Final Draft was one of my most anticipated books of the year because Redgate's previous work has been fantastic. Unfortunately this  story lacked substance, and didn't live up to the greatness of her previous novels.

I loved the representation in here. Redgate always writes diverse characters seamlessly without it being in your face "I'm a diverse character". Laila is a plus size, pansexual, multiracial woman. Like most individuals who are multiracial, she struggles with fitting in anywhere because she's not "enough" of one group or the other.

"Laila couldn't shake the suspicion that she didn't count in some fundamental way, that her looks were enough to distance herself from her white half but not nearly enough to make her belong with her Latin half."

I did really like Laila as a character, I understood why she felt like she didn't fit in anywhere because of her race, and I enjoyed how much she loves writing. There were also funny parts dispersed through the book about her Catholic guilt. Every time she brought it up I wanted to laugh because it's A REAL THING. I PROMISE.

Laila feels very realistic, Redgate does a good job of creating realistic characters. Unfortunately in this book, the only fleshed out character is Laila, everyone else feels very one dimensional and unfinished, even the love interest.

Not only did most of the characters feel one dimensional, but the whole novel felt superficial and surface level. There's not much background or depth to any of Laila's friends or family, and they only appear on the page when it's convenient. Laila went through many struggles in the book, and even lost someone close to her, but because of the writing, I wasn't as affected by her struggles as I could have been.

I love that Laila loves writing, and was working diligently on her work, and never thought it was good enough, I felt that the story was inundated with the other worlds - of her work and the scifi show her and her friends are obsessed with. There were too many random scenes from one of these worlds thrown into the middle of the story with no warning, that it was jarring and took me out of the story.

"Guess I've got this image [...] that these stories are already out there, like these perfect little islands floating around, and I keep trying to rope them in, but I keep getting these mediocre versions that only even passingly look like what I want. So I've got to spend all my time out there casting nets, because it I spend too much time away from that universe, I'll go and forget how it feels in there, and i'll get farther and farther away from those perfect versions os what I'm trying to do."

Overall I thought this novel felt more like a draft, like it hadn't been fleshed out enough. I felt that there were too many random events or scenes thrown in that didn't connect well to the rest of the story.

Even though I don't think this is Redgate's best work, I still enjoy her writing and can't wait to see what she writes next!

Have you read Final Draft yet? What did you think of it?

Gosh I wanted to love this book. I have love her other two books so much. This one just felt all over the place. There was a story or stories within the stories which were fun. However, there was something holding me back from connecting with the characters like I did with her previous stories. I am not sure what exactly it was though. There were definitely parts I liked, some parts I wished were explored more. It felt like it was a bit slow then it packed WAY too much in the end. Like I wanted more of that stuff. I needed the heavier stuff to be unpacked in more time than it was allowed. While I didn't love this I will be looking forward to more books from Riley Redgate.

This book was an amazing coming of age story, giving a pretty accurate depiction of the struggles of the teenage life of Laila – a relateable character who is currently struggling with her body image, sexuality and her writing. Laila discovers herself and comes to terms with the former through the latter. After losing her favourite teacher – and almost friend – she gains a new one, whose comments of her writing appear harsh and critical at first. However, it is this that begins to help Laila  to step outside of her comfort zone, throwing herself into life and the social world she’s ignored for so long. She also encourages her to explore her experiences of grief and hidden sexuality, which not only allows her to create a better story, but also to create a sense of acceptance and a kinder inner narrative. Once this is reached her improved sense of happiness almost jumps off the page, and the difference between Laila at the start of the book and Laila at the end of the book is the embodiment of self-discovery. I love the message this sends across – without struggle there is no progress. No-one in this world has gained anything worth having without having to fight for it first, and this is definitely the case with Laila’s story, and subsequently her newfound understanding of herself. I loved this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a touching, coming of age YA novel.

I absolutely adored Riley Redgate's Noteworthy so I was so excited to be approved for this ARC! I was not disappointed with Final Draft. It lived up to everything I was expecting and then some. It's been a couple of months since I've read the ARC, so let's see if I can do this book some justice.

