Guess who’s got a new feature? I do! Ignore the lack of graphic for now.
I actually planned for this feature to start like, months ago, but I never got around to it. So…I had a little intro written out and everything but it’s not exactly suitable for what I’m going to talk about.
Sad face.
Not Quite Reviews is exactly what it sounds like. Maybe. I am going to discuss books I read a while ago but never reviewed. Generally in this feature, I’ll be going on my overall thoughts about the books since I feel like you can’t exactly “review” something you read a year and a half ago.
Since I take forever to review some books, I will just going to be discussing my general thoughts and feelings on books, what stuck out to me, what I liked, etc., hence the title “Not Quite Reviews“. Luckily, I almost always take notes, which are a Godsend. I’m going to make this a sporadic feature as I slowly make my way through talking about books that I read a million years ago.
I guess you probably want to know what I’ll be talking about today, unless you read the title. Bonus points and kudos if you did (which, I assume you did). I had planned to do a joint review for Gena/Finn by Hannah Moskowitz and Kat Helgeson and Run by Kody Keplinger, but it got too long. I’m actually in the process of finishing my review for Gena/Finn. It’s very long.
Anyway, I still wanted to connect the two books somehow because of their subject matter, so I’m going to do a Not Quite Reviews teaser, similar to my feature, One Day More.
I’ll list out different aspects that the books have in common and talk a little about them.
Female Friendship:
Female friendship is one of my favorite things, especially in fiction. Both of these books do such a lovely job at showing this friendship and closeness. Gena and Finn become friends over a site for fanfiction and blogging, as you know, these are two of my favorite things ever. I love it. Bo and Agnes are two girls who are nothing alike. They run in different circles as you do in high school. Over time though, they become friends. I was really able to believe the girls friendships even though they happen somewhat at a faster pace. That was fine with me since that is how some friendships form.
Connection With Others:
An interesting thing that I noticed is that the characters aren’t always understood by their friends or family. In Gena/Finn, Finn had an online life that her boyfriend just didn’t understand. He didn’t understand why she would go meet online people in real life. This was something that I understood quite a bit. Run dealt with this in that for Agnes and Bo, they were both quite misunderstood but in different ways. Bo was a “wrong side of the tracks” kind of girl who had rumors for hours whereas Bo was limited by others because of her disability. I loved how these girls were able to meet someone that actually saw the real them when no one else did.
Interesting Settings:
While these are both Contemporary and that’s enough to make me love them, they also feature some interesting settings that I could relate to. The characters in Gena/Finn don’t live at home and are a bit more independent than the characters in Run. In some ways. As for Bo and Agnes, they’re both from the same small, conservative town where everyone basically knows everyone. I haven’t read many books that went as descriptive as Run did and I really loved it.
LGBT Characters:
Both of these books have characters that aren’t heterosexual. In Run it’s much more cut and dry as far as relationships go, but Gena/Finn was definitely on the more complicated side. I liked seeing it displayed in female fronted books with dual characters at that.
Difficulties:
In Gena/Finn and Run, one of the main characters in each book has a mental or physical disability. Gena has a mental illness which was interesting. Agnes has Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis which makes her legally blind, though she still has some sight. I liked reading about characters who faced different struggles.
Unique Narratives:
What really stuck out to me about both of these books were the unique narrative choice the authors went with. Gena/Finn is told mostly through prose, but there are also blog posts, text messages, drawings and fanfic stories scattered about. It really threw me into the story. Run is told in two alternating viewpoints between Agnes and Bo which was really unique and something I hadn’t seen before.
Feels:
Both of these stories gave me serious feels, whether it was because of the lightheartedness or the more darker aspects. By the end of both books I was happy and sad and I did understand why. I think these are really feelsy books, they definitely have their moments throughout their pages.
Cover Change:
Another thing these books have in common is that they both went through cover changes. One was a slightly more drastic. The previous covers:
I have to say that I may like the previous covers a bit more. I like the super simplicity of Gena/Finn and the gritty location of Run.
And that’s it! Have you read Gena/Finn or Run? Do you think you may now? Are there any of these aspects you’re looking forward to most? Let me know in the comments!
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