellis and their other friend, Colin, constantly. And when Abby did something stupid it was Ellis’ fault. Colin was the only one I even remotely liked although he had no backbone either.
The plot didn’t seem to go anywhere. Don’t get me wrong the book was a quick read but mainly because it was only 224 pages and had short chapters. It was actually pretty dull and kind of predictable. I just didn’t see any real change or growth until the end of the book. I expected so much more.
Overall, 37 Things I Love just fell short of my expectations. I really wanted to like it but I couldn’t. I would recommend getting this one from your local library if you are interested in reading it.
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Her Life With Books’ review
I hate when that happens. Sorry this one wasn’t for you, it sounded like it had potential. Great, honest review.
Awwww sorry to hear it fell short of your expectations! It looked so appetising – great summer-read looking :/ I would have bought the book and read it because of the cover, very breezy looking ( fluffy stuff you know?) and now to hear it’s not! Thanks for the honest review!
I love this title and am really disappointed to hear the story didn’t go anywhere.
The cover lures you in thinking it is the perfect summer read and then the whole story is just sad.. misa not like :/
This book…not what I expected at all
I have to agree with you, the cover does seem misleading, does not match the summary at all. Although, even the summary didn’t hint at how deep this book sounds to be. Bummer… thanks for a great honest review, Katie!
I probably won’t check it out now..
wow, the cover is definitely misleading! and i really can not read a book about a girl with no backbone. it frustrates me to the extreme! ugh i hate fake friends =
great review!
– juhina
This just sounds… I don’t know.
I’m not entirely surprised that this book fell short of your expectations. While a lot of people seem to like the cover and think it hints at an amazing story within its pages, I find the cover to be very bland and cliche. And cliche has no originality and no surprises. You said the plot was predictable, so I don’t think I’ll be giving this book a chance. Thanks for the honest review!
Happy reading (:
There are times when it’s good when a book has more depth than you thought from the cover, but it’s terrible when you don’t connect with the characters.
Lovely review 🙂