Review: Don’t Ever Change by M. Beth Bloom
What: Don’t Ever Change by M. Beth Bloom
Who: HarperTeen
When: July 7th 2015
How: A copy of this novel was provided by HarperCollins for review via Edelweiss.
Eva has always wanted to write a modern classic—one that actually appeals to her generation. The only problem is that she has realized she can’t “write what she knows” because she hasn’t yet begun to live. So before heading off to college, Eva is determined to get a life worth writing about.
Soon Eva’s life encounters a few unexpected plot twists. She becomes a counselor at a nearby summer camp—a job she is completely unqualified for. She starts growing apart from her best friends before they’ve even left for school. And most surprising of all, she begins to fall for the last guy she would have ever imagined. But no matter the roadblocks, or writer’s blocks, it is all up to Eva to figure out how she wants this chapter in her story to end.
Perfect for fans of E. Lockhart, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell, Don’t Ever Change is a witty, snarky, and thought-provoking coming-of-age young adult novel about a teen who sets out to write better fiction and, ultimately, discovers the truth about herself.
My lesson has been thoroughly learned. For some unknown reason, I thought Don’t Ever Change was an LGBTQIA+ book. I don’t even really know why I thought that, and even though I appreciate having been given an eARC for it, I don’t know why I was approved because I talked about loving LGBQTIA+ fiction in the little “reason why I want to read this book” section on Edelweiss.
Anyway, I was hesitant to read this once I found out that it was, in fact, NOT an LGBTQIA+, and had a main character unliked by almost every reviewer I had come across.
Funnily enough, I ended up quite liking Don’t Ever Change. No, it wasn’t LGBTQIA+, and yes, the main character was pretty unlikeable, but there was just something about this book that didn’t inspire me to DNF (I mean, I don’t DNF on a regular basis, but I thought I might with this one for the aforementioned reasons).
It was like one of those horrible things that you know you shouldn’t look at, but you just can’t tear yourself away anyway. E.g. Vampire Diaries, but I did eventually give up at around season four. Eva really was unlikeable, so if unlikeable main characters are your jam, you are in for a treat. She thinks she is better than literally everyone she comes across, and she’s pretty selfish, too. And quite weird. I mean, there’s this scene where she just drops her pants for a boy in the camp counsellor’s break room. With kiddy glitter all over her, and a clearly uninterested boy.
Eva was also super immature, even though she thought she was so above everyone else. There was a particular passage about how she was only eighteen, and that when her English teacher asked her to “write what you know” she realised she didn’t know a lot, because her ‘life hasn’t started yet, and that she hasn’t have been through everything like by the time she will have when she’s twenty five’. What a ridiculously fucking immature thing to think. I am 22, nearing 25 at a pace that is frighteningly fast and all too inconvenient for my taste. But I can, without a doubt, say that I will not have experienced “everything” in the span of the three years it will take me to reach that apparent milestone in life. So I was annoyed, offended, and completely unimpressed by that little quip thank you very much.
To be entirely honest, not a lot happens in Don’t Ever Change, and by the end I really didn’t have any idea what the point to the book was. Eva didn’t undergo any kind of personal growth, she didn’t find the love of her life, she didn’t really do anything. I suppose you could say that that is realistic. That we don’t go through life changing things the summer after high school ends, but I also like a book with a bit of a point to it.
I was surprised to learn that Eva was vegan, because I am too, and I have never before read a book with a vegan character. But … I don’t know why she was vegan. I mean, most people do it for animals, because aside from what you think about dairy, it’s pretty much as horrible as the meat industry. And there are a few vegans who do it for health or whatever. But Eva? No idea. She mentioned some weird thing about egg rolls being ticking time bombs, but to be honest, that just went straight over my head. And even though it was briefly touched on a few times, the difficulties of actually being vegan were never really mentioned. So, yeah. Those are my thoughts on that particular aspect.
Overall, I wasn’t a big fan of Don’t Ever Change for a few reasons, including the fact that I was, once again, mislead by a synopsis.
© 2015, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.
Another misleading synopsis? Man, you just have the worst luck with these, don’t you? :P It’s such a shame, too, because I read the blurb and thought I would absolutely love it (I mean, the MC is a writer! And E. Lockhart + David Leviathan + Rainbow Rowell are only three of my favourite authors ever to grace the earth!). I suppose I’ll have to skip out on this one, though.
