Underneath it All [Book Review & Giveaway!]
![Underneath it All [Book Review & Giveaway!]](https://i2.wp.com/oliviascatastrophe.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Underneath-it-All-by-Patricia-Vanasse-post-thumbnail.jpg?fit=1080%2C810&ssl=1)
Hello Catastrophes!
Title: Underneath it All
Author: Patricia Vanasse
Publisher: Amazing Things Press
Published Date: 6th March 2018
Rating: 5 Stars
*Thank you to the author for the review copy*
Synopsis: Gossip Girl meets The Great Gatsby in this competitive prep school drama that tackles issues of class, diversity, peer pressure, addiction, and first love.
Seventeen-year-old London Mendes is the son of a Cuban mother and Seattle-native bookseller, and he knows exactly what he wants: to be the first in his middle class family to reach the Ivy Leagues. Specifically Princeton, alma mater of his favorite author Mia Merkley, a local mystery writer whose national fame and recent suicide have put her in the news again. Luckily for London, his own fiction and high grades put him on the radar of Birmingham Academy, a prep school that offers him a scholarship to leave public school and study with the richest students in the country.
There London meets Aria: the captivating, mysterious daughter of Mia Merkley. Her grief and darkness draw him in further than any of her mother’s novels. But soon, London learns that Aria is off limits—her blueblood boyfriend Dillon Astor is London’s newest friend and the one who decides London’s acceptance into the academy’s elite. When Aria and London become partners in a creative writing class, their friendship grows and an undeniable attraction threatens to blow London off course.
London knows he has to work harder than ever for a shot at Princeton. He knows he should stay away from drugs, parties, and Dillon’s girlfriend. But as Dillon slowly reveals his true nature and Aria’s secrets, London fails to see what is underneath it all. Now London can’t help playing hero, and he’ll have to decide what he loves more: Aria, or his own dreams.
Review: Underneath it All is a brilliant book. I don’t think I have read a YA romance quite like it before, and I mean that in the best of ways. I am so happy Aline reached out to me from Instagram and introduced me to this author’s work. This will not be the last one of hers that I read… but first let me tell you what made this book so wonderful!
The characters in this book had to be one of the best things about it! The main character is London, a writer and reader. It has been a very long time since I have read a YA romance which is told entirely from the male perspective, and it was like a breath of fresh air. It helped that he is an absolute, considerate sweetheart, and is not without his own flaws and imperfections too. Aria was a complex character: she had her struggles that she was going through. But ultimately, this is a romance involving two eager writers and readers, and I am all for that.
To add to the complexity, this book features an unbreakable friendship group. I love when books are focused on a friendship group or friends who are very close to each other. Mostly because it always adds complexity to the story. Friendships are messy, unshakable and intense things – and it is no different here in this book.
There are so many themes that this book covers. And even though it does delve into them all, I don’t think any one was particularly under-developed or over-developed. The author managed to get the balance just right. The main themes it handles are drug use, alcoholism and mental illness. Which are all so relevant to a coming of age story and teenagers today. But then it also dips intro LGBT+ themes, and ambition or thinking of the future, of family, friends, and even about economic standings in life. It kind of blew me away how this was all included but woven seamlessly into the story. Never did the book feel preachy, or info-dumpy, or over saturated. True genius writing here!
What also struck me was the attention to detail in the writing style. Sometimes, when I am reading YA, it feels overly simple or like it doesn’t take the time to go into deep description. While this one did have some description, it was never done in one huge paragraph that I wanted to skim through. But I also felt like this was more of an intellectual and detailed writing style than the usual YA, which made me appreciate it. Teenagers can also appreciate artistic writing styles and beautiful language from time to time. It all added to the depth.
Poetry was also interwoven between the chapters as Aria, the love interest, is a poet. I understand that it was included to give us a bit more insight into her state of mind and what was going through her head without entirely switching perspectives. I could also see how it was really nice to have a book where the main characters are writers and then including their writing was a nice touch. However, I have to say that personally I didn’t find the poetry to be good poetry, and it didn’t work so much for me.
Surprisingly, there was a bit of suspense and mystery woven into this plot. I couldn’t see how it was going to all end in a happily ever after. I won’t tell you if it did or didn’t, either. I also didn’t know who was the one causing so much trouble for certain characters. There were so many unknowns that I had to appreciate how the author managed to create suspense and tension in a romance storyline. It’s rare that unpredictability comes along with a romance based read for me.
Although I loved the realism and complexity of this story, sometimes I felt like it was quite a long read for its genre and audience! Yet at the same time I was enjoying the story so much I didn’t want it to end. So, it’s not entirely a negative that this one was long – I just think it is something worth mentioning in the review.
