Thank you to Amulet books and netgalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review! I was so glad I was approved for this because it was definitely one of my most hyped books.

Laila is a teen writer and her English teacher is her biggest fan. She is forever giving him her new stories and he tells her how much he adores them. Until her teacher gets in a big car accident and she gets a substitute. To start Laila is excited as the new teacher is also an award winning writer, but she is very hard on Laila and this causes her to struggle with not only her writing but her identity.

The main character of this story is pansexual. Do you know how much that means to me? Laila really struggles with this part of herself as she has been raised to believe that girls should be ashamed of their sexuality. This is said on page. And this is the first time I've actually been able to comment on sexuality representation from an experienced perspective and I'm so happy about this. I absolutely adored the representation. I wish this book had been around when I was younger because I think I may have realised I was pan much sooner than I did. She also is plus size and has anxiety, so I related to Laila so much to be honest. And if you consider yourself to be any of these things I would thoroughly recommend reading it. Laila is also half Ecuadorian, but obviously I can't speak on this representation. However it was plainly obvious that the author wanted to make this an important part of the novel. All throughout there is discussions over being mixed race and being Ecuadorian, and not knowing where she fit in. I've never read an Ecuadorian MC and I found that so refreshing. I did try to find a review from an Ecuadorian person but I could not, if you know of any let me know!

This book is sapphic, but I don't want to spoil that for you. However the one thing for me that let this book down for me and meant it wasn't a favourite was that the romance was just a little too subtle for me. I kind of didn't recognise it happening at all until about 70% of the way in. And that might be great for you! That might be the type of romance you like. I'm more of a heavy hitting romance type.

The narrative of this novel is very much internalised, there is a lot of Laila's struggles with her writing, her friendships and her anxiety. Sometimes I struggled with reading the book because of this, not in a bad way but it could get heavy occasionally and I wasn't quite in the mood for that. 

As this was my first Riley Redgate novel I wasn't sure what to expect, and whilst people were hyping it up, I was pleasantly surprised (I have trust issues with hyped books). Now I need to catch up on all Redgate's books!

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.


Anyone who knows me knows that I consider Riley Redgate one of my very favorite authors. When I found out she was writing a YA contemporary about a writer? Color me intrigued. While Final Draft had its moments of brilliance, overall, the story felt a bit too all over the place for my taste.

I’ll start with the thing I loved most about this book: the representation. Our main character, Laila, is biracial (half Ecuadorian and half French-Canadian), plus-sized, and pansexual. She also deals with a depressive episode that was some of the very best depression rep I’ve read in any book. Laila’s thoughts about all of the identities she holds felt so authentic. I loved these more introspective moments, and I think Final Draft contains excellent discussion on sexuality, racial identity as a mixed-race person, and mental illness. I really appreciated the pansexual representation because although Laila knows she is attracted to people of all genders, she represses her feelings about attraction and sex and therefore never really comes out to herself until this book. She’s not questioning her sexuality, but she is coming to terms with it, which I understood so deeply based on my own experiences as a queer person.

Laila’s writing played less of a role in this story than I expected. It still is a central part of the plot, and the book includes excerpts of Laila’s writing periodically throughout. The writing is more of a tool to show how Laila’s life experiences are impacting her, if that makes sense. To me, this overall felt like a friendship story more than anything else. It’s about Laila coming into herself and processing changes in her life, and often her friends are the ones helping her through these changes. Speaking of which, I enjoyed both the friendships and the romantic relationship in Final Draft! I have to admit, I didn’t see this particular romantic relationship coming, but I ended up liking it. (And yes, I am happy to say Final Draft contains an f/f romance!)

My main issue with this book is the fact that I really don’t know what exactly it was about, or what my takeaway from it should be (not that books need to provide education! they can be purely entertainment. however, it felt like Redgate wanted to say something with Final Draft; I just don’t know what.) The focus of the story constantly shifted, and the transitions between chapters as well as the ending were all kind of choppy and abrupt. It made for an extremely disorienting reading experience, one I haven’t ever had before. Plus, the story focuses so heavily on Laila’s growth, but it’s written in third-person. It kept unnecessary distance between Laila and the reader; I never felt like I truly got to know her as a character. The whole book was just… all over the place? I don’t know.

