Book Review: Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid

Title: Never Always Sometimes

Author: Adi Alsaid

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: August 4th, 2015
Pages: 320
Format: ARC
Source: ALA Mid-Winter
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance

   

Never date your best friend

Always be original

Sometimes rules are meant to be broken

Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be cliché high school kids—the ones who sit at the same lunch table every day, dissecting the drama from homeroom and plotting their campaigns for prom king and queen. They even wrote their own Never List of everything they vowed they'd never, ever do in high school.

Some of the rules have been easy to follow, like #5, never die your hair a color of the rainbow, or #7, never hook up with a teacher. But Dave has a secret: he's broken rule #8, never pine silently after someone for the entirety of high school. It's either that or break rule #10, never date your best friend. Dave has loved Julia for as long as he can remember.

Julia is beautiful, wild and impetuous. So when she suggests they do every Never on the list, Dave is happy to play along. He even dyes his hair an unfortunate shade of green. It starts as a joke, but then a funny thing happens: Dave and Julia discover that by skipping the clichés, they've actually been missing out on high school. And maybe even on love. 

I been looking forward to this book for quite a while so once I got my hands on it I got pretty excited. Sadly to say that it didn't met all my expectation. I just couldn't read more than one page without having to put it down. I found the book to be a little bit boring at first but then it took some unexpected turns that keep the story interesting. I love Adi's Lets Get Lost so I was expecting a lot from his new book. There were times that I found myself laughing, which kept me interested. Even though Julia and Dave didn't stand out for me as characters, they made me envious of their friendship. 

Julia and Dave are best friends. They are really really close and I found their friendship to be really sweet and cute. Julia's dad is awesome and I loved him and his partner.  They were my favorite characters from the book!  I enjoyed the banter between Julia and Dave.  Their conversations were pretty funny and had me laughing. Adi perfectly captured the life of a teenager and everything that comes with it.

The plot was interesting and although it was somewhat predictable, I still found it cute, romantic and sweet.  The book had a lot of clichés and I think that's what kept me from enjoying the book more.  Adi is a great writer and I would definitely love to read more of his books.  I read Lets Get Lost last year and absolutely loved it! So go out and make sure you get yourself a copy of Never Always Sometimes!