First off, I loved the diversity in this book. As far as I can remember, all of Laila's friend group are people of color; Laila herself is half-Ecuadorian and Hannah is Korean American, not to mention the other two friends in their group (I'm sorry, my memory is failing me rn). Laila is also plus-size, pansexual, and has anxiety, and Hannah is a lesbian!!

Next, the writing in Final Draft is just so. Good. It so accurately portrays Laila's life, her struggles as a writer, her obsession with a sci-fi TV series, her acceptance of her sexuality, just everything. We really get to see her as a person and not just as a character on the page. And as a fairly sheltered teen like Laila, getting to read her, uh, experiments felt very real.

The characters' hobbies added so much to their personalities. Like, Laila and her friends are all so different, personality-wise, but what they do have in common is this sci-fi TV show. I loved seeing this ragtag gang of friends all bond over one common interest. This and Laila's love of writing also? Surprisingly didn't annoy me, which does not make sense, but you know how sometimes you read a book and it over-explains a character's trait or something, and you think, OKAY I GET IT, she likes to bake, or whatever? Well that was not the case here. I felt as if I also loved everything Laila loves because of how good the writing was, rather than just being thrown a description.

Writing this review now has made me realize just how much I've forgotten about this book, and now I desperately want to read it and relive it again. Also, it's pride month sooooo you should definitely pick up this f/f pansexual read ;) (rip can't believe I just typed a winky face in a "formal" review, but here we are). Pick this dark contemporary up June 12th.

This is from an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.

Laila Piedra, like me, is very much into writing, but she's better looking! She secretes herself away in her room with her laptop and creates sci-fi worlds of adventure and derring-do. But daring isn't something Laila ever does herself. She'd rather have a quiet life: no partying, no boyfriend, no extra-curricular activities. She's all about writing, and meeting with her high-school senior year English teacher, Mr Madison, on lunchbreaks to discuss her stories. Apparently he has very little of a life too, and you have to wonder why he's misleading Laila so much in his advice. He seems so full of praise, but later a professional author disagrees with him.

Due to an injury, Mr Madison was forced to take time off school and substitute teacher came in. This woman was a Ukrainian ex-pat who had a successful writing career. Even given that she was a friend of the principal's, it seemed a bit of a stretch that someone of her purported stature would step in to teach. This oddity was explained later in the novel, but even accepting that, it made little sense that her approach to teaching was so minimalist that she essentially didn't teach at all. Instead, she merely had her students continue their writing projects and then marked them scathingly.

Despite Laila's skill and the endless positive, evidently criticism-free encouragement of Mr Madison, Laila's first score from Nadiya Nazarenko was a 32%. Everyone else scored less, and no one was given any real advice about what was wrong or how to improve it. No-one read their work in class either, so it felt unnaturally like a super-secret, under-the-table event; like everyone was ashamed of what they wrote, or their work was too scandalous to ever see the light of day. Worse, Laila never questioned Mr Madison's bona fides given that he was all 100% and the Nazarenko consistently less. That rang hollowly - that Laila never questioned anything.

Frankly she was a bit too passive for my taste, but then I seem condemned to prefer the side-kick characters in young adult and even middle-grade novels rather than the main one. Her sidekick is Hannah, and Hannah fascinated me.

Laila's desperate desire to impress the substitute flings the young writer into dangerous territory, visiting bars with a fake ID, and risking arrest by the police at a fight. Never once does she consider she's being foolish in pursuit of a ridiculous goal. It felt odd, too, that when a school hottie guy befriended her, she didn't try to talk him out of fighting her own friend, a guy who was dating his ex. That was an interesting little story.

The novel could have easily gone downhill several times for me, it didn't, fortunately for this review! It kept me hanging in there, sometimes by a slim thread, and even as I wondered about some of the writing choices the author was making. What made it worthwhile in the end was Laila's outcome, which I had seen coming for a while but was never quite sure if the author would actually take me there - despite having a pretty awesome name for an author: Riley Redgate! I mean come on! That's almost as good as Teenage Negasonic Warhead. You know Riley Redgate's middle name is Negasonic, right? Well, it might be!