Overall, I do think this book is worth the read, if for nothing else than the excellent representation. If you like Redgate’s writing, it’s worth a shot, but be forewarned that it’s told in a much more experimental style than her previous books.

Set in Brooklyn, Final Draft is a third-person story about friendship, grief, mental health, and sexuality, with a DIVERSE cast. The main character, Laila, is a biracial, pansexual, Ecuadorian/French-Canadian teenager. Her inner thoughts remind me of things I said to myself as a teenager. Laila’s soft-spoken teacher, Mr. Madison, reads her stories and encourages her to keep writing. He’s the kind of teacher we’ve probably all had. This is a purposefully slow story that takes place the summer before Laila and her three friends leave for college. I didn’t like Nazarenko’s character, but it didn’t ruin the story for me.

Beautifully introspective. Redgate isn’t afraid to speak the truth, writing about big things like sexual orientation, female sexuality, and racial identity.

I was annoyed when descriptions of people mentioned they didn’t look “normal”, or that it was shocking for a larger person to have confidence. Throwing homeopathic remedies and healthy food under-the-bus was also unnecessary. Having a teenager complain about healthy things has been done, and I feel that it’s not authentic.

This would be a great Summer read. Be sure to visit your local bookstore or library and check out this brand new novel.

This book just didn’t work for me.

It’s a happy contemporary so really I should’ve known better. I prefer books like The Female of The Species or The Nowhere Girls, where the vibe is generally negative and the themes are heavier. Which is not to say, that there aren’t a few heavy plot points in this book (from what I read), because there are. This just isn’t my style. I’ve read a few that I’ve enjoyed, like Simon Vs The Homo Sapien’s Agenda & Queens of Geek, but I also don’t reach for them all that often on my shelves.

I found this book to be unrealistic to my experiences in high school. Now, take my opinions with a grain of salt, because everyone had a different experience in HS and also consider that I go to school in Australia and am also straight.

I don’t know about you and your experiences, but I spent pretty much every night in high school doing homework, reading or sleeping. There wasn’t much time for me to hang out at my friends’ houses and watch tv, then go home before 10/11ish, do homework and then get to school on time the next day and somehow still remain sane. It just wouldn’t have worked for me. So, will someone please explain how the friend group in this book manages to do it???

This is not a spoiler, but the mc is a writer and so, much like in Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, there are a lot of excerpts from the mc’s wip (work in progress).
This was a bit weird for me, I’ll be honest. I wasn’t a fan of it in Fangirl (haha, get it?) and I wasn’t big on it here. It mostly served to take me out of the story as I was trying to get my head around what the hell is happening and why the heck we were in a spaceship. There were a whole bunch of these sprinkled throughout, as well as a lot of overly long explanations about tv shows, other books and games (I think), so I think this book felt more like a tv guide or a YA for Dummies instead of an actual ya novel tbh.

Also, and this isn’t too big a deal. But, I made it 32% of the way through this book had happened. Everyone was raving about the romance and to that I respond, WHERE???
I know, that I DNF’d this but the book is only 272 pages long. According to my math, I made it roughly 80ish pages through the book and all that happened was a few tv show explanations, some drama about an assignment, a spoiler thing and some teen angst. There are only 190 pages left, how are you going to a fit in a beautiful romance + the assignment drama + probably friendship drama + probably some teen angst, let’s be real + probably some family drama ???

I’m sorry, this book wasn’t for me. I wanted to love it which is why I requested it, but unfortunately, I was just not the right reader. I hope that you pick it up and love it more than I did!

This was such a highly anticipated release for me because I have loved both of Riley Redgate’s previous books so much, but Final Draft was a miss for me. We follow Laila Pierda as she works on her sci-fi creative writing project as her favorite teacher is replaced with a hypercritical Pulitzer-Prize winning writer.

Things I Liked
I will always pick up a friendship-centered story. They’re some of my favorite and I loved seeing Laila and her friends fight, laugh, grow, and support each other.

I actually really liked Nazarenko’s advice and thought it was really insightful and helpful. While it might not have been the best method, or given with the most tact, It was nice advice. I also like that the story discussed writing as a legacy and the importance of writing to an author, not just in crafting a story, but in giving a piece of yourself.

