"Every page bursts with humor, squee-inducing romance, and an abiding sense of the deep love and joy of its two writers . . . Always Never Yours is a necessary, feel-good addition to the YA canon.”—Entertainment Weekly
Megan Harper is the girl before. All her exes find their one true love right after dating her. It's not a curse or anything, it's just the way things are. and Megan refuses to waste time feeling sorry for herself. Instead, she focuses on pursuing her next fling, directing theater, and fulfilling her dream school's acting requirement in the smallest role possible. But her plans quickly crumble when she's cast as none other than Juliet--yes, that Juliet--in her high school's production. It's a nightmare. Megan's not an actress and she's certainly not a Juliet. Then she meets Owen Okita, an aspiring playwright who agrees to help Megan catch the eye of a sexy stagehand in exchange for help writing his new script. Between rehearsals and contending with her divided family, Megan begins to notice Owen--thoughtful, unconventional, and utterly unlike her exes, and wonders: shouldn't a girl get to star in her own love story?
Initial thoughts: This is the kind of romance novel I've always looked for — where relationships are messy, the plot progression isn't all that predictable, and friendships also matter a great deal. I liked seeing how Megan's character developed over the course of the book, and how much she grew as a result of the setbacks and conflicts that she encountered. Since Megan was so boy-crazy though, I don't recall her having many conversations with friends that didn't centre on another guy, save for her theatre-discussions. Would've liked to see a bit more of that.
On the flip side, I was happy to see that the characters were diverse, and that a couple of the secondary characters' subplots were also developed in the course of Always Never Yours.
