Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book.

Unfortunately it took me FOREVER to get around to this, but when I was looking for something light to separate all of the chunky fantasy books I had planned for the beginning of this year, the synopsis of this one instantly had me intrigued. A contemporary romance with some mythology inspired characters? Count me in. It sounded super adorable and just what I needed. However, this book just didn't live up to my expectations.

I know that in romance stories, often times the plot can be predictable and cheesy, but that's usually the fun of it. This was that but actually worse? Not cute and just frankly kind of cringe-y. The cheating made it all one big disaster and made it hard to root for or care about any of the couple's relationships because it was all just so convoluted and messy. Also, it definitely plays a lot on that whole "I'm not like other girls" trope that I think I enjoyed reading about when I was more into the more young adult genre books. It just isn't something I particularly enjoy anymore. However, if you are a fan of that in the stories you read, this may work a bit better for you.

The book itself was fast paced and I was able to finish it in a single sitting so that does say something positive about both the pacing and the author's writing. I do think that there is an audience for this book, and I am happy to see that readers have enjoyed it since its release.

This is a cute story with lots of humour, however although I thought it was a promising idea, the story itself was lacking. It was not was I was expecting, based on the synopsis but if you like a cute teenage romance that doesn’t have much depth I’m sure you’ll enjoy it, I just didn’t because I thought I was getting something else

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Again, I’m not really a huge romance fan. Yes, I like the genre, I just tend to read other genres before I read romance. I’m really not a big fan of “YA Romance” – for some reason I just don’t care much for it. But Never Say Never? Yeah, I’m definitely a fan of this one.

Let’s start off with the basics – Brynn Stark has stated she’ll never fall in love. She’s not a people person, she’s sarcastic, and she’s not the “ideal” type of pretty by society’s standards1 Enter her best friend Nina and Nina’s foster sister Val. Val is all about love and likes to meddle in others’ love lives. Of course, she IS Aphrodite, so that explains a lot.

I love Brynn. She and I share a lot of characteristics. We both like to wear black, band shirts, and jeans. We’re both sarcastic and neither one of us does people very well. I could relate to her on pretty much every level because she and I are just alike.

Then you have Val, who is Nina’s foster sister. Val is all about beauty, being girly, and love. She loves attention and she loves trying to set people up on dates to help them find their true love. She can be super obnoxious about it thought. How her boyfriend, Adam, puts up with her is beyond me.

Nina, Brynn’s best friend, is kind of like a mix of Val and Brynn. She seems to have a lot of the same characteristics of both Val and Brynn, but leans more toward Brynn than Val, if that makes sense. If not, I promise it will after you read the book.

Adam is just – he’s hard to explain. He’s withdrawn in some ways, and when you read about his history, you might just understand. I do, because I’ve been through it myself. He’s another character I just relate really well to.

Raphael is just obnoxious. He has a thing for Brynn, she can’t stand him, and he can’t take a freaking hint. Some of the things Brynn says to him are absolutely hilarious to be perfectly honest and you’ll spend a lot of time wondering why this guy keeps trying.

I love the premise of this book – Aphrodite in disguise trying to help her friend find true love, all the while trying to keep said friend away from the person she’s meant to be with. It’s complicated but not in a hard to understand way. Trust me, you’ll have no problem following this book and knowing what’s going on, even though things can get a bit complicated.

This book is hilarious. Some of Brynn’s zingers are absolute gold and when you pair that with the guy who can’t take it a hint, it’s even better. She’s also got some good ones for her mom, and in all honesty, I think you’ll understand why once you read the book.

If you like fun, hilarious YA romance books with a hint of fantasy, I’d definitely recommend this one. It’ll keep you reading from page one.

A fun quick read that definitely surprised me. The reason I wanted to read this book because of the one fantastical element present but surprisingly, I ended up enjoying the contemporary aspects of this book as well.

Pushed off reading this for a year and I was right... Not for me!

To be honest I don't know what I expected since I already hate the cheating trope from the get-go, but I have seen it executed pretty well a couple of times... Not here, unfortunately. Everyone is cheating on everyone which makes it impossible for me to enjoy any of the relationships. There was no clear and satisfying motive or explanation for what we witness.

The age gap between high schoolers and college students too made me pretty uncomfortable, but that might just be me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

The book is about a teenage girl who is in doubt of love and suddenly meets Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who will change her view of life and love. I did like the premises and had great expectations because I love Greek mythology in general. And I was curious to see how it would mix with a teenager love story.

I liked the storytelling in general and the start of the whole setup with a relatable girl and her not-so-great parents. The beginning was kind of charming and I smiled here and there even thought there was the occasional frowning due to her parents. But I felt like the story couldn't really keep the tension. I wished there would have been more depth (more drama or more humour, it doesn't matter) towards the middle/end because the story dabbled its way up to the end without any real climax. I also wished that they would have played more with the Greek mythology part but maybe that's just me.

