Nothing Like You

by Lauren Strasnick

When Holly loses her virginity to Paul, a guy she barely knows, she assumes their encounter is a one-night stand. After all, Paul is too popular to even be speaking to Holly ... and he happens to have a long-term girlfriend, Saskia. But ever since Holly's mom died six months ago, Holly has been numb to the world, and she's getting desperate to feel something, anything—so when Paul keeps pursuing her, Holly relents. Paul's kisses are a welcome diversion ... and it's nice to feel like the kind of girl that a guy like Paul would choose.

But things aren't so simple with Saskia around. Paul's real girlfriend is willowy and perfect ... and nothing like Holly. To make matters worse, she and Holly are becoming friends. Suddenly the consequences of Holly's choices are all too real, and Holly stands to lose more than she ever realized she had.

Nothing Like You is candid and quick-paced, with characters you can't help but want the best for. Deb Caletti, National Book Award finalist for Honey, Baby, Sweetheart

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Chick Lit, Fiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Lauren Strasnick’s debut novel, NOTHING LIKE YOU (Simon & Schuster, 2009), was an RWA RITA award finalist in two categories, Best First Book and YA Romance. Her second novel, HER AND ME AND YOU (Simon & Schuster, 2010), was a 2012 ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. Her work has been translated into French, German, and Portuguese. In addition to writing, Lauren teaches fiction in the MFA program at Antioch University, and also leads weekly novel workshops at Writing Pad in Los Angeles. 16 WAYS TO BREAK A HEART, Lauren’s next book, will be published by HarperCollins’s Katherine Tegen Books in 2017, and will also be published by HarperCollins in Italy and France.

Reviews

[Sandee is Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this was a book that I could REALLY relate to. It was something that I had gone through. Holly and I went through the same thing - no joke. This book opened up old wounds I have forced myself to forget.

Holly had a one night stand with popular guy Paul, who had a girlfriend named Saskia. She felt so empty, because just six months ago, her mother died, and despite not showing it to everyone she still hasn't moved on. She knew Paul had a girlfriend, but she didn't care - that is until she found out how much a nice person Saskia was. Holly felt guilty, but couldn't bring herself to confess, because if she does then she knew she’ll lose her as a friend.

What happened to Holly, sort of happened to me too. I was nineteen, and I fell in love with someone named Paul (coincidentally). At that time, my father died of stoke, and I needed someone to lean on to - he was the one that was there. I knew he sort of had someone. I knew it was wrong. But why did I continue with it? I was needy for attention and love, he was there to give it to me. He didn’t make me feel alone. But then the unexpected happened, I got pregnant. I saw the worse in him after that, so I left. I raised my daughter alone, and stood up for my mistake. I don’t regret having my daughter but I do regret having a baby with the wrong person.

I understood what it felt like to lose a loved one. It was devastating. It was painful. It will leave you empty. I loved my dad so much, and I think it was why I felt so distraught, that I needed to feel loved, even if it meant doing something I don’t want to do. I know it’s wrong. Sex is supposed to be for married people and I knew that now. You only do it if you really love the person. It’s not something to be taken lightly. Sex has its consequences, and it was good that Holly didn’t have to deal with the consequences that I had to deal with after that whole affair.

Nothing like You is a vivid look at a teen’s struggle with loss. It gives you a glimpse on the life of Holly, who took a wrong turn when she faced the loss of her mother. I know that losing someone is not an excuse to engage in casual sex. It’s still wrong. I did it and it came with a price. I just wish teenagers will think twice before engaging into something like sex. It maybe fun at first but then as it goes along there would be consequences.

I loved how this book could be so short but full at the same time. It was jam-packed with lessons to learn, and thoughts to ponder. It was not an easy read for me because the topic itself was sensitive. It did not just dealt with the other woman scenario, but also with commonness of teenage kids engaging in casual sex.

If this review sounds a little preachy, I am really sorry I didn’t mean it to sound that way but I hope you would understand that this topic is somehow close to my heart. Because I have been there. It wasn't easy.

I love books that deal with real issues and this one was one of them. It was an eye-opener. It was real and honest. The manner of telling the story was very effective. I thought the message of the author came across clearly.

Girls please don’t let guys use you. I sympathized for girls who are a victim of sweet-talkers like the guy Paul here in this book. I know there are good guys out there, but there are even more that would take advantage of you so please be vigilant. Please look for the signs that the Holly wasn’t able to see or refused to see.

All in all I loved it.
Would I recommend it?
Of course I will.

I give this book 4 stars

[Reynje · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was up until the early hours of this morning devouring this, and I feel... emotionally bludgeoned and completely wrung out. Will attempt to review when I have (a) slept and (b) regained some objectivity.

Later

”You are very loved.”…”You need to work harder at loving yourself.”

I hardly know where to begin this review. The difficulty arises partly from too few hours of sleep, partly from overcompensating for the fatigue with too much coffee, and partly from the emotional contortions this novel put me through. It has left me feeling limp and bruised, and completely ill equipped to write objectively.

I say this with considerable respect for the novel, which was beautifully written: I both loved it and hated it at the same time. I found it compelling, I couldn’t put it down, and yet it was deeply, almost relentlessly, painful to read.

The narrative opens with Holly unceremoniously losing her virginity to the popular Paul, someone she barely even knows, let alone likes. Her mother died six months ago, and Holly is numb, closed off to feeling.

Strasnick’s prose is sparse and raw, and Holly’s numbness comes across clearly. Initially, there is something quite automaton about the way she narrates. She describes an afternoon run, listing the directions and streets by rote, as if anesthetizing herself with methodical attention to detail.

As the story progresses, and Holly’s clandestine relationship with Paul triggers a series of choices that will irrevocably impact her life, it is as if Holly’s pain is bleeding out onto the paper. Strasnick tears away layers of Holly, exposing the unresolved grief and destructive thought patterns inside. While Holly has a certain hardness to her character, a streak of snark, the glimpses of her feelings of unworthiness are stomach-twisting to read.

”Holly.” The way he kept saying my name over and over made me feel so totally small. “You’re not my girlfriend.”

Watching Holly think and talk about herself was both real and horribly relatable, for me. Her inner dialogue of comparison to others (in particular, to Saskia), that they are more deserving of love, more deserving of happiness, was heartbreaking. It made me think of how, inevitably, we compare the insides of ourselves with the outsides of others. Holly initially sees Saskia as different, the perfect, blonde, willowy “other” - while in reality their lives could be reflections of the other, both fractured, and complex.

