Rating: ⭐⭐✨⬜⬜
Title: The Unlikelies
Author: Carrie Firestone
Genre: YA Fiction
Author Info: She / Her
Setting: The Hamptons, NY
Month Read: June 2021
Book Type: Paperback
Publication: 2017
Pages: 336
TRIGGER WARNING-
Racism / Bullying / Violence / Substance Abuse / Death
"It felt like the start of a whirlwind five-person romance, like we were running into something deep and exciting, something magnetic and abnormally comfortable."
No Spoiler Summary:
The Unlikelies is a very cute book about an unlikely group of friends that meet at a 'Heroes' Luncheon after doing things to help their communities. From doing school supply drives, to helping at animal shelters, to fighting a drunk driver to save the baby in his backseat- they all forge a friendship before their senior year of High School.
They decide (after hearing stories or seeing kids) that they know get bullied, that they have a mission to spread kindness- whether it be through secret care packages, comments on blogs and rating websites, or by doing good deeds in person.
Review:
If you know me you know Carrie Firestone's The Loose Ends List is a favorite book of mine, really well crafted and emotional and one that has sat in the back of my mind for several years. When I got The Unlikelies I was hoping for a similar feel that just never quite happened for me.
I liked the characters, and I liked the plot, and I liked the overall message of spreading kindness wherever and however you can. I think, especially in this day and age, you can never have enough kindness. My big issue was that I think this book tried to tackle too many things in too little time, and so many subplots seemed sort of unfinished.
I definitely didn't dislike the book, and I'm glad I read it- but it's not something that you necessarily need to rush to read. I also think the dialogue (and this is happening a lot tome this year which might mean I'm just a bit too old for some of these books) was really dumbed down and not really how teenagers speak. (Again, that might just be me.)
Recommendation:
The Loose Ends List by Carrie Firestone (YA)
Stranger Than Fiction by Chris Colfer (YA)
Let It Snow by John Green / Lauren Myracle / Maureen Johnson (YA)
"Sometimes it seems like I'm a sponge, like I absorb people's moods."