Hard hard pass.
Brynn was sort of okay, but i did not enjoy how Val and Adam was. Plus Brynn`s familiy was annoying as hell and sometimes trying to hard to be... i don`t know. Who talks like that?

I barely could finish this one, took me a while, it has it peaks but i just couldn't love it. The main character turns out to be so annoying that i didn't want to deal with her anymore.
2/5
Maria Lourdes.

I found this to be an enjoyable read, keeping me on my toes throughout. The storyline was written well and flowed seamlessly. I look forward to reading more by this author!

The book is about a teenage girl who is in doubt of love and suddenly meets Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who will change her view of life and love. I did like the premises and had great expectations because I love Greek mythology in general. And I was curious to see how it would mix with a teenager love story. I liked the storytelling in general and the start of the whole setup with a relatable girl and her not-so-great parents. The beginning was kind of charming and I smiled here and there even thought there was the occasional frowning due to her parents. But I felt like the story couldn't really keep the tension. I wished there would have been more depth (more drama or more humour, it doesn't matter) towards the middle/end because the story dabbled its way up to the end without any real climax. I also wished that they would have played more with the Greek mythology part but maybe that's just me.

What do you do when the goddess of love decides to find your true love, but the one you want is her boyfriend? Brynn isn't looking for love after her parent's awful marriage finally comes to an end and her best friend's heart is broken by her loser boyfriend. Brynn is just waiting for college so she can move away and start a new life when she learns that her friend is actually Aphrodite and will stop at nothing to find her a boyfriend.

I liked the way the author incorporated a Greek Goddess into a modern world. It was an interesting turn of events and Aphrodite is a bit crazy in her attempts to keep Brynn and Adam apart. She can be awful and mean, but you also feel bad for her because she's been through a lot and just wants to find love for herself. Adam, Gabe, and Nina are good friends and supported Brynn through a lot. I always like seeing a good support group like that.

Brynn was a bit much sometimes. She pouted a lot, threw toddler level tantrums, and had a bit of the 'not like other girls' vibe that I don't love. Her parents were worse, maintaining a hate filled relationship just for appearances. Brynn's mom also didn't seem to think she'd done anything wrong by cheating and punished Brynn for not immediately jumping aboard her new relationship. The whole family needed therapy badly and I wasn't satisfied with how they left things.

This was cute overall and a quick read. I hope to see more contemporary-mythology books in the future.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions are my own. Thank you to Sword and Silk and NetGalley for the copy.

Sadly this. Is just a book that I couldn't get into.
For me, it felt like the characters were two dimensional, and I couldn't feel any empathy towards them or invested in their experiences.
I do hope others will get more enjoyment from reading this. Remember, I'm not saying it's a bad book, just that it didn't work for me.
Try it. Do you agree with me? Or was it a great book for you?

CW// cheating, puking

I wanted so badly to love this book. A contemporary romance with Aphrodite getting in there and causing drama? That sounded like it was right up my alley. Unfortunately though, this book was just a mediocre book for me. It wasn’t awful but it wasn’t amazing either.

Let’s start off with the good parts about this book: the pacing was really quick and it made for a fast read. I’ve been super picky about book pacing recently, but this one pleased me with how it was bouncy and quirky despite not having too much heavy action. I also really liked Gabe and Adam. They were great characters and while I wasn’t a huge fan of every step of their romantic journey, I did enjoy how they seemed genuinely wholesome and wonderful.

That being said, this book was messy. It was cheesy and predictable, but the cheating made this book difficult to enjoy. It seemed like everyone was cheating on everyone. Sure, some of them didn’t act on it until they were done with their relationships, but it was a massive web of “this guy is dating this girl but he’s in love with someone else,” “this girl’s boyfriend clearly has feelings for someone else,” etc. I knew there would be some cheating in this book based off of the book’s synopsis, but there was just too much of it in this book and a lot of the stuff involving the cheating seemed like petty drama.

I started to connect with the book and enjoy it more around the climax of the story, but the ending dragged on and was so cheesy that I was rolling my eyes at every sentence.

There’s also some questionable age gaps in this book. Technically they weren’t explicitly illegal, but college students dating high school seniors… It gives me massive grooming vibes and I’m not here for it.

At the end of the day, it feels like this book just wasn’t for me. I didn’t completely hate it, but I know that other people would’ve enjoyed this one more than me and I hope this book finds an audience of people who love it more than I do.

Never say never was a funny cute story of a teenage girl with doubts and fears about love because of her complicated relationship with her parents.

While the premise is promising, the story itself lacked depth. It was not was I was expecting (based on the synopsis) However is a good read if you like cute teenage romance.

I really struggled with this one. I think the premise was very interesting, but I just could not connect to any of the characters. For being seniors in highschool they just seemed so much younger, and I normally highly enjoy YA and this just read extra young to me. The MC just wasn’t my cup of tea. I think someone else would probably really enjoy it, sadly it just wasn’t for me. Will keep tabs on the author for other books because I definitely would be willing to try another book!

