I was very excited to read a YA novel with a POC as the main love interest, however the writing style just didn’t work for me although the story itself is a wonderful concept.

YES YES YES I LOVE THIS BOOK! After I read the Arc, I went out and found out when it was coming out and went straight ahead and brought a copy. It's safe to say multiple people i know will be getting this book for christmas

A cute love story that has a horrifyingly sad overturn of what happens when you lose someone you love before you really have a change to love them properly.

A witty, well-controlled and gripping narrative from start to finish - this is the modern sci-fi novel I’ve been waiting for! Love, time travel, and an outstanding hero in Jack King, this feels like the “choose your own adventure” novels I grew up on but with a more poignant sense of responsibility at its core.

This novel has a lot of heart and will mean the world to young people who have grown up thinking they can’t be the star of the sci-fi/fantasy fiction they love.

This is one of those books that you expect to need a tissue for. But honestly, it left me a bit cold. For whatever reason, I couldn't seem to care about Kate. I think perhaps the first act was a little too quick. Whilst we get to know Jack well, who incidentally is very likeable in a geeky way, Kate remains a little distant. There are some very touching moments in this but for me, they were more about Jacks relationship with his family and friends which seemed to ring truer than his relationship with Kate. An interesting novel, but sadly not one for me.

Opposite of Always is a very cute contemporary YA, with a sweet romance at its center. Jack is very lovable protagonist, and you really feel for his whirlwind of a journey. Jack is drawn into a time-travelling cycle every time Kate dies as a result of her chronic illness. His mission now: to save her life.

I really enjoyed this novel, and particularly wanted to single out the very personable and engaging writing style. It did not take a lot for me to start to love the characters here, and I was rooting for Jack and Kate to get their happy-ever-after. While it loses points for me a bit, as it was ultimately fairly predictable and perhaps a bit too saccharine for my tastes, this really stands up as a companion to the likes of teen romances from John Green.

It was an excellent summer read and I look forward to seeing what Reynolds writes next.

I enjoyed this read rather a lot. It's an intriguing premise which, for the most part, I think did work. The writing was engaging and I found the character's relationships interesting and believable. A very good YA read that I think many will enjoy.

This is such a beautiful story. It was heartbreaking and frustrating at times, I guess when you have the chance to relive a part of your life over and over again you're bound to make some mistakes as you try to figure out the point of it all. Especially when you're trying to save someone you love. But it was really sad to see Jack mess up his friendships and relationships. I loved seeing how he he did things differently each time, and the outcomes - or rather, the consequences - of his actions. The ending was pretty wonderful. I enjoyed this book.

I had a job to get into this book but with perseverance, it is worthwhile. Lots of great ideas and quotes. A difficult read but worthwhile!

This review will be posted on 15/8/19.

Opposite of Always is a very hyped book, and I can see why. I read it back in February, and as someone who’s not normally a fan of romance and main characters who are all about their romantic relationships, I ended up really enjoying it.

What hooked me was the promise of a Groundhog Day time travel loop. Jack (Jack King… lol), our main character, is stuck in a loop to try to save his girlfriend from dying. I absolutely love books and movies about time travel and parallel universes, which is why I requested this one.

I have to admit, Jack’s relationship with Kate is kind of insta-lovey, but that can be forgiven because the more I saw of them, the better I felt about it. Their relationship developed a lot better than I thought it would at the beginning, and getting glimpses into it over and over again really helped.

What I liked most about Opposite of Always was the way Justin Reynolds handled the other relationships. The relationships that Jack had with his friends and his family were the best part. Reynolds really showed how important it is to include everyone in your life, and not to shut people out. These relationships are just as important as any other relationship if you’re surrounded by good people, and the book teaches appreciation and respect. I had a lot of time for that.

Opposite of Always is a fast paced ride, and I had a lot of fun reading it. It got a bit emotional, but it was definitely worth the tears.

Jack meets Kate at a party and after a whirlwind romance he's smitten. But Kate is ill and she dies. Jack is distraught but then all of a sudden he's back on the stairs at the exact same party. Can he change their fates? Don't be put off by the fantastical elements of the story, just sit back and enjoy the ride. The characters made this book for me, I loved each one of them. The relationships between the main characters, the families (Jack's parents... *heart emoji*) were spot on and the minor characters were just as important as Jack and Kate. I enjoyed the ending; I won't give much away but it felt right and the message to just enjoy the moment is an important one.

Opposite of Always is the best 2019 release I’ve read so far this year. Jack and Kate meet on the stairs at a party and quickly fall in love, but their relationship does not have a happy ending: Kate has sickle cell, and it kills her. However, something doesn’t want this to be the end of Jack and Kate, and her death constantly sends Jack back to the moment that they left, leaving him fighting against death in a race against time which he seems destined to lose. Taking the idea of Groundhog Day and combining it with two star-crossed lovers is brilliant, but the thing that really grabs you about Opposite of Always is the cinematic way that Justin A. Reynolds tells the story. If this one isn’t adapted into a film sooner rather than later I’ll be highly surprised.

