Tag Archives: Coming-of-age

Conversations with Friends — Sally Rooney

“Everyone’s always going through something, aren’t they? That’s life, basically. It’s just more and more things to go through.”

Genre: Fiction, Coming-of-age
Actual Rating: 4 stars
Spicy Meter: 1 fire emoji
Content Warnings: Deals with cheating, affairs, big age-difference relationships, and alcoholism. Mentions miscarriages and endometriosis.

“Conversations with Friends” follows Frances and her best friend Bobbi, two college students, as they’re sucked into the lives of older friends. These two childhood friends-turned lovers-turned friends again are performing spoken-word poetry in Dublin when they’re spotted by Melissa, a writer who’s married to a somewhat recognizable actor. From there, they’re exposed to a world where expressing controversial opinions is welcomed and affairs aren’t necessarily the end of the world—or the end of a relationship.

I feel weird about writing this review, because I must say I never gave Sally Rooney’s book a fighting chance. I hated it from the start. I hate books about cheating. I hate them so so much. I actually grabbed this book without knowing what it was about, I simply grabbed it because I wanted to see the Hulu series and I am morally opposed to seeing a series or movie without reading their book first—if only to respect the author’s original intention for their story. So imagine my not-so-pleasant surprise when the affairs start unraveling. I dreaded it, pure and simple.

But I do have to give it to Rooney. Although hard to read without the conversations in “ ” quotations, this book was a masterpiece. It was exceptionally written and incredibly crude. It felt like real life, which for me is the best compliment a fiction book can get.

I can confidently say I liked the book better than the series with this one, so if you liked the series with Joe Alwyn and Alison Oliver, then grab this book as soon as you can. Also, if you’re looking for a book with vibes similar to “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara, without it being downright depressing, then this book is for you.

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We’ll Always Have Summer — Jenny Han — Summer #3

Genre: Young Adult, Coming-of-age
Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
Content Warnings: Mentions cheating, but it’s not a real troupe in this book tho.

“We’ll Always Have Summer” follows Belly as she starts college and delves into her relationship with Jeremiah—the relationship that Conrad, her ex boyfriend and forever crush (and Jeremiah’s brother), encouraged them to have. Told between the points of view of Conrad and Belly (but mostly Belly’s), this book is the perfect conclusion to the Summer trilogy.

In my humble opinion, his book was bs. What Jeremiah did that spring break? Bullshit. What Conrad did the day of the wedding? Bullshit. What Belly did to absolutely everyone in this book? You guessed it: bullshit. But yeah, I still loved it. This book hits too close to home this time around. I almost did what Belly almost do: get married ridiculously young. And even though, yeah, I’m still with the same partner I was back then, now, 6 years later, I can see how crazy that was. I think this book can easily be my favorite out of the series.

Grab these three books. They’re short and fast-paced and heartwarming and heartbreaking and funny and sweet and sad. This series has it all. It’s YA for sure, but it’s good YA.

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It’s Not Summer Without You — Jenny Han — Summer #2

Genre: Young Adult, Coming-of-age
Actual Rating: 4 stars
Content Warnings: Discusses cancer and death.

“It’s Not Summer Without You” follows Belly and the Fisher brothers into the aftermath of sickness and heartache. It’s summer, they’re not at Cousins Beach, and Jeremiah calls in to let Belly know Conrad is gone and no one knows where he is. Nothing is how it’s supposed to be, but there’s still time for this summer to be turned around.

In the second book of this series we can finally get a closer look at Jeremiah and Belly’s friendship. We get to see how they bicker and care for each other. I know they implied at that the first time around, but we didn’t get to see it as much. Belly is still a child but at the same time we can see how she’s grown, and how her thinking has evolved. Maybe it was heartbreak, maybe it was grief, but she’s grown.

I felt like the ending was a bit rushed and slightly unrealistic, and that’s why I gave this book 4 stars, not because I didn’t love the writing and the characters and all the feelings they made me feel this time around. Well, that’s one key difference I can point out about this book: there was less fluff and much more true feelings in this one.

I would recommend this series without any hesitations, keeping in mind it’s directed to pre-teens and teens (and young adults like myself that just want to relive these things one more time around).

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The Summer I Turned Pretty — Jenny Han — Summer #1

Genre: Young Adult, Coming-of-age
Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
Content Warnings: Discusses cancer and divorce.

“The Summer I Turned Pretty” follows Belly through her summer, as she, her brother, and her mother join her mother’s best friend and her sons, Conrad and Jeremiah, in their beach house—a long standing tradition that Belly’s been doing pretty much her whole life. But this summer is different. This summer she’ll get it right. She’ll pursue Conrad, her forever crush, and live out the perfect summer… or will she?

This book is childish in all the right ways. And yes, I have definitely outgrown this type of narrative, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this book. I think this will always be my go-to YA series when giving recommendations to younger readers, there’s something ageless about this book. It was published 13 years ago but it still hold true: summer love is the shortest and sweetest thing.

The only reason I didn’t give it the full 5 stars I gave it 8 years ago on Goodread is because at times the chapters wouldn’t fit together. I’m not sure how to explain it, but I guess it’s that sometimes the transition between one chapter and the next was very abrupt and just felt forced, as if the author was trying to dump some information or flashback on us.

I highly recommend this book to pre-teens and young teenagers, and would also recommend it as gifts for any young nieces or daughters you may have. This was one of the series that made me get into reading when I was younger, it’s easy to read and relatively fast-faced. It’ll catch anyone’s attention pretty early on.

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Inconvenient Daughter: A Novel — Lauren J. Sharkey

Genre: Coming-of-age, Fiction
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Trigger Warnings: Dating/domestic violence, r*pe

I really liked the writing but didn’t fully get into the story. This book follows Rowan, a girl who was adopted from South Korea by white parents. We see her struggle with her identity, make dubious life choices, and then finally come back to herself.

I loved Rowan’s inner voice. Absolutely loved her as a character. I just couldn’t empathize with how she managed the situations she was in. I feel bad for all she went through by the end of the book, but I’m sorry, her mom still didn’t deserve that.

Overall, it’s a good book and I can’t wait to read more from Lauren J. Sharkey. I would recommend this book to people who liked “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara.

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Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything — Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

Genre: Coming-of-age, YA Romance
Actual Rating: 3 stars
Content Warnings: Sexual assault, death

I thought I would like this book more than I did, and, honestly, may this review not discourage you from reading this beauty of a book. It is truly so wonderfully written. There were just so many little things about that plot that didn’t sit well with me, so I couldn’t, in good conscience, give it a higher rating.

This book follows Sia Martinez through her high school experience, having lost her mother to a desert after she had been deported and had decided to walk back. Having also been sexually assaulted. Having been paired up with a cute boy who she’ll eventually get to love.

What didn’t sit well with me was how hyper sexualized the narrative was (after she had been recently sexually assaulted). I could not relate with how Sia reacted after the death of one of the characters. But good for her for getting over things so quickly, I guess?

I would recommend this book to sci-fi lovers and people interested in space and alien life.

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