In addition, there is a dark and unsettling undercurrent to the evolution of Paul and Holly’s relationship, which is intensely difficult read to at times. Yes, Holly does make poor choices. But this would hardly be a story about grief and pain and loss if she didn’t. I felt that Strasnick’s portrayal of a teenage girl, and her failure to deal with the death of her mother, was strikingly honest. It doesn’t make for pleasant reading. It is sad. It is hard to swallow. But I felt it did reflect the untidiness of real life. The way not all mistakes can be rectified. The powerful ramifications of small decisions.

This story is undeniably heavy, for all its pared back, minimalist style. I connected with the book on a personal level, chest aching and tearing up through certain passages. And yet, I’m not sure how I feel about it. Conflicted, I guess, unable to decide to between loving it and not being able to bear it's brutal, bittersweet honesty.

Ultimately, I have to admire the bravery and integrity with which Strasnick has written this lingering, difficult story.

[Nomes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing Like You is a startlingly beautiful book.

It's written with such spare, honest prose which cuts right to the core.

I really responded to Holly's story ~ while the storyline is simple, the execution is superior and the emotional impact resonates. It's all the little details that pulled me into Holly's life that made me care immensely about her.

The story opens with Holly having sex in a car with popular guy Paul. And from there you're pulled into Holly's life. She lives with her dad and is still grieving the loss of her mum. She's suddenly in a sexual relationship (her first) without it being a relationship, and she's stuffing up while searching for something to fill an ache inside.

The cast of characters are all distinct and fleshed out:

Her best friend Nils who hangs out in their childhood cubby house together, listening to records. They have a great chemistry together from years of familiarity but also mixed up with a kind of suddenly unsure relationship that is changing as they are getting older.

Paul ~ who is not a stereo-typical popular guy, but enigmatic and complicated

Saskia ~ Paul's girlfriend who becomes Holly's friend ~ in a new friendship that makes you ache and feel hopeful and also anxious

Her dad, her teachers and even her mum (as shown in memories) are all characters in their own right ~ behaving with their own motivations and not just there to move the plot forward.

I also appreciated the subtle tenderness in which Lauren Strasnick handles many aspects of this story ~ never once making a drama out of themes that so often become melodramatic in YA (such as sex and relationship entanglements between best friends/boyfriends and the death of a parent).

It's honest, ache-y, hopeful and mesmerising. It's an older YA read with mature themes and an ending that feels like the truth and leaves you a little bit breathless and maybe even tear-y :)

[L A i N E Y (will be back) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is Holly’s book. No really, we don’t really get to ‘know’ any other characters except her. So yes, it’s a Holly book. Which is weird when you think about it - usually there would be at least one other character who’s fleshed out along side the MC. We barely saw Nils, her dad was just..there. I read a book with a checked out dad last year (A Little Wanting Song) and it blew this book out of the water in that department. So the character we regularly saw was a dog and it’s hard to write a dog that felt special when all said dog did was sleep...

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this wasn't at all what I expected and I really liked it a lot. Such an honest and real story and such a great and relatable main character. Can I get a sequel, please? I'd love to read more about Holly...and Nils. :)

[Nicola · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I was to describe this book in one word, it'd probably be predictable. That's not always a bad thing, but with this book, it wasn't just one thing that you could forsee, it was a lot.

I really wanted to like this book, but I can't really feel much for it. Maybe I've been spoiled by the other contemporary YA books I've read recently, but I just found this rather...bland.

This had a lot of potential that I don't feel it lived up to. This could have been something amazing but sadly, for me, it wasn't. It felt like the plot kept getting stuck, so the author just went for the easiest (and unfortunately) most obvious way to move the story along. Also, the end felt like it was lacking in, well, everything to be honest. It didn't feel like a resolution. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting hearts, flowers & a chorus of birds, but it just seemed far too abrupt. I know it was to drive home the 'actions have consequences' and not everything works out riff, but it just felt like there should've been more after it.

I really can't seem to find anything redeeming to say about Holly. I'm sorry, but I really couldn't connect with her at all. She grated on me pretty much the entire book, I wanted to hit her so many times and tell her to get a grip! More than once I found myself thinking 'seriously?' when she was all 'oh woe is me' over Paul. She's possibly the only fictional female I dislike more than Bella Swan, and if you knew me, you'd know that that's something I never thought I'd see myself type. It wasn't until near the end of the book when her and Nils kiss in the shack where I actually felt something for her. It wasn't until that point that she seemed to have any real depth, as opposed to just being a swoony naive little girl.
Describing Paul is quite easy to do. He's a douchebag, pure and simple. At first I thought he might actually be a little bit of a nice guy, but those illusions were quickly shattered. There's not really much else I can say without breaking into a long list of swear words and insults.
Saskia & Nils were actually better characters than Holly & Paul in my opinion. They seemed have more depth, and Nils in particular was just much more likeable.

The one thing I will commend Strasnick for in this book is her approach to the death of Holly's mum. It's never directly broached (we know she died of cancer, but her death is never actual put into any detail like it has been in other YA books) so all we see is the aftermath. Holly isn't treated with kid gloves all the time, like many other grieving characters have been in the past, and she hasn't either gone off the deep end with grief, or become a stoic zombie. She's in the void of confusion inbetween where you're never quite sure what's going to happen. I thought this was very well handled, and it was a refreshing change from the norm.

Sadly however, that wasn't enough to make up for the disappointment I felt with the rest of the book. An ok read if you want to kill time and don't want to think too much, but it won't be going on my 'to recommend' pile

[Debbie Instocks · Rating 1 out of 5]

To start off my first review, I was excited to read this book as I thought that it'd be good, given the plot. I expected a really good elaboration on how she felt, how she dealt with the pain, what she went through and how it changed her as a person. Well, I got plenty of insight about the problems she went through but nothing much.
For every book I read, I go through the characters in my head to understand their point of view and to understand their feelings and learn something from them. But in this book, I wanted nothing better than to give a good shaking to Holly. I mean, why is she still with Paul? Okay maybe she needed love but really? Sex was equivalent to love? I think not and I am baffled as to why she would even get affected by Paul. The whole thing with Paul grated on my nerves and in the middle of the book I wanted to stop reading, but however I continued as I thought the ending would be better. No dice.
The ending sucked. There was no moral, the relationships between Holly, Saskia and Nils were still unresolved. The only moral that I learnt is that Holly is an immature girl and reading the book from her point of view irritated me to no end. I have never exhaled as much as I had while reading Nothing Like You compared to other books. And what's with the lack of closure? I dislike books that depends more on my imagination than the author's. Maybe it's just me.
The salvaging points are Nils and Saskia. They are the only normal people who seems to have their heads screwed on right and I have developed a rather strong liking to Nils.
Other than that, I wished I never read this book as I would be feeling uneasy over the lack of closure. But maybe this book just wasn't for me, it might be for others though. Give it a try.

[Asmaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite quote:

"And how now that time had passed and sex seemed suddenly easy, I’d somehow managed to make up for any physical pain with barrelfuls of emotional pain that seemed directly proportionate to the amount of pleasure I took in the actual act. I suspected I was being punished. Possibly by my mother. Most definitely by god."

Such a sad and bittersweet coming-of-age story narrated by a sorrowful voice.

Holly comes across as a strong unbreakable girl; but inside she’s hurt, lonely and fearing what took her mother away from her will get her eventually too, as she constantly keeps on checking her breasts for lumps. It’s been six months already and she misses her just as much, she keeps all her things, listens to her favorite CDs and tries to recall every memory she has of her, so she will never disappear from her mind. But the pain sometimes can be too much to bear and she gets tired from feeling numb.

When she loses her virginity to Paul Bennett, a.k.a the star of her high school and the boyfriend of sweet perfect Saskia; her life changes drastically. She’s keeping secrets from her best friend Nils; she’s stabbing some girl in the back, but all she could feel was freedom.

"I suddenly had a secret. And it made me feel guilty, yeah, but I also felt really fantastic. I felt the opposite of dead, really what I’d been striving for, and someone suddenly wanted me in a way I hadn’t been wanted before. I didn’t even mind having to keep things to myself. I mean, I thought the whole situation was really unfortunate, but I knew that I was the one he wanted more. That if she weren’t so fragile, so unstable, he’d be with me for real. No Saskia. No secret."

Just for the record, Paul is a prick; going behind his girlfriend back and not having the guts to leave her because she’s supposedly fragile… if you fear for her and care about the girl don’t go around sleeping with other girls you little piece of shit. He was taking advantage of Holly’s state, making her believe she was more important than Saskia, while in fact, all he was doing was manipulating her and enjoying the fact that he has her at his beck and call for whenever he felt in the mood of having sex with her.

""It’s so much better with you. It’s easy. It feels right with you." I loved this. When he compared me to her. Things were easier with me. I was better than her."

Eventually, she grows tired of so many secrets, the guilt burdens her each day more when she finally gets to know Saskia and they become close friends, and with Paul blackmailing her into revealing their dirty little secret and things brightening up between her and Nils, I could smell trouble from miles away. So when shit hit the fan, everything crashed and burned in the worst possible way for poor Holly.

That’s the part I didn’t like. The author’s pace was nice and slow at the beginning, taking her time piling up Holly’s dilemmas one after the other, building up the angst, but when she got to the most important juiciest part i.e. facing the consequences of her past acts, she was very evasive, skimming to graduation in less than 20 pages. I was slightly disappointed; and that open ending was of no satisfaction for me, not knowing whether or not she and Nils will ever get back together left me very frustrated.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I have major issues with cheating characters; nonetheless it didn’t keep me from liking Holly Hirls or enjoy reading Nothing Like You.

[Fred · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am really torn about how to rate this book. It's beautiful, somber and bittersweet. Actually, it's way more bitter than sweet, and that's the problem. I think this is the saddest YA book I've read since Sara Zarr's Story of a Girl, and that takes some doing. So, after reading it, I sort of felt like my interior landscape was like a SoCal neighborhood after a brush fire has passed through. Not much moving around or growing out there anymore, and anything hopeful is obscured by smoke. When the two main themes of the book are grieving for a mom who died not too long ago, and being taken advantage of by a callous user boy, I should have known better. But I kept hoping for some glimmer of redemption, of hope, of something a little more cheery than the fact that the sun does keep coming up every morning. Seriously, that's all there is? Holly herself is not always an easy character to love. She's judgmental and closed off. But couldn't there be one person who gives a crap about her? Her so called friend Nils (a good name for him, he's got nil to give her) is too self absorbed and horny to like the real her. Her dad? Just as broken and emotionally exhausted by her mother's death as she is. The Kaskia thing. Man, that hurt. The only two characters who seem to have anything for her are her drama teacher (anyone else feel undertones of inappropriateness there?), and Nils' girlfriend, who Holly seems to think of as a dumb slut (not clear if that perception ever changes, really, despite her being the only one who treats her like a person). So that's why I emotionally felt like giving this 3 stars. But! It is beautifully written, with so many things that illuminate and intensify the sadness of Holly's story. One of my favorite things in a book is when a reading assignment from school adds to the story, and here both a scene from Othello and The Crucible shed light on Holly's situation and emotions in insightful and interesting ways. And to give due credit, this book did have a powerful impact on my emotions. So, I am giving it four stars for artistic merit, even though I didn't want to read something this raw and troubling. I've read some of the other reviews who compared this to The Duff, and characterized this one as more "real," because there's no closure, no resolution and certainly no HEA. But honestly, to me that's not a good thing. I read to get that closure, that uplift, that redemption that is lacking in real life. If that was enough for me, I wouldn't need to read now, would I? I'd be satisfied with my issues, my worries, my own story. I know there are many more emotionally horrific books out there. Usually they are easy to spot, and I don't read them. This one snuck in under the radar, and it got me.

[Steph | bookedinsaigon · Rating 4 out of 5]

NOTHING LIKE YOU, Lauren Strasnick’s debut novel, is relatively short, but packs one heck of a punch between its covers. It is a powerful read that will wreck your nerves, put them back together, and wreck them all over again.

Lauren Strasnick’s succinctness with words is still a relatively rare gift in YA lit. Sometimes, less is more, and it certainly is so in Holly’s words: little time is spent dallying over inner monologues, and instead we are thrown right into Holly’s words and have to quickly learn our way around her friends, family history, and romantic problems, otherwise we’ll unhappily sink and miss the point of the book. I like how Lauren’s writing style doesn’t undervalue the reader’s intelligence: we are all capable of figuring out what’s going on, and it is this agency on our part that will make us invest more in Holly’s story. Who says it’s the author who needs to do ALL of the work?

This may be personal preference, but I adore Holly’s character. In particular, I love how relatively upfront she is about her emotional concerns. This is a girl who’s not afraid to express to others how she’s feeling, instead of bottling it all up inside her, so that her problems are constantly evolving and moving forward. It’s a trait that I envy, and so it’s refreshing to read about such a girl in YA lit.

Holly and Nils’ friendship was well done, specifically in that you can practically feel the chemistry crackling between them. In contrast, Paul feels a little underdeveloped. He is definitely a douchebag but I wanted to know why he feels like he needs to behave that way. NOTHING LIKE YOU further defies our expectations of contemporary literature with its unusual ending, which, like every other part of the book, garners its power from its absence of flair for the sake of grabbing attention.

