Haven't read a John Green since Fault in Our Stars...
Synopsis: When a past friend's billionaire dad strangely disappears, Aza and her star-wars loving bff Daisy decide to investigate and get that reward money. However, that past friend may become a current friend all while is slowly losing herself into a chaotic spiral of intrusive thoughts.
Plot: Now we all know that Green can write, and he can write well and can pull at the heartstrings EASILY, but this one fell a little short for me. The mystery plot that began in the beginning was resolved almost immediately and in a very anti-climatic way which was a shame because it was something keeping me interested. Beyond that plot, it was mostly just covering Aza and her issues with OCD. The continuation of her spiral felt real which I loved and it was nice that there wasn't a sort of "happily ever after" ending, making the mental illness depiction that much more realistic. However, that made it at the same time very frustrating to read about. There was amazing representation in the whole novel and great quotes along the way, but it was honestly kind of boring.
Characters: This is where my biggest issue lies. Aza was great for about the first half, but then her personality entirely became her disorder and it was really hard to like her when she didn't have any other traits. I loved the depiction of mental illness but I wanted to see who she was despite that, showing that people aren't just their illnesses and this didn't do that for me. Her best friend Daisy was actually horrible and many of the other side characters felt very under-developed. The romance between the characters was alright, it wasn't perfect either which I think is the whole message behind this novel, since the other relationships mirrored that as well.
Overall, just okay. It turns out the only Green book I really really enjoyed was TFIOS. But at least this was better than Looking for Alaska, so there's that.
3/5 stars.
TW: Mental illness, death of a parent, suicide.
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