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Looking for Group
by
Looking for group for the quest of a lifetime.
Dylan doesn’t have a lot of experience with comfort. His room in the falling-down Village Estates can generously be categorized as “squalid,” and he sure as hell isn’t getting any love from his mother, who seemed to—no, definitely did—enjoy the perks that went along with being the parent of a “cancer kid.”
Now that Dylan’s sudde ...more
Dylan doesn’t have a lot of experience with comfort. His room in the falling-down Village Estates can generously be categorized as “squalid,” and he sure as hell isn’t getting any love from his mother, who seemed to—no, definitely did—enjoy the perks that went along with being the parent of a “cancer kid.”
Now that Dylan’s sudde ...more
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Hardcover, 368 pages
Published
April 25th 2017
by HarperTeen
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Apr 11, 2017
Chelsea Humphrey
rated it
really liked it
Recommended to Chelsea by:
Alinn
Shelves:
from-publisher
Where do I begin reviewing a book so vastly different than any I’ve read before? I was intrigued the moment The Literary Box announced this as their next curator’s novel, partly due to the gorgeous cover and partly due to the content. When contacted for a review, I was initially curious how this road trip would ensue and encompass all the important issues discussed in the blurb. Would this be another surface level, LGBT 101 info dump where it’s nicely written for diversity, but doesn’t delve dee
...more

(I received an advance copy of this book for free. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.)
This was a YA contemporary romance story, featuring a gay boy, and a transgender girl.
I liked both Dylan and Arden, and both had had a rough time of it. Poor Dylan had had a brain tumour that was in spontaneous remission, and Arden had a father who insisted on calling her ‘David’.
The storyline in this was about Dylan and Arden going on a road trip to find a ...more
“I’m everything. I’m the whole world.”
This was a YA contemporary romance story, featuring a gay boy, and a transgender girl.
I liked both Dylan and Arden, and both had had a rough time of it. Poor Dylan had had a brain tumour that was in spontaneous remission, and Arden had a father who insisted on calling her ‘David’.
The storyline in this was about Dylan and Arden going on a road trip to find a ...more

Okay it's 1:26 am and I just finished this, so I'll polish this review later. But I have so many THOUGHTS, so:
This book... it's so many things that I've wanted. Some things that I've known I wanted, and somethings I had no idea I wanted.
Dylan, our main character, has made a "miraculous" recovery from terminal cancer. He identifies as gay, has basically no friends, and his mom doesn't really love him. All he's really had for the past several years is World of Warcraft, and the one good friend h ...more
This book... it's so many things that I've wanted. Some things that I've known I wanted, and somethings I had no idea I wanted.
Dylan, our main character, has made a "miraculous" recovery from terminal cancer. He identifies as gay, has basically no friends, and his mom doesn't really love him. All he's really had for the past several years is World of Warcraft, and the one good friend h ...more

A Twitter friend sent me a copy of a physical ARC back in December, after I expressed deep misgivings about what I'd heard about it, and I chronicled my reading of it through a continuation of that same thread.
Short version: I, as a trans woman, was profoundly concerned because Dylan, the narrator and protagonist, was referred to as a gay teen boy in all the advance word of mouth I was seeing, and his love interest was described as a bi/pan teen trans girl.
A gay boy. A trans girl as his love int ...more
Short version: I, as a trans woman, was profoundly concerned because Dylan, the narrator and protagonist, was referred to as a gay teen boy in all the advance word of mouth I was seeing, and his love interest was described as a bi/pan teen trans girl.
A gay boy. A trans girl as his love int ...more

Still working out my thoughts on this one, but definitely overall positive. It has a bunch of the things I really liked about Jess, Chunk, and the Infinite Road Trip, which I'm really glad about, because - ta da! It doesn't have the fat-shaming! - but of course that book is from the trans girl's POV and this one isn't, so it's not like we're talking a total rec replacement. Rather, this falls somewhere between Beast and Jess on the trans YA spectrum, which is IMO a nice spectrum to see books on,
...more