True, Holly’s mother died, and a lot of her behavior is in reaction to her grief, but this is not explicitly a story about dealing with grief, for which I am grateful. Instead, it’s simply an honest and refreshing tale of contemporary emotions. Lauren Strasnick has embedded herself into my heart with her unassuming debut novel, and I have no doubt that she will do the same to others.

[Cory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing Like You, by Lauren Strasnick, is more of a novella than a novel, clocking in at 38k words. Strangely, this is both its strongest, and weakest, element. While somewhat underwritten, yet rather repetitive, Nothing Like You is not a bad book. In fact, it's rather good.

But (and there's the "but" I know you were waiting for) -- it feels like an unedited Sara Zarr novel. Sara Zarr, author of two of my favorite books -- Story of a Girl and How to Save a Life (by the way, when is that woman going to win a Printz?) -- is an expert on crafting characters quickly without sacrificing depth and development. She is a minimalist in the best sense of the word. And while Lauren Strasnick is so, so close to having Zarr's skill, she's not quite there.

I've also read, but not reviewed, Strasnick's Her and Me and You (which has a gorgeous cover), and it suffers from the exact same problems as Nothing Like You. It is underwritten whenever the "novel" starts to get interesting and overwritten in the boring scenes. I understand, some authors like to hit on theme, over and over and over again, but a little bit of subtlety goes a long way.

In case you're interested, I'm listening to what could quite possibly be the weirdest song ever -- The Chipmunks Christmas Song Slowed Down, aptly named The Chipmunks ft. Satan. It did not effect the writing of this review in any way. And there will be spoilers. Just warning you now. It's fault if you aren't reading carefully. This is a website dedicated to books.

Nothing Like You opens with Holly, our main character, losing her virginity in the backseat of a guy's car. This guy is Paul. You will soon discover that he is a douche. That is not a spoiler. If you cannot tell that Paul is a douche from the first few chapters, despite the rose tinted glasses Holly wears for most of the novel, I have nothing to say to you.

Now, Holly feels like a teenage girl. She has flaws. She has traits. I can sympathize with her. Her mother recently died from breast cancer and unlike the protagonist of a certain other book who's mother died from cancer, she does not go batshit insane and undo her characterization from the previous book by going fucking crazy and plotting to ruin her best friend's life. Ahem. Anyway, Holly is a good character. I have no qualms with her, other than that I don't know how she can’t see past Paul's douchery. But I will excuse that, simply because I know I'm seeing the novel outside of Holly's POV.

Her character arc is also convincing in that she learns from her mistakes, suffers (unduly if I may say so, but rather realistically), and rises up to grab life by the balls and -- no, that last clause does not happen. There is no "positive" ending to this novel. It's bittersweet, if that.

My only problem with Holly's arc is that I don't feel it ties her mother angst properly to the rest of the novel. The two arcs don't mesh well. In fact, either one could almost suffice as the main plot, but in a novel so short, it feels like they're competing for popularity. And that there are also three other subplots -- well, you can see how there's too much here.

Main Plot -- Fucking the school D-bag who has a GF and feeling guilty
Sub Plot -- Mom just died from cancer
Sub Plot -- Crushing on best friend who sleeps with a lot of girls
Sub Plot -- Dad is sad
Sub Plot -- Going to a psychic
Sub Plot -- Le gasp, I just became BFF with the GF of the d-bag I'm fucking and I feel even more guilty

This is a lot to cram into barely 40k. And most of it doesn't even complement each other. What does avoiding a psychic have to do with losing a parent to cancer? Nothing. There's no overall "mystical" air to the novel. I understand that it's simply a way to hit us over the head, once again, with the fact that Holly doesn't want to face the death of her mother and that she'd rather avoid it or face it with fake love, but my god, there are other, more subtle ways to do it. And we repeat this more than three times. I am not dumb. I got it the first time.

Take a movie like American Beauty, which has a million sub plots carefully woven together to create a coherent story. Those sub-plots build upon each other and complement each other. They form a nice web. Most of the sub plots here do not build upon each other and do not lead into one another. If mapped, one plot would lead you to Canada from LA and the other to NY from Birmingham.

Believe me, I know a lot about comfort sex, but that plot would have made so much more sense along with the --

...

...

...

-- Give me a second, I just had a brilliant idea.

Okay. Remember that flashback to the beach vacation with the blonde guy Holly was crushing on when she was 12? The Paul sub-plot just feels so disconnected from this novel because it doesn't really touch into the heart of Holly's problem (and the other sub-plots) -- she misses her damn mom.

What if that blonde guy -- Jason, btw -- came back with his mom, Astrid, to help Jeff (Holly’s dad) acclimate to being alone? Not much of a stretch. And he came back twenty-six, hotter, tanner, and married? And the girl he's married to? Nicest girl in the world. In fact, she can just be an older Saskia for all I care.

And here we have it -- a connection to the main sub-plot. And it's more scandalous, which, in turn, makes it more interesting.

Part of the problem here is that I did not understand Holly's attraction to Paul outside of his grungy smoking ways. And that's not much to be attracted to, if I'm going to be honest. I'll admit it, a well written bad boy -- cough, Prince Zuko -- is awesome. Paul is just underwritten and douchey. I know nothing of his motivation or attraction to Holly when the novel starts outside of getting a quick fuck and when it ends, I'm even more confused. At first, we're to understand that Paul is only fucking Holly because Saskia won't put out. Then, we come to find (from this BFF bit that grows between Saskia and Holly) that he's lying. He's been fucking Saskia for a long, long time and that's really all they do. Any real motivation Paul had flew right out the window because there's no way I'm going to believe he actually likes Holly when all they do is fuck. They never have a real conversation. So, he's just a douche bag. That's it. No characterization at all. Or, he’s really, really creepy. And, yes, Paul is a creep. But that’s never developed either.

And Saskia isn't any better.

I would attempt to describe her character, but that's asking too much of me. She's nice. And... that's it. Really. Nice and waifish and giving and kind and selfless. So, yeah. That's her in a nutshell. Sure, there's an attempt to delve into her character, but it's not well done. In fact, I'd call it sloppy. We're given two or three throw away lines about how hard Saskia has it at home, trying to keep her depressed brother from killing himself. And that could go somewhere -- I mean, think of the brilliance of that mirroring theme! Holly's mom, the most important person in her life, died painfully by forces out of her control. Saskia's brother, the most important person in her life, wants to take his own life. Unfortunately, this never goes anywhere.

I won't touch on the other characters. They're briefly mentioned and given a smidgen of characterization, but not much.

