The Reader's Shire - Book Reviews

Book Review: Shuffle, Repeat

Title: Shuffle, Repeat
Author: Jen Klein
Series: -
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance.
Format: eBook
Length: 327 pages.
Publication date: May 3, 2016
Publisher: Random House Childrens Books
Goodreads Avg. Rating: 3.81 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

"You can't help if a boy changes you, but you don't let him change your plans".

DNF @ like, 30%

Me whilst reading this book- 

Ooh, look! GIF-reviewing Ayesha is back!

I'm sorry. I'm really sorry but I'm not continuing this. At least, not until I've got absolutely nothing better to read. I'm deeply unimpressed and annoyed with Klein's writing and her main character. On a side note, I don't think I've ever given up on a book the same day I started reading it. I think that's a record.

This book is just silly. And no, not the amusing and adorable type of silliness. Not according to me, at the very least. It's the eye-roll and snort-worthy type. From what I've read, this book basically features a girl in her senior year, whose mom is unable to give her a ride to school so she has to accompany her neighbor everyday. Then comes the dutiful small talk and her being immensely embarrassed and guilty about having to "burden" someone with her presence in his car and that being evolved into lots of angsty arguments over stupid things.

As you probably know, I didn't finish this book. Heck, I didn't even read the first half so I won't blame you if you take my review with a grain of salt. But why does something tell me that I'll be able to predict everything which will happen in this book? Or at least, the general story? We're told or at least we get the impression that these two characters who possess completely opposite and different personalities are going to fall for each other? And oh my! - the girl's going to go through some unrealistic and unbelievable transformation where she'll become "fun" and dismiss her old values and beliefs. Ooh lala! How romantic and life changing. On a serious note, I can't see a relationship forming between June and whats-his-name. I feel like they should stay friends or frienenemies or they'd break up two weeks after getting together.

I just didn't get it - if you don't have anything in common with the person whose giving you a lift to school, why on earth would you pick fights with them everyday? Why can't you just be grateful instead of taking that guy's chill personality for granted? Why start debating like a 5 year old over petty things like music preferences and electives? Why do you have to talk to him at all? Why can't you just shut up and listen to your own music and let the poor guy drive in equal silence? There's no rulebook stating that you're a sinner if you're not being chatty. You know the universal way of politely responding to someone being your indirect chauffeur? You greet them, you dash an apologetic smile, you mutter a quick apology and thanks, you ask them about their day, you sit down quietly in your seat and plug in your headphones. It's not that hard.

And we're supposed to believe that this girl is a very wise, straight A student and book smart intellectual whose preparing herself for the real world? Ha! This just proves my theory that there's a huge difference between people who are smart and people who get good grades. On the other hand, I liked her smart-mouth and I appreciated her disinterest in prom and shit. It makes me feel better that I'm not the only girl who finds these high school traditions meaningless, boring and a complete waste of time...even though the girl is fictional.  

“Looking forward to all the nonessential information we’ll learn today?”

“I’m just here to collect my A.”

“Only an A?” He grins down at me, so I nudge him back, since apparently he’s not still mad about our argument.

“Make that an A-plus.”

However, at least I don't go around acting superior to people who do look forward to these things! You see, the worst type of people are those who are awful but aren't aware of it and that was our protagonist! She fancied herself some genius for knowing big words and expressed her surprise that a jock would too. It was stupid. I mean, you do realize that it's not impossible for someone athletic to have an advanced vocabulary, right? June was so unlikable that I'm surprised she had friends. Or wait - don't tell me! Did she lose all of her friendships by the end of this novel? If yes, it's not so shocking. She was pretentious, a cheater, judgemental and critical for no reason.

Like, fine. You're a pessimist, you like viewing the bad side of things and you think high school is "nothing". I respect that. Even I share some of those qualities. But June, your friends are probably aware as well about the fact that high school is just a small segment of life which will be over before you know it but they want to enjoy being teenagers. They don't mind doing stupid things before they step foot in the "real world". Trust me, when we're in our 70s, we'll look back on our school days and have a good laugh. We're not going to regret having fun but you might. You might regret being moody and grumpy in your senior year. So, why do you have to shove your so-called "right" opinion down everyone's throat? Why can't you just let people have fun even if you don't? Someone really needs to explain the "live and let live" saying to this girl.

I liked the idea of this book but if I can remember correctly, it was the catchy title which caught my interest in the first place. It gave powerful connotations of music and well, a fast-paced novel (Yes, that word isn't usually applied to romance books) I guess it's my fault, really. I expected to like a book of a genre which I've had really bad experience with. I usually grab these romance books in hopes of some light reading, pure entertainment and to get out of my reading slump(s) but I wasn't getting any of those things. Just headaches. It's probable that this book will work out for some but I couldn't see the potential in it. And as usual, heartless little me couldn't view the constant bickering between the two primary characters as "cute" and a beginning of a passionate relationship.

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This review can also be found on my blog, Goodreads and Tumblr. (Links in bio.)