Hungry Hearts ARC Review
Hungry HeartsAuthor: Julie HoagPublisher: Swoon RomanceGenre: YA RomancePages: 261Publication date: January 21st, 2020
Was provided an ARC in exchange for an honest review
Synopsis: When an amateur chef attempts to use food as his love language, Landra, who struggles with anorexia, finds his approach off-putting. In fact, she finds Brian to be rather annoying. Undeterred, Brian snags Landra in a friendship that eventually grows into something else, as she finally trusts him enough to sample some of his homemade gourmet treats. But things have not evolved to the level Brian would like, and soon he realizes Landra issue isn’t only with the food he makes. She into the football team’s hottest player. But Brian isn't about to get one-upped by a jock. He decides to ask Landra out at the same time that Landra manages to snag a date with the football star. As if dating isn’t hard enough, Landra must battle her anorexic impulses and self-esteem issues if she is to find the boy of her heart. When the voices of self-doubt and shame drown everything else out, Landra will need to give herself permission to be happy. And Brian? Well, he will have to find a way to Landra's heart, even if it isn't through her stomach.
This book follows the life of an anorexic teenager named Allandra. Along with the constant support of her best friends, she finds herself attracted to Hunter, a jock in her high school's football team. However, while she's head over heels for Hunter, this other boy is trying to win her heart over with the food he creates just for her. Who will fully win Landra's heart?
This story had many female characters with different roles that affected Landra's life for better or worse. The characters were well written but the dialogue was too formal for a teenager's vocabulary. When it came to Landra's conversations with her friends, Becca and Ginna, I grew a bit tired of reading because of their proper words and nicknames, which were flattering but very overused. Additionally, every time Landra's friends were talking about their problems and feelings, Landra would change to subject to herself which I think was very teenage-like and a good contrast with their mature way of speaking.
For a teenage girl with anorexia, I surely did not find Landra explaining it in depth. Sure, she would mention her disease every 3 or 4 paragraphs, how she would have to go exercise after eating absolutely nothing, which I understand is the disease talking although I expected to know more. Certainly, we know how Landra is constantly feeling considering it's written in the first person, I still thought that something was missing. The anorexia theme was always present and delicately treated, it just felt it needed to be properly explored. Hoag concentrated more on the romantic side of things than the disease in itself.
In the case of the male characters, there are three types of them. The overprotective, the sweet but overbearing and the downright idiot. The overprotective type was more Landra's brother, Jackson, who I found at first to be a bit of a downright idiot because of the immature things he portrayed. However, he slowly earned points as he behaved more like a brother would until he did something that categorized him as a very loving but over-exaggerated brother. Then we had the sweet but overbearing, the case of our adorable Brian who at first glance seemed a bit creepy and unnerving but then turned out to be just as pleasant as his food, apparently. Then we have the downright idiot type who, you will probably agree with me, once you read the book will immediately know who I mean.
Furthermore, one of the reasons I found this book a bit hard to get into was because of how simply redacted it was. Don't get me wrong, I love a not so descriptive book, but even the food got more description than the surroundings. We needed more depth to the world around Allandra so that we can better relate to the characters, understand what they're seeing and, just like Ariel, to feel part of that world. To us bookworms, a description of the world is something we seek to escape from reality. Since I didn't read much description I felt disconnected from the characters and like I couldn't understand where they were coming from.
It is important to understand that we need more books like Hungry Hearts because we need to cover the gray area of life in places where we are meant to learn. Mental illnesses. Inclusivity. Representation. And many others.
Overall I give this book a rating of...
Was provided an ARC in exchange for an honest review
Synopsis: When an amateur chef attempts to use food as his love language, Landra, who struggles with anorexia, finds his approach off-putting. In fact, she finds Brian to be rather annoying. Undeterred, Brian snags Landra in a friendship that eventually grows into something else, as she finally trusts him enough to sample some of his homemade gourmet treats. But things have not evolved to the level Brian would like, and soon he realizes Landra issue isn’t only with the food he makes. She into the football team’s hottest player. But Brian isn't about to get one-upped by a jock. He decides to ask Landra out at the same time that Landra manages to snag a date with the football star. As if dating isn’t hard enough, Landra must battle her anorexic impulses and self-esteem issues if she is to find the boy of her heart. When the voices of self-doubt and shame drown everything else out, Landra will need to give herself permission to be happy. And Brian? Well, he will have to find a way to Landra's heart, even if it isn't through her stomach.
