Never Always Sometimes: A Coming-Of-Age Novel

by Adi Alsaid

Never date your best friend
Always be original
Sometimes rules are meant to be broken

Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be cliche high school kids - the ones who sit at the same lunch table every day, dissecting the drama from homeroom and plotting their campaigns for prom king and queen. They even wrote their own Never List of everything they vowed they'd never, ever do in high school.

Some of the rules have been easy to follow; like No. 5, never die your hair a colour of the rainbow, or No. 7, never hook up with a teacher. But Dave has a secret: he's broken rule No. 8, never pine silently after someone for the entirety of high school. It's either that or break rule No. 10, never date your best friend. Dave has loved Julia for as long as he can remember.

Julia is beautiful, wild and impetuous. So when she suggests they do every Never on the list, Dave is happy to play along. He even dyes his hair an unfortunate shade of green. It starts as a joke, but then a funny thing happens: Dave and Julia discover that by skipping the cliches, they've actually been missing out on high school. And maybe even on love.

"An achingly beautiful story ... Reminiscent of John Green's Paper Towns, Alsaid's debut is a gem among contemporary YA novels." - School Library Journal

"An entertaining and romantic road-trip debut." - Kirkus Reviews

• ISBN10: 1460399013
• ISBN13: 9781460399019
• Publish Date: 1 August 2016 (first published 1 August 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Harlequin Teen
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

This was a story of two friends, who had sort of been living in a bubble. They were happy in their bubble, just the two of them, but when they rediscovered their "never" list, a list of those cliched crimes all high schoolers seem to commit, they decide to embark on checking off each item on the list.

I loved that the list forced them to push their boundaries. They were finally mixing with people outside their clique of two, and they were growing. David experienced a lot more growth than Julia, and the changes were quite evident in how he started to see his world, including his friendship with Julia.

As I was listening to this book I couldn't understand why the rating was so low, because I honestly enjoyed all the shenanigans these two were up to. However, the story took a wrong turn towards the end, I think I yelled out something to the effect of, "This is some bulls**t!". I was not happy. IF, certain things had not transpired on the beach, I could have bought into some decisions Alsaid made, but with something happening that late in the book, I just could not swallow that pill.

I can objectively say, that this story wasn't terrible. It was quite fun and enjoyable, and I was all for this friendship, but I struggled with a particular choice that was made for our duo, and that made me drop it a star.

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[layawaydragon]

I don't know how I feel about this one. I'll have to come back to it later.

Content Warning: Cheating, Stalking, Breaking & Entering

>>Took awhile to get into because Dave is just so sappy in love with Julia and I found them boring and pretentious. It wasn't until the other Love Interest and Brother got involved that I was emotionally invested at all. I'm sure if I read it when I was in my John Green phase I would've feel better about it.
>>The dialogue and banter is better than similar YA novels like John Green's.
>>Did not find Julia's jokes about Dave's name funny though. Too many white people play that shit straight.
>>The teacher subplot is...horribly unacceptable and not funny. Poor guy. :/
>>Skimmed over all the physically cheating parts, because I found it really awkward and in bad taste. I was internally screaming and cringing. It's a sore spot for me, admittedly.
>>Wish Julia had more character progression and resolution
>>Totally saw the Brother's secret coming from a mile away.
>>I'll still be trying out Alsaid's other novels. I think I should've done more research and picked a different one given the content.

[mrs_mander_reads]

Cute read! I adore Dave. Julia gets on my nerves a little, but I think she's supposed to. Quick read, good for the beach or a weekend.

[bookishzelda]

So I admit the reason I wanted to read Never Always Sometimes is because I’ve run into Adi Alsaid unintentionally many times at conventions. It’s like there are some book gods causing divine book intervention saying you need to read something he writes. It’s also because talking to him, he put so much thought into a dying hair scene and making sure it was right that you have to respect that.

Without a doubt I absolutely loved Never Sometimes Always and it is by far one of my favorite contemporary reads. It blew me away with it’s amazingness honestly.

This is a great plot. Two best friends take one list that they created before high school and decide to do the opposite of everything on it. By taking on the list it forces the characters to kind of separate and grow in different directions. You really see Dave and Julia evolve as they take on each new challenge they’ve put before themselves. It also takes on an interesting time period of the end of high school. I think everyone did/does treat it differently so it was a good area to grapple.

Dave and Julia, Julia and Dave, two peas in a pod or so it seems. I loved Dave but was kind of not the biggest fan of Julia.It didn’t hinder me liking the book or anything. I like having characters that I’m not head over heels for, I don’t necessarily like everyone in real life either. Especially with a contemporary there is not always a villain so it makes things more well rounded. Even though I wasn’t a Julia super fan, I loved her relationship with Dave. Dave and Julia are not outcast but they live on the fringe. Dave is more down to Earth/shy and Julia is more eccentric/bold, they manage to balance out.