Meanwhile, back in Realityville, I have to say that it was such a nice gift that she did do this, that I felt a bit miffed when there wasn't more of it. The novel ended somewhat abruptly with Laila's future seemingly left rather hanging. I don't know if this was a conscious choice or if the author plans on continuing this story in a second volume. It's difficult to see where that would go given the powerful ending this one had (before the abrupt bit!), but I might be tempted to read such a sequel even though I'm not a fan of series, trilogies, and the like. As for this particular volume, I consider overall, that it's a worthy read, and I recommend it.

There were parts of this book that I really liked. I loved how Laila is a writer and struggles with making her work better. The writing process is hard. I felt that the author did a good job about talking about writing and the challenges that come with that. Laila’s friend group was different and more diverse than we see in most YA books and that was so refreshing. 

I read an ebook version of the book and it just jumped to the sci-fi parts of the story (that Laila) is writing and that was somewhat confusing. 

The relationships throughout the entire book felt real and they definitely tugged at your heartstrings. 

This book wasn’t my favorite but it was good and overall I enjoyed it. 3/5 stars. 

I was sent this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. 

You can see more reviews on my blog: http://bookishtay.com/book-reviews/

I enjoyed Final Draft on so many different levels. On the surface level there is a phenomenal plot, at the same time there's this almost self-reflexive commentary on writing. Laila is a fantastic main character who I could instantly empathize with. Laila was me when I was in school (except I never wanted to become a writer because of insecurity, but yep).

First off, the cover and the title are amazing. It encapsulates one of the main themes - the idea or question if anything is ever done? When we work on a piece of work how do we arrive at the final draft? Does that even exist? As a writer, how do we get from the first to the final draft? Not even only as a writer, but also as a human.

We need to ask ourselves how do we produce our best work. Do we need someone to push us harshly or do we need someone who tries to cushion our fall? I keep thinking about myself and my own teachers/mentors in my life. Sometimes I was told that I needed to have a push, and I do manage to do my best work - but I am so stressed when I do. And at the same time, they were never cruel, just were critical - which is definitely a distinction.

(Also does all our work have to be ground breaking? Can we just not have fandom? Or passion projects? This is something that I've been thinking a lot about in relation to my own blog and work. Which I have, become quite obsessed with).

Final Draft is a novel that I was super excited to get into because, as an aspiring writer, I could find myself relating to most of the things in the synopsis. The desperation for perfection and approval when writing and that is why I could empathize so well with the MC Laila. The plot held me from beginning to end and I overall think that this novel is a perfect coming-of-age story. I would definitely recommend this to my fellow reader friends; especially those who are aspiring writers as well!

As a reader and a writer, this was a story I was very interested in. And it was a good and worthwhile read, even if I found myself annoyed at some of Laila's decisions. But I feel like her character was pretty relatable, with getting so obsessed with her writing and making it better, even when she got to the point where she was editing as more of an unhealthy obsession. Plus she got to where her writing and editing were to try and impress an acclaimed author instead of writing because she enjoyed it and it was what she wanted to do. I did think the romance story was cute, though I wish it had been a bigger part of the story because I would have wanted more about it.

This is my third Riley book,  and I think she may have done something very clever with it.  I know her writing quality.  I know her humor.  I've met the woman.  And I'll be honest: I didn't see any of it in the first half of this book. I nearly gave up on it,  in fact.  But then it started getting more and more like her normal work.  The humor,  the pathos,  the incredible turns of phrase. And I realized something. This book is about a young writer who,  while good,  is not great.  A famous novelist is brutally honest with her and her stories start to improve... at almost the same point the book starts improving.  I'm not 100% sure,  and I'll see Riley in October and I will ask her,  but I think she did it on purpose.  I think Nazarenko's presence "affected" Riley's writing. Every suggestion Laila receives,  that improvement starts appearing in the actual book.   If I'm correct,  and I think I am,  this may be one of the most clever books I've ever read.  If she confirms my theory,  this will go up to 4 stars.  If she didn't do it intentionally,  then I read way too much into this and someone needs to write the book I just described.