This book follows the life of an anorexic teenager named Allandra. Along with the constant support of her best friends, she finds herself attracted to Hunter, a jock in her high school's football team. However, while she's head over heels for Hunter, this other boy is trying to win her heart over with the food he creates just for her. Who will fully win Landra's heart?
This story had many female characters with different roles that affected Landra's life for better or worse. The characters were well written but the dialogue was too formal for a teenager's vocabulary. When it came to Landra's conversations with her friends, Becca and Ginna, I grew a bit tired of reading because of their proper words and nicknames, which were flattering but very overused. Additionally, every time Landra's friends were talking about their problems and feelings, Landra would change to subject to herself which I think was very teenage-like and a good contrast with their mature way of speaking.
For a teenage girl with anorexia, I surely did not find Landra explaining it in depth. Sure, she would mention her disease every 3 or 4 paragraphs, how she would have to go exercise after eating absolutely nothing, which I understand is the disease talking although I expected to know more. Certainly, we know how Landra is constantly feeling considering it's written in the first person, I still thought that something was missing. The anorexia theme was always present and delicately treated, it just felt it needed to be properly explored. Hoag concentrated more on the romantic side of things than the disease in itself.
In the case of the male characters, there are three types of them. The overprotective, the sweet but overbearing and the downright idiot. The overprotective type was more Landra's brother, Jackson, who I found at first to be a bit of a downright idiot because of the immature things he portrayed. However, he slowly earned points as he behaved more like a brother would until he did something that categorized him as a very loving but over-exaggerated brother. Then we had the sweet but overbearing, the case of our adorable Brian who at first glance seemed a bit creepy and unnerving but then turned out to be just as pleasant as his food, apparently. Then we have the downright idiot type who, you will probably agree with me, once you read the book will immediately know who I mean.
Furthermore, one of the reasons I found this book a bit hard to get into was because of how simply redacted it was. Don't get me wrong, I love a not so descriptive book, but even the food got more description than the surroundings. We needed more depth to the world around Allandra so that we can better relate to the characters, understand what they're seeing and, just like Ariel, to feel part of that world. To us bookworms, a description of the world is something we seek to escape from reality. Since I didn't read much description I felt disconnected from the characters and like I couldn't understand where they were coming from.
It is important to understand that we need more books like Hungry Hearts because we need to cover the gray area of life in places where we are meant to learn. Mental illnesses. Inclusivity. Representation. And many others.
This story had many female characters with different roles that affected Landra's life for better or worse. The characters were well written but the dialogue was too formal for a teenager's vocabulary. When it came to Landra's conversations with her friends, Becca and Ginna, I grew a bit tired of reading because of their proper words and nicknames, which were flattering but very overused. Additionally, every time Landra's friends were talking about their problems and feelings, Landra would change to subject to herself which I think was very teenage-like and a good contrast with their mature way of speaking.
For a teenage girl with anorexia, I surely did not find Landra explaining it in depth. Sure, she would mention her disease every 3 or 4 paragraphs, how she would have to go exercise after eating absolutely nothing, which I understand is the disease talking although I expected to know more. Certainly, we know how Landra is constantly feeling considering it's written in the first person, I still thought that something was missing. The anorexia theme was always present and delicately treated, it just felt it needed to be properly explored. Hoag concentrated more on the romantic side of things than the disease in itself.
In the case of the male characters, there are three types of them. The overprotective, the sweet but overbearing and the downright idiot. The overprotective type was more Landra's brother, Jackson, who I found at first to be a bit of a downright idiot because of the immature things he portrayed. However, he slowly earned points as he behaved more like a brother would until he did something that categorized him as a very loving but over-exaggerated brother. Then we had the sweet but overbearing, the case of our adorable Brian who at first glance seemed a bit creepy and unnerving but then turned out to be just as pleasant as his food, apparently. Then we have the downright idiot type who, you will probably agree with me, once you read the book will immediately know who I mean.
Furthermore, one of the reasons I found this book a bit hard to get into was because of how simply redacted it was. Don't get me wrong, I love a not so descriptive book, but even the food got more description than the surroundings. We needed more depth to the world around Allandra so that we can better relate to the characters, understand what they're seeing and, just like Ariel, to feel part of that world. To us bookworms, a description of the world is something we seek to escape from reality. Since I didn't read much description I felt disconnected from the characters and like I couldn't understand where they were coming from.
It is important to understand that we need more books like Hungry Hearts because we need to cover the gray area of life in places where we are meant to learn. Mental illnesses. Inclusivity. Representation. And many others.
Overall I give this book a rating of...
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