What’s it About? Jack meets Kate at a party, they fall in love and everything is dreamy and then Kate dies and Jack wakes up on the day he met her and Jack has to decide - does he try to save her, even though the whole idea of time travel seems ridic? Of course he does, over and over. This, is that.
What I liked Wow but the premise of this book is so cute it hurts, like TFiOS meets The Time Traveller's Wife. I love a good meetcute, I like a nice love story, I like some heartbreak and I am always and forever here for some time travel. Sign me right up for this book please. I loved the Groundhog Day way the story unfolded - you'd think the same loop on repeat would get old quick, but it works. It'd work really well on screen actually. Jack is cute and his character arc is excellent; the way he changes with each journey through his own story is excellent storytelling.
What I liked Less I was a little bit bored by the romance element which is problematic because that's what the book is actually about. I was so much more invested in Jack's relationships with his family and friends. Also you know I can't even remember how this ended.

Thank you to My Kinda Book and netgalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

content warnings: disease, death (over and over again), absentee parents, grief

Jack meets Kate at a party at a college, and after some serious courting they eventually start dating and go to Homecoming together. Then Kate dies. She had a very serious disease and didn’t tell Jack about it. In a fit of grief, Jack accidentally falls down the stairs and bumps his head. When he wakes up he’s gone back to the few days before he met Kate and the story starts again. But this time he tries to change things.

This was definitely an interesting read. I watched Groundhog Day a fair few times growing up as it always seemed to be on telly. And this book is obviously very reminiscent of that, however this is over a lot longer period of time. It’s also like Groundhog Day in that there isn’t really an explanation for why the time loop happens. It just does. Unless I’m misremembering Groundhog Day.

The start of this novel is your kind of typical YA novel but then the time loop starts. If you’re finding it a bit dull at the beginning, keep at it until you get to the time loop because that’s where the real meat of the story is.

I liked seeing Jack mature through each loop. He goes through some really selfish periods where he completely forgets his friends. He tries to not even both contacting Kate. He grows a lot, because really, all put together it’s years of time.

Fair warning, this book has an open ending. I know a lot of people have issues with open endings, but some people like them. For me, it depends on the book. I liked this open ending because it did feel up to the reader whether the loop actually ended or not.

This is a nice Teen romance.
Although the story is fairly predictable the characters keep you involved enough to keep you engaged.

I absolutely LOVED the main voice in this, and there were so many really fantastic lines that I highlighted to remember in the future. I particularly liked the play on words regarding his name and the whole “Jack of all trades, king of none” idea. So clever!!

I really liked the premise of this book, although I did find it got slightly repetitive after a while and you were just waiting for it all to start over again. That said, it was a really unique idea which is pretty difficult to do nowadays with so many YA books out there that often end up being very similar to each other.

It took me a while to get into, but it was a great book nonetheless. The writing style is what really sold it for me.

I want to preface this review by saying that I love alternate reality fiction. I hungrily request anything in this genre, which is why I was delighted when NetGalley allowed me to read the arc of Opposite of Always

However, I was disappointed. Opposite of Always tells the doomed love story of Jack and Kate. It doesn’t feel like a book that came out in 2019, it feels older, with the same narrative beats I’ve read before. Boy is in the friendzone. Girl he likes is dating best friend. Boy meets mysterious girl. Girl is quirky and likes cereal. Girl dies. Remember when every YA novel was about teens with terminal illness? Bad times.

The narrative style didn’t draw me in either. The prologue of OoA makes the story seem like a science fiction, (Police! Needles! Dying Girl in Mysterious Hospital!) but then it quickly switches to YA. Things happened too quickly for my liking, I know that Reynolds probably wanted to get straight into the action, but I wanted time to slow down and develop the story. When Kate dies for the first time, it happens so fast that it lost the emotional beats.

The main character, Jack, is boring. His only traits are not being good at much, and being Obsessed with Kate. The book is painfully straight, all Jack wants to do is follow Kate about and kiss her. Before that, all Jack wanted to do is follow Jill about and kiss her. When your main character wants to do nothing but follow girls about, you have a problem.

Overall, Opposite of Always is good idea in theory, but on paper, the story fizzles out. The characters have no personality apart from YA tropes, and the illness storyline just feels cheap and overused.

2.5 stars

Jack meets Kate at a party and they hit it off instantly. They grow closer but then Kate dies.
Jack somehow finds himself back in time at the party where he and Kate first met.
Jack knows he must use this chance to try and save Kate.
Can Jack prevent Kate's death?
Will his actions effect his friends and family too?

I have mixed feelings about Opposite of Always.
There were times when I liked Jack, but there were also times when I found him really annoying and thought he was selfish and a bad friend.
I liked Kate. She seemed like someone I would want to be friends with.
I also liked Jack's relationship with his parents.
The time travel aspect of the plot was interesting, especially seeing what changed during each alternate time, but I did get a little bored at times.
The writing style wasn't one of my favourites - it didn't hold my attention all the time.
I love time travel, so I was excited to read this, but it didn't quite hit the mark for me.

Overall this was an okay but disappointing read.

I liked this because it didn’t focus solely on the love story but also explored the importance of other relationships in Jack’s life, most notably friendship. I hope that a teenage audience will appreciate the importance of friendship over that one romantic relationship that so many aspects of their lives seem to demonstrate is the be-all and end-all. A sweet book.

A lovely read. Very well written and strong characters. Enjoy this book. Recommended read. Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for my eARC of this book in exchange for my honest unbiased review