Opposite of Always

Opposite of Always, Justin A. Reynolds, 2019. I was excited about the concept - YA time loop romance! - and the cover (by Stephanie Singleton) was great, but, enh. Premise turned out to be more like "The Fault In Our Stars crossed with a criticism of Groundhog Day", and it kind of dragged, and the end was muddled (leading to some frustrating "was that supposed to be ambiguous or am I just confused" googling), and had some takes on relationship dynamics I really didn't care for. (If person A and B are dating, and their friend C then makes a move on B which B reciprocates such that B breaks up with A and starts dating C, everyone blaming C for "stealing" B erases the agency of B, grrr.) Also, a narrative choice in the penultimate chapter annoyed me and undermined the already marginal SFF-ness of the whole thing, which of course was part of what I was there for. I worry that saying "this really wasn't SFnal" is gatekeeping, especially when we're talking about a Black author and Black main characters and the shitty track record of SFFdom thereunto, but I also think I'm right that what Reynolds cared about here was the characters and the point that the time loop device let him make, and not the looping per se. (And I also think it's pretty clear that they weren't particularly trying to *market* this book as YA SFF; the cover quotes are from Becky Albertalli and Angie Thomas and the publishers are targeting it to fans of Nicola Yoon and John Green.)

(Spoilers about the penultimate chapter:( Read more... )

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