Cover Image: Opposite of Always

Opposite of Always

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Member Reviews

In this book Jack at a party meets Kate, a girl he falls for hard only she is sick, with sickle cell and is facing death all through the book.



As Jack tries to save Kate from her death, he travels through time to try and redo the past to spare her life as he loves her only he also must correct everything he did wrong to his best friends Franny and Jillian as they face issues with their parents being absent and struggling to get by money wise too.



However I didn't see a shock twist after Jack's third attempt to save Kate coming which changes the whole outcome you expect to see happen.



Yet as we got through all scenarios of time travel to save Kate, we make the realisation that saving someone can actually save yourself as your feelings and decisions change your life too and how time travel may not ever always make things perfect if it did exist in real life throughout the novel to me the book proves the fact that everything happens for a reason and how we learn from our mistakes the unlikely couple are cute at times but to me also Jack does border too much on coming across too strong as a boy interested in the girl and Kate plays it more cool where usually it's the other way around!



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

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I loved the sound of this - the premise was excellent and I couldn't wait to start it. But I found the two main characters very irritating. The dialogue was trying far too hard - it felt heavy and clunky. I didn't believe enough in the characters or their relationship to care whether Kate was saved or not. This didn't work for me.

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Opposite of always is a novel about first love, death and time travel, it took me a while to get my head around this and found the book difficult to get into to begin with, that said, initially when Jack meets Kate at a party the dialogue is sparky and amusing, when Kate dies a Groundhog Day scenario begins where Jack goes back in time to change things, with some poor choices being made but this adding more layers and depth to the story.
I would say this is definitely a book for young adults, but an engaging story with some lovely scenes
My thanks to net galley and publisher for the opportunity to review this book honestly.

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Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. This is a debut novel based on friendship and love and what a great rollercoaster read it was. Highly recommend

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“You know the saying “Time is undefeated”? This is a story about the time that Time lost.”

Justin A. Reynolds’ debut novel, Opposite of Always, is a romantic time travel flick packed with cereal and feel-good moments. Jack King, our protagonist and our narrator, is the kind of awkward you can’t help but love, but his thoughts hit home at the most unexpected moments. The gut-punches in this novel don’t come from where you think they will, but once they hit, you’ll never doubt that Reynold’s knew exactly what he was doing when he wrote the scenes.
The premise of time travel to redo a relationship is an intriguing one and, like many others, is the reason why I was interested in reading Opposite of Always in the first place. But, if you’re like me and you look for detailed sci-fi, you’re going to be a little disappointed when you read this novel. There’s no explanation for the time travel, and there are a few inconsistencies in the plot related to the whole time travel aspect, but if you’re not too bothered about unexplained phenomenons, this shouldn’t bother you at all!
There is no doubt in my mind that this novel has been written with the intent of it becoming a movie. Some scenes feel so shot-for-shot that it’s almost as if I were reading a screenplay and not a book. This doesn’t exactly leave a great taste in my mouth, because I believe you should write a novel for the sake of writing a novel, not for it to be turned into a massive blockbuster (which is an added bonus, I guess).
Kate, Jack’s love interest, seemed a little too manic pixie dream girl for me, with some lines being so unpleasantly quirky and overtly flowery that she seemed too good to be true. It’s pretty evident where the “quotable” lines have been inserted in, and they don’t particularly gel very well with the rest of the book. Opposite of Always would probably have gotten a higher score from me if it weren’t for Kate and her bizarre way of speaking, which totally threw me off and felt like I was reading a John Green fanfiction, but Reynolds can write likeable and believable characters. Exhibit A, as mentioned before, is Jack, who is just the right level of awkward where it feels real.
At the end of the day, Opposite of Always is a touching, relatable, sometimes painful, depiction of first love. We know the basic premise of the ending when we start the novel because Jack straight-up tells us, but it doesn’t make the novel any less gripping. There are a lot of books that I can’t put down, but there aren’t that many that I’ll read in a busy cafeteria full of shrieking kids. Yet there I was, headphones blasting as loud as they could go, clutching my kindle with white-knuckles, needing to know what was going to happen to Jack and Kate.