Actual rating: 2.5 stars
I was so not informed that this is going to be a road trip book. Let me tell you about road trip books - I usually do not enjoy them. I don't know why, but when it comes to road trip books, I tend to get bored and I just want the book to be over already. This is why I tend to stay away from them. And in this world where change is constant, this fact seems to be something that has not changed yet.
In a way, my brain registers that this is an important book. It explores se ...more
I was so not informed that this is going to be a road trip book. Let me tell you about road trip books - I usually do not enjoy them. I don't know why, but when it comes to road trip books, I tend to get bored and I just want the book to be over already. This is why I tend to stay away from them. And in this world where change is constant, this fact seems to be something that has not changed yet.
In a way, my brain registers that this is an important book. It explores se ...more

This is such a beautiful story of friendship, love and support between two kids who really need acceptance and understanding and find it in each other, and I liked that it showed how real, deep and close online friendships can be, but also how meeting in person can change how you perceive someone. A lovable, heart-warming read.
Read the full review at Starship Library. ...more
Read the full review at Starship Library. ...more

I really wanted to love this book - it had the potential to be a wonderful story, but I can't get past the romantic plot-line (a gay boy and a transgender girl falling in love). Was it a lesson on sexual fluidity? Was it a clueless author? Blatant disrespect? I'm not sure what the point of their romantic relationship was but it seemed incredibly disrespectful to both characters. The rest of the book I enjoyed I guess, but the ending was not satisfying at all. I don't really know how to rate this
...more

Mar 31, 2019
Sandrasson
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2019,
audiobook-19
All the stars, as many as I can give it!!
Dident expect what wonder this was. The voice, the story, the adrupt ending. The, for me, open endning. Also, the WoW references was great, I knew about the places, the meaning behind them and the jokes. It was a beautiful story.
Dident expect what wonder this was. The voice, the story, the adrupt ending. The, for me, open endning. Also, the WoW references was great, I knew about the places, the meaning behind them and the jokes. It was a beautiful story.

Arden is a magically wonderful character that I instantly fell in love with. She is everything I could have ever wanted and then some.
You have to try this book.
For a full review check out https://mibookreviews.wordpress.com/2... ...more
You have to try this book.
For a full review check out https://mibookreviews.wordpress.com/2... ...more

This story is a fabulous combination of road-trip story and geeky online gamers joking about World of Warcraft and teens figuring out themselves and their families and life and especially love. Dylan is a poor gay boy from the broken side of the tracks who has only just been given that dubiously "fabulous" designation: Cancer in Remission. Arden is a trans girl with a distant rich family, a father who still calls her David. But in the digital worlds of online gaming, they are a powerful cow-cler
...more

TF is this book's problem though? It's as if it's picking a fight with me. *cries*
"You’re going to turn the next page, because you still have hope. You hope there’s a little something more, and it’s nothing personal. People do it at the end of every book. I think that’s why publishers put in all those extra pages. So you have a chance to shuffle and flip through them while it sinks in. It’s over. The trip is done.
You know it’s over, but you’re going to turn the page anyway." ...more
"You’re going to turn the next page, because you still have hope. You hope there’s a little something more, and it’s nothing personal. People do it at the end of every book. I think that’s why publishers put in all those extra pages. So you have a chance to shuffle and flip through them while it sinks in. It’s over. The trip is done.
You know it’s over, but you’re going to turn the page anyway." ...more

Sigh. I wanted to like this book a lot more. It mentions World of Warcraft which is my favorite MMO (even though I don’t play it anymore :P), and the blurb on the front flap of the book also sounded promising. Alas.
This review will most likely contain spoilers. There are a few things in terms of the plot that I don’t think I can convey properly without a spoiler warning. Please be aware as you continue. While this isn’t a spoiler, there is some misgendering and deadnaming, which, I believe, does ...more
This review will most likely contain spoilers. There are a few things in terms of the plot that I don’t think I can convey properly without a spoiler warning. Please be aware as you continue. While this isn’t a spoiler, there is some misgendering and deadnaming, which, I believe, does ...more

