Frances is the boring, nerdy, obsessive studier in her school, she doesn’t have that many friends, she doesn’t do anything all that interesting. But she does have a secret love for a podcast called ‘Universe City’, she adores it and it means everything to her, it’s the one thing she truly cares about. It’s who she really is. So when the creator contacts her and asks her to do the art for the show she’s over the moon, she’s even more over the moon when she finds out it’s someone she’s known for years. But can their friendship be sustained when Frances has a secret that she’s keeping from the creator? A secret that she’s never told anyone, ever?
I got this book out of the library and was really excited to read it because I had been waiting to read this book for quite a while. I was also interested in the topic of the book, although I think I read an incorrect blurb once that said that Frances was the creator of the podcast… Anyway, I’ve got really into watching Youtubers lately and so I have an interest in people becoming successful though Youtube or other kinds of media. I think it’s really interesting, especially given that not that long ago these things didn’t even exist, and now people can live off being a Youtuber, I think it’s really cool!
At first I didn’t really like this book all that much, I felt like Frances was unrealistically awkward and it wasn’t even funny awkward it was just over-the-top awkward. As the book progressed she become more confident and comfortable in herself, she changed and became a much more likeable character. I think overall it was good that she started off really over-the-top and awkward because it was supposed to be showing you that she didn’t feel like she could be herself really, and then she ended up in a situation where she could be herself, so everything was okay.
I really liked some of the issues that were talked about in this book, as I always think it’s good to talk about issues that people might not be aware of or might not have given all that much thought. This book made me realise that some people aren’t even aware until they’re a lot older that some of these things exist. This book spoke about being gay, being bisexual, asexuality and demisexuality and I didn’t even know what asexuality or demisexuality were. I had to look up the meaning afterwards, and that kind of furthers my point: I didn’t know these things existed, so other people don’t know these things exist. For people who are actually asexual or demisexual and are not even aware it’s a thing, I can imagine them being really confused about it. I’m really glad that books exist and that there are authors out there who are willing to write about these topics because they help tell us things that maybe the adults in our lives haven’t told us.
I feel as though some of the blurb was a little bit misleading and therefore made the book a bit of a disappointment. On the blurb it talks about a girl called Carys who disappeared and Frances knows why she disappeared, so I thought a lot of the book was going to be based on Frances trying to find Carys or someone else trying to find Carys and it was going to have a bit of a mystery element to it – kind of like Paper Towns by John Green I guess – but it wasn’t like that at all. So if you’re going to this book thinking it’s going to be a great mystery book about a bunch of teenagers trying to find their missing friend, you’re wrong. It’s not about that at all! But it’s about so many more good things that I really think it’s worth reading! And… it’s a book about a boy and a girl who are best friends but don’t end up together! Which is something I’ve been looking for since the age of about 9.
4/5 stars.
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