I'm extremely saddened to say that this book did not meet my expectations. The voice wasn't strong enough to carry me through the story and the third-person only further distanced me.

I've read a book by Riley Redgate before, NOTEWORTHY. Considering that that one was an instant favorite, I was pretty sure that I was going to enjoy this one. What I wasn't expecting was how different it was going to be. If I hadn't already known, I'd never have guessed that these are from the same author. While NOTEWORTHY was light and humorous, FINAL DRAFT is a slice of life and mental health in all its gritty, unpleasant realness. And it is beautiful.

I will admit that I wasn't a tremendous fan of the first part of this book, probably because I had no idea where it was going to end up and was therefore pretty confused. However, when I started realizing what this book was about, it drew me in completely and totally emotionally destroyed me. I don't know how to describe the sheer honesty that is this book. Laila is one of the best main characters that I have ever read about, not because of any particular quality on her part, but because she lets her author show off her craft.

Before reading this, I thought Riley Redgate was a great author. After this, I know that I have only started to see her brilliance.

3.5 stars. This is a very important novel. It talks about sexuality, staying true to yourself, and writing for yourself. As a writer myself who went through troubles like Laila, I connected with her immediately. The plotting of this story was really nice, however(especially in the end), I felt the character development was rushed. Overall a really nice, beautiful story. Review posted on Goodreads. Thank you to the publisher for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was definitely going to get 3 stars from me, but the last 30% of the story really took it to the next level for me and bumped it up to 4.

This story interested me as I am myself an aspiring writer and some of what the Laila goes through I have also experienced.

When Laila's writing is criticized by her new mentor, she is confronted with the fact that her work lacks emotion and depth. She is only 18 and has not experienced most things in life, which I know from personal experience, makes writing certain things very difficult. How do you write about falling in love if you have never experienced it? The thrill and fear of being chased in a dangerous situation? These are all unique emotions that be hard to write accurately without having been through it yourself. It is an aspect of writing that is incredibly frustrating and relatable.

This novel also addresses and questions the confusing world of a sexuality. While Laila identifies as pansexual, she was raised to believe sexual acts and thoughts are sinful and shameful. This causes her quite a bit of stress and anxiety, especially when to comes (no pun intended) to experimenting with with self masturbation. Again, this topic is incredibly relatable. Figuring out and dealing with sexuality, especially in high school, is confusing and, honestly, terrifying. Even as an adult in my mid-twenties, I still stress about it.

There was only thing that I really did not care for and that was the lengthy sidebar vignettes. The author admits to using them on purpose, calling them "lengthy excursions into distant corners of the main character’s neuroses" (via goodreads). While interesting, sometimes these excursions would go on for 3-5 pages before coming back around to what was actually happening, and for me, it took away from the story and kept me from being in the moment with the character.

Overall, this was a good slice of life story and especially relatable for any one who is a writer or looking for more sexually diverse characters.

Hi, everyone! I've recently finished reading Riley Redgate's newest novel, Final Draft! I think I liked this one even better than Noteworthy, the other novel I've read by her! At first, I was a bit apprehensive about the story not being as good, and didn't want to read it as much when I thought about it. But I'm glad I did, because I liked it a lot!
If I had to pin down what I liked most about this book, it would be the character development. Our protagonist Laila starts off as unsure and scared to show other people her work. But throughout the novel, we are constantly being shown ways she is taken out of her comfort zone, which definitely helps her grow. Not to say that she didn't go down a dark path for a bit, but overall, it benefited her to hear criticism about her work and how she should strengthen it.
I did like reading about the other characters as well! I'm liking what I see lately in the books I read where the book isn't solely focused on the main character and everyone fades into the background. I loved learning more about Hannah, Leo, and Felix. I even got to learn more about Laila's family and its history. I hope I can read more books like that in the future.
Well, that's all for now! Overall, I really liked reading this book - way more than I expected, in fact! Have you read Riley Redgate's other novels? Did you like them? Feel free to answer in the Comments Section below! And any questions you may have are welcome as well!
Have a nice day, everyone!
- Sumaya

Thank you to Abrams Books and Amulet Books for sending me a finished copy of Final Draft by Riley Redgate as well as an eARC copy! 