This is not a romance. Anyone wanting to read this book is probably best advised to know that ahead of time. Although there are romantic elements throughout the book, this is a roadtrip of self-discovery as well as a story about friendship formed through a little online game called World of Warcraft.
Possibly the biggest thing I liked about this book was that it didn't assume that the reader would know what World of Warcraft was or, if they did, didn't assume that they would know any of the in-ga ...more
Possibly the biggest thing I liked about this book was that it didn't assume that the reader would know what World of Warcraft was or, if they did, didn't assume that they would know any of the in-ga ...more

Apr 17, 2017
Luke Reynolds
marked it as dnfs
Shelves:
arc,
disappointment,
lost-interest,
my-2017-dnfs,
realistic-fiction,
teen-fiction,
lgbtq,
has-potential
ARC Review (4/17/17, received from Sarah Prineas)
I'm unfortunately not feeling this one. Dylan has spent much of the 32 pages (not counting the acknowledgements that start the book off) whining about how hard his life is post remission and being judgmental towards random people and his mother, and it all reads very "woe is me" and it's getting irritating. I also feel like plot points are just being dropped randomly into the book with no explanation, like Arden and World of Warcraft were. With ab ...more
I'm unfortunately not feeling this one. Dylan has spent much of the 32 pages (not counting the acknowledgements that start the book off) whining about how hard his life is post remission and being judgmental towards random people and his mother, and it all reads very "woe is me" and it's getting irritating. I also feel like plot points are just being dropped randomly into the book with no explanation, like Arden and World of Warcraft were. With ab ...more

This came in a YA Quarterly box I impulse purchased, and I'm so very glad I did. This book hadn't been on my radar AT ALL, and I doubt I'd have picked it up even if I'd run across it because the description didn't grab me (I also don't WoW, so while I'm geeky, I am not the geeky that this book is geared to, I think). But this was such a lovely book with the message of finding your own family who will accept you as you are.
It's a coming of age story with a road trip, with two main characters who ...more
It's a coming of age story with a road trip, with two main characters who ...more

I'm crying in a coffee shop. This book broke my heart. ❤❤❤
...more

For more reviews and bookish content: http://literarylion.ca/
"You know it’s over, but you’re going to turn the page anyway."
I’ve read a lot of books about road trips recently and this ain’t it fam. I don’t know what put me off about this book but it put me off hard. The writing style doesn’t flow very well. The two characters are supposedly best friends but have extremely low chemistry which makes the ensuing romance more awkward than fun. They both have tragic backstories. There’s a lot I didn’ ...more
"You know it’s over, but you’re going to turn the page anyway."
I’ve read a lot of books about road trips recently and this ain’t it fam. I don’t know what put me off about this book but it put me off hard. The writing style doesn’t flow very well. The two characters are supposedly best friends but have extremely low chemistry which makes the ensuing romance more awkward than fun. They both have tragic backstories. There’s a lot I didn’ ...more

If I could have, I would have read this in one sitting. As it is, I'm totally ready to read it again.
...more

I have to admit, I don't ever read the synopses for any of the books I read. I like going into books without knowing anything about them. That way, I can't get spoiled for the plot. Due to that, I thought this book was something completely different when I requested it. There's a web-comic called Looking For Group, and I thought this book was a novelization of that. It wasn't. The two have nothing to do with each other. That being said, once I started to read the book, and got over my initial di
...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

This book is difficult for me to rate, and difficult for me to review. There are so many things going on in this book: online gaming, LGBTQIA+ relationships, discussions of class/socio-economic differences, neglectful and abusive parents...plus the main character is a cancer survivor. And it's a road trip book. It was a lot, and at times it was pretty intense. This is not a light and fluffy read. However, there was something compelling about this book that kept me hooked.
I can't speak to the LB ...more
I can't speak to the LB ...more

I started out completely excited about what seemed like a fresh concept for a book about two teens that form a friendship playing video games online.
See Dylan is in remission from cancer, but may have a slight addiction to the drugs prescribed to him while he was indeed so very sick and literally on the brink of death. He also has some issues with his mom, who honestly couldn’t care less about him. She saw his illness as a means to an end. Now that he is recovered, his mom honestly couldn’t be ...more
See Dylan is in remission from cancer, but may have a slight addiction to the drugs prescribed to him while he was indeed so very sick and literally on the brink of death. He also has some issues with his mom, who honestly couldn’t care less about him. She saw his illness as a means to an end. Now that he is recovered, his mom honestly couldn’t be ...more

