Welcome back! This is your ghost with the most (I’m keeping the Beetlejuice reference until I come up with a good one – if you have any suggestions leave a comment below.)
This past week I caught up to a book I received from NetGalley (for the first time ever!) in exchange for an honest review.
Title: 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You
Author: Vicki Grant
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction
Description: Inspired by the real psychology study popularized by the New York Times and its “Modern Love” column, this contemporary YA is perfect for fans of Eleanor and Park.
Hildy and Paul each have their own reasons for joining the university psychology study that asks the simple question: Can love be engineered?
The study consists of 36 questions, ranging from “What is your most terrible memory?” to “When did you last sing to yourself?” By the time Hildy and Paul have made it to the end of the questionnaire, they’ve laughed and cried and lied and thrown things and run away and come back and driven each other almost crazy. They’ve also each discovered the painful secret the other was trying so hard to hide. But have they fallen in love?
Told in the language of modern romance—texting, Q&A, IM—and punctuated by Paul’s sketches, this clever high-concept YA is full of humor and heart. As soon as you’ve finished reading, you’ll be searching for your own stranger to ask the 36 questions. Maybe you’ll even fall in love.
Review:
Told through a unique text style, girl meets boy as a part of a psychological study that has them ask and answer 36 questions ranging from different topics. First, you have Hildy, the clumsy, goody-two shoes, with the picture perfect family that is slowing crumbling down. Next, you have Paul, the tough guy with a hidden soft side and a dark past. Complete opposites from each other.
I did enjoy the premise of the story especially since I am heading into my second year of Uni for a degree in Psychology and it baffled me to learn that this story was based on a real study I have not heard of. The characters were nicely written and completely lovable in my opinion. I loved reading how their chemistry increased throughout the book to beyond physical attraction.
The writing style is unique and easy to read, but I was not a big fan of the way the dialogue was written (think of reading text messages, ex: Paul: *enter whatever he said* Hildy: *enter whatever she said*). Also, the questions asked seemed a bit too much (36 is a lot of questions).
The romance was a bit prolonged and was cut off short at the end. Also, we only heard about Hildy’s side of things, not so much from Paul. I would have loved it if they interacted more or included more of Paul’s perspective. I felt like the book could have ended differently and possibly be a bit longer instead of well, that’s all folks! See ya! type of thing.
Overall, I did really enjoy it and in my opinion it was a cute and quick read.
Special Thanks to NetGalley and Vicki Grant for a digital ARC copy of the book.
I give it a ☆☆☆.5/5
Until next time
