Freshmen

by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison

A laugh-out-loud, realistic portrayal of a freshman year in college for fans of Emergency Contact, Broad City, and The Bold Type.

Getting in is just the beginning.

Phoebe can't wait to get to college. On her own, discovering new things, no curfew . . . she'll be free. And she'll be totally different: cooler, prettier, smarter . . . the perfect potential girlfriend. Convenient: the only person from her high school also going to York is her longtime crush, Luke.

Luke didn't set out to redefine himself, but as soon as he arrives on campus, he finds himself dumping his long-term long-distance girlfriend. And the changes don't stop there. . . .

Just when things start looking up (and Phoebe and Luke start hooking up), drama looms on the horizon. Rumors swirl about the Wall of Shame, a secret text chain run by Luke's soccer team, filled with compromising photos of girls. As the women on campus determine to expose the team and shut down the account, Luke and Phoebe find themselves grappling with confusing feelings and wondering how they'll ever make it through freshman year.

"Flirty, bawdy, sloppy, and buckets of fun." --Booklist

• ISBN10: 1524701815
• ISBN13: 9781524701819
• Publish Date: 18 June 2019 (first published 12 June 2018)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Ember
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781524701819

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

The transition from high school to college can be really difficult. Freshmen follows Phoebe and Luke they attempt to find their way, and themselves, in this new setting.

• Pro: My favorite thing about this book was probably the humor. I laughed so much!

• Pro: We are seeing more and more of these YA-goes-to-college books, and I really appreciated the way Ellen and Ivison explored how difficult the transition can be. The juxtaposition of Phoebe and Luke was perfect, showing one, who was flourishing and one, who was floundering.

• Pro: I loved seeing Phoebe break out of her shell in college. She had flown under the radar in high school, but here she was was making friends, excelling academically, and really growing so much.

• Con: They Americanized this book for the US release, but I wish they hadn't. It was a little awkward, and I really would have liked to have had an authentic peek into the English college system.

• Pro: Though my circumstances weren't exactly like Luke's, I found I connected to his story more than Phoebe's. He felt a little lost. In high school, he had his steady girlfriend, his best friend, and his popularity. He found himself slightly adrift at university, and stayed in situations he was uncomfortable with in order to feel as though he belonged somewhere.

• Pro: These two had some awesome friends. Phoebe's squad was definitely the best. D-dorm for the win, but Luke found a few quality people to support him as well.

• Con: If this was a series, and I knew I was getting another book, I would have been ok, but since it is NOT a series, I must confess, I was a little let down by the ending. There was something that seemed to be starting, which I would love to have seen explored more.

• Pro: I never had this much fun in college (engineering was not a fun major), but at least I got to have some solid experiences via Phoebe and Luke. The parties, kitchen sessions, girl talks, and Quidditch meetings were fantastic, and just added to the overall fun of the book.

• Pro: This book has some drama, but it's pretty low-key, which is always something I appreciate.

Overall: A great addition to the YA-goes-to-college set, which entertainingly captured the ups and downs of that first year of college.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
3.5*

There's nothing inherently wrong with this book, so I feel like my negatives will be sparse. It's just that it also didn't leave a huge lasting impression either, so take that for what it's worth. Let's just break it all down into positive/negative, shall we?

The Good:

• Super fabulous friendships were a huge win. Especially the elusive "positive female friendships" which were present in spades. I'd say this was my favorite part of the book, actually. It was incredibly relatable, the characters trying to navigate being away from home for the first time, meeting all new people, trying to figure out how a person even makes friends as an adult. Watching these relationships play out was great.



• Dealt with more serious topics like sexual exploitation. While the book was mostly lighter fare, there was some discussion of photos of women in compromising situations being posted online against their will. And to be clear, this was definitely treated seriously-  though the guys who did this thought it was just "boys being boys", this wasn't brushed aside.



• I am so glad to see more college YA! Gosh, college was a time for me. I wasn't a fan, didn't want to go, and it seemed like no one could relate to those struggles. I like that this book showed so many of the ups and downs of being away from home for the first time, trying to figure out how to live on one's own, etc. I do wish books like this had been around when I was 17, in college, and felt super alone.



• It was fun to learn about college outside the United States, too! This book is called Freshers elsewhere (why they couldn't just leave it as such in the US I have no idea, but there it is) because it's set in England and that's what they call "freshmen". And wow, colleges are different! (Sorry- universities, my bad.) Like- they were able to cook! I couldn't even have a freaking candle in my dorm room. OH! And of course, you don't have to be 21 to drink there, so no Campus Safety hunting you down trying to catch underage drinkers. It's all quite fascinating honestly, noting the similarities and the differences!



• This book was super real about love and expectations. I'm going to leave it at that but... sometimes we build something up and well... this book talks about that sort of thing. Again, the good and the bad.

The Not As Good:

• The main characters were just... okay. I didn't actually like the male main character very much, nor did I think he exhibited a ton of growth, and I maybe wanted to punch him a little. I liked Phoebe, but I feel like she could have been fleshed out a bit better? She did grow quite a bit during the course of the book though.



• It just didn't leave a lasting impression. In the end, I was like "okay cool" and moved on. Which is fine! Plenty of books are like that, it's not really a hugely negative thing, but nor is it a positive one. I like to be left with some kind of feelings after I read, and I just didn't really feel any emotional connection.



• The ending was more unfinished than I'd have liked. I actually think it was okay to leave it somewhat open since it was, of course, just Freshman Year, but would it have been fun to look at them a few years down the road? I don't know, I like a little closure, maybe that's just a personal preference, but there it is.

Bottom Line: Happy that there's another good example of college YA out there! Though this didn't leave a big impression, it was certainly fun enough.