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A review by mjenae
Maybe This Time by Cara Bastone
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I feel a little tiny bit embarrassed that I loved this book so much. But if you take into consideration that it's actually a study on facing your fears and self-discovery and becoming the best you can be—well, I guess that sounds a little less shallow than "rom-com."
Topics & themes:
• Anxiety. June suffers from intense social anxiety, which hinders her from doing a lot of the things she'd instinctively love. It also makes her a people-pleaser... sooo, yeah, both things that comforting to see faced on the page.
• Time travel. I KNOW. I didn't expect this to be science fiction either, but it 100% is and that should be in the genre list.
• Good v.s. evil within yourself. The author doesn't name this directly, but with the whole "get over your fears" thing it seems very prominent. Mikey and June are both learning when to listen to the voices in their heads and when to listen to kindness—when to hold back and when to drive forward through the doubt. It's almost therapeutic to see them helping each other through this.
• Equality. It only brushes on this, but I'd definitely say it's a theme, especially with June's ailing mother and how Mikey treats her. I loved to see their relationship—all the relationships in the book, actually.
• Sports. Mikey was once a coach and is now a gym teacher, so fitness and sports play a big part in the soundtrack of this story.
• Poetry. Same as the last one. June is an English teacher (so yes, teacher-teacher), and there are several times when she recites poetry. I loved it almost as much as Mikey did.
• Introspection. This bookdoes a really cool thing with uniting the past and present selves of June, and in the process it tackles the hard lesson of forgiving—even accepting—your past self and understanding that you are the same person, but that fact does not keep you stagnate. You are growing every day, so give some grace, both to your past and present self.
On top of all this, I just genuinely enjoyed how this book was formatted, as audio and in general. Plus, the characters were all so well-rounded, the ending was spectacularly frantic and funny and heartfelt, and every moment made me smile. It was a good little escape.
Topics & themes:
• Anxiety. June suffers from intense social anxiety, which hinders her from doing a lot of the things she'd instinctively love. It also makes her a people-pleaser... sooo, yeah, both things that comforting to see faced on the page.
• Time travel. I KNOW. I didn't expect this to be science fiction either, but it 100% is and that should be in the genre list.
• Good v.s. evil within yourself. The author doesn't name this directly, but with the whole "get over your fears" thing it seems very prominent. Mikey and June are both learning when to listen to the voices in their heads and when to listen to kindness—when to hold back and when to drive forward through the doubt. It's almost therapeutic to see them helping each other through this.
• Equality. It only brushes on this, but I'd definitely say it's a theme, especially with June's ailing mother and how Mikey treats her. I loved to see their relationship—all the relationships in the book, actually.
• Sports. Mikey was once a coach and is now a gym teacher, so fitness and sports play a big part in the soundtrack of this story.
• Poetry. Same as the last one. June is an English teacher (so yes, teacher-teacher), and there are several times when she recites poetry. I loved it almost as much as Mikey did.
• Introspection. This book
On top of all this, I just genuinely enjoyed how this book was formatted, as audio and in general. Plus, the characters were all so well-rounded, the ending was spectacularly frantic and funny and heartfelt, and every moment made me smile. It was a good little escape.