I received Final Draft by Riley Redgate via Netgalley from the publisher. All views are my own. 

Laila is a fat, pansexual, Ecuadorian-American girl who is obsessed with science fiction. She writes, watches a hit TV show called The Rest, and generally eats, drinks and sleeps sci-fi. I loved the slight fandom element of the book, as well as the inclusion of various scenes from Laila's work in progress for her creative writing class. 

I thought the various representations were great - there's a particular scene where Laila talks about being uncomfortable with the way her body looks in a tank top, and as a fat girl, I FELT HER SO HARD. There's also discussions about her being biracial, but I can't comment on that because I am not biracial myself. I also thought the representation of mental health was particularly well done, as someone who has had many of the experiences of mental health that she has. Laila has a couple of nervous tics throughout the novel - these include chewing her hair. Near the end of the novel she goes through a depressive episode, where she feels like she would be better off not existing. Because of this episode, she goes to a psychiatrist and starts using SSRIs. While neither of these are gone into with huge depth, the fact that they were there was really great. 

I really enjoyed the romance as well. I'm not going to say who her love interest is, but just that there is a f/f romance, which we do not see enough of in YA, in my opinion. It was a complicated relationship, and I was absolutely living for the drama between the two girls, especially because they're so different in temperament. 

The only downside I saw to this particular book was the writing itself - there were times when I started getting confused about who the characters were, because other than Laila and her love interest, I didn't think her friends were particularly fleshed-out. Sometimes the writing was just a little jumbled as well. 

Final Draft is released on June 12th. As someone who was already a fan of Riley Redgate, I would highly encourage you to pick this up. 

Trigger warnings: underage drinking, masturbation, drug use, death, sex, major depressive episode

The only sort of risk 18-year-old Laila Piedra enjoys in Final Draft is the peril she writes for the characters in her stories: epic sci-fi worlds full of quests, forbidden love, and robots. Her creative writing teacher has always told her she has a special talent. But three months before her graduation, he's suddenly replaced—by Nadiya Nazarenko, a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist who is sadistically critical and perpetually unimpressed.

At first, Nazarenko’s eccentric assignments seem absurd. But before long, Laila grows obsessed with gaining the woman’s approval. Soon Laila is pushing herself far from her comfort zone, discovering the psychedelic highs and perilous lows of nightlife, temporary flings, and instability. Dr. Nazarenko has led Laila to believe that she must choose between perfection and sanity—but rejecting her all-powerful mentor may be the only way for Laila to thrive. (via Goodreads)

I RECEIVED AN EARC OF FINAL DRAFT THROUGH NETGALLEY, COURTESY OF AMULET BOOKS, IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW. I HAVE PREVIOUSLY REVIEWED NOTEWORTHY BY REDGATE.
When I started reading Final Draft, I wasn't sure what to expect from it. After finishing it, I can't really figure out how I feel about it. Go figure, huh? Final Draft honestly feels unfinished to me, in a way that I'm struggling to explain.

This needs content warnings for teacher death, major depressive episode, negging by a mentor, recreational drug use, underage alcohol use, sneaking out, medication use for depression, graphic masturbation scene, and major grief. I loved that Laila was eventually able to get treatment for her major depression, and that she was hopeful about it. It's rare to get medication and therapy-positive content in YA lit, and it made a nice change.

Despite a lot happening in Final Draft, I was honestly kind of bored. I thought the relationships throughout the novel were underdeveloped, despite Laila saying how long she'd known them all.

I also didn't love the way that Laila talked about herself as a sexual being. It set off a lot of red flags for me as an asexual person, but I can't quite articulate why. If I ever figure it out, it will probably turn into an essay or something.

Overall, I think this is probably a middling rating for me. It had a lot of good things but it didn't come together well, unfortunately.