I had heard that this book was a little like Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (Hey look - both authors have alliterated names!) and immediately requested it. This novel definitely gives off Fangirl vibes as well as little bit of Geekerella by Ashley Poston with some John Green and Adam Silvera thrown in there too. 

I adored the first half of this novel. I really felt Laila's passion for writing, for her friends, and for her teacher. I did wind up not liking it more and more towards the end, just because of some choices the author made that I didn't understand nor really agree with. 

So here are some things I really loved about this book: the diversity. I loved the LGBTQIAP+ representation as well as a certain romance I won't spoil for you. I also really enjoyed reading from the perspective of a half Ecuadorian teenager because I had never done so before. I loved the addition of the Spanish dialogue- even though I can't speak Spanish I had no problem using context clues to figure out what was being said and it made the conversations feel real. 

I loved the humor. Laila has a specific dry type of humor that I really identify with and love reading. The character development was spot on - even for the minor characters- especially in such a small book (it's only 270 pages). I enjoyed the sci-fi obsession addition. It was a cool unexpected twist when I went into the book thinking it was going to be a fantasy obsession like in Fangirl. I also loved the "sexual exploration" she goes on. So often in YA books we bypass sex, we idolize it or don't talk about it. The author didn't do that here. She was real about it and I appreciated it. 

One weird thing I found was that even though the book was written in the third person, sometimes I would get so lost in the story that I would think it was the first person. It read as such a personal story but also gave the illusion that the reader didn't know everything that was going on inside Laila's head. 

Now for the stuff, I didn't love so much: Nazarenko is a great character, but I don't feel like I got to know her enough. There is a section that talks about her being a "method author" but it feels exaggerated and over the top. She feels a little like a cartoon character rather than a real person. 

My last complaint covers basically the last third of the book. I guess I don't have the emotional capacity to really understand what was happening- but I was confused. I did love the ending but getting there was pretty rough and seemed out of place in the story we had been reading up until that point. 

All in all, I really enjoyed it and will be looking forward to more of Riley Redgate's novels in the future. Her writing style was captivating and my copy is full of sticky notes!

Thank you to Amulet books and netgalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review! I was so glad I was approved for this because it was definitely one of my most hyped books.

Laila is a teen writer and her English teacher is her biggest fan. She is forever giving him her new stories and he tells her how much he adores them. Until her teacher gets in a big car accident and she gets a substitute. To start Laila is excited as the new teacher is also an award winning writer, but she is very hard on Laila and this causes her to struggle with not only her writing but her identity.

The main character of this story is pansexual. Do you know how much that means to me? Laila really struggles with this part of herself as she has been raised to believe that girls should be ashamed of their sexuality. This is said on page. And this is the first time I've actually been able to comment on sexuality representation from an experienced perspective and I'm so happy about this. I absolutely adored the representation. I wish this book had been around when I was younger because I think I may have realised I was pan much sooner than I did. She also is plus size and has anxiety, so I related to Laila so much to be honest. And if you consider yourself to be any of these things I would thoroughly recommend reading it. Laila is also half Ecuadorian, but obviously I can't speak on this representation. However it was plainly obvious that the author wanted to make this an important part of the novel. All throughout there is discussions over being mixed race and being Ecuadorian, and not knowing where she fit in. I've never read an Ecuadorian MC and I found that so refreshing. I did try to find a review from an Ecuadorian person but I could not, if you know of any let me know!

This book is sapphic, but I don't want to spoil that for you. However the one thing for me that let this book down for me and meant it wasn't a favourite was that the romance was just a little too subtle for me. I kind of didn't recognise it happening at all until about 70% of the way in. And that might be great for you! That might be the type of romance you like. I'm more of a heavy hitting romance type.

The narrative of this novel is very much internalised, there is a lot of Laila's struggles with her writing, her friendships and her anxiety. Sometimes I struggled with reading the book because of this, not in a bad way but it could get heavy occasionally and I wasn't quite in the mood for that. 

As this was my first Riley Redgate novel I wasn't sure what to expect, and whilst people were hyping it up, I was pleasantly surprised (I have trust issues with hyped books). Now I need to catch up on all Redgate's books!

