I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman

Pages: 393

Intended Audience: Teens

Genre: Contemporary

Notes for Parents: Contains course language and mature content

The Back Cover

For Angel, life is about one thing: The Ark—a pop-rock trio of teenage boys taking the world by storm. Being part of The Ark’s fandom has given her everything she loves—her friend Juliet, her dreams, her place in the world.

Jimmy owes everything to The Ark. He’s their frontman—and playing in a band with his mates is all he ever dreamed of doing.

But dreams don’t always turn out the way you think, and when Jimmy and Angel are unexpectedly thrust together they find out how strange and surprising facing up to reality can be.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

This was a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fiction in 2018.

What’s good?

Angel’s obsession with a boy band leads her to London where she stays with a friend Juliet and together they plan a week of activities around The Ark. Things, however, don’t go exactly as planned. The plot is simple but the story is multifaceted. There are many themes, including love v. obsession, public persona v. private life, meeting your heroes, religion, identity, mental health, healthy relationships, and so much more. The narrative stays light despite the many heavy subjects, but it gets serious when it needs to. The pace is good and the characters are diverse. The story is fun and engaging.

Best Part: Jimmy’s grandfather.

What isn’t good?

Some of the British colloquialism can be confusing, but there’s nothing too perplexing.

Worst part: Nothing was terrible.

Recommendation ☺☺☺☺ (4/5)

This is not a love story. Rather it’s a coming-of-age journey for a group of young people who come together in an unexpected way to learn about themselves and each other. In the end, the lesson is that people are complicated and we need to learn how to care about ourselves before we can truly care about each other. Recommended.

Oseman, Alice. I Was Born for This. New York: HarperCollins, 2018.