In addition to that, I feel like Holly loses too much. Like, in a desperate attempt to make everything crash down upon her main character, Strasnick pulls the rug, the ground, and the entire Earth out from under Holly who's already reeling from the death of her mother in an attempt to make you realize that, yes, cheating is bad, and bad things happen to cheaters. Though nothing happens to d-bag Paul. At all. Seriously. We're still doing this in the 21st century? The guy gets off scot-free and everything happens to the chick? I understand that this is a realistic contemporary novel, but this is also a NOVEL, where anything can happen. And I feel like the novel would have taken a much stronger route by rejecting the "homewrecker" ending and letting Holly keep a little bit of her dignity. I mean, jeesh, she didn't even start seeing the guy when he had a girlfriend.

Now, on for the positives. This novel is very quotable, as in, the prose is very, very good. Seriously, go to any other review and you will find awesome quotes to fill your little emo notebooks for days. I know you’ve kept them safe after you watched “Perks of Being a Wallflower.”

To further this positivity, Nils is a good character. Well, partially. I mean, he grows. But we're never given any depth into his thoughts or his motivation. But this is easily explained. Holly is so self centered and introspective, she never tries to contemplate the motives of the other characters. Not once does she think on her relationship to Nils from his POV. Or any other character, really. She lacks the ability to empathize, or Strasnick lacks the ability to write a character who can. Murakami does a helluva a lot of navel-gazing, but even his characters pull their heads out of their asses long enough to contemplate the emotions and thoughts of their friends, family, etc...

Now, onto Nils. He's the best friend. He kisses Holly. He's kind of a "manwhore." Eventually, he ditches Holly when he finds out she fucked a guy in their special shack. When she was drunk. And unstable. I'm surprised this girl didn't try to kill herself, to be honest. She lost everything. Everything. Months after she lost her month in one of the most painful ways imaginable. I wish Nils, of all people in this novel, had been more understanding. Yes, I wish Holly had gotten the guy. Or something. Anything.

Let me repeat -- I don't mind depressing endings. I like American Beauty. It is one of my favorite movies and it is the most depressing movie ever (besides Grave of the Fireflies). The ending is not justified here. There's no balance. No wrap up. It just ends. And while Story of a Girl pulls the same bullshit -- we'll just end here in an attempt to seem realistic because life (har har) is messy with no real ending -- it just feels wronger (sp?) here. Story of a Girl kind of works because it takes place during a much shorter length of time. This skips a few months and expects the reader to fill in the blanks. I'm sorry, Strasnick, I'm not going to do your work for you. My imagination is not for rent. You decided to write 40k. You could've written 60k. I call that lazy.

Now, last thing – I liked the parts where Holly felt her breasts. No, not like that, perverts. She feels her breasts to check if she has cancer. She’s freaked out about it, as I’d expect her to be. Much better than the creepy breast fetish a certain goth MC has after her mom dies from cancer. This gives a personal, unique incite into Holly’s head and where she is, emotionally – as in, she’s emotionally fucked up.

So, this gets 3.5 stars for the rushed ending, underwritten characters, and the astounding "meh" I felt as I was reading most of it. It feels like something I'd write when I'm depressed. And I don't think that's a good thing.


FYI: My god, this book led me to the Greenday -- aka, whiney alt adult rock -- section of YouTube. Actually, it makes perfect sense. Rise Against and Greenday and Vampire Weekend are the perfect soundtrack for this novel. Kind of good, kind of bland, kind of whiny, but reliable in that you know what you're going to get and it's going to be pretty consistent. Background noise. That's it. Not *shudders* Nicki Minaj but definitely not Q-Tip. More like Lupe Fiasco. Good, but not awesome.

This book is the Lupe Fiasco YA. That is all.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed by Breanna F. for TeensReadToo.com

During her Junior year of high school, Holly lost her mom to cancer. In her Senior year, Holly loses her virginity to Paul.

She assumes it's just a one-time thing, because Paul is pretty much out of her league and has a long-time girlfriend, Saskia. But after that day, Paul keeps trying to talk to Holly and pursue her further. Pretty soon, they are regularly sleeping together and Holly feels awful about it, knowing that Saskia is Paul's real girlfriend. But it's really nice to have someone show their feelings for her, even if it is only in secret. Since her mom died, she hasn't been able to feel much until now.

While this is going on, Holly's best (and only) guy friend, Nils, has yet another new girlfriend. Holly thinks he has intimacy issues, but should she really be judging him when she is doing what she's doing?

Everything changes for Holly when she's partnered with Saskia in class one day. She realizes that Saskia isn't the rude girl that she has always believed her to be. Soon, the two of them become great friends, and Holly is in a tough spot and knows that she has to completely end things with Paul, but how? Things get even worse when Nils and Holly start having feelings for each other..

At first I wasn't sure this book would really go anywhere, but after the first couple of chapters I realized what a pickle Holly had gotten herself into. And when she started talking to Saskia, I was basically holding my breath every page! Holly and Nil's relationship was pretty great, too. He was always there for her, trying to cheer her up and make her smile. I was rooting for them to end up together during most of the book. Paul was just a total sleazebag. I kept wanting Holly to just smack him in the face or something.

If you're looking for a great contemporary story to read, then this is definitely it. I couldn't wait to get to the end of the book to find out what happened, and I'm sure you'll feel the same way, too.

[Michelle (Pink Polka Dot Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holly has just had a one night stand with Paul, a popular guy at her high school with a long-term girlfriend. Holly doesn't really know why she did it, except that her mom recently died of cancer and her feelings are all sort of numb. Unbelievably Paul persues her and convinces her to have a secret sexual relationship. That's great and all, but then she makes friends with Saskia (Paul's g/f) and also there's that neighbor boy Nils.... The harder she tries to end it with Paul, the harder he tries to change her mind, and the longer it goes on, the greater the chances are for major disaster!

I really really liked this book in a 'my heart hurt' kind of way. I felt bad for Holly even though what she was doing was wrong. I really wanted everything to work out for her, but I guess a lesson had to be learned there. I still wish it would've ended a with a little more resolution.

I thought the subject matter was pretty great. How many books tackle the subject of casual teen sex/friends with benefits in a realistic way? This one did an awesome job showing that sometimes people do bad things because they can't help themselves. A lot of people use sex as a need for comfort and love, but sex doesn't always equal love and that's a lesson a lot of young girls learn the hard way (like Holly). I know losing her mother wasn't an excuse for what she did, but I didn't see her as a villian. She was letting herself get talked into something because she wanted someone to care about her. I just felt like I could understand her so much. What she did to Nils was really shitty, but he should've been a better friend to her before and after :(

I also thought the way this book was written was cool. Some chapters would be only a page long, yet they were still incredibly powerful. It was so minimalist or something, but it worked!


"You are very loved. You need to work harder at loving yourself."
~Amazing quote... and so true!

MY BLOG:
http://pinkpolkadotbookblog.blogspot....

