Review : The Beginning of Never by O. E. Boroni

Title : The Beginning of Never
Author : O. E. Boroni
Genre : YA contemporary
Release Date : April 26, 2015
Publisher : Waves Corporation

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Twilight meets Eleanor and Park in this contemporary romance story about a love that insists on forever.

When Lenora Baker and Nathan Roqué run into each other in their boarding school courtyard, they have no idea that they are about to begin a journey that will take them the rest of their lives to recover from. Both scarred from parents who were once in love but ended up destroying each other, they are sworn off the possibility that there can truly exist a love that will never end.

But when with each other they find a passion so strong that it heals as powerfully as it burns, a love that will run out is no longer an option for them. Together, they discover just how far they are willing to go to preserve what they know they will only find once in their lifetime.

This is the start of their journey, and here you will come to realize, that falling in love is only the first part of the story..

*I receive this book for free in exchange of honest review

The Beginning of Never is that kind of book that everyone love but me. So, before reading this review further, I'm going to say : it's not the book, it's me.

My first problem with the book is the writing-style. This book has that kind of writing style where there are more narrating rather than an actual conversations. It could go for 5 pages without a conversation! I know for some people it's okay, but it's like reading a textbook for me. Not to mention, the thing that she's narrating is something usual like "I wake up, then I went downstairs to eat breakfast..". It's just boring.

My second problem is the characters. Our MC, Lenora Baker, is a 16 year-old girl who has an anger problem ever since her mother died. That's why, her father send her to a boarding school in Lancaster. For many people, she's a realistic character that they like, but she's just pissed me off (Does this makes me a bad person? I kinda feel bad for writing this but still..). She hates school, keep flunking in her class, and she always pushed people who get too close to her. I don't even know why she pushed people away because personally, I'd be glad if someone cares for me. Also, I hate her careless attitude :

"I dropped a basket supplies so carelessly on the artists' table that one of their plastic paint bottles overturned, and ruined some of the sketches that they had been working on. Their yells had startled me and at first I had rushed to apologize, but when a girl named Daisy had insulted me, I'd lost my manners"

Not only that, there's still many things that she forgot or didn't know, including her head-girl name (she has been in this school for 3 years. Is it that hard to remember one name?). I had a hard time to connect with her, and even after I finished this book, I still don't understand her well.

The MC's love interest, Nathan Roque, is better than Lenora. He's a geek that catch the attention of almost every girl in the school, except, of course, Lenora. But still, I don't feel anything toward him. I didn't feel all swoony everytime he show up. It's just plain, which made me dislike the romance even more. The romance is so confusing. One time they were acting like a friend, then for some reason, they're ignoring each other, then they KISS, then back to ignoring for weeks.

The secondary characters were also confusing. So, in the beginning, Lenora has this one friend called Kate, but halfway through the book, she's never got mentioned again. Instead, this girl name Elisa show up. I'm probably the only one who's complaint about this, but it's just weird.

Overall, The Beginning of Never didn't work for me. The characters annoyed me, the romance is confusing, and the plot is not that interesting. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it, but since many people love it, maybe you want to try it.