This Quote
“Interrogate your instincts. Insecurity isn’t shameful. Attraction isn’t an embarrassment. Interpersonal affection isn’t a side note to be glossed over. Whatever the nature of the material that forms between two people, it’s the backbone of literature.”

Things I Didn’t Like
I wasn’t the biggest fan of Laila, we just didn’t click. I liked seeing her journey and growth, but I didn’t care about her as a person. I found her to be annoying, naive, and incredibly insecure. She relied so much on other people’s thoughts and opinions that it was hard to see her.

The fighting and bickering between Felix and Samuel was so juvenile and unnecessary and uninteresting.

The story just wasn’t grabbing me at all. I was bored and started skimming around the 2/3rds mark.

My feelings about Final Draft are probably best summarized as indifference, while is heart-crushing for someone who wanted this to be one of my favorite reads of the year. While I loved the friendship and writing aspect of the story, I didn’t love the characters. For me the parts brought the whole down. I still think Riley REdgate is an amazing author and will confidently recommend all of her books, I know that many people will love this and connect to Laila. I look forward to her future books!

I received a copy of the book from Amulet Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Your budding authors will appreciate this book. The style of writing is very wordy at times, but I felt like that was intentional and mirrored the process Laila was going through as an author herself. Many important topics are addressed: sexuality, freedom, healthy relationships, obsession, and anxiety spring to mind.
At first, I was disappointed that the book didn't go more into Nazarenko's character, but upon later reflection, I think that was also intentional. Her whole gig was to get Laila to go live life and dig deep. So we went on that journey. Not one of "unravelling" the lives of any adults.
Laila's journey of self-discovery isn't perfect. Life never is. This book represents that journey. I actually wish it had been just a wee more in depth with her recovery period. However, that can be difficult to write while staying realistic.
It's the first book I've read by Riley Redgate, and I enjoyed her unique storytelling that felt chaotic but in an organized way. I knew she had a plan. I just didn't know what the end game was until we got there.
I received an ARC of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley, but all of my opinions are solely my own.

I've heard a lot of good things about Redgate's books and, as much as I hate to say it, I don't think they're for me. This is the third books of hers I've read, and the first I didn't DNF, Final Draft was somewhat disappointing. It's about an intense relationship between a hardcore students and her teacher mentor who never seems to approve of her writing no matter what she does. It was an interesting look into how far someone was willing to go for approval, especially one as highly regarded as Dr. Nazarenko. But just reading LIla's thought process, and her writing, just made me bored. I don't think Redgate went further enough into the obsession between LIla and her mentor. Sure, there was some intense, madcap adventure scenes, but all in all Lila's obsession seemed, well tame. I never felt that mad intensity I should have in a story like this and that was just...disappointing. If Redgate had gone, truly gone deep into LIla's psyche and the obsession with perfection adn pleasing her mentor then it would be a very different story. But as it stands, it's a perfectly fine romp that just grazes the themes it tries so hard to explore.

*I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

2.5 stars

I don't know what it is about this book, but it just didn't pull me in. There definitely were those moments that had me reading each and every word, slowly so I could understand, but for the most part, I found it hard not to skim.

Yet, I still think it is a good book. It has a diverse cast with a bi-racial, bisexual(? I don't think she ever labeled her sexuality) MC. It deals with quite a few different issues including depression, identity, being plus-sized, and more. There is a lot of good about this book and how it handles these topics. I definitely think people can get something out of reading it and people will surely relate to her and her struggles.

The friendships are great, I feel so much of this book feels incredibly realistic, and Laila goes through so many struggles people can relate with. I want to point out how much this book has to offer.

It just didn't work for me.
In fact, I was a bit bored reading this. Sometimes I think it is difficult for adults to know whether or not conflicts with teens are realistic or not and while I think most of it makes sense, some of what Laila does just didn't make sense -- I don't know why she would do something that would cause an issue.
Also, her changes to accomplish what her teacher wants her to do, seemed so easy to me. For a homebody, I just thought going to a party, etc., would be more intimidating.

In the end, I'm going to recommend this to people who like contemporaries and maybe want one with a LGBT+ romance that isn't front and center but just natural part of the book. This is also a good book for people looking to read about someone who reflects themselves.

I really enjoyed Redgate’s previous book, “Noteworthy”, and again I could see how unique her style is. But the book didn’t work for me.