Final Draft is about a high school senior named Laila whose life is turned upside down when an award-winning author takes over the creative writing class she is in. The author, Ms. Nazarenko, is a method writer: she puts herself through the experiences of her novel so that she can write authentically. Laila is a reserved, anxious girl who prefers Sci-Fi to reality. The two don’t mix, but Nazarenko encourages Laila to experience new things and she tries as best she can, even if things start to fall apart around her. 

I had a hard time getting into this. This book is less than 300 pages but it felt a lot longer. Redgate posted on the book’s Goodreads page a few weeks ago that she was concerned that the book would fall into the wrong hands of people expecting more. It is intentionally introspective and quiet. This is not an action-packed or humorous stumble through stepping outside of your comfort zone, but instead about a girl coming to terms with a lot of things about herself through the small steps she takes, from her anxiety to her sexuality. 

I might not have loved it but there is definitely an audience for this book. I can see fans of Francesca Zappia’s “Eliza and Her Monsters” enjoying this one.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.


Anyone who knows me knows that I consider Riley Redgate one of my very favorite authors. When I found out she was writing a YA contemporary about a writer? Color me intrigued. While Final Draft had its moments of brilliance, overall, the story felt a bit too all over the place for my taste.

I’ll start with the thing I loved most about this book: the representation. Our main character, Laila, is biracial (half Ecuadorian and half French-Canadian), plus-sized, and pansexual. She also deals with a depressive episode that was some of the very best depression rep I’ve read in any book. Laila’s thoughts about all of the identities she holds felt so authentic. I loved these more introspective moments, and I think Final Draft contains excellent discussion on sexuality, racial identity as a mixed-race person, and mental illness. I really appreciated the pansexual representation because although Laila knows she is attracted to people of all genders, she represses her feelings about attraction and sex and therefore never really comes out to herself until this book. She’s not questioning her sexuality, but she is coming to terms with it, which I understood so deeply based on my own experiences as a queer person.

Laila’s writing played less of a role in this story than I expected. It still is a central part of the plot, and the book includes excerpts of Laila’s writing periodically throughout. The writing is more of a tool to show how Laila’s life experiences are impacting her, if that makes sense. To me, this overall felt like a friendship story more than anything else. It’s about Laila coming into herself and processing changes in her life, and often her friends are the ones helping her through these changes. Speaking of which, I enjoyed both the friendships and the romantic relationship in Final Draft! I have to admit, I didn’t see this particular romantic relationship coming, but I ended up liking it. (And yes, I am happy to say Final Draft contains an f/f romance!)

My main issue with this book is the fact that I really don’t know what exactly it was about, or what my takeaway from it should be (not that books need to provide education! they can be purely entertainment. however, it felt like Redgate wanted to say something with Final Draft; I just don’t know what.) The focus of the story constantly shifted, and the transitions between chapters as well as the ending were all kind of choppy and abrupt. It made for an extremely disorienting reading experience, one I haven’t ever had before. Plus, the story focuses so heavily on Laila’s growth, but it’s written in third-person. It kept unnecessary distance between Laila and the reader; I never felt like I truly got to know her as a character. The whole book was just… all over the place? I don’t know.

Overall, I do think this book is worth the read, if for nothing else than the excellent representation. If you like Redgate’s writing, it’s worth a shot, but be forewarned that it’s told in a much more experimental style than her previous books.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This book has content warnings for car accidents (off-page), hospitals, and death (off-page).

This book was really really good, but definitely not one of my favorites. I'm struggling to pinpoint what exactly it is that I didn't like, though -- I think it might have mostly been the writing not clicking for me, especially in relation to Laila's interactions with her teachers. Something about those interactions felt off to me, and the pacing of the book felt incredibly slow through the middle of the book. Tighter writing would have made this a better read for me, overall.

I loved the characters themselves -- Laila is a fat, bi-racial (Ecuadorian), pansexual teen with mental illnesses, and she was such a joy to spend time with. She is a writer and a nerd, and seeing her geek out over her favorite shows and books with her friends was so much fun. Her relationships with her friends were complicated; they loved each other, but they struggled to get everyone to get along all at the same time. 

