[Review] Final Draft - Riley Redgate

Summary: The only sort of risk 18-year-old Laila Piedra enjoys is the peril she writes for the characters in her stories: epic sci-fi worlds full of quests, forbidden love, and robots. Her creative writing teacher has always told her she has a special talent. But three months before her graduation, he dies suddenly—and is replaced by Nadiya Nazarenko, a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist who is sadistically critical and perpetually unimpressed.
At first, Nazarenko’s eccentric assignments seem absurd. But before long, Laila grows obsessed with gaining the woman’s approval. Soon Laila is hiking through the Catskills during a thunderstorm in March and discovering the psychedelic highs and perilous lows of nightlife, temporary flings, and instability. Dr. Nazarenko has led Laila to believe that she must choose between perfection and sanity—but rejecting her all-powerful mentor may be the only way for Laila to thrive. (Pub Date: Jun 12, 2018)

I really enjoyed Redgate’s previous book, “Noteworthy”, and again I could see how unique her style is. But the book didn’t work for me.

Laila is an introverted mestiza who loves reading and writing science fiction. She’s always had the support of her creative writing teacher until Mr. Madison is involved in a serious accident and a substitute comes to his place. Laila had always suspect her stories weren’t all that Mr. Madison always said but the new teacher’s opinions make her doubt even beyond her writings and send her on an adventure to get out of her shelf.

I get the idea. I think it’s great for teenagers to read about Laila’s self-discovery journey. But, to be honest, Redgate’s uplifting style didn’t save this book from being boring. I don’t think it was prolix, I don’t think it was the pace. I think the happenings just weren’t that interesting. Which is a pity, because the idea, the conclusions, they were all beautiful.

I loved how Laila is a mestiza, how that is something important to her. I really liked her family and would be interested in knowing better about her sister as well. Camille was very present in the story but there wasn’t much development there—not that I expected to be, there wouldn’t be room since that wasn’t the focus.

Also, Redgate went deep and made me wonder too about Laila’s dilemma. She has so much fun being in her shell and seems to hurt so much the moment she tries to come out, so is it worth it? Could there be a compromise? You’ll have to read to know the answer for Laila while I keep wondering this for my own life.

As I mentioned, this lifted some interesting themes but it wasn’t a fun read.


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

Rating: 3 out of 5.