Relevance to today: I think the themes are pretty well explained and developed, and as they are so essential to anyone coming of age, it makes this book such a relevant read for teenagers and those who are starting to make their own independent decisions in life. It’s about choices, and their consequences, and it shows the difficulty involved when trying to make the right choices. I also really liked the ending and believe it is something a lot of people could learn from reading!
Links: Get the book on Goodreads, The Book Depository and Amazon
Gif Summary:
Giveaway: Enter to win a paperback copy of the novel! Open internationally as long as The Book Depository ships to you.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
New Video!
Olivia’s Question: Do you think happily ever afters are realistic?
Psst! This post uses affiliate links! Click them to support Olivia’s Catastrophe =)
Olivia-Savannah x
sounds like a fun one
it definitely is 😉
This book sounds fantastic, it’s great the author was able to create such memorable characters and incorporate poetry!
Tori @ In Tori Lex
Yes! I’m always for poetry being included and the characters being so epic was a win 😉
Underneath It All sounds like a character-driven novel full of depth.
It’s a really great read and I highly recommend it!!
Wow, I want to read this book now? Awesome review. It’s rare that I have seen a 5 star review from you and when it is, then I should definitely check it out 😀
Aww, I wish it was not a book depository giveaway 🙁 BD doesn’t ship to India and I don’t know whay everyone is doing BD giveaways these days. BD should consider shipping to India as it is a big market 🙁
Though, lovely review Olivia. I hope to read it soon.
Wow, I didn’t even notice that! I need to share more of my 5 star reviews in that case (I review everything I read, but don’t always share it on the blog.)
Thanks for letting me know TBD doesn’t actually include everyone! In future, where I can, I will try and get the author to do a Wordery giveaway over a BD one seeing as it is more inclusive. And yes, the BD should do so!!
Well, the good news is BD ships here now too 😃
Oh yay, I’m glad it does!
Sounds like a really great book, if not exactly typical stylistically for YA.
Yes! I liked that this one was a bit more unique as well 😉
I agree that YA is in general more simplistic when it comes to the writing style, focusing more on the story and I guess that’s why the YA books are so popular, but I like it when a YA book manages to keep the YA characteristics but also have different style of writing and be more than you might think at first.
Oh, and I am so into friendships in book (and life, and TV and everywhere).
As for happy endings, I find them realistic in the sense that it gives us hope that things will turn out okay in the end – not at the end of life, but in every situation we might face in life, we know that it will not be like that forever. I think it’s our human nature to always believe that things will get better. As for happy endings in romance… I’m in a 9 year-relationship with the best guy for myself so I guess I’ve been living my happy ending for the past years or so on the romance front blushing.
Yeah, I understand why YA does that but I also appreciate when there is some variation on that writing style too. Yay for friendships! We need to see more of those because they are such important relationships in real life too. I see what you mean – I agree there as well. Happy endings do exist in that way. Yes, to give us hope but mostly situations don’t end bitter that often. It happens far less often than they end happily.
That does sound like a happily ever after kind of ending to that romance 😉 I hope it continues for many more years to come <3
This sounds great – and I have three girls to share it with!
You should totally get yourself a copy and then share it with your girls 🙂
I love romantic books this sounds like a good read.
This is the best of the best when it comes to romance 😉
Underneath it all sounds really interesting
It’s worth reading ^.^
This sounds really intriguing! Lovely review! <3
I hope you do choose to pick it up!
So, I love when books are compared to classics. I find it interesting that you said this one seemed kind of long, when The Great Gatsby is really a pretty short book though. Great review! Sounds like one I might want to put in my school library for my students to read, so I’m entering the giveaway!
Haha, I know a lot of people either don’t or do like when you compare but honestly these days I can’t help doing it! But yeah, they are pretty different when it comes to length though xD I think your students would love this one! And maybe you would too?
Thanks for hosting this giveaway
Marlene V.
You’re welcome 🙂
I love romantic books this sounds like a good read.
It really is!
I am a fan of prep school drama, and if there is a good romance – bonus! Great review!
I think you would really love this one! I recommend it to you x
I’m not a great romance reader, but this one sounds like it has so much more than just the romance. Good find and thanks for the giveaway!
Yes! That’s exactly what I loved about it. It might have been a romance but it was also so much more 😉
Ooh a YA romance about readers and writers! I love that! The friendship sounds wonderful too. And teens can absolutely appreciate artistic writing and beautiful language. But I’ll be honest, when chapters in books start with a poem, I usually skip the poems 😬 It sounds like this one had a lot of great stuff going for it though!
Yes! It’s perfect for us bookworms or aspiring authors. The friendship was so complex and interesting to read about. Haha, you don’t need the poems really, and I wasn’t too into them in the beginning but then they slowly started to work for the story ^.^
Success! Finally. Gah.
London sounds awesome – this book sounds awesome. 🙂
He is a great character and I loved him to bits <3