What happens when you have an introverted hot English teenage boy whose dad was a famous punk rocker (did I mention he is an identical twin) and a beautiful outgoing teenage girl who wants to do nothing more than become a music journalist and currently runs a huge music blog but is down on her luck? You get More Than Maybe by Erin Hahn, a cute, cliched, completely predictable YA novel that is super fun to read. There is something wonderful about reading a predictable book – it is like a warm blanket, you can curl up with it and feel safe. Have I read books like this before? Sure! Did that make me enjoy this book any less? Nope! The characters were fun, there was enough conflict that I was invested in continuing the story, and it wasn’t so long that I felt like the story dragged, with the book coming in at roughly 336 pages (you’ve got to love that YA book length consistency). I think the characters were more or less well rounded – developed well enough I knew their interests and could follow their motivations and could understand why they were doing what they were doing – but at times I did feel it was a little flat. I think that comes from reading a lot of similar books, but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable.
Hahn did write some lyrics to some songs for this book and I enjoyed them, and I would have enjoyed having been at any of the concerts described in this book. This book I think is acceptable for most ages, except for there is quite a bit of language. Personally, “swear” words don’t bother me, but it was definitely something i noticed while reading this book, so be aware of that if you are giving this book to someone “younger” or language is something that bothers you. I don’t think it takes away from the book, but it is definitely something that I noticed.
Spoiler-y aspect of the review!
The thing that I enjoyed about this book that I think is lacking in a lot of YA books, even in my favorite troupe, is that there was no “other” person in the love story of this relationship. He liked her, she liked him, and the biggest issue with them getting together was that they were both just too shy to confess. That didn’t last too long (long enough that it made for tension in the story but not long enough that you were exhausted by the dragging out of the relationship), and bigger issues of their lives became the tension of the story. The main female has familial issues, specifically with a distant and emotionally abusive father who will not support or assist her with her dreams of becoming a music journalist. The main male has self-esteem issues when it comes to his music – he is great at creating songs (both music and lyrics) but is uncomfortable with releasing them into the world as his father will want to exploit them, taking away his ability to hide in the shadows, expressing his feelings without having people take it over and rip it apart. The tension in this book is more a coming of age story, of these teens coming into their own and standing up to family that doesn’t seem to understand them, more than “he loves me, he loves me not” romantic comedy YA tension that I was expecting.
End result: I give this a 7/10
I knew what was going to happen before it happened, there were a *lot* of cliched moments, and there was not the amount of diversity in this book that I am growing accustomed to for books that are coming out in recent months considering this is a newly released book. But overall it was sweet, the characters grew and developed a fair amount for it being a short YA novel, and the tension was developed and resolved satisfactorily.
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51178403-more-than-maybe