Side note: I’m not sure if you did this on purpose, but I’m laughing at what you said about Eva not undergoing any personal growth at all. Considering the title, that seems quite fitting. Oh, the irony.
I KNOW. I don’t know why this keeps happening to me, Topaz *crying* And especially with those author comparisons. I mean DAVID LEVITHAN. And I do not blame you for skipping it. Not worth it at all.
I didn’t even notice, HAHA XD
Don’t worry, I totally thought this was an LGBTQ+ book too before I read the synopsis! Great review, Chiara! It’s a good thing that I wasn’t really interested in reading this book in the first place.
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Right?! I have no idea why I thought that, but I was sad that it turned out NOT to be LGBTQIA+ :(
Definitely a good thing. This book was not worth it, Kim!
Omg this sounds so disappointing. I’m sorry! :( The 25 thing is so ridiculous, hahahahah I get you because I am 21 and I don’t think being 25 is going to be a great thing, just like being 18 wasn’t exciting. It just means you’re supposed to be actually adult and mature and society has all these expectations of us. Still laughing at that thing. I really dislike books when nothing happens, it’s like why do you even bother? What was the reason behind writing the book then? I feel like they’ve just made me waste my time. Again, I’m sorry you had to read this, Chiara. :(
It was super disappointing. And YES the 25 comment was so ridiculously stupid, I was put off by the book even more than I had been to begin with (which was a lot).
I hate it when nothing happens, too. It does feel like a bit of a waste :(
Yikes! I just got a review copy of this from my mail last night…wow I’m upset now huhu LGBT never came to my mind since I’m not allowed to read those :P Parent’s rule…le sigh. I hope your next read it better.
I hope you enjoy this one more than I did, Chyna!
Gah, I’m so sorry this was super misleading. I also requested this from EW, and I don’t know why I did, because I’m seriously regretting it. Though I probably just won’t read it hahah.
Thanks for doing the reading for me Chiara! And I hope your next read is infinitely better!
I know, right! And EEP. I wouldn’t suggest reading it, to be honest. A bit of a waste of time *sigh*
HAHA, no problem! And thank you <3
I’m going to be fickle. I’m not really going to say anything about your review (it was tres neat, you swell reviewer you), at least in this paragraph (I already lied. See what a vacation does to me?), because that. cover.
Swoons endlessly.
It has a graph. It has water colours. It has MY FAVOURITE COLOURS. All three of them. OH MY.
Now I’m not huge for graphs, just let me note it now and quickly. But I do aparently have a thing for them. Don’t imagine me reading romance novels wherein a graph and a pentagon fall for each other (now I’ve said it, though… Really that would make a great picture book), but they have a certain hold over me. They’re just so organised. That’s it. They’re so organised my organisational craving mind goes berserk. I needs graphs in my lifes.
Sorry the book wasn’t wonderful, but was better than you expected. Even though it wasn’t *what* you expected. (Now there’s a confusing sentence. Rather like this entire comment. Save it for preservation!)
Also: vegannnnn. Go you! I don’t eat eggs, but I’m only thus far a gluten free vegetarian. The problems one with dietrary choices/requirements faces really are ridiculous sometimes, aren’t they?
GRAPHS!
The cover drew me in, Romi! It’s so beautiful and gorgeous, and I was like: THIS COVER MEANS GOOD THINGS. But it didn’t, and I cry.
Yeah, I understood that sentence XD It was better than I thought it would be after finding out it was not what I thought it would be!
And yes, vegan! I didn’t eat eggs when I was vegetarian, either. They really are ridiculous, which is why I was super pissed with the way the character being vegan was written.
SO PRETTY. SO SAD.
Eek, this really doesn’t sound like a book I’d rush after. The Vegan-bit really bothers me though, because eating like that is HARD and it’s so not easy to pull off and I feel like “being vegan” shouldn’t be a throwaway comment in books, you know? BUT NO CHANGE IN HER CHARACTER??? grr, that’s just frustrating. I don’t think this book is for me either. >_<
Noooo, it doesn’t. AND YES it is really hard to pull off being vegan, and I 100% did not appreciate how flippant the character acted about it T.T NONE, CAIT. NONE. *throws book*