I strongly dislike writing negative reviews these days and I really loved the author's other books, so I'll keep this review as brief as possible.

Final Draft connected with me in some ways, but I couldn't see what it was trying to say. I feel like there was a message in there, but I couldn't find it. It all felt disjointed. The first half of the book felt like one thing, and the second half felt like another. Also, I really hate when books suggest that introverts have to change themselves. I get it - Laila needed to see the world from more perspectives than her own. But did that require putting her physical and mental wellbeing at risk?

Laila ends up experiencing extreme depression from her obsession with perfection. But it's never made clear if the narrative thought her teacher was in the wrong for putting her through that. Suffering doesn't equate to good art, and art is not more important than mental wellbeing. And I think the book agrees with me. But it just didn't come across well. I cannot figure out what the point in all of this was.

The reviews so far have been super positive so perhaps this book just didn't work for me. As I said, I really like the author's other books. But reading this one just made me feel sad and drained.

Diversity note: biracial (Ecuadorian/French-Canadian) pansexual protagonist who suffers from depression

Warnings: car accident, injury, hospital, death, suicidal thoughts

<i>I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. This in no way affected my opinion of the book.</i>

One of the first things I did when I turned 18 was sign up for NetGalley. A website that gives you books for <i>free</i> so long as you review them? Yeah, I was sold. And my first request was approved! It was great.

Anyways, I really did love the first half of the book, but after finishing it and the more I've let it sit with me, my conclusion is . . . meh? It was all right. I can't say I hated anything, but I didn't have strong feelings about much of anything, one way or the other.

Let's talk about some of the things I did like:

<b>-There was a heavy focus on writing.</b> I'm a sucker for books about writers, because, obviously, I can relate to them! Every writerly character is different, but on some level, I can always see myself in them. This makes it way easier for me to empathize with them and get sucked into the story. I was drawn in right away by the creative writing aspect and loved how much writing was key to the plot. The story also demonstrated the importance for different kinds of mentors, including the cheerleader mentor who boosts your self-esteem and allows you to be confident about your writing, and the harsh critic who helps you to break free from your comfort zone and improve your writing, even if it's difficult.

<b>-The book talked a lot about being a part of a fandom.</b> Laila and her friends are obsessed with a sci-fi show called "The Rest" (which seemed to be similar to "The 100," but maybe that was just me) and even though they all recognize it's not the most perfect show in the world, it's still important to them and they love it unabashedly. It's part of how they bond and, 12 seasons later, they're still invested in the story. Again, this is something I could relate to. It really made fandom culture a positive thing.

<b>-There was so much diversity!</b> Laila is plus-size, pansexual, and half-Ecuadorian/half-French Canadian. Her best friend is a lesbian, and her entire friend group is racially diverse. It was really refreshing to see a school setting be realistically diverse, since, for some reason, that doesn't happen a lot.

<b>-There was a twist in the middle that actually made me gasp out loud a little.</b> I am notoriously horrible when it comes to predicting plot twists, so it may have just been me, but I totally did not see it coming.

<b>-The descriptions were unique.</b> When it came to describing the setting or characters' movements, I didn't feel bored, like I sometimes do when I encounter those sorts of things. I'm a skimmer, so if something doesn't hold my attention and isn't necessary, I'll breeze right past it. With this book, though, I actually wanted to soak up the couple sentences here and there that explained what the characters were doing in a fresh and interesting way.

And now for some of the things I didn't like:

<b>-There were gigantic blocks of text that were out of place.</b> Out of nowhere, Laila would go from doing something interesting to reminiscing about a random topic for two solid pages. Some of these thoughts were important and others were not. But either way, they could have been placed somewhere way better. It threw off the pacing, big time

<b>-I didn't buy the romance.</b> I wanted to, I really did, but again, it seemed to come out of nowhere. If there were hints early on about Laila's attraction to this person, I didn't catch it until way later. It <i>should've</i> worked, but both characters suddenly became way out of character when they were together. It was also supposed to affect the plot and the reader's emotions in a pretty big way toward the end, but I found myself not caring about it in the slightest.

