teen geek romance. African-American Sacramento teen (belonging to an Air Force family on her mom's side, but also inheriting an appreciation for the theater from her white stepmom) gives her family different alibis then "runs away" to a summer camp in Oregon where super-smarty highschoolers compete for (what else?) a full-ride scholarship to a prestigious college. She meets quiet, eccentric Brandon and Summer Love happens (in the form of short bursts of kissing sessions, since they are under close watch).
At first I thought the characters were kind of full of themselves (for some reason taking up the term "hell of" in place of "hella" despite it not making grammatical sense), but they grow on you, the the romance that develops between Ever and Brandon is nerdy cute and really sweet. And anytime an author includes a frank discussion about consent (before kissing, etc.) is fine by me (see also Brendan Kiely's The Last True Love Story).

While this story includes many characters from the author's previous novel, it stands alone. ( )

Anyway, this review is based on the ARC (Advance Reader Copy) so some things may have changed from the final version.

Also, I have never seen/read Much Ado about Nothing so... :P

STORY:

"I took in a breath so deep that it burned the back of my throat, killing a sob before it could start. I could taste the eucalyptus baked into my sweater" (pg 90).

Perhaps, not the best quote to start a review with, but it embodies the wonderfully quirky vibe of this book well. Also, I really love the trivia/language/sci-fi bits that are constantly present.

The premise of Not Now, Not Ever by Lily Anderson (320 pages) is about a teen going to a genius camp with elimination games as a way to win a scholarship to her dream college. This college is important for Elliot Garboche to take control of her destiny instead of being pigeonholed into to enlisting in the army like her mother or becoming a layer like her father and step-mother desire her to be. Of course, Ever can let her overbearing family members know her true intentions to break away from the mold, so she lies and goes to the camp under the guise of Ever Lawrence. Getting into the camp was easy, but staying is harder than ever for Ever!

Concerning the romance, it is in the background and any progress between Ever and Brandon is slow. Depending on who you are, that might be a great quality this story exhibits. For me, I don't mind the slow start and the focus on the camp itself, but the romance isn't aww-worthy (i.e. no fangirling moments).

Well... The first kiss scene was incredibly cheesy, but the line, "He smiled. 'I really like you, Elliot.'" warmed my little young adult heart.

CHARACTER:
This book has some nice diversity considering the genius camp has contestants from every race and background. For example, the main character Ever has significant Creole ancestry.

Eh, my first impression of Elliot (better known as Ever) was a bit prickly. I thought she was a little combative against a counselor named Cornell in their first meeting. Throughout the story, lowkey Ever needed to mind her own business. What's it to you that someone didn't solve a Rubik's cube? Anyway, she was mad intrusive and a bit judgemental, though the latter is a very common realistic trait she wasn't a character that I actually liked. I think the reason that particular personality trait turned me off is because I try my hardest not to assume things about people (despite it being a knee-jerk human behavior).

However, I like that Ever was very confident about herself especially being a tall girl who did martial arts and loved sci-fi books, especially Octavia Butler.

The rest of the cast never really stood out to me. I'm sure others will connect with the quirky, competitive array of characters, but I was not personally invested in them.

OVERALL:

"Do you ever miss things before they're over?" (pg 174)

It's certainly worth a read. Not Now, Not Ever is also a fun way to learn a bunch of cool trivia with a tiny bit of mystery and romance.

The ending also had a good dash of realism because sometimes YA-fiction, in general, can end either downright angsty or too fairytale happily-ever-after-ish.

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4.5 Stars

“I was ready to be comfortably in the middle of a story instead of running toward the end. I was done trying to outpace myself.”

This was such a fun book! There was drama and laughs and lots of fantastic banter - everything you could want from an Wildean-inspired tale. Not Now, Not Ever follows Elliot Lawrence Gabaroch as she reinvents herself as Ever Lawrence, and sneaks away to a genius camp for a chance to win a scholarship to her dream school. Ever’s love of scienec fiction writing puts her on the outs of her Air Force legacy family, but Ever is willing to do anything to make her dream come true. But complications arise and hilarity ensures as the teens battle it out for the scholarships. Not Now, Not Ever is an engaging tale of family expectation and reinvention.

Things I Liked
I really liked the inclusion of the quotes from The Importance of Being Earnest. Ever’s familiarity with the play from her stepmom’s recurring roles in local plays was great and didn’t feel forced. I loved seeing her applying the play to her situation.

There was such a great exploration of identity, secrets, and presentation of self - all of which perfectly reflect both Ever’s journey and The Importance of Being Earnest. I liked that we get to see that everyone has secrets and creates a performance for others.

I really loved seeing Ever and Leigh’s friendship develop. I’m always here for friendships in stories and I loved that they didn’t drift into competitive meangirls even when the scholarship prize is so lifechanging.

There was such great banter and humor! I was constantly laughing and smiling, and it made the story so easy to read. I didn’t want to stop. All the flirty banter between Ever and Brandon was fantastic too!

Things I Didn’t Like
It was a little hard to keep track of who all the other teammates were at the beginning of the story. Quite a few of them just ran together and I didn’t really differentiate them until about halfway into the story.

This was just such a fun story and there were so many great characters. The story was dramatic and charming and lively. Not Now, Not Ever is a must read for fans of humorous reads.

I received a copy of the book from Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review. ( )

I loved this book so much! When I saw that Lily Anderson was writing a companion novel to The Only Thing Worse Than Me is You, I couldn’t get my hands on it fast enough, and I am very happy to report it did not disappoint at all.

The writing is just as fabulous as her first novel, filled with pop culture and nerd references that made me grin from ear to ear the entire time I was reading. The plot and the setting were really fun as well. I love the idea of an academic decathlon summer camp with an underlying mystery and a really sweet romance.

The characters were also fantastic. Ever is smart and feisty and just a really great main character. I love that she knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to do whatever she has to in order to obtain it. It was also really cool getting to see young B. Calistero from Anderson’s first novel, take center stage as the main male protagonist. He was so adorable and nerdy and it was really nice getting to see his character development. Obviously, I also loved every time we were privy to Ben and Trixie and their wonderful banter. I would read ten books about those two just being domestic and arguing over comic books.

This book was fun from start to finish. Lily has definitely become one of my auto-buy authors, and I can’t wait to read what she writes next.

*Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for providing the free arc in exchange for an honest review.*
( )

This was an interesting modern take on The Importance of Being Earnest by the author of The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You. I was excited for her second book, but I think I built it up too much in my head. It was a fun read, and it was nice to see some familiar faces in this book, and I will continue to keep my eye out for her next novel. ( )