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I really enjoyed this unique book. I had been so excited for this and it lived up to my expectations. The friendship is written beautifully with raw emotion and humour.

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The book follows Jack King (or JK, Jackie, Jack Attack, and the 37 other nicknames he seems to have) as he goes to visit a prospective university/college with his high-school friend Jillian and ends up at a party. While at the party he meets Kate and in the following months begins to fall for her. But Kate dies and suddenly Jack is back at the beginning, caught in a time loop while he tries to save her.

This book is a pretty slow starter, but once it gets going, it really gets going. I wasn't really into it for the first 25%, but I can pinpoint the exact moment that changed – when the time loop/time travel section kicks. I've always found the idea of parallel words interesting, so a story where one character gets to relive—and attempt to change—a section of time over and over again (almost creating parallel versions of events) was always going to be fun for me. If it was done well. But I'd say Justin Reynolds does it pretty well.

Each time Jack goes back, events change and we get more development for each of the main characters, which keeps the plot engaging. The dialogue is cliched at times, but the narrative has humorous moments and the quick pacing held it all together.

If you like the type of squads found in Simon Vs or What If It's Us, then you'll like the characters in this novel. Jack's best friends Jillian and Franny are fun, supportive, and full of zest. They're the kind of friends that will cheer you on if you're winning a race, but will also call you out for doing bad things or making poor choices. And Jack is one of those YA characters that makes a lot of poor choices. He's likable and frustrating in equal measures; sometimes we question his motives, and sometimes we root for him. But as he learns more about himself and what's important in life, be begins to become a more rounded character.

This is an own voices novel and has a lot of diversity, but I was hoping there would be at least one queer character included and there weren't any, despite there being scope for queer characters. Although this didn't really harm the plot of the book, it would have expanded the story further to have queer characters involved.

My main issue with this book is that we're never given an explanation for how Jack ends up going back into the past. Jack himself talks about why it might have happened (to save Kate, to help his friends), but we never find out what actually caused it. The ending too, is abrupt, and we're left unsure whether the cycle is actually broken or not.

But those issues aside, I enjoyed this more than I expected to. There were some really heart-warming scenes, and I liked the existential questions that were woven into the plot.

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This was an interesting premise. Each time Jack travels back it adds another layer to the story and characters. It was a well written book and has some good themes geared towards young adults.

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Second (and third) chance to get love right... Groundhog Day rehash of a teenager's first love.

"All the time travel in the world can't save the people you love." Jack is in love with his best friend Jillian (who is happily dating their mutual friend Franny) when he meets college girl Kate, who instantly gets under his skin and connects with the senior.

Getting to know each other, he realises this may be love. But then Kate dies (this is NOT a spoiler, by the way)... and Jack then finds himself meeting her all over again at the same party and reliving their months together all over again... It's not madness, it's not a dream. So why is Jack reliving the relationship - is there something he should be doing?

A twist on the Groundhog Day repeating-time theme (see recently released Pretty in Punxatawney), Jack's issues with his feelings for best friends, Franny's convict father, Jack's perfect parents (not at all annoying, actually, great role models), all balance alongside his relationship with the lovely Kate. It could get annoying, his constant falling in love with her, reliving the same events, but we see different moments and discussions.

I did wonder how the repetitive angle of this idea would work for Jack - he surely must be attending the same classes multiple times, completing the same homeworks again and again, having the same dinner-time conversations with his parents, but this never gets mentioned. A shame, I thought.

I liked seeing Jack experiment with other realities and fulfilling his fantasies, even though he didn't seem to learn from mistakes and remains a pretty poor friend for many of his attempts. The author manages to keep what could be an incredibly saccharine sugar-sweet love story from becoming overly so, with Jack and Kate remaining likeable and their feelings for each other more sweet than sickly.

Fresh look at the genre and idea, worthy YA read that could make a great film/series.

For ages 13 and above.

With thanks to Netgalley for the sample reading copy.