[Jax O · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing Like You has been in my to be read pile for quite some time, and like many others I am sure I picked it out and reread the description thinking was I sure about reading this. Thank goodness I did not set it back down. I loved every minute of this novel. Not only did I love it, but I finished it in about 24 hours. Impressive is the ease at which you will find yourself sliding through the story. I was halfway done before I ever realized it. As a recently singled mother, I could have related very easily to Saskia in this book. Although, I found myself feeling sorry for the Holly. This is a wonderful novel about learning the importance of self worth. I believe that many young adults would benefit from a look at books such as this. As an adult I read it is easy to read between the lines, even when the character isn t. This is a vivid realistic look at today s world, and how incredibly easy it is to find yourself in a situation such as this. The ending was intense, and it is a gut wrenching emotion ending that will hold your attention long past the last word. When Holly finds herself on the outs from Nils and Saskia and everyone knows it is like hell for this character. Even though I firmly believe in making your bed and laying in it; this character forces me to re-evaluate with a situation such as this. Tough love, I guess is the best love, but it just seems wrong when it all comes down on the one person that was blindly sabotaged as well. Not that I feel this character did not know what she was doing, but Paul was playing her like a harp knowing young females this is not an easy thing to overcome even when it is wrong. Thus as I said before this would be a wonderful read for young adult females to take this journey with this character. This may be an easy way to see a path they would not want to take.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lauren Strasnick's debut novel, Nothing Like You, had me breathless by the end. It was just that good, no scratch that, amazing!

Holly is the girl that anyone can see a piece of herself in. Lost a parent? She has too. Hooked up with someone you really shouldn't have? Ditto. Betrayed your best friend? Same. Well, you get the picture, she was someone who was very real. Though, with saying that, I still wanted to hit her over the head at times when she continued to see Paul even though you knew he wasn't going to break up with Saskia. The other characters, such as Saskia and Nils, were the same way. They were funny, sweet, and honest which made it a toatal blast to read about them.

I loved the plot. Since, even though it was a wee bit predictable at times, it still moved in a way that made you want to keep flipping the pages to find out what happened next. Plus, Lauren Strasnick's writing was fabulous!

Sadly, the ending was what brought it down to the B+ grade for me. I had something totally different and more happy in mind for it, though Lauren took the chance to surprise which made it a bit too unhappy and open for my liking. Though, now that I think about it, I guess I do see the reason for it. Since, this novel's main message was about how time can heal anything and how you can loose someone but still be okay.

Overall, Nothing Like You is happy, sad, funny, and heartbreaking all in one, making it yet another a fablous 2009 debut! I look forward to seeing what Lauren comes up witth next.

Grade: B+

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

This book made my chest hurt.

[Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

When we first meet Holly, she is jammed into the backseat of a car, losing her virginity to Paul, a popular guy from school who she hardly knows. She assumes it to be a one-night-stand because she’s not his type and he already has an on-again-off-again girlfriend. When Paul comes back for more, they start having secret sex in her bedroom late at night. She desperately wants to feel good – to fill the emotional void left after her mother’s death – and her relationship with Paul helps her to feel desired and loved. The sex is exciting for her at first, but their relationship becomes increasingly complicated as Holly gets to know and like Paul’s on-again girlfriend Saskia and as he proves to be creepy and controlling. And it is hard keeping things from her best friend Nils, whose relationship with Holly is seemingly platonic but hints at the possibility of becoming more.

Holly is a complex character. The reader can feel for her and root for her, while at the same time Holly’s making some pretty awful mistakes that could hurt some of the people that she cares for the most. At some point, like Holly surely did, you just kind of wish that Paul would go away and you could forget that anything happened and Holly, Nils, and Saskia could be BFFs forever. In Nothing Like You, Strasnick sought to explore the mystique of the “other woman” – how when you develop an interest in someone, a special “other” in your crush’s life can pique your curiosity. Paul adds to Saskia’s intriguing otherness by informing Holly that she is nothing like her (hence the title). This makes Holly feel both special and insufficient, depending on which young woman Paul’s attention is directed towards. His statement also makes her wonder, who is Saskia, and if she’s nothing like Holly, who is Holly? As the two young women get to know one another, Holly realizes that they have more in common than Paul would have her believe. Saskia is sweet and it warms (yet also breaks) my heart when Holly admits to feeling love for her. Nils’ and Holly’s little clubhouse friendship is very endearing and brings up memories of fearing that romance/sex could affect “the way things are”. Paul, on the other hand, is a manipulative jerk who clearly doesn’t care about Holly or Saskia. It is frustratingly sad that Holly gets herself stuck in a situation where she is risking her friendships with two truly decent individuals by hooking up with such an awful person. Some readers may be unsatisfied with the conclusion of the story, but I respect Strasnick for staying true to her characters and concluding Holly’s journey in a realistic and not at all drawn-out way.

[Athena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where do I even start with this book? I was so excited to read it, but it was not very good. Which is a shame, because it had so much potential.
First of all, can we just acknowledge how much of a creep Paul was? That sort of thing isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker for me, but he was honestly kind of terrifying and it wasn’t even acknowledged at any point in the book. He pretty much forces himself into Holly’s life by stalking her and then treats her terribly once he “has” her. Also there was that really sketchy sex scene towards the end. Where she doesn’t actually say no, but is also extremely extremely wasted to the point that she doesn’t seem to totally know what’s going on.
The thing is, all of these things would have okay for me if the book had simply acknowledged the fact that he was pretty much psychotic. There is a brief bit where Holly tells Paul that he doesn’t deserve Saskia, but that is such a gross understatement. And the fact that the true vileness of Paul is never really discussed makes me feel like the author either thinks this behavior is okay, or thinks that this is how the average “fuck boy” acts (it’s not..at all).
Holly herself wasn’t very like-able either. I found myself spending most of the book being angry with her. It wasn’t so much that she was making poor decisions as much as it was that the entire time she was playing the whole “oh woe is me the universe hates me” card. Also, what was up with the weirdly friendly relationship she had with her drama teacher? They did not interact like student and teacher. They were way too familiar with each other. It wouldn’t be as much of an issue if he had been some sort of close family friend or something, but from what I gathered, the only connection she has to him is that he dated her mom back in high school. The whole thing was just super weird in my opinion.
To be honest, the only character I really liked was Saskia. I thought she was such a sweetheart. I wish we could have heard more about what happens to her.
Which brings me to the ending. It wasn’t the worst ending I’ve seen, but it felt so open and empty. There was a complete lack of closure with just about all of the characters. It’s like once they were out of Holly’s life, they just fell off the face of the earth, never to be mentioned again. This isn’t horrible in and of itself, but in this particular book I don’t feel it was done very well and it just leaves you asking, “was that it?”
I was able to finish the book, which is why I gave it two stars instead of one, but I was very disappointed in this book and would not recommend it.

