I Was Born for This

whoever told me this was a happy book is getting strangled

This was way better than I expected. I loved the characters, especially Jimmy, Lister, Bliss, Roan. The friendships were so nicely written and were the highlight of the book. The characters and the story were realistic and I enjoyed it a lot.

—spoilers—

List of things I liked:

* Oh look, so much diversity.
* Angel's real name, Farishtey ☺️ It was so nice to see someone with an Urdu name. Props to audiobook narrator for pronouncing it correctly.
* Jimmy's relationship with his grandad.
* Jimmy and Roan's friendship.
* Lister wearing a cape and singing Batman's opening theme

See original review here: www.weebitwordy.blog/i-was-born-for-this/

Well this was a whirlwind of a read if I do say so myself! When I first picked this book up, I had my doubts, having not read anything previously by Alice Oseman, I wasn't sure what I was diving into. Part of me was really expecting a default YA girl meets boy, they fall in love with each other after some struggles and they live happily ever after. That, my friends, was not the case at all. While there were some love triangles happening, this was not your cliche YA read–and I LOVED IT!

cough sorry about that little outburst there... now where was I...

If you're looking for something to appeal to your millennial heart, then you've come to the right place, because this little number just defied all odds and threw everything in there from the main character being a hijab wearing Muslim to having one of the band members trans and the other being gay. Never have I read a book with so many ‘outcasts' that have been thrown into one setting, and have it all seem like normal everyday life:

Like. It. Should. Be!

cough sorry again... I don't know what it is about this book...

What appealed to me the most about the book is that we didn't just get fan-girl Angel's POV of the whole events in this book, but we also saw things from band front man Jimmy's POV, and his struggles with mental health dealing with fame and his adoring fans. Throughout the book we see Jimmy's mental health slowly get worse, which leads to the incidents where Jimmy and Angel meet–in the most unorthodox ways. I will admit that I was expecting there to be a little love story between the two when they eventually meet, but in fact it's quite the opposite, as Angel ends up literally becoming Jimmy's guardian angel.

As well as all this we deal with a few other things in the book, the love triangle between the three band members, as well as a girlfriend who is kept a secret to avoid the lime light; internet friends meeting IRL for the very first time as well as all the social awkwardness and anxieties which go along with it; and lastly, my favourite, the tried and tested quote which really is the fruition of the whole book: Never meet your idols.

Overall, I think it's safe to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book, considering I devoured it in only two sittings, and got surprisingly passionate about the whole thing (really don't know where that came from). I Was Born for This is available from May 3rd, and I hope you get your hands on a copy and enjoy it just as much as I did.