2016 Book #1 (Review) : 'You're The One That I Want' by Giovanna Fletcher

So, as is my personal resolution most years, I want to read more this year and I've been coming up with a couple of ways to help me stay motivated to do that. So, firstly, I am going to number the books I read when I review them on here, so by the end of the year I can see how many I managed. Originally, I wanted to aim for one per week, but I know that realistically that'll never happen because it's hard enough while I'm at home on holidays, far less when I get back to uni! But the second strategy I intend on using is making proper use of my Goodreads account. I've had Goodreads for AGES but I never use it, so hopefully soon I will start working out how to properly use it to log my reading!

I ordered this book from the library because I watch Giovanna Fletcher's YouTube videos and am a fan of her whole family, and have also read and reviewed her début novel 'Billy and Me' in May 2014.

Brief Summary: Maddy, Ben and Robert are best friends from the day Maddy joins the boys' primary school, age 9. But at 16 things get complicated when Muddy and Robert become more than friends. Not only does this change the group dynamic, but occurs alongside Ben's secret feelings for Maddy too. Can the three remain friends?

I think the idea for this book is a good one, although I didn't enjoy it all the way through.

The way Giovanna's laid it out with alternating chapters between the characters at different stages of their life I really liked, however I found the language she used to be quite childish at times, compared to the age the characters were supposed to be. For example, when the characters were 21, they were thinking and doing things I (at 18) would find to be quite childish. I don't think this was deliberate, but rather a reflection of her style of writing which is to explain things in quite a lot of detail. It was well written, just perhaps not suited particularly to my taste.

I enjoyed the story and found it to be mostly quite realistic, I wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen to the characters and I can't accuse it of being predictable because what happened, I really didn't see coming.

I liked that it discussed real life topics and situations that I, as a young person, experience, but sometimes I found that the storyline dragged as not much happened.

The ending was satisfactory, but I wasn't particularly impressed with the Epilogue. I won't say too much, and it's unlike me to say this at all, but I think it pandered too heavily to those wanting a happy ending and was therefore, in my opinion, a little bit cheesy!

Overall, I enjoyed the book and would say it's worth a read if you' re looking for something light which also makes you think about love and friendship, but I didn't enjoy it as much as 'Billy and Me'. I do, however, look forward to reading her 3rd novel 'Dream A Little Dream' as I've heard great things about it.