<b>-The book took a dark turn.</b> The entire second half of the book didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story. I wouldn't have minded it, overall, if it had been carried out better. But it seemed like Laila completely changed as a person and the plot sort of drifted into nothingness.

<b>-Laila's risk-taking played into unfortunate tropes.</b> I hate, hate, hate when introverted characters are pushed to get some "life experience" and "take risks." Introverts can be perfectly happy at home with a book! It doesn't mean they're sad and lonely. In this case, I could kind of understand where some of the characters were coming from when they told Laila she needed to get out and live a little. There are times when it's good to get out of your comfort zone, and for the sake of her writing, Laila did need to have some new experiences. <i>However.</i> Why, why, <i>why</i> must every "new" and "exciting" experience involve getting drunk or having run-ins with the cops? If there is one trope I hate, it's that one. Life experience <i>does not equal</i> breaking the law and living a rebellious teenage life. There were about a bazillion other things Laila could have done to branch out in her life, but no, she had to get a fake ID and go to a bar.

<b>-Something about Laila's relationship with her previous writing teacher didn't strike me as genuine.</b> Maybe it was because we didn't get a good look at what their relationship was like before he had his accident and had to leave the school, but I didn't feel like they were as close as the story tried to portray. The e-mails, specifically, seemed off. The characters' voices didn't translate well in their online interactions.

<b>-The ending was dissatisfying.</b> Without spoiling anything, I didn't feel like anything completely tied up. It wasn't ambiguous, it was just . . . unfinished. It seemed like the author was trying to send a message, but I couldn't pick up on what that message was. It either went right over my head or the way the message was portrayed wasn't super clear. The ending was part of why I had a hard time rating the book at first, because I didn't know how to feel about it. I didn't feel anything, and that's definitely not how a book should leave you.

<i>Final Draft</i> was okay, but it's not a story that's going to stay with me. I'll probably forget most of it in a month or two. There was a lot I enjoyed, and it was a pretty short read, so it didn't consume a lot of my time, but I didn't have strong feelings about it. Not my particular cup of tea, but it may appeal much more to someone else.

This is one of those rare books that is an organic piece of life itself. It has been a full month since I watched this movie and I am still so shook by it and so invested and,,, oh my god. Guys, do not sleep on this. This is going on my preemptive top ten of the year and no one can stop me. 

Okay, so now that I’ve stopped crying again, let’s get to why this book is so good. At its heart, I think this book is a perfect conveyment of what it is really like to be a teenage girl growing up in our current society and what it is like to struggle with yourself, to struggle with your friends right before you go to college. So for me - I am also beginning to deal with the college application process - there’s that sense of how personal this book is for me.

That’s one level to it, but there are so many more. Like, okay Final Draft stars a pansexual biracial Ecuadorian plus-size lead with anxiety. And listen, the way the narrative talks about Laila’s experience of being pansexual, of being biracial, of being Ecuadorian, of being plus size, of having anxiety: it’s all there and it’s all amazing. And if you relate to any single one of these things, you will get her. Because the way Riley Redgate writes Laila is so… empathetic. I have never felt a character on the same level that I felt this character. Redgate will just make one passage at the end of a chapter focus on a specific part of Laila’s experience in the world, and suddenly you feel as if your life has been changed forever. Like that one chapter where Laila talks about how she was taught to be ashamed of sex and romance to the point where her pansexuality felt shameful, and it’s not even about her being queer, but about her being ashamed to feel at all - I felt that.

You know, I think integrating so many different discussions into the narrative could have made for a slightly all-over-the-place book, but it does not at all. Redgate knows exactly where to place her quotes and exactly how to compose the narrative so that every aspect of Laila’s life feels like an authentic part of a big picture and more importantly, a fundamental part of her character arc. 

I don’t know how that’s possible. But... she did it? 

