A Week of Mondays was a scary read for me. Not scared-that-characters-would-be-dying scary, but more like scared-that-it-would-turn-an-already-overused-plot*-into-an-even-worse-overused-plot. But I realized not far into reading it that while this Living the Same Day Over and Over Again plot is definitely overused as of late and is no longer a unique concept, this book was exceptional despite that. The author turned it into her own story and it was phenomenal.
*that used to be unique, but then, like all unique things, kept getting less and less unique the more it was used.
Still on my contemporary romance phase, which is sure to last a couple more weeks at least (or until I run out of romance books currently in my possession), I decided to try out a new author I'd (admittedly) never heard of. Now I have many things I'd like to say before kicking off with this review. First off, this story does focus on a very overused plot. It happens all the time, I get it, it's a thing in YA literature. And usually, bookworms detest tropes and cliches and all that crap. But HERE I AM WITH MY UNPOPULAR OPINION* and this unpopular opinion is that I LOVE tropes and cliches and overused plots. If the writer is talented and true to their voice as a writer, then I don't care what they write as long as it's good and stirs emotion in me as a reader. Now onto the next order of business: After reading this novel, I was seriously conflicted on what to rate it. I ended up rating it four stars, because I wasn't blown out of the water and I save that rare occasion for 5 stars (I use 5 stars quite sparingly), I WOULD RATE THIS A VERY HIGH 4 (like probably a 4.7). And the last order of business: I seriously don't know how I haven't heard of Jessica Brody before! I was amazed by her writing and you'd better believe I am going to buy many of her other novels in the near future! Always, without further ado, read on for my review!
*make sure to leave a comment below to let me know if you agree with me on this! it's important that we all come together to face off against our enemies who disagree with our opinions on this matter (and brace yourself, because the enemy numbers are large: i speculate around 97.3% of the bookworm population).
‣ Tristan, Ellie's on-again-off-again boyfriend throughout the book was actually not a terrible guy.
It's not necessarily the "easy way out", but it is kind of a default setting, or a shortcut, for authors to automatically make the boyfriend/girlfriend/jealous ex etc. out to be a terrible, awful person who does terrible, awful things. You see that sort of thing in a lot of novels, especially in contemporary romance books, and those terrible, awful things that those terrible, awful characters end up doing gets the main character mad at them and gets the MC feeling betrayed. Then the MC kicks the character out of their lives forever, or maybe just forgives them. But automatically, the readers are bound to hate that terrible, awful character forever. It's a way to get both the readers and the main character to look in the opposite direction (towards that other love interest, or the best friend, etc.) and sets the story up to run its course and stick the landing. HOWEVER, that is not at all what Jessica Brody did in A Week of Mondays. Instead of taking the shortcut, or sticking to the default setting, the author took the scenic route, changing from default in order to choose her own array of customized settings. She made the initial love interest (with the potential to be the true villain of the story) and turned him into a normal guy who makes mistakes, and does bad things sometimes, but has true and good intentions at heart. I liked that Jessica Brody made Tristan kind of likable. Though he was flawed, and I liked other characters better, I did not think that Tristan was worthy of hate from me or from Ellie.
‣ There were new experiences at every corner despite it being the same repeated Monday, and it did not bore me one bit.
I flew through this book! I only put it down when I absolutely had to and other than that, it did not leave my hands. Despite it being the same exact day being told over and over again, I did not get bored once. I felt there were new events and situations at each turn of the page and that satisfaction and interest it gave me furthered my motivation and dedication to keep reading. Though it had basically the same plot as Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, I was definitely more entertained by this novel. Before I Fall barely got three stars from me and A Week of Mondays got 4 (but almost a 5 star review)! I think that's an accomplishment in itself!
“When my phone chimes with a text message on Monday morning, I'm still in that dreamy state between sleep and awake where you can pretty much convince yourself of anything. Like that a teen Mick Jagger is waiting in your driveway to take you to school. Or that your favorite book series ended with an actual satisfying conclusion, instead of what the author tried to pass off as a satisfying conclusion.”
‣ The romance, the friendship, the reactions... all of it was done super authentically and. i. loved. it.
