Book Review: Oona Out of Order

If you could visit parts of your life, past or present, would you change anything, or just let things happen? In Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore, 19-year-old Oona discovers that every year on her birthday (which also happens to be New Year’s Eve), her mind leaps to a different year of her adult life, sometimes in the past, sometimes in the future. Her physical age fluctuates, but her mental age only progresses by one year each leap. What follows is a continuous cycle of learning, heartbreaks, charming meet-cutes, a lot of growth, back-sliding, and anything and everything in between.

The Good: I have always been a fan of romantic comedies with a hint of science fiction and time travel, so this book had me hooked before I even started reading. Montimore managed to sprinkle nostalgia throughout the early and mid-life leaps without being cheesy or heavy-handed, and even made me homesick for a future that Oona lives in her lifetime, but we haven’t seen yet. The dialogue was strong, witty, and compelling, and flowed beautifully. Oona’s relationships developed at a great pace throughout the book, and felt fully-formed in a way that also didn’t feel rushed.

The Bad: While I loved the dynamics of all of Oona’s relationships, the one I wish the book had paid a little bit more attention to was the one she had with her mother. There were a few scenes in which I just couldn’t understand why there was so much tension between them. Did it have more to do with events that occurred before the time-traveling? Was there some subconscious resentment from her mother that Oona could re-live moments of her life while her mother could not? Maybe those are questions that the reader has to answer for themselves.

Bottom Line: Oona Out of Order is hands down one of my favorite books of 2020. It made me think, it made me feel, and it had the power to transport me to another time when I was looking any and everywhere for a tiny escape.

Throughout reading it, I tried to put myself in Oona’s shoes, especially as she tried her hardest to change certain outcomes. Is fate real? Should we still attempt to make a plan for our lives, or should we just enjoy the ups and downs for what they are? This line of thinking has been especially important for me while we’ve all been hunkering down. Life is short, and I think we need to stop trying to control or speed up what we just can’t. Stay safe, allow yourself the time to process mistakes, ramp up the happy moments, and just...be.

I highly, HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone looking to smile, laugh, or reflect on the complexities of life and love.

Buy Oona Out of Order HERE.

Book Review: Beach Read by Emily Henry

What happens when an author of happy endings suddenly stops believing in them? January Andrews is broke, recently-single, and suffering from a serious bout of writer’s block when she finds herself moving into the beach house that, up until her father’s untimely death, she never knew existed. To top things off, she’s staring down the barrel of a tight deadline for her next manuscript, AND suddenly living next door to her literary arch-nemesis, Augustus Everett, a man who she’s convinced never took her or her writing seriously. But when the two strike up a deal to step out of their comfort zones and into each other’s genres, things take an interesting turn, and an unlikely kinship forms between them. Is there more to Gus than striking looks and a superiority complex? Will January ever find all the answers she’s desperate for? And can the pair help put each other back together again without expecting Happily Ever After? They’ve got three months to find out.

The Good: Beach Read is a love letter to the rom-com enthusiast. All the classic boxes are checked: two characters who start off hating each other eventually seeing eye-to-eye, the picture-perfect setting for falling in love: a quaint beach house situated in a small summer town, the quirky yet slightly broken heroine dealing with internal (and external) conflict interacting with the handsome, brooding antagonist wrestling with even more conflict, and plenty of the witty banter you’d expect of the genre. Emily Henry’s writing style is strong, enjoyable, and full of subtle and not-so-subtle pop culture references that make it fun to read.

The Bad: While I found myself returning to this book often to see how the plot would advance, I also found myself skipping considerable chunks of chapters. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy the story or disliked the characters, it was more that I never found enough depth in scenes to keep me fully absorbed. I felt as though there weren’t enough truly meaty examples of why I should believe that Gus was truly out to get January when they were younger - enough for her to consider him her literary mortal enemy. I also found it interesting that for as many interactions as the characters must have had in college, January would expect Gus not to recognize her when they meet again. They shared several classes it seems, and January even makes it a point to say that Gus would go out of his way to critique her work. Only seven or eight years have passed since they’ve seen each other last. Surely the two of them wouldn’t have changed drastically, looks-wise.

Bottom Line: I really enjoyed Beach Read. It was light and fun, and the romantic scenes are pretty palpable. Is it a book that I see myself returning to again? Probably not. But it’s a pleasant beach companion PERFECT for the summer season. I couldn’t imagine a more apt title for a book than this one!

Find Beach Read by Emily Henry HERE