Laila's frustration with the writing and editing process after getting a new teacher really hit me. Writing is something that can be incredibly enjoyable, but certain parts of the process can really suck the fun out of it even though it can make the writing itself a lot stronger. Watching her try to figure out where that line is for her felt very true to me; finding that line is not easy, and it can potentially ruin writing for some people. I also loved seeing how this affected not just herself but also her relationships with those around her.

Though this isn't one of my favorite reads from this year, it had a great story with really solid characters. If you're looking for stories about teenage nerds and writers, this is a good choice for you.

Final rating: 4 of 5 stars

A great read for anyone, especially for those who love to write!  

Laila is forced onto a journey of getting outside her comfort zone in order to become a better writer, and her journey isn't perfect, but that's the reality of life - it gets messy.  The book got a little wordy at times, but considering that the main character is a budding author, it almost seems necessary.

Set in Brooklyn, Final Draft is a third-person story about friendship, grief, mental health, and sexuality, with a DIVERSE cast. The main character, Laila, is a biracial, pansexual, Ecuadorian/French-Canadian teenager. Her inner thoughts remind me of things I said to myself as a teenager. Laila’s soft-spoken teacher, Mr. Madison, reads her stories and encourages her to keep writing. He’s the kind of teacher we’ve probably all had. This is a purposefully slow story that takes place the summer before Laila and her three friends leave for college. I didn’t like Nazarenko’s character, but it didn’t ruin the story for me.

Beautifully introspective. Redgate isn’t afraid to speak the truth, writing about big things like sexual orientation, female sexuality, and racial identity. 

I was annoyed when descriptions of people mentioned they didn’t look “normal”, or that it was shocking for a larger person to have confidence. Throwing homeopathic remedies and healthy food under-the-bus was also unnecessary. Having a teenager complain about healthy things has been done, and I feel that it’s not authentic.

This would be a great Summer read. Be sure to visit your local bookstore or library and check out this brand new novel.

This book just didn’t work for me.

It’s a happy contemporary so really I should’ve known better. I prefer books like The Female of The Species or The Nowhere Girls, where the vibe is generally negative and the themes are heavier. Which is not to say, that there aren’t a few heavy plot points in this book (from what I read), because there are. This just isn’t my style. I’ve read a few that I’ve enjoyed, like Simon Vs The Homo Sapien’s Agenda & Queens of Geek, but I also don’t reach for them all that often on my shelves.

I found this book to be unrealistic to my experiences in high school. Now, take my opinions with a grain of salt, because everyone had a different experience in HS and also consider that I go to school in Australia and am also straight.

I don’t know about you and your experiences, but I spent pretty much every night in high school doing homework, reading or sleeping. There wasn’t much time for me to hang out at my friends’ houses and watch tv, then go home before 10/11ish, do homework and then get to school on time the next day and somehow still remain sane. It just wouldn’t have worked for me. So, will someone please explain how the friend group in this book manages to do it???

This is not a spoiler, but the mc is a writer and so, much like in Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, there are a lot of excerpts from the mc’s wip (work in progress).
This was a bit weird for me, I’ll be honest. I wasn’t a fan of it in Fangirl (haha, get it?) and I wasn’t big on it here. It mostly served to take me out of the story as I was trying to get my head around what the hell is happening and why the heck we were in a spaceship. There were a whole bunch of these sprinkled throughout, as well as a lot of overly long explanations about tv shows, other books and games (I think), so I think this book felt more like a tv guide or a YA for Dummies instead of an actual ya novel tbh.

Also, and this isn’t too big a deal. But, I made it 32% of the way through this book had happened. Everyone was raving about the romance and to that I respond, WHERE???
I know, that I DNF’d this but the book is only 272 pages long. According to my math, I made it roughly 80ish pages through the book and all that happened was a few tv show explanations, some drama about an assignment, a spoiler thing and some teen angst. There are only 190 pages left, how are you going to a fit in a beautiful romance + the assignment drama + probably friendship drama + probably some teen angst, let’s be real + probably some family drama ???

I’m sorry, this book wasn’t for me. I wanted to love it which is why I requested it, but unfortunately, I was just not the right reader. I hope that you pick it up and love it more than I did!

This was such a highly anticipated release for me because I have loved both of Riley Redgate’s previous books so much, but Final Draft was a miss for me. We follow Laila Pierda as she works on her sci-fi creative writing project as her favorite teacher is replaced with a hypercritical Pulitzer-Prize winning writer. 

