[Blog Tour] [Review] Not Now, Not Ever - Lily Anderson

Summary: Elliot Gabaroche is very clear on what she isn't going to do this summer.

1. She isn't going to stay home in Sacramento, where she'd have to sit through her stepmother's sixth community theater production of The Importance of Being Earnest.
2. She isn't going to mock trial camp at UCLA.
3. And she certainly isn't going to the Air Force summer program on her mom's base in Colorado Springs. As cool as it would be to live-action-role-play Ender's Game, Ellie's seen three generations of her family go through USAF boot camp up close, and she knows that it's much less Luke/Yoda/"feel the force," and much more one hundred push-ups on three days of no sleep. And that just isn't appealing, no matter how many Xenomorphs from Alien she'd be able to defeat afterwards.

What she is going to do is pack up her determination, her favorite Octavia Butler novels, and her Jordans, and go to summer camp. Specifically, a cutthroat academic-decathlon-like competition for a full scholarship to Rayevich College, the only college with a Science Fiction Literature program. And she's going to start over as Ever Lawrence, on her own terms, without the shadow of all her family’s expectations. Because why do what’s expected of you when you can fight other genius nerds to the death for a shot at the dream you’re sure your family will consider a complete waste of time?

This summer's going to be great. (Pub Date: Nov 21, 2017)

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.

I really liked Anderson's style in The Only Thing Worse than Me Is You and was excited to see what had done ever since. I don't regret it. I only pity the fact that it took me finishing the book and checking again the first one to notice there were many characters that had made a comeback. Now I'm super sad.

I guess my experience proves how this can be read as a standalone.

Tired of being in the middle of a family feud on what her future should be, Elliot has changed her name and ran away to Oregon to take part in a competition. The winner would get a scholarship to the only college with a Science Fiction Literature program, her dream. But the competition is crazier than she thinks, being surrounded by geniuses and crazy counselors as well as a cute nerd carrying a typewriter around and... what is her nemesis-slash-cousin doing there?

I remember I liked The Only Thing Worse than Me Is You, I really liked it. I was hooked to the characters, the writing, the romance. The moment I finished this one I went back to my review to check everything—that was when I found out that most of the characters came back as counselors in Ellie's competition. I'm sure knowing that would have made it all much more interesting because one of the troubles I had was the number of characters being introduced at once, but that is still a negative considering most of the readers won't have read the other story.

And the romance didn't get me. This was my bigger disappointment. I never got into Ellie's personality but I also couldn't really fall for Brandon. I think he could have gotten more depth. Anderson proved she could make other love stories, theirs was almost the opposite from what I had read in TOTWTMEY, I liked this but not the romance itself.

Talking about depth, the plot itself did have it. Ellie has divorced parents plus a stepmom who doesn't seem to be evil but also seems to be ready to dictate her life just like her own mother. Her whole family has her future planned since forever to a point Ellie isn't sure of her real self. That's a superb theme for a YA. Anderson gives it a comic twist while still exploring it well. I was afraid that Ellie would never have to face her own flaws but yes, she also needs to do it and I loved the subtlety of how it was done. One of the problems of YA conflicts is predictability and this one I hadn't really foreseen—not that it's a mind-blowing plot twist, it just wasn't there all along just making you anxious about the moment it would happen, I hate stories like that.

And the story as a whole was superfun. A bunch of high schoolers having the college-like experience of living in a dorm but controlled by some useless counselors who didn't really want to be there. Plot twist: they're all geniuses except when it comes to common sense. This was hilarious. Excellent idea, perfect execution.

If you like reading stories about having fun and don't mind some blah romance, you should get this one. Let's see what Lily Anderson will bring us next.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

 NOT NOW, NOT EVER:
A Novel
By Lily Anderson
Published by Wednesday Books
**On Sale November 21, 2017**
Hardcover | $18.99
ISBN: 9781250142108| Ebook ISBN: 9781250148179

About the Author

LILY ANDERSON is an elementary school librarian and Melvil Dewey fangirl with an ever-growing collection of musical theater tattoos and Harry Potter ephemera. She lives in Northern California. She is also the author of The Only Thing Worse than Me Is You.