My addiction to fantasy junk reads is legendary, however most follow fam Plus the tone and demographic of this novel I can see why Sandy Hall has written the novel this way… but skipping over so many aspects poignant to the characters development takes ‘ Been Here All Along’ from brilliant and memorable, to sweet and totally forgettable. Also, the book is able to really clearly distinguish between how others see Georgie, how Georgie sees herself, and how the people who love her see her, and yet combine all three for a fully-realized, three-dimensional character. I never felt that I needed more from Georgie and Levi than I was offered—I felt terribly close to both of them by the time I finished the book and full of tenderness—but I also deeply appreciated the text’s willingness to draw away as well as pull my close. Uncertain about the future, Georgie decides to take a walk through her past with the help of a teenage bucket list that reminds her of the bright and expansive person she was all along.

I loved their complexities and the way they challenged each other, even unknowingly, to overcome their insecurities and push to make positive changes in each of their lives, that both were so desperately seeking. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Oprah Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Bookpage, and more. Summary: If aliens were to alight here and try to work out the human female, I think this view of life should be the one they get. And I should add that it’s not wrong to want to either have or read about heavily PIV-cantering sex.

The ‘friend-fic,’ a term I rolled my eyes at from the get-go, felt a little odd/weak/silly as a plot device, and Georgie’s epiphany at the end of the novel about her life and the direction it should take also rubbed me the wrong way. Secondly, I only publish reviews of books in the subgenre where I’m best known (queer romcom) if they’re glowing. I’m a bit surprised its scheduled for a January release because I read it on a piece of decking overlooking the Cherwell, with the sun pouring over me, and my hair trailing in the water to keep me cool, and I felt very much connected to Levi and Georgie on *their* decking overlooking *their* river. The fun, colourful illustrations bring this much loved festive song to life, while the large sound button plays the popular melody. Sidebar that nobody asked for: I actually think though that, maybe, while this book starts out with time and "going back" as its major theme, it gently morphs that into being about taking up space and finding place?

I highlighted the heck out of my digital copy, I would love to have an annotated edition of this cleverly crafted romance.Rather than simply “rolling over” and giving way to prickly personalities, these strategies provide an empowered way forward. I couldn't stay focused enough to push myself to the end and I don't see it turning around for me, so I'm DNF it, sadly.

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. I loved, too, the theme of the story, of trying to go back, and how that was woven through for so many of these characters and yet they each had different emotional beats to tackle and resolve, things to face, and how those all shook out.It’s got just about everything you could ask for in the genre; and a few things you’d never think to ask. I know there are some people for whom the self-conscious carefulness of KC’s writing can sometimes jar. iterativeness, for lack of a better word, really resonated with my experience of a longer-term relationship as well. watch the author do the whole cliche of; he lied about sleeping with the whole continent of north america because he was SO in love with her, that this was his way of 'trying to move on'. But then Georgie comes across a forgotten artifact—a “friendfic” diary she wrote as a teenager, filled with possibilities she once imagined.