The book Looking for Group by Rory Harrison was entertaining and heartfelt, but was at times rather cliché. It focuses on Dylan, a gay teen who has miraculously had his cancer disappear, and his friend Arden, a transgender girl who he met online while playing the game World of Warcraft, as they set off on a quest to see the Ship of Pearls in California. Their road trip details many philosophical conversations, a budding romance, and the overall contemplation of life.
The book was good, but it se ...more
The book was good, but it se ...more

Dylan may have survived cancer, but surviving his mom is another matter. With a run-down home, his mother bored after taking advantage of his time sick, and unable to register for school, Dylan starts to drive. He finds himself at the home of Arden, the girl he’s been playing World of Warcraft with for years but never met in person. He proposes an epic, real-life quest, and before they know it, they’re on the road. But running away from problems doesn’t erase them, and as something blooms betwee
...more

As insightful, raw, and, even at times lyrical Dylan's narration is, it can't save the story from its warped worldview and can only to do so much to bolster the limp plot. I listened to the audiobook (the narrator does an incredible job) while on a (not much fun at all) road trip, which is probably why I made it all the way through.
The title and opening chapters play up the "geek appeal" aspect of the story, but beyond the very detailed WoW references, there wasn't actually any other geeky cont ...more
The title and opening chapters play up the "geek appeal" aspect of the story, but beyond the very detailed WoW references, there wasn't actually any other geeky cont ...more

I sorta remember I picked this book up because of Zac Brewer's blurb on the cover, because as far as I know, Zac Brewer almost never blurbs books, and he's one of a few authors whom I would absolutely LOVE to see blurb for mine someday. Suffice it to say I was actually extremely disappointed in what I read. I mean, it should've been pretty well tailor-made for me, this book, with its strong queer rep - Dylan being gay, Arden being trans. And I totally see why Uncle Z blurbed this one, because li
...more

Member of "quarterly" which sends 3 books quarterly to members. had no choice but to pick YA because literary had a wait list. An author is chosen and one receives annotated copy of author's book along with 2 other books in same genre and other gifts the featured author might send.
I guess I just wasn't into this book. I had a LOT of questions while reading the book and maybe I am looking at it from an adult's perspective as well as looking at my childhood and I found this unbelievable and boring ...more
I guess I just wasn't into this book. I had a LOT of questions while reading the book and maybe I am looking at it from an adult's perspective as well as looking at my childhood and I found this unbelievable and boring ...more

I'm generally not a massive fan of teen road trip books (I loathed Paper Towns by John Green), but despite my initial misgivings I found myself liking this book. There's a little romance, a lot of self-discovery, resilience, and oodles geek love (tons of World of Warcraft terminology and asides, but everything is explained for non-gamers). While trying to register for school (after a lengthy absence from battling cancer), Dylan snaps. They're not letting him register without his mom and his mom
...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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YA Buddy Readers'...: Looking for Group by Rory Harrison - Starting April 11th 2017 | 11 | 19 | Apr 12, 2017 01:04AM |
Rory Harrison lives in the American Midwest and is sorted into Slytherin. She’s a geek and a gamer: she and pop culture are >>likedis<<. Some of her favorite games include Skyrim, Dragon Age 1 & 3, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 1 & 2, Life Is Strange, Goat Simulator, and whatever else strikes her fancy at the moment. When she’s not reading, writing, or gaming, she’s having very strong opinions abo
...more
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“You’re going to turn the next page, because you still have hope. You hope there’s a little something more, and it’s nothing personal. People do it at the end of every book. I think that’s why publishers put in all those extra pages. So you have a chance to shuffle and flip through them while it sinks in. It’s over. The trip is done.
You know it’s over, but you’re going to turn the page anyway.”
—
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You know it’s over, but you’re going to turn the page anyway.”