One thing that can make or break the feel of reading a book for me is the authenticity of the writing: how it gauges reactions from certain characters, the evolution as one character deals with things in their lives and learn from them, the slow formation of feelings between two characters that lead to romance (WE DON'T WANT INSTA-LOVE), etc. It all needs to be conveyed as real as it can be. And Jessica Brody did not disappoint. She conveyed it so realistically and I fell in love with it easily.
‣ It actually featured the use of social media such as instagram and snapchat WITHOUT USING it as a way to convey cyberbullying!!
Do you know how hard it is to find YA books that have their characters posting on social media or using social media platforms, but not in a bad way?? Like nearly every YA book that mentions social media more than once has got to do with how teens are using it the wrong way, to be hateful / bully others, or in other negative ways. However, in A Week of Mondays, Jessica Brody implemented social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat in a normal way. They weren't portrayed as bad or good, they were just there. And they were present in the lives of the teenage characters, like a normal thing. I don't know if anyone else has noticed when they read young-adult contemporary romance novels (the genre literally defines itself as modern teenage romance novels), that social media (unless it's the main topic / focus of the story) doesn't play a huge role. That's weird isn't it? Considering there's a super large percentage of teenagers who are on their phones 24/7. HUGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE for Jessica Brody, everyone. She's got this all figured out.
‣ We got some, but not a lot of her best friend Owen.
It didn't have a huge effect on the overall rating of the book (obviously) since I mentioned earlier that I gave it 4.7 stars, but the more I think about it, the more I wished I could've had more Owen. But I understand that we didn't get much because it was the same exact day being lived over and over again and it was a super busy day, so Ellie just had to rush from one place to another, but oh well. I think the story turned out great anyway!
“The truth is, we are never just one thing. We all have many titles and many labels, but far too often, we get trapped inside a single definition. The Teacher's Pet, the Rule Follower, the Cheerleader, the Athlete, the Princess, the Basket Case, the Criminal... the Rock Star's Girlfriend. Whether we wrote that definition or it was given to us, it somehow becomes our only identity. We get so lost in it that we forget about all the other pieces that make up who we are.”
NEW SEGMENT! WHAT IS THIS NEW SEGMENT, YOU ASK? I'll tell you:
"The Rant Review" is a new segment where I will rant about aspects of the book that got me all riled up (in either a angry way or a happy way, it depends: there's a mixture of both). I encourage those of you who agree with me on my rants or disagree with me on my rants to let me know what you think in the comments! Let's get on with The Rant Review!
‣ Ellie didn't realize it at first, but she totally sacrificed her own values, opinions, and preferences just to make sure she kept a boyfriend.
What Did This Mean for the Rating: I did not change the rating at all based on this.
I have dealt with this (I, myself have not ever done this, but I've seen others around me who do this) and I must say it's awful to witness. No one should ever have to pretend to like something, or not care about something, or be someone they aren't just because they're afraid of losing someone once that someone sees the real them. It sucks, it happens all the time, and I wish it were different, but it's not.
Concluding Thoughts
In conclusion, YES. There's no doubt in my mind that I will soon have more Jessica Brody novels on my shelves. I loved this book, I loved her writing, I loved how a seemingly popular and predicable plot was turned into a complex and interesting story that I enjoyed reading probably just as much if not more than she enjoyed writing it.
A Week of Mondays by Jessica Brody
451 Pages / Paperback
Published August 2nd, 2016
Publisher / Square Fish
Rate / ★★★★☆
When I made the wish, I just wanted a do-over. Another chance to make things right. I never, in a million years, thought it might actually come true...
Sixteen-year-old Ellison Sparks is having a serious case of the Mondays. She gets a ticket for running a red light, she manages to take the world’s worst school picture, she bombs softball try-outs and her class election speech (note to self: never trust a cheerleader when she swears there are no nuts in her bake-sale banana bread), and to top it all off, Tristan, her gorgeous rocker boyfriend suddenly dumps her. For no good reason!
As far as Mondays go, it doesn’t get much worse than this. And Ellie is positive that if she could just do it all over again, she would get it right. So when she wakes up the next morning to find she’s reliving the exact same day, she knows what she has to do: stop her boyfriend from breaking up with her. But it seems no matter how many do-overs she gets or how hard Ellie tries to repair her relationship, Tristan always seems bent set on ending it. Will Ellie ever figure out how to fix this broken day? Or will she be stuck in this nightmare of a Monday forever?
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