Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds
- Elaine
- Aug 15, 2019
- 3 min read
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Am I glad I pushed through even though I was so tempted to drop this about halfway through? It's a meh sort of feeling. If I went on my reading journey without this book, it isn't so much of a loss, an opinion that is so obviously opposite compared to the majority who have read and reviewed it on Goodreads thus far.
Jack has liked Jillian, one of his two best friends, for three years. Ever since they first met, he could already feel this connection. But for good reason, he hasn't confessed his feelings for her, and so she's so very much in his life, and yet so far away. Then Kate comes into the picture. It is then that a new possibility comes into his mind, one that he doesn't mind considering at all: what if he falls in love with Kate instead? He does, and so does she with him. They seem to have known each other for a really long time, clicking so well it's clear to Jack that she's the one. Then just like that, she's suddenly dead. Jack travels back in time, and although he doesn't know how or why it happens, he knows for sure he's going to take the chance to save Kate.
Only that she dies over and over again, no matter how hard he tries.
He makes so many mistakes along the way, it's unbearable to read, even if it makes the story a little more realistic. A character with a multitude of flaws that it's true he isn't perfect, right? But they are considered, in my opinion, really elementary for someone who is eighteen. He becomes someone he is not in one of his time travels; he starts seeing life as a game that he can rewind, not really bothering about thinking through his choices before going for them. I do not think that's okay, to use this concept as a coming-of-age story.
And really, I don't know where the author is trying to take us, having Jack go through time travel after time travel, then giving us an ending like that. Honestly, with the reason as to why Kate dies, it's obvious that it's something that's plenty difficult (quite impossible) to change, so... why? The lesson that Jack learnt at the end of this novel makes me roll my eyes, because honestly, there are better and easier ways to learn it. It's so mundane I do not even know why an eighteen-year-old needs to go through all of that to fully understand it. I also don't know why the author wants to torture this poor teen by making him watch the love of his life dying every single time, if only for him to learn that lesson.
The author's writing reminds me a little bit of John Green's, but fortunately in a manner that is not as complex for me to understand. It's very cheesy, as Jack often points out (yes, what?), and it makes me cringe — in a bad way that doesn't make me think at all that this romance is any good, or that anything happening is worth my attention. Besides that and all the frustration caused by Jack's immature mistakes, I barely felt a thing, making this a dull read. To add on to my dislike, the whole romance is built on insta-love. No substance whatsoever. I certainly expected more from how many people this book has made cry.
So those two stars there are for Jillian and Franny, for being such wonderful human beings despite the setbacks in life, and pretty well-written and realistic dialogues (most of the time).
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