Scan barcode
A review by emmareadstoomuch
What Light by Jay Asher
2.0
I know I say this all the time, but I really mean it: I wanted to like this book so badly. I saw good reviews from trusted sources, so I had faith...but I just had so many problems with this book.
https://emmareadstoomuch.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/christmasy-books-a-christmas-carol-twelve-days-of-dash-and-lily-what-light-reviews/
Let’s start with the good stuff, though! I really liked the first part. I started reading this late last night/early this morning and stayed up even later to read it. I’m obsessed with the idea of Christmas tree farms, and the setting was done well. Most importantly, this book felt Christmasy. Which is obviously the most important aspect of a book featuring the best month of the year.
I wish it was all positives, but that’s about all I liked. This book’s only 250 pages long, and around page 100 things started falling apart for me. Let’s start with the characters. (Y’all know that’s what I care about most.) Caleb is so vanilla for me - just one of those snoozefest male characters who are ~handsome~ and nice kinda and that’s it. Bor-ing. But Sierra is the one who really grinds my gears. She’s a YA fantasy-esque object of obsession - every guy who sees her is hopelessly in love with her, causing all sorts of hijinks to ensue. She’s just that beautiful, guys. But she’s a total control freak who tries to fight all of Caleb’s battles for him long before she’s even kissed him. (They’re essentially in a committed relationship WAY before they get to kissin’.)
But the worst part of Sierra? She’s, like, the worst friend ever. She skips her her friend’s first big role in a play (which is her dream) just to get more time with Caleb. She prioritizes Caleb over one of her best friends who she only gets to see one month a year, even though this might be the last of those months. When she finally gets around to apologizing to the former, she talks extensively about Caleb in the same text. She doesn’t help her parents with the tree farm, and they have to hire workers to replace her - despite the fact that she endlessly bemoans the potential loss of her winters at the tree farm.
Plus, all of the obstacles are really easily overcome. Example: None of the teenage tree farm workers are allowed to even talk to Sierra, or they’ll be sentenced to cleaning the outhouses. But when one of them asks her out and is so furious about being rejected he takes to trying to ruin her relationship with Caleb? We’ll just have to deal with it, I guess! And the timeline in this book is so confusing. Some entire days are just skipped, while others are end-to-end filled with major events.
Also, Sierra begins her interest in Caleb after being told he tried to stab his sister with a knife. Am I the only one who thinks that’s a touch too wild?!
Anyway, I’m going to try to source a candy cane, rap the entirety of Justin Bieber’s “Drummer Boy,” and continue my quest to get in the Christmas spirit. I hope you’re all having a wonderful start to the holiday season!
https://emmareadstoomuch.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/christmasy-books-a-christmas-carol-twelve-days-of-dash-and-lily-what-light-reviews/
Let’s start with the good stuff, though! I really liked the first part. I started reading this late last night/early this morning and stayed up even later to read it. I’m obsessed with the idea of Christmas tree farms, and the setting was done well. Most importantly, this book felt Christmasy. Which is obviously the most important aspect of a book featuring the best month of the year.
I wish it was all positives, but that’s about all I liked. This book’s only 250 pages long, and around page 100 things started falling apart for me. Let’s start with the characters. (Y’all know that’s what I care about most.) Caleb is so vanilla for me - just one of those snoozefest male characters who are ~handsome~ and nice kinda and that’s it. Bor-ing. But Sierra is the one who really grinds my gears. She’s a YA fantasy-esque object of obsession - every guy who sees her is hopelessly in love with her, causing all sorts of hijinks to ensue. She’s just that beautiful, guys. But she’s a total control freak who tries to fight all of Caleb’s battles for him long before she’s even kissed him. (They’re essentially in a committed relationship WAY before they get to kissin’.)
But the worst part of Sierra? She’s, like, the worst friend ever. She skips her her friend’s first big role in a play (which is her dream) just to get more time with Caleb. She prioritizes Caleb over one of her best friends who she only gets to see one month a year, even though this might be the last of those months. When she finally gets around to apologizing to the former, she talks extensively about Caleb in the same text. She doesn’t help her parents with the tree farm, and they have to hire workers to replace her - despite the fact that she endlessly bemoans the potential loss of her winters at the tree farm.
Plus, all of the obstacles are really easily overcome. Example: None of the teenage tree farm workers are allowed to even talk to Sierra, or they’ll be sentenced to cleaning the outhouses. But when one of them asks her out and is so furious about being rejected he takes to trying to ruin her relationship with Caleb? We’ll just have to deal with it, I guess! And the timeline in this book is so confusing. Some entire days are just skipped, while others are end-to-end filled with major events.
Also, Sierra begins her interest in Caleb after being told he tried to stab his sister with a knife.
Spoiler
And that turns out to be, for the most part, true.Anyway, I’m going to try to source a candy cane, rap the entirety of Justin Bieber’s “Drummer Boy,” and continue my quest to get in the Christmas spirit. I hope you’re all having a wonderful start to the holiday season!