[Lecea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a bit hesitant to check out Nothing Like You from the library – the first sentence in the Goodreads synopsis did not sit too well with me, and it was reminiscent of a few less-than-stellar books I read last year. However, my curiosity after reading the rest of the summary won out.

I surprised myself by both enjoying and disliking the book on many levels. On one hand, Holly’s voice and tone were so realistic and sincere that at times I pictured her as an intense character, my favorite type of protagonist. I also appreciated that the author presented the progression of Holly’s grief after her mother’s death. The book started with Holly and Paul’s emotionless fling, then quickly segued into Holly’s fond memories of her mother at the beach. I thought that this was effective in conveying Holly’s numb mental state, a motif in the book.

My main issue was that this was the limited extent of Holly facing her misery: a false sense of the fine-just-fine sentiment and belonging. She eventually befriended Paul’s girlfriend, Saskia. The decision to stop the meaningless encounters with Paul should have been obvious, except it took time for Holly’s outer self to conform with her mind. I understood Holly’s need to fill the space her mother’s absence created, but, after finishing the book, I still cannot grasp why her (non-)relationship with Paul and with her neighbor, Nils (relationship troubles) gradually became the central foci of the book. I was also interested in reading more about Jeff (her father) and how he was managing his life. For an important figure, he seemed relatively distant and dimensionless. Again, I was not sure if the author intended for readers to feel this way, since this was Holly’s story.

As a reader, though, I was more satisfied with the ending. Many matters were resolved, and it stood as more of a new beginning for Holly. She clearly realized the importance of friendship and moving on.

Read Nothing Like You if you like short books that have some unanticipated depth tied to them. The style and simple words leave a lot out – while some readers may find an emotional effect, I was left disappointed. Still, Nothing Like You is a worthwhile read.

[Thebookbutterfly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing Like You was refreshing.

It was nice to just sit down and flip through a good book with no expectations, no pre-misconceptions, and no judgment. I just allowed myself to enjoy it. And I ended up adoring it, in that odd way that you love things without meaning to.

Holly's not the kind of girl that I was prepared to like. She has sass and she's funny, but sometimes when she just came out and said what she meant, I felt my heart ache. She's been shoved into the narrow valley in between right and wrong, especially in the aspect of her relationship with Paul which I wanted to be annoyed with because I disliked Paul from the first few lines. From the second he said, "I'm shit with directions."

But Paul isn't stereotyped. Paul rings true, which somehow makes it all the harder to come to terms with.

I wished we got to know Holly's mom a bit better, but I liked her CD collection and Holly's pain leftover from the loss wasn't melodramatic, instead it was quiet and authentic. There was depth to the lightness of which the subject was handled, and that lightness made it more honest while it also allowed the reader to see underneath the surface of things.

Nils was the best boy-next-door that I've read about so far. I lovelovelove him, he made me laugh and was quite swoon-y. I liked their friendship, their qualities and characteristics clashed in the best way.

This book takes place in California and it's extraordinarily well-done. It feels fresh and spring-y but not over done. Lauren Strasnick is the best at writing things for the purpose of being true, not for the purpose of being dramatic.

I liked this. This book could've been very dramatic. Instead it was the best kind of emotion, the quiet kind that seeps gradually into your heart without you realizing it at first.

This book is smart and sophisticated and lovely :)

Where is the sequel?

(I was so mad when I found out there wasn't a sequel yet. We must petition for Lauren Strasnick to write one! I'm already swooning at Holly in a gritty, cool college atmosphere, plus some more Nils...)

[Hilda · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Six months after she loses her mom, Holly is cold and emotionally numb. This is her senior year and she just doesn’t care anymore about her life. Then she does the unthinkable: she loses her virginity to Paul, the popular guy she barely knows.

Assuming this to be one-night-stand, it’s a great shock for Holly when Paul persists on seeing her. Paul belongs to popular crowd and he already has a long-term girlfriend, a really sweet girl named Saskia. It seems strange that he even pays attention to Holly. At first, it’s easy to ignore Saskia and the guilty feeling of sleeping with somebody’s boyfriend. But then Holly becomes friends with Saskia, and eventually she realizes that the price she has to pay for her recklessness is too high.

When I first picked the book, I assumed that Nothing Like You is gonna be a light read. Boy, was I ever wrong. Nothing Like You is a sad book about overcoming grief and loss of a significant other. Yes, Holly does make bad decisions, yet I feel like I can understand the reasons. Her mother’s death has changed Holly, and she will never be the same Holly from junior year.

It breaks my heart that Holly seems to respect herself less. She is loved and cared by so many people but she just can’t feel that. Holly’s relationship with Nils, her one and only guy friend, is something that I hoped would be the one to heal her heart. Throughout the book, I kept hoping that Holly will come to her senses and realize that her world hasn’t shattered yet. And she will get better because time will heal every wound.

He tugged at my hair. “How come you never get sad, Holly? I think it’s weird you don’t ever get sad.”

“I do get sad.” I stood, dusting some dirt off my butt. “Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t there.”

Read other reviews in my blog! :)

Catch the Lune

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing Like You was much different than I thought it would be, not in a bad way, just a different way. I had high hopes for Lauren Strasnick's debut, and though I did enjoy it, it didn't get five moons like I hoped it would. I first found Lauren through her bloggish website, and let me just say that she is one of the funniest people I have never met. If you haven't already, go check out her website.
Nothing Like You is told with humor as well as depth. Strasnick has grafted an addictive, fast pasted story that teens will love. I believe any girl could relate to Holly in someway whether its because they lost a parent as well or betrayed their best friend. I for one, loved her humor but found her too judgmental of the people around her. You know, she just seemed inconsiderate of some people's feelings because she thought they were "sluts" or "mean" without having really known them at all.
I love how Strasnick kept some things subtle such as the death of Holly's mother and sex, instead of making them a huge deal like a lot of  YA does (thank you Naomi for bringing this to my attention in her review). Her writing is wonderful; and it kept me turning the pages even when I told myself after this chapter I'm done. It was addicting, even though the plot was slightly predictable.
Unfortunately, the ending just didn't do it for me. It left too many loose ends and didn't feel like an ending. I half expected to turn the page and find another chapter. Overall, Nothing Like You was a good read but there were a few faults I couldn't ignore. But, I am still looking forward to reading Lauren's next book, Her and Me and You (out now), and any other books she publishes.

[AnnaBnana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holly lost her virginity to Paul, a guy she barely knows. She thinks it's a one-night stand and honestly, she really just did it to kind of get the whole thing over with. She's sure Paul is too popular to like her back...and besides, he's been on-again, off-again with the lovely Saskia for ages.