This book is also about Laila falling in love with - it’s kind of a spoiler but I DON’T CARE I HAVE TO SCREAM - her best friend, Hannah, who is a Korean lesbian. And can I just scream for a minute because their romance is SO SUBTLE AND SO PERFECT. Oh my god, I spent the first 45% of the book thinking I was imagining it, maybe, but totally shipping them anyway. You do not understand. Hanna/Laila being canon is the best thing in my life and the only thing keeping me alive for the next year. 

Listen, guys, this book made one of the biggest impacts on me of any book I read this year. I don’t remember the last time I read a YA contemporary so real, so in touch with the emotions and moods of every character. and a total masterpiece. I have no idea how ANYONE could write something this fantastic but I do know that this is one of the best books of 2018 and one of my absolute F A V E things I’ve read. I highlighted literally about half this book. I completely love this book. Please read it.

Full blog post will be up a week before the release date!

I can see that this book might get comparisons to Fangirl, but it seems much more grounded to me. It's such a refreshing read and I related SO MUCH to the struggles Laila went through. I enjoyed the nuances throughout, the diversity, the humour. Sometimes the backstory was a little full on with descriptions but otherwise - a joy to read.

Laila Piedra is an 18-year-old senior preparing for graduation and fangirling over a sci-fi television show called The Rest. She also loves writing her own story of science fiction which she shares only with her creative writing teacher, Mr Madison. However, when Mr Madison is in a car accident and is replaced with a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, Nadiya Nazarenko, Laila is pushed to explore life outside her comfort zone to please her overly critical new creative writing teacher.

Laila is a complex character. She already questioning herself as a person and her talent as a writer at the start of the book. She is passionate but does not seem to truly know who she is yet and so when feedback from her story comes back saying she must have a boring life and not take enough risks, Laila decides to take that on board and start taking risks. This does not always work out for her, but there is self-discovery weaved into her end of senior year journey.

She has three friends that all love The Rest - Leo, Felix and Hannah - and a family that care about her. These are obviously the people she begins to push away as her piece for her creative writing class becomes her sole priority. The things she does to "inspire" her writing is actually just destroying her soul and her previous limitations are left so far behind that person she was before barely exist anymore. The only positive to come from this Laila exploring her self-worth and discovering who she does not want to be.

Another large focus of the story is sexuality. Laila makes mention that she was religious which is why she struggles to accept her feelings regardless of who she is kissing, but it also is her explanation as to why anything sexual seems weird and feels like a sin. The book also deals with depression, though it is more implied than mentioned. Her internal battles and self-destruction while trying to perfect her writing for Nadiya breaks her. Laila needed help with her writing, but a decent human being would have recognised that she was already at risk of a mental health disorder and not pushed off a metaphorical cliff in the darkness that is depression. Depression is different for everyone but I did like how this book showed Laila's emotions and how uncontrollable life events can affect a person. 

The plot and the character felt so realistic I would not be surprised if this was Riley Redgate's personal story just with a few details changed to make it fictional. It felt like there was a lot of heart and soul poured into this book and I connected with Laila more than I do most main characters. It was a brilliant story that contains a few hard truths many of us need to face. However, while this book was fantastic in many ways and I liked it a lot, for me, it lacked enjoyment. I know this was not the type of book to have adventures or epic battles, but I just do not feel excited when I think about the book. Great book, 100% recommend, it was just missing that spark I look for in books.

First of all, let me thank Netgalley and ABRAMS Kids/Amulet Books for the chance to read and review this book: Final Draft, pre-release. As always, these thoughts are my own. This review is spoiler-free and no main plot points are revealed.

I give this story 3.25 stars.

Final Draft
Synopsis:

The only sort of risk 18-year-old Laila Piedra enjoys is the peril she writes for the characters in her stories: epic sci-fi worlds full of quests, forbidden love, and robots. Her creative writing teacher has always told her she has a special talent. But three months before her graduation, he's suddenly replaced—by Nadiya Nazarenko, a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist who is sadistically critical and perpetually unimpressed.