Things I Liked 
I will always pick up a friendship-centered story. They’re some of my favorite and I loved seeing Laila and her friends fight, laugh, grow, and support each other.

I actually really liked Nazarenko’s advice and thought it was really insightful and helpful. While it might not have been the best method, or given with the most tact, It was nice advice. I also like that the story discussed writing as a legacy and the importance of writing to an author, not just in crafting a story, but in giving a piece of yourself. 

This Quote
“Interrogate your instincts. Insecurity isn’t shameful. Attraction isn’t an embarrassment. Interpersonal affection isn’t a side note to be glossed over. Whatever the nature of the material that forms between two people, it’s the backbone of literature.”

Things I Didn’t Like 
I wasn’t the biggest fan of Laila, we just didn’t click. I liked seeing her journey and growth, but I didn’t care about her as a person. I found her to be annoying, naive, and incredibly insecure. She relied so much on other people’s thoughts and opinions that it was hard to see her. 

The fighting and bickering between Felix and Samuel was so juvenile and unnecessary and uninteresting.

The story just wasn’t grabbing me at all. I was bored and started skimming around the 2/3rds mark. 

My feelings about Final Draft are probably best summarized as indifference, while is heart-crushing for someone who wanted this to be one of my favorite reads of the year. While I loved the friendship and writing aspect of the story, I didn’t love the characters. For me the parts brought the whole down. I still think Riley REdgate is an amazing author and will confidently recommend all of her books, I know that many people will love this and connect to Laila. I look forward to her future books!

I received a copy of the book from Amulet Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Your budding authors will appreciate this book. The style of writing is very wordy at times, but I felt like that was intentional and mirrored the process Laila was going through as an author herself. Many important topics are addressed: sexuality, freedom, healthy relationships, obsession, and anxiety spring to mind. 
At first, I was disappointed that the book didn't go more into Nazarenko's character, but upon later reflection, I think that was also intentional. Her whole gig was to get Laila to go live life and dig deep. So we went on that journey. Not one of "unravelling" the lives of any adults.
Laila's journey of self-discovery isn't perfect. Life never is. This book represents that journey. I actually wish it had been just a wee more in depth with her recovery period. However, that can be difficult to write while staying realistic.
It's the first book I've read by Riley Redgate, and I enjoyed her unique storytelling that felt chaotic but in an organized way. I knew she had a plan. I just didn't know what the end game was until we got there.
I received an ARC of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley, but all of my opinions are solely my own.

I've heard a lot of good things about Redgate's books and, as much as I hate to say it, I don't think they're for me. This is the third books of hers I've read, and the first I didn't DNF, Final Draft was somewhat disappointing. It's about an intense relationship between a hardcore students and her teacher mentor who never seems to approve of her writing no matter what she does. It was an interesting look into how far someone was willing to go for approval, especially one as highly regarded as Dr. Nazarenko. But just reading LIla's thought process, and her writing, just made me bored. I don't think Redgate went further enough into the obsession between LIla and her mentor. Sure, there was some intense, madcap adventure scenes, but all in all Lila's obsession seemed, well tame. I never felt that mad intensity I should have in a story like this and that was just...disappointing. If Redgate had gone, truly gone deep into LIla's psyche and the obsession with perfection adn pleasing her mentor then it would be a very different story. But as it stands, it's a perfectly fine romp that just grazes the themes it tries so hard to explore.

*I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

2.5 stars

I don't know what it is about this book, but it just didn't pull me in. There definitely were those moments that had me reading each and every word, slowly so I could understand, but for the most part, I found it hard not to skim. 

Yet, I still think it is a good book. It has a diverse cast with a bi-racial, bisexual(? I don't think she ever labeled her sexuality) MC. It deals with quite a few different issues including depression, identity, being plus-sized, and more. There is a lot of good about this book and how it handles these topics. I definitely think people can get something out of reading it and people will surely relate to her and her struggles. 

The friendships are great, I feel so much of this book feels incredibly realistic, and Laila goes through so many struggles people can relate with. I want to point out how much this book has to offer.

