Review: Literally by Lucy Keating

Title: Literally 

Author:  Lucy Keating
Publisher:  HarperTeen

Publishing Date: April 11th 2017

Pages: 256
Genre: YA Magical Realism

Series: Stand Alone
Source: ARC

 

A girl realizes her life is being written for her in this unique, smart love story that is Stranger Than Fiction for fans of Stephanie Perkins.

Annabelle’s life has always been Perfect with a capital P. Then bestselling young adult author Lucy Keating announces that she’s writing a new novel—and Annabelle is the heroine. 

It turns out, Annabelle is a character that Lucy Keating created. And Lucy has a plan for her. 

But Annabelle doesn’t want to live a life where everything she does is already plotted out. Will she find a way to write her own story—or will Lucy Keating have the last word?

I received this book for review a while back. It looked really cute and really interesting. I love to have a sweet cute book in between the crazy or dark or deep reads. This one was sweet and cute and short. A breather book. I did enjoy it. I would have liked a little more character complexity and but for the most part it was a good fast read. 

This is a story about a character, a girl, a pretty type A personality girl. It's the story about how her perfectly organized and put together life gets interrupted, turned upside down. Her family dynamics change, she meets a boy, she find out life isn't at all what she thought. She meets an author, an author that says " oh hey by the way I am writing your story,  your life, you are not in control. This girl says oh no I am in control and this character fights back. Choosing her future, her feelings, and her choices. 

This book was cute. I loved the idea. It was fun to explore. What if you found out your life was being written for you. Are you just a character or are you real. Can you fight back, make your own choices. How can you gain control of your own life. Cute concept. I liked it. I also liked that it wasn't just a concept.. Its also about taking control of your life and not allowing life to make choices for you. Circumstances are just that. Choose to make what you want with it. I loved this even more. And yet beyond that.... What if you can't take control in the way you want. How do you deal. How do you accept. This was more than a story about a girl that is a character. It was fun and quirky but also had some good life lessons written between the lines. 

I loved the plot and I loved the pace. It was a real quick read.... but on the downside of the quick read... I felt that it fell in the pit of undeveloped characters. They did  have some substance. I did feel like I understood the main character Annabelle but even though I understood her... I didn't feel her. She wasn't complex enough to actually hone in on her emotions. I would of loved to feel sad, angry, confused, in love. I just couldn't. I definitely read this one from a distance. 

There were a couple of really good secondary characters that brought some feels into the story... but even at that it was only just below the surface instead of deep down. The love story was kind of cute. The family dynamics was good but simple. The best friend was good. She seemed to really be there for Annabelle but only sometimes did she make an appearance in the book. would have loved to seen more of her. 

The characters were a great start to some pretty awesome characters. Some were snarky and some were sweet. Loyal and charming. Crazy and aggravating... but all just on the surface. I needed just a bit more and think if the book would have been more drawn out not such a quick read, the complexity could have been there and the book would have been awesome. 

There is the story of friendship, romance, and family. It hit all the marks and touched on some tropes found in ya books today which I thought was fun. I laughed a bit at these. Love triangle. best friend sidekick, and such like these. 

It was a fresh idea for me and I did enjoy it for a quick simple read but the lack of depth did keep me from loving it. 

I liked but not loved. It had potential it didn't quite reach... but still was a fun read. 

Lucy lives in San Francisco, California. She grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, attended Williams College in the Berkshires, and still misses the East Coast very much.

When she's not writing, Lucy can usually be found obsessing over the latest music, inventing new flavors of ice cream, or having what she feels are perfectly acceptable conversations with her dog, Ernie.
You can follow Lucy on Instagram @lucy.keating, and Ernie The Dog @ernsboberns