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A review by silvae
Fresh by Margot Wood
2.0
TW: casual sex is a central topic of both conversation and plot, sexual assault, slut shaming, cheating, alcohol
Look, I don't know if I went into this book with any expectations. I saw it all over my TikTok For You Page, thought, hey! Sapphic college romance? I'm in. Well. I'm not sure what I assumed I get because this is exactly what the story ended up being, but I truly did not like it.
First of all we have our narrator: Elliot is... fine. She tries really hard to be funny and quirky, but then again, we probably all put on a specific role in our first semester of higher education. She has a very relaxed relationship to sex and that becomes clear from her very first few days at Emerson. This was, to me, a breath of fresh air, which was promptly ruined by her way of describing anything and everything in a very forced and immature manner. The footnotes were hard to follow on an ereader and the tender chicken joke got old very fast. I also cannot think of any professor who would actively condone something like her essay project, but maybe that's just the general disconnect I felt to the entire setting. Also all the media references: who is this supposed to appeal to? I joined Tumblr in 2009 or earlier and am now on TikTok and would say that I am the target audience, but I am way past my senior year of my undergrad. The TikTok references felt especially out of place (was there a reference to "Inside" in this? If yes: just how quickly does this publisher print their books? So many questions...). I don't think they'll age very well.
I did not really care much for the romantic subplot, as it was clearly laid out from the beginning that Elliot would end up with this person by the end of the book. I would have preferred that Margot Wood had instead opted for a sex-positive storyline without the addition of romance, as this would have been a true breath of fresh air and an opportunity for important conversations to be held. There was even a short mention of an aspec label that might explain Elliot's feelings about romantic attraction, but nothing really came of that either. I don't quite know what the takeaway for this story is - sex without feelings = bad? Don't pressure people into things you aren't ready for? Pay attention to your courseload? I don't really think Elliot's struggles, especially with regards to attraction, are resolved at all at the end, which leads me to wonder why they were such a central point of the story in the first place.
Nonetheless, I have to say that this book read incredibly well: never once did I hit a point where I thought "okay, this is it, I am going to DNF or pause it". I think I saw a lot of potential in this story and was sad to see it pan out as I thought it would - not once did the author really surprise me and that left me feelings quite uninspired.
I don't think this is a bad book at all, it probably is the perfect book for someone in a situation similar to Elliot's. I just felt completely disconnected and apathetic while reading it, up to a point where I can say I will probably forget about it by the end of the year. This isn't meant in a mean way - I forgot about probably 60% of the books I read in a year, 50% in a good year. I'm not mad it was written and I look forward to seeing how it inspires other authors to write YA in the future.
Look, I don't know if I went into this book with any expectations. I saw it all over my TikTok For You Page, thought, hey! Sapphic college romance? I'm in. Well. I'm not sure what I assumed I get because this is exactly what the story ended up being, but I truly did not like it.
First of all we have our narrator: Elliot is... fine. She tries really hard to be funny and quirky, but then again, we probably all put on a specific role in our first semester of higher education. She has a very relaxed relationship to sex and that becomes clear from her very first few days at Emerson. This was, to me, a breath of fresh air, which was promptly ruined by her way of describing anything and everything in a very forced and immature manner. The footnotes were hard to follow on an ereader and the tender chicken joke got old very fast. I also cannot think of any professor who would actively condone something like her essay project, but maybe that's just the general disconnect I felt to the entire setting. Also all the media references: who is this supposed to appeal to? I joined Tumblr in 2009 or earlier and am now on TikTok and would say that I am the target audience, but I am way past my senior year of my undergrad. The TikTok references felt especially out of place (was there a reference to "Inside" in this? If yes: just how quickly does this publisher print their books? So many questions...). I don't think they'll age very well.
I did not really care much for the romantic subplot, as it was clearly laid out from the beginning that Elliot would end up with this person by the end of the book. I would have preferred that Margot Wood had instead opted for a sex-positive storyline without the addition of romance, as this would have been a true breath of fresh air and an opportunity for important conversations to be held. There was even a short mention of an aspec label that might explain Elliot's feelings about romantic attraction, but nothing really came of that either. I don't quite know what the takeaway for this story is - sex without feelings = bad? Don't pressure people into things you aren't ready for? Pay attention to your courseload? I don't really think Elliot's struggles, especially with regards to attraction, are resolved at all at the end, which leads me to wonder why they were such a central point of the story in the first place.
Nonetheless, I have to say that this book read incredibly well: never once did I hit a point where I thought "okay, this is it, I am going to DNF or pause it". I think I saw a lot of potential in this story and was sad to see it pan out as I thought it would - not once did the author really surprise me and that left me feelings quite uninspired.
I don't think this is a bad book at all, it probably is the perfect book for someone in a situation similar to Elliot's. I just felt completely disconnected and apathetic while reading it, up to a point where I can say I will probably forget about it by the end of the year. This isn't meant in a mean way - I forgot about probably 60% of the books I read in a year, 50% in a good year. I'm not mad it was written and I look forward to seeing how it inspires other authors to write YA in the future.