Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid [Book Review]

Title: Never Always Sometimes
Author: Adi Alsaid
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Source: From Publisher for honest review.
Release Date: August 4, 2015

Never date your best friend.
Always be original.
Sometimes rules are meant to be broken.
Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be cliché high school kids—the ones who sit at the same lunch table every day, dissecting the drama from homeroom and plotting their campaigns for prom king and queen. They even wrote their own Never List of everything they vowed they’d never, ever do in high school. 
Some of the rules have been easy to follow, like #5, never dye your hair a color of the rainbow, or #7, never hook up with a teacher. But Dave has a secret: he’s broken rule #8, never pine silently after someone for the entirety of high school. It’s either that or break rule #10, never date your best friend. Dave has loved Julia for as long as he can remember. 
Julia is beautiful, wild and impetuous. So when she suggests they do every Never on the list, Dave is happy to play along. He even dyes his hair an unfortunate shade of green. It starts as a joke, but then a funny thing happens: Dave and Julia discover that by skipping the clichés, they’ve actually been missing out on high school. And maybe even on love.

This book was the classic well told story with twists, turns, and emotions that never stopped coming! This was my first time reading this author having missed the bandwagon for his debut LETS GET LOST I'm glad I finally get to see what everyone was talking about because there are many great things to be said about this story.

The writing style is fantastic. Really, I was hooked from the beginning of Dave's Story and instantly felt drawn into his world.

The book is split into multiple sections: Dave's Story, Julia's Story, and then both of them combined. I liked that the views were split up because it was easy to follow, but I still feel like Dave was the main character throughout the book and that it is ultimately his story. I loved the male protagonist and Dave's point of view... most of the time.

The concept of completing an "Never List" at the end of high school was original, and I enjoyed the steps Dave and Julia took towards their experiences. They wanted to miss nothing, but also they didn't want to lose their spirit or change. Unfortunately changing is impossible, and they find this out.

Dave was easy to relate to as his pining and unrequited love is an emotion we all know and it felt extremely human. Gretchen was a good experience for him and I enjoyed Gretchen's role in the story... most of the time. There were times when I was confused and I felt like they made it particularly difficult on themselves all the time.

Julia took me longer to understand. The things she did often didn't make sense to me, and I felt the urge to virtually slap her on more than one occasion. I liked her though and felt her and David's relationship was nice, easy, and it made sense to me.

I really loved this book and I appreciate what the author did in his choices for the storyline, though I was a bit taken back by the ending. It took me by surprise and in some ways I felt cheated... but then again I think that may have been the point.

Overall: I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an original take on a classic premise. Definitely recommending for anyone who is looking for a good contemporary.