I liked the writing and thought there was plenty of great lines and quotables. If I was a quote writer down I would have included them. I’m all for joke witty banter. I liked the Uniqueness of how the story went.

I don’t want to give things away. I did not have a problem with the pacing of the beginning of the book. I had read it in smaller chunks though. I really liked the middle and end. I was a huge fan of the end. Just so you know Brett, I totally knew. I really enjoyed the book.

[whisperingchapters]

This 2.5 review can be found on Latte Nights Reviews on August 3.

I expected a lot from this book. I was excited about it that I immediately signed up for the blog tour and requested it. I started the book, all excited and happy, thinking this would be a fun and an LOL book but sadly, that wasn’t the case. I didn’t like the characters AT ALL. Julia was so…frustrating and infuriating! I wanted to smack her head or let her die. I know this is bad but I just couldn’t deal with her. She was so demanding and had Dave on a leash. He followed her around all the freaking time, he didn’t have a mind of his own. It’s like Julia did all the thinking for him and he would roll with whatever Julia said. Just writing this review is getting me agitated. I was about to DNF the book but then Dave stands up for himself and someone else and I literally did a jump and a mini dance and grinned because I was so happy that Dave was finally opening his eyes and speaking up for himself. That didn’t last long, though and in the process he hurt someone and I just wanted to smack him, too.

The reason I’m giving it 2.5 is because there were very minimal times where I had fun just a “smidge” and Dave speaking up for himself really got me super happy. The ending is a happy one that I enjoyed a bit. There are two supporting characters that really made me think my rating so I had to bump it up to 2.5 because these characters were fun and cute.

[lizarodz]

Reading With ABC http://readingwithabc.com http://readingwithabc.com/review-never-always-sometimes-by-adi-alsaid/Never Always Sometimes is a special story. It’s a story of friendship, love, nevers, firsts, lasts, maybes and forevers. I think that the best worked to describe it is bittersweet.

The story is so wonderful that in a way, it makes it harder for me to talk about it, especially without spoiling it. I’m a big fan of Alsaid’s Let’s Get Lost, and although I liked and enjoyed Never Always Sometimes, it lacked some of the magic of his first book.

This is the story of two best friends that create a list of Nevers the day before starting high school. This list contains clichés that they want to avoid to remain original and true to themselves. As seniors, Dave finds the list and they decide to do all the clichés. As they embark in this adventure they find that by avoiding them, they’d missed out on a lot of other experiences.

Dave and Juia’s friendship is SO amazing. They find comfort in each other and they rely on each other for everything. Their dialogues and their time together are precious and they were my favorite part of the book. Being so comfortable with other human being, being of a same mind and predict each other’s words and behaviors was so amazing to read.

Dave is sweet, and the calming force behind Julia’s hurricane like personality. They balance each other perfectly. On the other hand, Julia is crazy! She’s impulsive and never thinks of consequences to her actions.

“As long as we don’t get turned into something that looks more like high school, more like everybody else and less like us, I’ll be okay.”

The writing is very good and a pleasure to read. It’s enthralling and kept me reading page after page. The pace is a bit slow at times. The plot, the story was unexpected to me. I’m not even sure what to say here without spoiling it for you, but the heartbreak was real and it made me cry. Oh, the feels were real!

I hope the best for Julia and Dave and that their friendship can mend with time. Can we have a short story of what happened after? Pretty please :)

“If you wanted Dave to be prom king, you should have tried talking to other people for the last four years. People vote their friends onto the ballot, so the people with the most friends get on. Dave has one friend.”

“But she’s such a great friend!” Julia cried out."

Overall, Never Always Sometimes is a wonderful and bittersweet story. As tory that I really enjoyed, even as I wished for a different ending. I’m looking forward to Alsaid’s next book ;)

“Human beings are more or less formulas. Pun intended. We are not any one thing that is mathematically provable. We are more or less than we are anything. We are more or less kind, or more or less not. More or less selfish, happy, wise, lonely. Just like things are rarely always true or never true, we aren’t ever exactly one thing or another. We are more or less”This review was originally posted on Reading With ABC

[shannonmiz]

This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight
I really quite adored this book. I may be long past my high school days, but there is a pretty huge part of me that wishes I had made a list like this. I didn't do any of the cliches myself, but that was more out of fear that a longing for originality. I digress. With graduation looming, Dave and Julia are going to basically embrace the cliches that they've done their best to avoid, and have a big old high school experience.

Some of the things they do are absolutely hilarious, like their adventures in hair dye, and going to a popular kid's "beer party". And then there are more serious list items relating to life and love and some teacher seduction that you're just going to have to read for yourself. My point is, there are moments that are light hearted, sweet, and fun; and there are moments that are poignant, heartbreaking, and all too real. Never Always Sometimes provides the perfect blend of both, which is fabulous, because isn't that how life really is?