It just didn't work for me. 
In fact, I was a bit bored reading this. Sometimes I think it is difficult for adults to know whether or not conflicts with teens are realistic or not and while I think most of it makes sense, some of what Laila does just didn't make sense -- I don't know why she would do something that would cause an issue. 
Also, her changes to accomplish what her teacher wants her to do, seemed so easy to me. For a homebody, I just thought going to a party, etc., would be more intimidating.

In the end, I'm going to recommend this to people who like contemporaries and maybe want one with a LGBT+ romance that isn't front and center but just natural part of the book. This is also a good book for people looking to read about someone who reflects themselves.

I really enjoyed Redgate’s previous book, “Noteworthy”, and again I could see how unique her style is. But the book didn’t work for me.

Laila is an introverted mestiza who loves reading and writing science fiction. She’s always had the support of her creative writing teacher until Mr. Madison is involved in a serious accident and a substitute comes to his place. Laila had always suspect her stories weren’t all that Mr. Madison always said but the new teacher’s opinions make her doubt even beyond her writings and send her on an adventure to get out of her shelf.

I get the idea. I think it’s great for teenagers to read about Laila’s self-discovery journey. But, to be honest, Redgate’s uplifting style didn’t save this book from being boring. I don’t think it was prolix, I don’t think it was the pace. I think the happenings just weren’t that interesting. Which is a pity, because the idea, the conclusions, they were all beautiful.

I loved how Laila is a mestiza, how that is something important to her. I really liked her family and would be interested in knowing better about her sister as well. Camille was very present in the story but there wasn’t much development there—not that I expected to be, there wouldn’t be room since that wasn’t the focus.

Also, Redgate went deep and made me wonder too about Laila’s dilemma. She has so much fun being in her shell and seems to hurt so much the moment she tries to come out, so is it worth it? Could there be a compromise? You’ll have to read to know the answer for Laila while I keep wondering this for my own life.

As I mentioned, this lifted some interesting themes but it wasn’t a fun read.


Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

This is a YA book with a believably (not overly) awkward, introverted, passionate, unsure of exactly who they are trying to become main character, and it's so enjoyable. The scifi parts weren't as engaging for me as a non-scifi reader/watcher/enthusiast so I wasn't able to totally get into that part, but the contemporary bits were worth it. Riley Redgate is a YA author who is telling interesting stories with great characters (and including a lot of representations in her books), and I'm here for it.

This is an intense novel, introspective and questioning. Redgate's protagonist Laila, will feel familiar to other authors. Her constant search for the perfect draft, the dread of sharing her work, and the self-doubt multiplied by spending too much time alone, being safe, writing instead of living must be something a lot of them would know about. I know I understood it, and I just write reviews.

The third person narrative constantly forced me to think deeper. Usually young adult novels are written in the first person, and the drama and angst spills over the page blatantly. But here there's deliberate distance, careful and considered. Even when Laila is feeling her worst, or her best, the emotions are tightly restrained, but written with such beautiful words, they reverberate for ages.

Laila's life has been steady and safe. Now she faces uncertainty and risk. But she wants to experience the change because she needs to know the impact it will have on her writing. I worried there would coercion and manipulation by the new creative teacher, but there wasn't. Sure she suggests, she expects, but she's also largely there for her own agenda, so she has no qualms about the ramifications these kids might face when they go out to 'experience life'.

Laila's relationships with her four best friends is a very strong part of the novel. Hannah, Leo and Felix become as real as Laila, and their support of her is unflagging and ultimately, terribly important. Laila's family are also authentically developed, although the other three missed out on the supportive parent situation. Felix's father and Hannah's parents are pretty unimpressive.

I love Redgate's Noteworthy, and can tell she is an assured and clever writer. I hope she's around, writing stories for young adults, for many years to come.

Thanks to Amulet Books and Netgalley for the advanced copy. It's out now in the US, June 11. Highly recommended for teens who like character study novels, not action-paced thrillers. Laila struggles with many issues, but she's really thoughtful and rational when she examines her thoughts, actions and motives. She does get up to a few shenanigans, such as underage drinking and drug-taking, but she never goes completely off the rails. There is some discussion about depression and other mental health issues, but we leave Laila in a place where she deserves to be: happy and content, surrounded by people she loves and who love her.