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Sweet and quite humorous in place but very much YA fiction, which I didn't realise before I picked it and I'm definitely not the right demographic. I did think it was a bit derivative of The Fault In Your Stars though - adding a time travel element doesn't lessen that!

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I loved this book!
the characters are easily imagined by the excellent descriptive writing, something that always helps me immerse myself in the story. The time travel aspect of the story is excellent, with the groundhog day - like repetition of a series of events being quite different to other books I have read tackling time travel throughout life times and/or history. I liked the fact that Jack tried to fix things in a number of different ways, each time having to rectify the changes he makes that negatively impact on other people dear to him, making each iteration new to read.
A lovely love story with an excellent twist in time, some unexpected turns and a great ending!

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Well written, characters were fleshed out. I could barely put it down! I will definitely be recommending this to my friends.

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“Let’s see… uh, I sorta want to write a book, or several books, I guess.”
If that was your dream Mr. Reynolds, I have only two words for you – WELL DONE!

This is a debut novel by the author and it is absolutely stunning. It is a story about love, friendship, family, and time-traveling, of course. What are the possibilities in front of you if you go back in time with a chance to alter the future? I had everything I want from a book – I laugh my arse off with Kate, feel sad about her death, and was hyper enthusiastic about traveling back in time. But I felt it right to go back and spend some extra time with somebody you love for one last time. To have the chance to tell them everything you didn’t have time to before, even if they don’t remember you. Or even to try to save them.

Long story short. Jake meets Kate in the party in the university camp he is going to attend next year. Something click inside them and things between them goes on with ease. Until Kate dies. And Jake’s adventure begins. He is supposed to figure out how to save Kate’s life. But he makes great mistakes, hurts people he loves, just to save her. Until he realises that it is pointless to make attempts to change the future. You have to live the life in its best, appreciate people who got you back and will always stand for you. And everything will be fine.

“So the earth rotates around the sun, right? And it would be super weird for it to start happening the other way around, right? Like, suddenly the sun starts revolving around the earth. Except that’s sorta like what loving someone is all about. You’re moving along life, doing your thing, managing your priorities and commitments.
And then suddenly you meet THE ONE.
And you fall completely out of the orbit you’ve been spinning in.”

Jack, as a character, is amazing. I can’t imagine someone who is going to fit better than him. He is well developed and vigorous. He always put under questions everything he makes and this is half charming, half annoying. But he is devoted and smart, as well. After every failure, he comes up with new ideas how to save Kate. At the same time he is corny and lovable, there is no chance you not falling for him.

I felt in love with Kate from the first sign. She is witty and sarcastic, with sharp tongue and no filter between her brain and her mouth. Actually she reminds me so much of myself. I can be so bitchy sometimes (okay, almost all the time) and definitely speak what I’m thinking. It is one of these characters, full of life and you have the feeling you know them or you can meet them at any moment of your life.

Jillian, on the other side, drives me nuts. How can you be so blind for the past three years and didn’t see that Jack is mad about you? And at the very same moment another girl catches his eye to begin overreacting, acting bitchy and protective like he is in your possession.

“People always say they’re happy you’re happy until they’re afraid that maybe your happiness is affecting their happiness and then they’re not so happy about you being so happy.”
But what is this, Jake is going through? Is this a parallel universe? Or just ‘variations how to screw up your life’? Why the universe gave Jack such an opportunity? Why we cannot go back in time and fix the mistakes we made? Is this a gift or a curse?

“Because who would care about what happens to me enough to send you back in time? Like, what’s so special about me?”

I was captured by the plot and really enjoyed the book. So roughly, the plot is divided into different sections for every time Jack goes back in time to when he first meets Kate at the stairs. With every part of the book, there are more layers added to the story. But coming down the end, last two sections fells more like repetitive than offering something new. But this didn’t spoil the pleasure this book brought me.
(I felt last two chapters-like parts needless. As for me the book was going to have a strike of an end if it finished with Jake’s wake-up.)

“When you’re a kid, you think your parents have it all together. That they know what they’re doing. And then one day you realize they’re just as screwed up as you. They are just old and screwed up.”