So, what did I love? How about another list!

• Dave and Julia. Goodness, Dave was a sweetheart. At first, I thought I would not relate to Julia, that she was a little too free spirited for me to understand, but when we reached her POV, I realized how much substance she really had. She does some things that are absolutely frustrating, and sometimes downright shitty, but I really felt like she never meant anyone harm. So if you don't like her at the very start, give her a chance to grow on you. I doubt you'll have any issues liking Dave. :)


• Reversing the "Never"s was quite a journey. For both Dave and Julia, letting go of these things they vowed not to do proved harder than it seemed. While performing these "tasks", they learned a lot about themselves- some of it good, and some of it not so good. This time in their lives is so full of doubt and change and upheaval as it is, and they kind of threw a lot more onto the pile, with mixed results. It was an emotionally diverse journey though, and kept me engaged the whole time.


• Family is a big part of the story. Especially in Julia's story, she lives with her two adoptive fathers, who are basically the best ever. She loves them and they have an awesome relationship, but Julia still longs for a place in her birth mother's life. The birth mom is basically a mess, but Julia never stops wanting that relationship. Dave's relationship with his family, and especially his brother, does play a part but a much smaller one.


• It's just plain charming. The relationship between Dave and Julia is so, so sweet. They are funny, and witty, and smart, but they still make mistakes and have a very flawed side. I think the realism of all the characters really did this book justice. No one was perfect, no one was a monster. There weren't "good guys" or "bad guys" just... people. It was incredibly real, and kept me extremely engaged in the book.

The stuff I didn't love:

• Oh look, just the one bullet point? YEP. I liked this book so much. I think I can honestly say it was on its way to immediate 5-star land. The ending. I know there are people who absolutely loved it, thought it was perfect, etc. So maybe I am the black sheep here. I will tell you what I didn't like in a spoiler tag, even though it isn't technically a spoiler, you might be able to guess? I don't know: My ship sank. I am not over it. I may never be over it. Can I get an alternate ending or something? Great.

Bottom Line: Overall, a really solid book! I loved the characters and I loved how much it made me reminisce about my own high school experiences. It was well written, funny and charming, and also very heartfelt. Definitely a win.

[jeannamichel]

It was strange, heartbreaking and relatable all the same.

At the start of high school, their freshman year, Dave and Julia created the Nevers list: a list of things they vow never to do in order to create the ultimate original high school experience. It’s their senior year now and with weeks left, Julia and Dave decide to conduct an experiment and complete all the Nevers on the list—things like never dye your hair a color found in a rainbow, never hook up with a teacher and never date your best friend. In doing the Nevers, both Julia and Dave discover something that they would not have otherwise.

In all the lists made in high school—The Hate List to name one—the Nevers list has to be both the strangest and the most fantastic. The strangest because Adi Alsaid himself calls the Nevers list: a list of clichés. In referring to the list as clichés, readers are going to find this book a total cliché. Julia and Dave set out to complete a bunch of high school clichés and among the Nevers list are tons of small clichés peppered throughout the book. Alsaid even utilizes the ultimate cliché: a love triangle. Gasp. However, Never Always Sometimes was fantastic too. Creating a book like this, which performs several clichés in a 320 page time-frame, actually makes the book both relatable and original.

Any reader will find them admitting to at least doing one Never in high school. Besides the hooking up with a teacher, which continued to be disturbing throughout the novel, I found that the clichés on the Nevers list were quite interesting. It had me looking back at my high school experience (which was not that long ago, I assure you) and think about all the Nevers I committed.

The writing style wasn’t as gripping as I would have hoped. The use of two perspectives was genius, however. Alsaid paired Julia and Dave as best friends, a match made well. Dave was the quiet, reserved guy and Julia was the outgoing, more carefree one of the two. It was interesting to see them both together and to hear both of their thoughts. Readers got to know Dave a little more and Julia, even most of her thoughts, remain a mystery. I would have loved an explanation to her little quirks, such as her walking barefoot everywhere. I don’t know about California but New York has a somewhat-strict policy of “No shoes, no service.”

The lesson learned in Never Always Sometimes is a heart-wrenching, cruel lesson which I’m sure most readers want to shy away from. Readers use books as an escape. As much as I understand what Alsaid is saying, readers would rather have a happy ending than the cold, hard truth of life. It is a good lesson and it definitely makes for an ingredient of total originality. However, readers spend so much time getting to know both Dave and Julia and we, automatically, want both to be happy. The ending was hard and sad, taking readers somewhere closer to reality.

Never Always Sometimes is riddled with so many clichés which makes for a perfect original and relatable tale. Despite the end, the journey these characters face pushes readers to fall in love with them and eagerly await the next scene to find out what happens next. Never Always Sometimes will have you always laughing and crying, sometimes at the same time but will never have you put the book down.