Book Review | Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid

Yesterday, I read my first book of 2016. How exciting! I read Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid. Last year, I read Alsaid's other book Let's Get Lost. I adored Let's Let Lost. In fact, it made my Top 15 Books of 2015 list. Sadly, my love for Alsaid's new book is not as strong. Actually, I found this book to be a disappointment.

Summary:
Never Always Sometimes follows Julia and Dave who have been best friends for about five years. The summer before their freshmen year of high school, they decide to make a list of all of the things they will never do in high school to avoid being unoriginal and a cliché. Then, in their senior year, the two decide to complete everything they swore they would never do.

I thought that this book sounded very cool before I read it. The summary intrigued me, and I expected cool road trips and crazy but exciting tasks that the duo would need to accomplish to cross it off their Nevers List. However, I was let down. I expected a more thrilling adventure, but the only adventure that was in the book was basically mediocre. The plot ended up being just meh for me instead of whoo yeah!, if you know what I mean.

In addition to the uneventful plotline, I found the character Julia to be slightly irritating at times. Occasionally, I thought she was fun and exciting. In Dave's point of view, he painted Julia as a beautiful and spontaneous girl who was always ready for something fun. But as the story progressed, I thought that Julia was actually really immature. She was supposed to be a senior in high school but she acted more like a freshman. Julia didn't know how to handle her feelings at times, and I found that frustrating. On the other hand, I happened to really enjoy Dave's character. I was rooting more for him and his happiness than Julia's. (Although in the end, I was kind of rooting for Julia too.) Dave was kind and a little awkward, but he was a great friend to Julia.

The ending was the reason why I ended up giving this book a solid 3/5 stars on Goodreads instead of maybe a 2.85/5 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed the conclusion. The novel ended almost exactly how I wanted it to. The ending turned out to be slightly unexpected, shying away from the stereotypical conclusion I had originally imagined.

As I previously stated, I gave Adi Alsaid's contemporary novel Never Always Sometimes a 3/5 stars. Even though this book was somewhat a disappointment, it was still a quick read and pretty enjoyable. On to my next read of 2016! Hopefully it'll be better...

Happy reading!
Kellie