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A book about love, friendship and learning to balance the people who mean the most in your life.
I really enjoyed the idea of the story, time travel opens the door to a range of possibilities. And was truly hoping for a story filled with heartbreak and growth.

I think my biggest problem was with the writing style, I personally struggle with first person stories. The way they're trying to joke with the reader, or guess what the reader is thinking at that point of the story. For me it comes across as juvenile.
Which was my problem with a lot of the writing in this book. I can't tell if it's the author or an actual conscious decision in Jack's voice to have him speak in this odd way. But I almost feels like the writing is trying a little too hard at times and explaining too much. What makes me feel it's the author is that when other characters are speaking/texting it doesn't feel organic. For example,
<spoiler> "Right, Probation," Dad confirms. "Otherwise known as thin ice.....
"Life," I finish. "I understand. And thank you. For the suspended sentence."
Firstly, I feel like 3 adults wouldn't have an interaction like this. And secondly adults know what probation means, it's been established that Jack is a smart student. So I couldn't understand the reasoning for characters to explain words if it wasn't for the audience. </spoiler>

I also hated the emails between Jack and Kate, they felt like they were really trying to be 'hipster' and different. Same with all the text conversations.
Which brings me onto the actions of characters, especially Jack's parents. They aren't written as adults, or shall I say adults of a grown child.
<spoiler> In the first telling of the story Jack gets in trouble for taking his mother's car and not saying where he intends to go. Firstly, this kid is supposedly 18, maybe because i'm British and by then we've left school, most people have had a job for 2 years and we're seen and treated pretty much like adults. I don't understand the issue of him not telling them he'd gone on a journey 90 minutes away (something that only appears to be an issue in this telling of the story) Secondly, the punishment. It really feels like something teenager, or someone not accustomed to a punishment someone would give an older child. </spoiler>

I understand that in time travel stories, a small difference in a person actions causes bigger changes in the actions of others and the timeline. That being said, people's personalities/histories do not change. The coupon's release date is the same in every telling of this story, Franny and Jack have the same history in each version. However when Franny tells Jack that he is out changes everytime, same as franny's reaction to him getting out. One time he happily just textes Jack, another he struggles and tells him in the middle of the night and another he gets drunk and blurts it out. Nothing changes in Jack's actions towards Franny on the day he meets Kate (obviously except for <spoiler> him kissing Jillian</spoiler>) that Franny wouldn't still text him to ask how his 'big date' went and then tell him his news. But for some reason, none other than to suit the author's need, it still changes. It's the small things like this that pulls me out of the story, as i'm always thinking back to the last time and trying to understand why it changed.
<spoiler> "I go to all of Franny's games. i've literally never missed any of his games. Do you know how awkward that's going to be for me to keep going even though he and my son are no longer friends? Did you ever think about that, Jack?" This entire conversation threw me, Jack's parent's turned into completely different people. They just sounded like spiteful teenagers. </spoilers>

I was just so disappointed when I'd finished this. I wanted to love a book with strong POC characters in a great time travel story filled with love, friendship and a crazy adventure. But I just couldn't.
Again, maybe this is due to being British and having a different relationship with 18 years olds (seeing them more as adults than teenagers).

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I received this book from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would. It was funny and insightful and interesting. The concept is fantastic. And Jack and Kate are beyond adorable.

I honestly don’t know how Jack kept going and also how he didn’t break and tell anyone! I think the third story, where he did something quite different hit home for that first reason. That was hard to read but beautiful.

I also liked how little things changed each time and it wasn’t clear why - that felt real - frustratingly so at times!

I also loved his friendship with Franny (and to a lesser degree Jill, as that is coloured by his previous feelings for her and not massively addressed) and Franny’s relationship with his parents. That was serious friendship goals.

And while the book is very definitely about saving Kate, and how not to fuck up friendship on the way, it’s also about Jack learning a lot about himself. I hope he realised how awful some of his decisions were even if no one else knows he made them (again story 3!) However, he has a good heart and good intentions.

