Review: When It Happens

When It Happens by Susane Colasanti
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

*May contain light spoilers but nothing majorly revealing*

After like 3 years of this book sitting on my shelf, I finally picked it up after a close friend recommended it to me, so having just finishing Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda; it fit my contemporary mood.

I'm giving this book 3.5 out of 5 stars because even though it was a fun, short read; I did feel the plot was kind of lacking and the main character Sara kind of annoyed me through certain parts of the book.
Before I dive in, I will give a TW for bullying, use of homophobic slurs, a negligent parent and sexual content. I wasn't made aware of the homophobic slurs and so was taken a little off guard; though despite this I did enjoy the majority of the novel!

For one, I thought the pacing of the book was actually really good, nothing felt rushed or overly drawn out and there was enough build between certain plot points that allowed the story to feel more nature. However I do think there could have been more development within certain plot points or more closure over some of the events. During the plot where Sara and Dave are involved, it didn't really make me feel anything, there was no climax or anything that it really added to the plot, it just kind of ended.

The romance between Sara and Tobey is however, really sweet and I thought the progression of their relationship was fairly realistic and they did share quite a lot of chemistry through the book. Although I loved Tobey's character, I did feel that he could have been fleshed out a little more and Sara could've had a lot more development as well. At times I struggled to feel connection with Sara's character as at points she did seem a little bland and I did find her quite annoying in certain points in the later half of the novel.
I did like the friendships that Sara, Laila, Maggie, Tobey, Mike and Josh shared as each group did feel genuine and real and they interacted with one another really well - getting on with one another and having inside jokes like normal every day friend groups would do in real life. However I do feel that each of the characters could have been fleshed out and developed further as it did seem a struggle to connect with them at time.

The only thing I will say about Dave is that he is a scumbag and all of his friends can go do one.
I'm glad that it didn't drag on for longer than it needed to.

The involvement of music in this story was actually really cool and as someone who works in a CD store, I can appreciate the mentions of good music artists.

Overall, When IT Happens was a fun, lighthearted read, the plot was okay, the characters were friendly and the romance was sweet. This would be good for anyone who enjoys short, romance novels and would make for a fun summery read!

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