Laila is an introverted mestiza who loves reading and writing science fiction. She’s always had the support of her creative writing teacher until Mr. Madison is involved in a serious accident and a substitute comes to his place. Laila had always suspect her stories weren’t all that Mr. Madison always said but the new teacher’s opinions make her doubt even beyond her writings and send her on an adventure to get out of her shelf.

I get the idea. I think it’s great for teenagers to read about Laila’s self-discovery journey. But, to be honest, Redgate’s uplifting style didn’t save this book from being boring. I don’t think it was prolix, I don’t think it was the pace. I think the happenings just weren’t that interesting. Which is a pity, because the idea, the conclusions, they were all beautiful.

I loved how Laila is a mestiza, how that is something important to her. I really liked her family and would be interested in knowing better about her sister as well. Camille was very present in the story but there wasn’t much development there—not that I expected to be, there wouldn’t be room since that wasn’t the focus.

Also, Redgate went deep and made me wonder too about Laila’s dilemma. She has so much fun being in her shell and seems to hurt so much the moment she tries to come out, so is it worth it? Could there be a compromise? You’ll have to read to know the answer for Laila while I keep wondering this for my own life.

As I mentioned, this lifted some interesting themes but it wasn’t a fun read.


Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

This is a YA book with a believably (not overly) awkward, introverted, passionate, unsure of exactly who they are trying to become main character, and it's so enjoyable. The scifi parts weren't as engaging for me as a non-scifi reader/watcher/enthusiast so I wasn't able to totally get into that part, but the contemporary bits were worth it. Riley Redgate is a YA author who is telling interesting stories with great characters (and including a lot of representations in her books), and I'm here for it.

This is an intense novel, introspective and questioning. Redgate's protagonist Laila, will feel familiar to other authors. Her constant search for the perfect draft, the dread of sharing her work, and the self-doubt multiplied by spending too much time alone, being safe, writing instead of living must be something a lot of them would know about. I know I understood it, and I just write reviews.

The third person narrative constantly forced me to think deeper. Usually young adult novels are written in the first person, and the drama and angst spills over the page blatantly. But here there's deliberate distance, careful and considered. Even when Laila is feeling her worst, or her best, the emotions are tightly restrained, but written with such beautiful words, they reverberate for ages.

Laila's life has been steady and safe. Now she faces uncertainty and risk. But she wants to experience the change because she needs to know the impact it will have on her writing. I worried there would coercion and manipulation by the new creative teacher, but there wasn't. Sure she suggests, she expects, but she's also largely there for her own agenda, so she has no qualms about the ramifications these kids might face when they go out to 'experience life'.

Laila's relationships with her four best friends is a very strong part of the novel. Hannah, Leo and Felix become as real as Laila, and their support of her is unflagging and ultimately, terribly important. Laila's family are also authentically developed, although the other three missed out on the supportive parent situation. Felix's father and Hannah's parents are pretty unimpressive.

I love Redgate's Noteworthy, and can tell she is an assured and clever writer. I hope she's around, writing stories for young adults, for many years to come.

Thanks to Amulet Books and Netgalley for the advanced copy. It's out now in the US, June 11. Highly recommended for teens who like character study novels, not action-paced thrillers. Laila struggles with many issues, but she's really thoughtful and rational when she examines her thoughts, actions and motives. She does get up to a few shenanigans, such as underage drinking and drug-taking, but she never goes completely off the rails. There is some discussion about depression and other mental health issues, but we leave Laila in a place where she deserves to be: happy and content, surrounded by people she loves and who love her.

Final Draft was one of my most anticipated books of the year because Redgate's previous work has been fantastic. Unfortunately this  story lacked substance, and didn't live up to the greatness of her previous novels.

I loved the representation in here. Redgate always writes diverse characters seamlessly without it being in your face "I'm a diverse character". Laila is a plus size, pansexual, multiracial woman. Like most individuals who are multiracial, she struggles with fitting in anywhere because she's not "enough" of one group or the other.

"Laila couldn't shake the suspicion that she didn't count in some fundamental way, that her looks were enough to distance herself from her white half but not nearly enough to make her belong with her Latin half."