4.5 stars for this lovely contemporary read with a Groundhog Day twist. If you could do it over again, what would you do?



Review will go live on 1st april on my blog

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Opposite of Always made me nostalgic for my teen years. I'm the kind of person who re-reads books over and over again. Opposite of Always reminds me of a book that I read until the pages nearly fell out, Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall. Both books deal with a character reliving a death... although in this case it is the death of Jack's love Kate that is trying to be avoided.

Jack meets Kate on a college visit and falls head over heels in love. And then she dies.When he wakes up before they ever met he has the chance to put things right. Save her. This novel shows his attempts to be the hero and find a way back to the young woman he met on the stairs at a party.

This novel had a lot of positives. Jack is a funny and likeable character, with a supporting cast of great friends. His friend Franny's dad, The Coupon, is in prison. I really appreciated reading a novel where the characters surrounding the main character are more than just Back-Up 1 and Back-Up 2.

The way Jack interacts with the central premise is really fun. He doesn't just presume that the only path available to him is to stay in a relationship with Kate. It might be possible to save her in another way...


The diversity rep in Opposite of Always was also really impressive, both in terms of the representation of people of colour and the discussion of health conditions. I learnt about sickle cell anaemia in this novel, a condition which I didn't really understand about before.


There were a few aspects that I found frustrating though. The relationship between Jake and Kate is explained much better in some of the later iterations. I have a better sense for why they care so much for each other, whereas in the first go around I do question a little what made Kate seem a better choice than Jillian - the girl Jake has known for years. I also felt that some parts of the book dragged a little and wonder if it would have been a little snappier if it had been shorter.

How did I feel about the ending? That's a trickier question! I am curious to see how other readers find the conclusion to Jack and Kate's story.

My overall rating, 4.5/5, reflects the fact that I know that teenage me would have jumped up and down in joy for this book. Figuratively, at least! It gives me the same feeling that the books I used to love back then did, allowing me to escape my worries and fears for a little bit.Jack and Kate: a teen romance for the post-millennial generation.

Thank you to NetGalley, Pan Macmillan and Justin A. Reynolds for the opportunity to read in exchange for my honest review.

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The opposite of always is a love story which asks the question, if we had our time again could we change the outcome?

Jack and Kate meet at a party and instantly connect, their relationship progresses but then Kate dies and it should all end there.

It doesn’t and what follows is a nice enough story of friendship, love and second chances.

I found the story easy to read but I didn’t emotionally engage with any of the characters. This didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the story and I think this is one the young adult market will enjoy.

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Jack meets Kate at a party, they fall in love, then she dies and Jack has to relive the six months they had together over and over to try and save her and his relationships with his friends. In one variant, he screws up all his friendships in his desperation to save Kate - those friendships are a good touch for a YA novel where it's often all about the romance and the supporting characters aren't well drawn. Franny and Jillian are both well-drawn characters with their own problems, some of which Jack contributes to as he struggles to get things right.

It's a really clever idea - like a teenage Groundhog Day - and Jack is an appealing main character. I'm not sure that it completely works, the middle section dragged a little and the romance is a little too perfect (but then, it is YA). And there's never any explanation of why/how Jack is able to do this, no hint of where it might have come from, he has no power over it - that's a little frustrating.

Overall, worth a look for something a bit different and I'm glad I read to the end.

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An extraordinary roller-coaster of a story, with characters who whisk you through their joy and pain without stopping to see if you can keep up. They are unique and yet they are all of us. Superbly written, joyously different, full of hope and love and all that good stuff. Brilliant.

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A YA/Contemporary time travelling tale of love and loss and love and loss and so on!

Jack loves Kate, Kate dies and Jack gets a chance to go back and start again at the beginning. Can he save Kate, will his choices change the outcome of not just his story but everyone's story??

I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would, at the beginning the insta-love was nearly too quick but then as I read on I realised I loved them too!

I found all the characters engaging and likeable although Franny really needs to work on that temper and I was definitely rooting for a happy ending!

I feel like I've read something special and this is gonna be a firm favourite with the masses, I can't wait to see more from this author

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