At first, Nazarenko’s eccentric assignments seem absurd. But before long, Laila grows obsessed with gaining the woman’s approval. Soon Laila is pushing herself far from her comfort zone, discovering the psychedelic highs and perilous lows of nightlife, temporary flings, and instability. Dr. Nazarenko has led Laila to believe that she must choose between perfection and sanity—but rejecting her all-powerful mentor may be the only way for Laila to thrive.



Relatable
This story is a ya contemporary about a writer who loses her mojo. While I typically do not read or enjoy contemporaries (there's a sad lack of magic and dragons, usually) I did enjoy this story. The main character, Laila, is a happy writer until her encouraging teacher is replaced. I found her struggle and discouragement relatable-- at her age, I was a published teen ready to take on the world and write myself into the spotlight I'd always dreamed of. Now, almost ten years later, I find myself struggling to even research my story if ANYthing is off.

Slow-ish
While this story is a story of Laila's fall from writing grace if you will, I found it relatable and . . . boring. Her group of friends acts and talks realistically, and the group dynamics are great. Riley Redgate writes this gorgeously and the anger scenes felt really realistic to me, but it moved a little slow. That said, I finished it in a day.

Not PG
This looks like a sweet PG story-- but it's not. There's a scene where Laila-- ahem-- explores her body for the first time. It's awkward. There's some definite pansexuality, and there's some groping. All trigger warnings, all tough. There's death, and depression, but for me, the previous list was more disturbing. Maybe I'm like Laila in that way.

I did enjoy starting and finishing this book in one afternoon. It was nice to breeze through it. I liked the bi-raciality of the MC, and I liked the family dynamics as well. This is a great book for a quick contemporary read.

This was such an adorable novel! I always love reading books where the protagonist is passionate about writing, but at the same time, it makes me feel GUILTY for reading this book instead of WORKING ON MY MANUSCRIPT. So… yep. I’m the worst. But it was really cool seeing the protagonist’s work and how her writing was such a major part of her life. I was also pleased to see that her writing wasn’t ALL that defined her. This was also a book about friendship and confidence, as well as grief and mental health. It was just everything I could have wanted right now. Although it felt a little self-serving at times, like the author was directly placing her own authorial insecurities into the narrative, but I can forgive her for that because the novel itself was still so enjoyable. Perfect for the readers among us who are also writers!

4.5 stars/5

“Have you ever had a day that felt like it changed the trajectory of your entire life?” 

This is one of the most beautifully crafted and written books I have read this year, if not ever. 
I've suddenly lost my ability to write words because I literally just finished this book and it took my breath away. 

I did not properly prepare myself for how big of an emotional mess this book would make me, because WOW did a lot of the events in this just completely throw me off guard and make me think about my own relationships with people in my own life. 

First off, this is one of the only times I've read a book and felt the need to highlight phrases. There are so many incredible quotes in here that I found myself highlighting something all.the.time. 

I did not expect myself to relate to this story as much as I did. I am not someone who is very into creative writing at this time but my god did I relate to Laila on so many levels. In high school, I also had a teacher who guided me entirely through my last 2 years in school. I don't know what I would have done without her, and I am still very close with her. I owe her a lot for what she did for me in that time and what she continues to do for me. Laila's relationship with her creative writing teacher really resonated with me and my experiences, and I loved their relationship to pieces. 

The reason I took .5 off was mainly because Laila's friends often frustrated me. They made constant sarcastic comments about how she isn't adventurous, never went out, or wasn't very fun. And if Laila did want to go out, they all acted fake shocked and made a huge deal about it. This is more of a personal opinion rather than one I would expect others to be annoyed about because this is something that happens to me consistently. I, like Laila, am often the subject of the "oh my GOD ___ actually wants to go out?" joke, and I didn't really enjoy reading Laila's friends do this all time. 

If you are a writer you will LOVE this book. It is full of the complexities, hardships, and upsides of creative writing and it is all dealt with beautifully. With all the insights into Laila's mind as a writer, she became this incredibly well crafted and well rounded main character, carrying this book all the way to its beautiful end. 

This story is an incredible coming of age story and exactly what I wanted to read right now. I would HIGHLY recommend this book, especially to those of you who are writers.