Status
Available
Collection
Genres
Publication
Running Press Kids (2017), Edition: Illustrated, 288 pages
Description
Romance. Humor (Fiction.) Young Adult Fiction. HTML: Inspired by the real psychology study popularized by the New York Times and its "Modern Love" column, this contemporary YA is perfect for fans of Eleanor and Park. Two random strangers. Two secrets. Thirty-six questions to make them fall in love. Hildy and Paul each have their own reasons for joining the university psychology study that asks the simple question: Can love be engineered? The study consists of 36 questions, ranging from "What is your most terrible memory?" to "When did you last sing to yourself?" By the time Hildy and Paul have made it to the end of the questionnaire, they've laughed and cried and lied and thrown things and run away and come back and driven each other almost crazy. They've also each discovered the painful secret the other was trying so hard to hide. But have they fallen in love? Told in the language of modern romance�texting, Q&A, IM�and punctuated by Paul's sketches, this clever high-concept YA is full of humor and heart. As soon as you've finished reading, you'll be searching for your own stranger to ask the 36 questions. Maybe you'll even fall in love..… (more)
Awards
White Pine Award (Nominee — 2019)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
288 p.; 8.63 inches
User reviews
LibraryThing member CatherineHsu
Oh my god. This book had so much potential. So much. But in the end, it flopped terribly for me.
This book honestly has such an interesting synopsis. Two people meet during a university psychology study. One is doing it just because. And the other needs the money. The study requires them ask each
I'm super interested in psychology. And a good contemporary romance is definitely my thing. Honestly, this book was born from a perfect formula. But the one thing that really ruined it for me was the characters. I couldn't stand Hildy. Yes, she was supposed to be quirky and awkward, but for me she was just annoying, stereotypically accident-prone, and unnecessarily rambly. And yes, Paul was that typical I-don't-give-a-damn-about-anything kind of character, but seeing as I am a person who loves sarcasm, compared to Hildy, he actually felt like a breath of fresh air.
Another thing that made this story difficult to get through is the writing style. The blurb says that it is written in the language of "modern romance" and while I get that texting is a lot of socialization nowadays, I really couldn't get a feel for the characters without narration, and I felt like the lack of narration hurt the story by making it harder for me to connect with the characters.
I still really like the plot, but to be honest because of the writing style I ended up skimming a lot of the story. If anything the plot is cliche - but I really don't have anything against that. It was, sadly, the characters and the writing approach that didn't do it for me.
This book honestly has such an interesting synopsis. Two people meet during a university psychology study. One is doing it just because. And the other needs the money. The study requires them ask each
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other thirty-six questions, and maybe at the end, they'll see each other in a new light. But both Paul and Hildy are hiding something, and it'll take more than thirty-six questions to break down those walls.I'm super interested in psychology. And a good contemporary romance is definitely my thing. Honestly, this book was born from a perfect formula. But the one thing that really ruined it for me was the characters. I couldn't stand Hildy. Yes, she was supposed to be quirky and awkward, but for me she was just annoying, stereotypically accident-prone, and unnecessarily rambly. And yes, Paul was that typical I-don't-give-a-damn-about-anything kind of character, but seeing as I am a person who loves sarcasm, compared to Hildy, he actually felt like a breath of fresh air.
Another thing that made this story difficult to get through is the writing style. The blurb says that it is written in the language of "modern romance" and while I get that texting is a lot of socialization nowadays, I really couldn't get a feel for the characters without narration, and I felt like the lack of narration hurt the story by making it harder for me to connect with the characters.
I still really like the plot, but to be honest because of the writing style I ended up skimming a lot of the story. If anything the plot is cliche - but I really don't have anything against that. It was, sadly, the characters and the writing approach that didn't do it for me.
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LibraryThing member busylizzie2
This romantic comedy for Young Adults was a fun read and despite being considerably older than the target readership (and being lost by one or two messaging terms) I really enjoyed it.
The chalk and cheese lead characters, Hildy and Paul, who met as part of a psychology experiment, were realistic
The variety of formats used in the book, including dialogue and messaging, with some quirky illustrations, for the questions, was refreshing.
While remaining mostly light-hearted and never preachy, I thought the book had some interesting things to say about families, the images we try to project and the need to go out and make mistakes if we are to achieve something worthwhile.
The chalk and cheese lead characters, Hildy and Paul, who met as part of a psychology experiment, were realistic
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and likeable, and their smart and funny dialogue made me chuckle out loud. Some of the other characters were a bit more sketchy but still convincing, with the possible exceptions of Hildy's two best friends, who I felt were verging on stereotypes. The variety of formats used in the book, including dialogue and messaging, with some quirky illustrations, for the questions, was refreshing.
While remaining mostly light-hearted and never preachy, I thought the book had some interesting things to say about families, the images we try to project and the need to go out and make mistakes if we are to achieve something worthwhile.
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LibraryThing member ilonita50
I am happy I have set a goal to read all the books in the series, this year I was given the latest book "Let the Dead Speak" for review and I'm glad about it because I have read the Scandinavian crime along with other detectives from across the world but I had no knowledge about Jane Casey, well,
I enjoyed this book, it was more with explicit details and when the main character, Maeve was in scary situation my heart was with her and I, too was full of suspense. I found it interesting to see the character presented in the first book, her personal life struggles trying or let's say given up a try to balance the work+relationship leaves the marks for one way or another, having read the Let the Dead Speak, I am intrigued what's happening in the series of books in between.
So, The Burning is about finding the serial murder of various young woman badly murdered by burning them and cutting before hand. Seems the person has really hated woman as such. The story starts with so well with a very scary episode of the next victim...it sets the atmosphere and plays on woman readers. However, the team is sure the serial killer is about to get more thirsty and attack out of his pattern, by causing crime more often. The book is drawing more attention to the last victim Rebecca and those who knew her, Maeve tries to draw an image of whom the Rebecca was when she was alive, they receive quite a mixed point of views, which makes it way more difficult to understand how to solve the case.
The Burning is a crime, psychological detective. I give 5 stars because it was interesting, I was hooked for 7 hours and I was reading till 04:00am, it was scary but not overly, repeatedly gross or creepy. It was interesting and I had no clue who could be the guilty one!
I didn't like this large print cover, although it does fit the story perfectly, actually, better than something really gross, the matches burning is fine.
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unfortunately.I enjoyed this book, it was more with explicit details and when the main character, Maeve was in scary situation my heart was with her and I, too was full of suspense. I found it interesting to see the character presented in the first book, her personal life struggles trying or let's say given up a try to balance the work+relationship leaves the marks for one way or another, having read the Let the Dead Speak, I am intrigued what's happening in the series of books in between.
So, The Burning is about finding the serial murder of various young woman badly murdered by burning them and cutting before hand. Seems the person has really hated woman as such. The story starts with so well with a very scary episode of the next victim...it sets the atmosphere and plays on woman readers. However, the team is sure the serial killer is about to get more thirsty and attack out of his pattern, by causing crime more often. The book is drawing more attention to the last victim Rebecca and those who knew her, Maeve tries to draw an image of whom the Rebecca was when she was alive, they receive quite a mixed point of views, which makes it way more difficult to understand how to solve the case.
The Burning is a crime, psychological detective. I give 5 stars because it was interesting, I was hooked for 7 hours and I was reading till 04:00am, it was scary but not overly, repeatedly gross or creepy. It was interesting and I had no clue who could be the guilty one!
I didn't like this large print cover, although it does fit the story perfectly, actually, better than something really gross, the matches burning is fine.
Show Less
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Pages
288