I did really like Laila as a character, I understood why she felt like she didn't fit in anywhere because of her race, and I enjoyed how much she loves writing. There were also funny parts dispersed through the book about her Catholic guilt. Every time she brought it up I wanted to laugh because it's A REAL THING. I PROMISE.

Laila feels very realistic, Redgate does a good job of creating realistic characters. Unfortunately in this book, the only fleshed out character is Laila, everyone else feels very one dimensional and unfinished, even the love interest.

Not only did most of the characters feel one dimensional, but the whole novel felt superficial and surface level. There's not much background or depth to any of Laila's friends or family, and they only appear on the page when it's convenient. Laila went through many struggles in the book, and even lost someone close to her, but because of the writing, I wasn't as affected by her struggles as I could have been.

I love that Laila loves writing, and was working diligently on her work, and never thought it was good enough, I felt that the story was inundated with the other worlds - of her work and the scifi show her and her friends are obsessed with. There were too many random scenes from one of these worlds thrown into the middle of the story with no warning, that it was jarring and took me out of the story.

"Guess I've got this image [...] that these stories are already out there, like these perfect little islands floating around, and I keep trying to rope them in, but I keep getting these mediocre versions that only even passingly look like what I want. So I've got to spend all my time out there casting nets, because it I spend too much time away from that universe, I'll go and forget how it feels in there, and i'll get farther and farther away from those perfect versions os what I'm trying to do."

Overall I thought this novel felt more like a draft, like it hadn't been fleshed out enough. I felt that there were too many random events or scenes thrown in that didn't connect well to the rest of the story.

Even though I don't think this is Redgate's best work, I still enjoy her writing and can't wait to see what she writes next!

Have you read Final Draft yet? What did you think of it?

I absolutely adored Riley Redgate's Noteworthy so I was so excited to be approved for this ARC! I was not disappointed with Final Draft. It lived up to everything I was expecting and then some. It's been a couple of months since I've read the ARC, so let's see if I can do this book some justice.

First off, I loved the diversity in this book. As far as I can remember, all of Laila's friend group are people of color; Laila herself is half-Ecuadorian and Hannah is Korean American, not to mention the other two friends in their group (I'm sorry, my memory is failing me rn). Laila is also plus-size, pansexual, and has anxiety, and Hannah is a lesbian!!

Next, the writing in Final Draft is just so. Good. It so accurately portrays Laila's life, her struggles as a writer, her obsession with a sci-fi TV series, her acceptance of her sexuality, just everything. We really get to see her as a person and not just as a character on the page. And as a fairly sheltered teen like Laila, getting to read her, uh, experiments felt very real.

The characters' hobbies added so much to their personalities. Like, Laila and her friends are all so different, personality-wise, but what they do have in common is this sci-fi TV show. I loved seeing this ragtag gang of friends all bond over one common interest. This and Laila's love of writing also? Surprisingly didn't annoy me, which does not make sense, but you know how sometimes you read a book and it over-explains a character's trait or something, and you think, OKAY I GET IT, she likes to bake, or whatever? Well that was not the case here. I felt as if I also loved everything Laila loves because of how good the writing was, rather than just being thrown a description.

Writing this review now has made me realize just how much I've forgotten about this book, and now I desperately want to read it and relive it again. Also, it's pride month sooooo you should definitely pick up this f/f pansexual read ;) (rip can't believe I just typed a winky face in a "formal" review, but here we are). Pick this dark contemporary up June 12th.

This is from an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.

Laila Piedra, like me, is very much into writing, but she's better looking! She secretes herself away in her room with her laptop and creates sci-fi worlds of adventure and derring-do. But daring isn't something Laila ever does herself. She'd rather have a quiet life: no partying, no boyfriend, no extra-curricular activities. She's all about writing, and meeting with her high-school senior year English teacher, Mr Madison, on lunchbreaks to discuss her stories. Apparently he has very little of a life too, and you have to wonder why he's misleading Laila so much in his advice. He seems so full of praise, but later a professional author disagrees with him.

Due to an injury, Mr Madison was forced to take time off school and substitute teacher came in. This woman was a Ukrainian ex-pat who had a successful writing career. Even given that she was a friend of the principal's, it seemed a bit of a stretch that someone of her purported stature would step in to teach. This oddity was explained later in the novel, but even accepting that, it made little sense that her approach to teaching was so minimalist that she essentially didn't teach at all. Instead, she merely had her students continue their writing projects and then marked them scathingly.