...
thanks a lot to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read a copy of this book, to the author as well.

I have many things to say.However, first of all, I will talk a little bit about the story, therefore i will keep it short.

However, first of all, I will talk a little bit about the story, so I will keep it short.

This is the story of a group of friends studying in a small town in the United States. They soon become aware of tragedies, truths and conflicts that develop the story through the story of Brynn Stark, a girl. She lives, not only in addition to the problems between her friends and the high school, but also in a loop, where her parents are going through a divorce process and her hatred towards her mother becomes critical during a part of the story.

I wouldn't have known that this story was going to make me feel so many emotions in my reading period between July 14th and today, this book made me spend days of not knowing what to do, write, play or even watch netflix and even though I was struggling at the beginning and at the beginning of the chapter because of how long they were, how can they think of making a YA novel with more than twenty pages per chapter. They were too long and they could have shortened it. That's what it cost me and it hurt me not to give it five stars.

In the other hand, the story tells us many things that in due time we should learn, as future young people, with the relationships that failed between one's parents and those conflicts that not only presented as fiction by the Greek gods brought us, but gave us a lot of contemporary content.

I liked the story, the only thing I felt was the length of the chapters, which did not encourage me to continue for three days.

4.5

I love Greek mythology and retellings of the tales, so I suspected I would enjoy this.

It's a light-hearted and quick read. Perfectly enjoyable, it is, however, reliant on tropes and stereotypes (for example, the main character Brynn is the classic withdrawn book nerd, clad in black, whose parents don't understand her).

The ending was not as strong as it could have been.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Never Say Never shows how love can take different forms, drives home the point that sometimes divine intervention is a good thing. Brynn has decided that love isn't for her. After walking in on her mom in a very compromising position with a man that is 100% not her dad, Brynn comes to the conclusion that it's just not a realistic or worthwhile way to spend her time.

The bombshells don't stop coming, it seems. When Brynn shares this revelation with her friend Val, Val reveals that she's actually the Greek goddess of Love -- Aphrodite. Aphrodite swears to Brynn that she can prove why love is worth believing in. Unfortunately, Brynn finds herself falling for the one person who is really off limits, Aphrodite's boyfriend, Ben. Brynn's journey centers around her decision to either live the life Aphrodite is encouraging her to or to take fate into her own hands and risk it all for a shot at happiness.

I really enjoyed this retelling, as it felt unique. The way that Brynn and Aphrodite, in particular, were written was really excellent. I also loved the coexistence of religions in this book, it didn't feel like one belief system was getting preferential treatment. I think that Manzano does a really interesting job of creating characters that readers love to hate (or, well, strongly dislike). This book is definitely worth a read, especially if you enjoy mythology and modern retellings.

Overall rating: 2.5/5 (rounded to 3)

Never Say Never is now available for purchase. Be sure to add it to your Goodreads shelf and see where it's available for purchase. Also, be sure to check out Justine Manzano's website!
I was lucky enough to be able to read this Advanced Reader's Copy through my partnership with NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

3.5 stars

Cute, very young adult-angsty, but still cute.

Brynn is a teenaged girl stuck between a rock and another very cranky rock. (Those rocks being her very unhappily married parents who have settled into the very unhealthy coping mechanisms of constantly blaming the other for things and using their teenaged daughter as an intermediary.) But, Brynn's saving grace is her best friend, her best friend's foster sister, and her best friend's foster sister's boyfriend- who, when life has her down, they help lift her back up. When she happens to catch her mother in flagrante delicto (with another man), right after comforting her BFF whose butt-face of a boyfriend just broke up with her, Brynn gives up completely on love. Then things go from worse to just plain weird because her BFF's foster sister ends up revealing that she's really Aphrodite, the goddess of love, stuck in human form. And then even weirder, when said goddess makes it her mission to ensure Brynn falls in love.

Never Say Never is unequivocally a young adult novel. As in, we get super high school angst and a big heaping dose of "you just don't understand me!" Which is to say, the author did a wonderful job of really harnessing the young adult mind as I remember it from a 20 year's *ahem* or so lens.

I really felt for Brynn. Her parents were stuck and so unhappy but she ended up bearing the brunt of their unhappiness. It's also not a great day when you realize your parents are just other human beings and make mistakes. It's really big times growing up, and big feelings to have and process.

The Greek mythology slant to the story was fun. Val very much embodied a narcissistic goddess who just never understood true human interaction, which rather irritated me about her character. However, I don't feel like she truly embodied "the goddess of love". If anything she could have been Narcissus. Sorry, I get a little persnickety about Greek mythology.

Overall, the story was fun and cute. The story clean read with only talks of kissing if you are worried about adult content ratings. It was a little more on the younger, angsty scale for me but some people absolutely eat that up. So, your mileage may vary.

If you are looking for a fun, sweet romance with a little fantasy slant, this is your book!

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*