Sad Girls

I hated everything about this book. Nothing about it works. The characters are unrelatable but also unbelievable. No one has any depth at all.

spoilers ahead.

And fucking Audrey was the worst. Throughout the whole book, she just relies on handouts and luck. Nothing in real life happens like in this book. She's just spoiled and incredibly childish.

Every person in this book was only there to enable Audrey into doing something. Angie was introduced and immediately encouraged her to leave Duck. Gabe was introduced to immediately offer her driving lessons. Maud was introduced to immediately coddle her for some reason. Etc. There's no one she knows who isn't overly nice to her. Think about it.

Another thing; when she met Rad, and then again with Gabe, I had to read the same crap about how they had an immediate connection that felt SO deep and it felt like they'd known each other forever and they could talk about anything.

And Duck was only every there as “the boyfriend before Rad.” Thier so-called rocky relationship wasn't an issue before Rad. But Audrey was still a shit girlfriend. And I just hated having to read the name Duck and take it seriously (Brian Duckman, friends call him Duck)

Also, after Audrey CHEATED on duck with a guy she JUST met, who was also her dead friend's boyfriend, why on earth would Duck's mother keep being nice to Audrey? Consoling her and inviting her in for tea? Unrealistic.

The passing of time is also very shitty in this book. One minute, it's day by day, then something is immediately referenced as having happened months ago. I have no idea how old she's supposed to be by the end of this book.

The writing style, for the most part, sucked. I tried to look past all the overdone prose, I really did, because I get that she's just trying really hard to be poetic. Which overall, was done horribly. But what really got me was
“I dug into my handbag and took out the brown envelope, running my fingers across the ink where Rad had dragged his pen in the shape of my name.” aka, where he'd written my name.

This really felt like a teen book, from the thick pages to the oversized font. I finished this book in two days, and not because I liked it. I can't remember the last time I hated a book this much.

Also “I didn't want to think too much about what I would do next—where I would live and how to pay my bills. I just hoped that my luck would hold out and something would turn up.” That's basically the entire book.

She's just teen angst, moves out, then moves a bunch more times with seemingly no belongings. Passages about not having much money, and then making plans to road trip around the world with Gabe. And then just flying back home.

But also she got her driver's license with what, plans to keep driving Gabe's car? And then Rad's car? And then boasted about her independence?

There wasn't enough character development for anyone other than Rad.

And what was with the scene where Rad, for some reason, tells Audrey “I don't want to date another sad girl.” before they started dating. It was implying he didn't want her to kill herself, like Ana did, but later you find out that isn't even applicable because Ana didn't kill herself. Rad did, accidentally but instead of attempting to save her, slits her wrists and throws her in a bath to make it look like a suicide.

This whole book was cringeworthy and I wanted it to end.

They're shitty people who killed their friend and nothing happened to them for it. They live happily ever after, Rad getting a big shot movie deal for a book he JUST got accepted for publishing, and they're moving to LA? Because that's realistic.

Audrey never pays for the stupid lie, Rad never pays for the fucked up stuff he did, and now they “need” each other. Audrey's parents fade from the picture completely.

This book just let me down because I've really liked her poetry.