Despite Laila's skill and the endless positive, evidently criticism-free encouragement of Mr Madison, Laila's first score from Nadiya Nazarenko was a 32%. Everyone else scored less, and no one was given any real advice about what was wrong or how to improve it. No-one read their work in class either, so it felt unnaturally like a super-secret, under-the-table event; like everyone was ashamed of what they wrote, or their work was too scandalous to ever see the light of day. Worse, Laila never questioned Mr Madison's bona fides given that he was all 100% and the Nazarenko consistently less. That rang hollowly - that Laila never questioned anything.

Frankly she was a bit too passive for my taste, but then I seem condemned to prefer the side-kick characters in young adult and even middle-grade novels rather than the main one. Her sidekick is Hannah, and Hannah fascinated me.

Laila's desperate desire to impress the substitute flings the young writer into dangerous territory, visiting bars with a fake ID, and risking arrest by the police at a fight. Never once does she consider she's being foolish in pursuit of a ridiculous goal. It felt odd, too, that when a school hottie guy befriended her, she didn't try to talk him out of fighting her own friend, a guy who was dating his ex. That was an interesting little story.

The novel could have easily gone downhill several times for me, it didn't, fortunately for this review! It kept me hanging in there, sometimes by a slim thread, and even as I wondered about some of the writing choices the author was making. What made it worthwhile in the end was Laila's outcome, which I had seen coming for a while but was never quite sure if the author would actually take me there - despite having a pretty awesome name for an author: Riley Redgate! I mean come on! That's almost as good as Teenage Negasonic Warhead. You know Riley Redgate's middle name is Negasonic, right? Well, it might be!

Meanwhile, back in Realityville, I have to say that it was such a nice gift that she did do this, that I felt a bit miffed when there wasn't more of it. The novel ended somewhat abruptly with Laila's future seemingly left rather hanging. I don't know if this was a conscious choice or if the author plans on continuing this story in a second volume. It's difficult to see where that would go given the powerful ending this one had (before the abrupt bit!), but I might be tempted to read such a sequel even though I'm not a fan of series, trilogies, and the like. As for this particular volume, I consider overall, that it's a worthy read, and I recommend it.

There were parts of this book that I really liked. I loved how Laila is a writer and struggles with making her work better. The writing process is hard. I felt that the author did a good job about talking about writing and the challenges that come with that. Laila’s friend group was different and more diverse than we see in most YA books and that was so refreshing.

I read an ebook version of the book and it just jumped to the sci-fi parts of the story (that Laila) is writing and that was somewhat confusing.

The relationships throughout the entire book felt real and they definitely tugged at your heartstrings.

This book wasn’t my favorite but it was good and overall I enjoyed it. 3/5 stars.

I was sent this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

You can see more reviews on my blog: http://bookishtay.com/book-reviews/

I enjoyed Final Draft on so many different levels. On the surface level there is a phenomenal plot, at the same time there's this almost self-reflexive commentary on writing. Laila is a fantastic main character who I could instantly empathize with. Laila was me when I was in school (except I never wanted to become a writer because of insecurity, but yep).

First off, the cover and the title are amazing. It encapsulates one of the main themes - the idea or question if anything is ever done? When we work on a piece of work how do we arrive at the final draft? Does that even exist? As a writer, how do we get from the first to the final draft? Not even only as a writer, but also as a human.

We need to ask ourselves how do we produce our best work. Do we need someone to push us harshly or do we need someone who tries to cushion our fall? I keep thinking about myself and my own teachers/mentors in my life. Sometimes I was told that I needed to have a push, and I do manage to do my best work - but I am so stressed when I do. And at the same time, they were never cruel, just were critical - which is definitely a distinction.

(Also does all our work have to be ground breaking? Can we just not have fandom? Or passion projects? This is something that I've been thinking a lot about in relation to my own blog and work. Which I have, become quite obsessed with).

As a reader and a writer, this was a story I was very interested in. And it was a good and worthwhile read, even if I found myself annoyed at some of Laila's decisions. But I feel like her character was pretty relatable, with getting so obsessed with her writing and making it better, even when she got to the point where she was editing as more of an unhealthy obsession. Plus she got to where her writing and editing were to try and impress an acclaimed author instead of writing because she enjoyed it and it was what she wanted to do. I did think the romance story was cute, though I wish it had been a bigger part of the story because I would have wanted more about it.