Holly's wrong though...Paul does want her back. Problem is, these days he's back on with Saskia. Holly wants Paul to like her more; she wants to win. She doesn't know Saskia, so who is she really hurting? Before long though, Holly is unsure of what she's doing or why she's doing it. And suddenly, the whole situation has feels utterly out of her control.

I enjoyed this book a lot. I really felt for the characters. I understood Holly's struggle--she wants to do the right thing, but feels like there's just no way out of the situation she's in. The longer things go on with Paul, the more potential she has to hurt her friends and herself.

There is a subplot regarding the untimely death of Holly's mother which perhaps explains some of Holly's poor decision-making, but the author doesn't excuse Holly's behavior. This book has action and consquences, but not in a way that will hit the reader over the head too hard. The characters are intriguing and the not-100 percent-happy ending is spot on. This is a stellar debut sure to hook reluctant readers with short chapters, unending drama, and characaters that you will want the best for.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this. It exceeded my expectations. It felt fresh to me after reading books with disappointing or flat characters. The characters in this were like the writing style, simple but deeply layered. I always seem to love characters if they are going through something difficult which makes them make bad decisions, but who learn from their mistakes and don't mean to cause the carnage they make.

I know that won't really make sense to anyone. Maybe it will. It was definitely a flawed sentence. :P Anyways, I loved the characters. Well, not Paul. I loved Holly, Nils and Saskia. I loved the relationships in this book. I loved Holly and Nils friendship/relationship. I fell hard for Nils. He wasn't perfect, I guess, but I loved him.

The story was simple and the book itself was a very quick read. It was only 209 pages(I think?) and the chapters were usually really short. I really enjoyed that because sometimes I don't want to read the author go on and on about trivial things(*coughsarahdessencough*). I understood the reasons why Holly did the things she did. But I loved how you could sympathise with her character instead of judging her. Sometimes good people do bad things. They don't mean to hurt anyone.

I really did love this. I hope her next book is as good as this! The only thing that stopped me from giving it 5 stars was the ending. It felt like an open ending, which was okay but I would've liked more closure, or something like that. I do recommend it!

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved getting to know Holly her mother has recently passed away from breast cancer. She hooks up with a Paul and has sex with him thinking it is a one time thing. She loses her virginity but this was her plan and finally feels something after months of being numb.

Holly continues to see Paul her "one night stand" and things just go down hill from that point. Her best friend Nils is starting to become a bit more than just a "friend" and Pauls girlfriend is not exactly what Paul claims her to be.


The book is written in 1st person, it was paced well and I enjoyed it. Read it in one sitting.


One thing that I wish is that we got more of an understanding from Holly about what she learned from her relationship with Paul. I think that could have been written with more in depth.

I had a bit of a problem with the time Paul and Holly are in the shack. It really bordered on what I would say was a form of rape. She was willing but she was clearly drunk and he knew she didn't want to be with him anymore. Paul was a Giant horses arse. How great could he have been? I hated that he smoked gross!

This book is for a more mature reader I would say perhaps 15 and up. I think it is a great for someone who is already having sex or thinking about it.

Beware of the Pauls in your High School!

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review cross-posted from: http://readthisbook.wordpress.com/200...

Nothing Like You was an average book. The plot was interesting and unique but I did not like the main character. I could not connect with Holly. I just felt that she had too little respect for herself. I just don’t understand how you can fool around with someone else’s boyfriend and still become friends with them.

The story itself was engaging, the chapters were short so it was a quick read. I liked the psychic reading, it was the only thing that made this book unpredictable. However, I was not impressed by Strasnick’s writing. It was… bland. Sorry, but I found it choppy and inconsistent. The secondary characters were typical cliché characters.

I felt the ending was abrupt. Saskia and Holly’s friendship was not known. The novel is supposed to be touching, because this girl lost her mother and she wants to be loved. But I did not feel sad for her. Overall Nothing Like You was an quick read but not my cup of tea. I have no idea what message Strasnick is trying to portray to readers. Don’t sleep around with your best friend’s boyfriend? I don’t recommend this book unfortunately. Feel free to give it a try though.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

If this book hadn't been short and a really quick read, there is no way I would have finished it. The main character, Holly, is feeling bad, so she throws herself into a fling with some guy at her school, who happens to have a girlfriend that Holly later becomes friends with, complicating everything.

Holly is an incredibly unlikable character. She makes bad choices and bad decisions time after time, and it's really obvious that nothing will change unless she takes action, but she seems content to just wallow in self-pity and let others walk all over her. I couldn't identify with her at all and I really didn't like her. The secondary characters are kinda bland too, with no on really standing out. Some of the characters seemed to have the same conversation with Holly over and over again. I guess this was to drive home the point that she was taking no action to change her situation, but it just grew tiring and repetitive. Finally, the end of the book was completely lacking. Nothing was really resolved, Holly hadn't changed, and I wondered what the point of this book was. Not exactly the way one should feel!

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so heartbreaking, honestly, this poor girl. As she did all these stupid things she knew what she was doing was wrong but she kept on doing it, and I kept on wanting to tell her to stop. This book deals with grieving, and not in the "sob sob cry cry" kind, just the kind where you can kind of understand why she's doing this because of it her pain. It hurt, she was self destructing and not because she really wanted to but because she felt something and she didn't really understand, she was kind of grieving in her own way I guess. When I thought things would get better she did it again and she hurt everyone around her, but mostly hurting herself. I know I'm not really reviewing the book but this is what I got out of it, just a lot of raw emotion.
I feel like I could really relate to Holly, despite the fact that I sincerely doubt I would ever act the way she had acted but, her voice felt so familiar like someone close to you, that you couldn't help but, like Deb Caletti said, want the best for her. I really liked this book.

[Anastasia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this book. The main character was incredibly self-defeating and lacked any sort of personal respect.

The book was written quite simply, with a lot of dialogue and lacked any sort of plot driving. There must have been about 40 pages of actual "drama," once her secrets were challenged.

I really would have liked this story to have been about a stronger, smarter, girl down on her luck who learned to respect herself. But the character wasn't that intriguing. It might have helped if there was more character building or if she thought deeper thoughts.

This line basically sums up the book; "I smiled but didn't feel happy. I felt shitty and desperate but I said, 'Okay,' anyway."

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart-wrenching. Strasnick's Nothing Like You is a book that will stay with me for a very, very long time. One night stand Paul continues to pursue Holly Hirsch, who is still grieving terribly for the loss of her mother to cancer. What ensues is Holly's downward spiral and very believable tale of how our choices can have consequences far beyond what we ever expected. Strasnick has an amazingly subtle style, saying volumes with small details and getting to the painful center of love and loss. Don't miss this one.