Review: I Never by Laura Hopper

I Never by Laura Hopper

Series: N/A

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Release Date: November 7, 2017

Format: eBook

Source: Axis 360

Find it here: GoodReads | Amazon

Janey King’s priorities used to be clear: track, school, friends, and family. But when seventeen-year-old Janey learns that her seemingly happy parents are getting divorced, her world starts to shift. Back at school, Luke Hallstrom, an adorable senior, pursues Janey, and she realizes that she has two new priorities to consider: love and sex.

Inspired by Judy Blume’s classic ForeverI Never features a perfect, delicious, almost-to-good-to-be-true high school relationship . . . and it doesn’t shy away from the details. Destined to be passed from teen to teen, this is a young adult debut that will get readers talking.

With the strong comparisons to Judy Blume's Forever, which I remember well from my own adolescence, I was curious what I Never would bring to the table. Hopper does a credible job in exploring all the firsts that come with first love while neither condoning nor judging.

Janey is a high school junior who is a good student, good athlete, has strong friendships and close relationships with her parents. When her parents announce their separation and a new romance develops with a popular boy at school, everything in Janey's life seems to be shifting. When some of her friends aren't particularly supportive of her new relationship, Janey struggles to find her footing while she navigates unfamiliar territory.

"Just as one part of my life starts to flourish, everything else goes down the toilet. 
First, my mom is clearly worried that her angelic daughter is being corrupted. 
Then Brett gets pissed at me for being secretive. 
And now Sloan tells me I'm a shitty friend. 
Have I really done so much wrong? 
Am I supposed to stay away from Luke to maintain 
the status quo and make other people happy?"

Janey is surprised that falling in love doesn't necessarily make everything fall into place. She's plagued with insecurities - about her body, about her lack of experience, about Luke's interactions with other girls. While first love is heady and thrilling, it also brings its own set of new problems. Hopper did an admirable job of showcasing this and showed Janey wrestling with both the excitement of her new relationship with Luke and all the changes that came with it.

Janey's relationship with her parents was a real highlight. I appreciated the openness between she and her mother in particular and their willingness to talk even when they weren't seeing eye to eye. The mother's need to protect her daughter and Janey's push for privacy and independence felt totally realistic. 

"I've heard parents and teachers refer to the years from puberty to adulthood 
as the formative years. I suppose that means it's a transitional period 
that shapes the kind of adults we turn out to be. 
If that's the case, then we all need to give one another a break. 
We're going to change and grow and make mistakes. 
We're going to reinvent ourselves."

Hopper covered all the highs and lows of teenage first love: butterflies, exhilaration, hormones gone wild, angst and heartbreak. While main characters Janey and Luke sometimes felt a little flat, they were still likable and it was easy to be charmed by the bittersweet nature of first love. 

3.5/5 STARS

22 comments

  1. I liked this one too but didn't love it. I do thin it captured Janey's experiences really well though and I liked her relationship with her parents. Great review!

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    1. Thanks Grace! This one fell into the good not great category but I agree that it did show Janey's experiences in a realistic way.

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  2. A YA book where the main character has a good relationship with her parents? That seems so rare (or maybe I've just read the wrong things lol). Wonderful review, I'd not heard of this one before (and suddenly have a desire to read some Judy Blume, which probably wasn't the intention of this post, oops).

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    1. I know, right? How weird is it to come across a YA where they parents are even present? Much less have a positive relationship with the teen? Refreshing!

      You're never too old for Judy Blume, right? :)

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  3. I've never heard of this before, but I LOVE the sound of the relationship with the parents, especially those who have different views with the heroine. This is so important, especially in YA where there are so many young readers! Awesome review, Tanya! <3

    - Aimee @ Aimee, Always

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    1. Thanks so much, Aimee! There were some really great conversations between the MC and the mom that I thought were handled so well. They questioned each other, disagreed, discussed... it was such wonderful example.

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  4. You know, I've never actually read Forever. I'm glad you thought this was fairly well done though! Thanks for sharing.

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. It's been a looong time since I read Forever but I remember it being a huge rite of passage. All the girls at school passed the book around like crazy. :)

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  5. I loved your review I will read greetings from Mexico

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  6. Sorry it fell a flat for you. I remember reading Judy Blume's Forever -many, many, many years ago!

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    1. Yeah, it's been a looong time since I read Forever. I'm thinking maybe 35 years or so? *gasp!* LOL

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  7. I love where you pointed out that falling in love doesn't make everything else in her life work. Love that! I also liked the way Janey's relationship with her parents and the way she viewed them grew and changed, because she grew and changed so much over the course of this book. Great review!

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    1. Yeah, I think a lot of girls (young and older! LOL) have that idea in their head... if I fall in love and have a boyfriend everything in my life (and relationship) will be perfect. Yeah, not so fast. Haha. And I so agree about how Janey's perception of her parents changed as she did! She started to view them as actual people outside of just her parents. Big eye opener for a kid/young adult!

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  8. ugh I gotta say... young love.. is so beautiful ONLY when you look back at it! I think it gets romantized with time. Reality is most of those experiences are plagues with insecurities! I feel for Janey! A younger me relates to her so much!

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    1. So right, Daniela! It's possible to look back with such fondness and nstalgia but at the time... rather torturous! So many emotional ups and downs. And the insecurities. Yep, I definitely related to Janey.

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  9. Sounds like the author did a good job hitting all the aspects of teenage love. I also like that the parents are present and they have a good relationship with their daughter. These are all positives. Thanks for the recommendation.

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    1. I definitely appreciated the fact that there was no absent-parent syndrome happening here. They were present and actively involved. Bonus!

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  10. From Janey's own self confidence struggle to her relationship with her parents, I can see why you remarked this book and praised it or how realistically written it is. Great review! :D

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    1. Thanks Anne! Hopper really did do a good job in making it feel realistic. Janey's insecurities in particular felt completely relatable.

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  11. I haven't heard a lot about this one, but it sounds so good and realistic to me. How accurate that at that age, you think love will make everything better. I'm glad to see you enjoyed it.

    Great review.

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    1. Exactly. At that age I think most girls do assume a boyfriend and falling in love means life is perfect. That definitely gave a feeling of realism.

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