This is my third Riley book, and I think she may have done something very clever with it. I know her writing quality. I know her humor. I've met the woman. And I'll be honest: I didn't see any of it in the first half of this book. I nearly gave up on it, in fact. But then it started getting more and more like her normal work. The humor, the pathos, the incredible turns of phrase. And I realized something. This book is about a young writer who, while good, is not great. A famous novelist is brutally honest with her and her stories start to improve... at almost the same point the book starts improving. I'm not 100% sure, and I'll see Riley in October and I will ask her, but I think she did it on purpose. I think Nazarenko's presence "affected" Riley's writing. Every suggestion Laila receives, that improvement starts appearing in the actual book. If I'm correct, and I think I am, this may be one of the most clever books I've ever read. If she confirms my theory, this will go up to 4 stars. If she didn't do it intentionally, then I read way too much into this and someone needs to write the book I just described.

The only sort of risk 18-year-old Laila Piedra enjoys in Final Draft is the peril she writes for the characters in her stories: epic sci-fi worlds full of quests, forbidden love, and robots. Her creative writing teacher has always told her she has a special talent. But three months before her graduation, he's suddenly replaced—by Nadiya Nazarenko, a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist who is sadistically critical and perpetually unimpressed.

At first, Nazarenko’s eccentric assignments seem absurd. But before long, Laila grows obsessed with gaining the woman’s approval. Soon Laila is pushing herself far from her comfort zone, discovering the psychedelic highs and perilous lows of nightlife, temporary flings, and instability. Dr. Nazarenko has led Laila to believe that she must choose between perfection and sanity—but rejecting her all-powerful mentor may be the only way for Laila to thrive. (via Goodreads)

I RECEIVED AN EARC OF FINAL DRAFT THROUGH NETGALLEY, COURTESY OF AMULET BOOKS, IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW. I HAVE PREVIOUSLY REVIEWED NOTEWORTHY BY REDGATE.
When I started reading Final Draft, I wasn't sure what to expect from it. After finishing it, I can't really figure out how I feel about it. Go figure, huh? Final Draft honestly feels unfinished to me, in a way that I'm struggling to explain.

This needs content warnings for teacher death, major depressive episode, negging by a mentor, recreational drug use, underage alcohol use, sneaking out, medication use for depression, graphic masturbation scene, and major grief. I loved that Laila was eventually able to get treatment for her major depression, and that she was hopeful about it. It's rare to get medication and therapy-positive content in YA lit, and it made a nice change.

Despite a lot happening in Final Draft, I was honestly kind of bored. I thought the relationships throughout the novel were underdeveloped, despite Laila saying how long she'd known them all.

I also didn't love the way that Laila talked about herself as a sexual being. It set off a lot of red flags for me as an asexual person, but I can't quite articulate why. If I ever figure it out, it will probably turn into an essay or something.

Overall, I think this is probably a middling rating for me. It had a lot of good things but it didn't come together well, unfortunately.

I strongly dislike writing negative reviews these days and I really loved the author's other books, so I'll keep this review as brief as possible.

Final Draft connected with me in some ways, but I couldn't see what it was trying to say. I feel like there was a message in there, but I couldn't find it. It all felt disjointed. The first half of the book felt like one thing, and the second half felt like another. Also, I really hate when books suggest that introverts have to change themselves. I get it - Laila needed to see the world from more perspectives than her own. But did that require putting her physical and mental wellbeing at risk?

Laila ends up experiencing extreme depression from her obsession with perfection. But it's never made clear if the narrative thought her teacher was in the wrong for putting her through that. Suffering doesn't equate to good art, and art is not more important than mental wellbeing. And I think the book agrees with me. But it just didn't come across well. I cannot figure out what the point in all of this was.

The reviews so far have been super positive so perhaps this book just didn't work for me. As I said, I really like the author's other books. But reading this one just made me feel sad and drained.

Diversity note: biracial (Ecuadorian/French-Canadian) pansexual protagonist who suffers from depression

Warnings: car accident, injury, hospital, death, suicidal thoughts