Radio Silence

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the audio of this book. It brought the characters to life because the writing read more like a script than it did a work of prose. I know if I had picked the physical book to read then I would not have read it all the way through because during the first half, I would not have enjoyed the frequent staccato, juvenile sentences as Frances thought to herself. She is, however, my favorite character of this book because she went through the best self-discovery transformation.

The biggest reason I gave this book only 3.5 stars is because of the characters. I didn't enjoy reading about the Last twins themselves but I did understand why other characters would be obsessed with them. Aled was my least favorite character because at no point did he ever think about helping himself and the result of his selfish (and mostly insecure) actions led to unnecessary pain (in himself and the people who cared about him). I could see, however, myself in him in a lot of ways; and I did agree with his idea that Frances and him were two sides of the same coin. I could see myself in both of them and that's what really kept me reading (as well as the great story-telling). The podcast is a character unto itself and melds with the story quite flawlessly. It served as the foundation for a beautiful friendship between Frances and Aled.

I believe a lot of people (teenagers and young adults especially) can see themselves reflected in one or more of the characters in this book because they each confront the transition of adolescence to adulthood; and all the preconceived notions that come with it.

This book had great diversity in the cast of characters and spoke about other sexualities besides the hetero we see all the time. I appreciated that it wasn't a focal point in the book but a prominent side conversation about self-awareness and introduction.