This was so unfortunate for a debut. I really wanted to love this book, but the writing and pacing were so off and the characters were SO two-dimensional

This was one of those books that were not the best, yet not the worst one either. I had picked it up several times but never finished, until now. One of the downsides of this book is that it feels like constantly building up but never truly reaches the breakthrough. The writing really felt dry and one-pace.

Justin, the main character, was in ways, to simply put it, annoying and he wasn’t really changing throughout the book. Up until perhaps the last pages of the book.

On the bright side, these kinds of stories and topics should be published more and are in general very important.

This was just....bad, honestly. Some scenes were really weird and cringey, and the writing was dry. I will not be returning to this author. Great cover though.

A YA romance where the MC is outed by the love interest, who acts incredibly controlling and creepy. And since the story is set over two weeks, they obviously have to share I-love-yous after only a week.

This is set in the 90s, although the time period isn't pushed hard enough. The teens don't text obviouly, and the MC carries around a walkman to listen to 80s music, but if it weren't for that gimmick it's actually hard to remember that this doesn't take place in recent years.

This was just annoying cliché after cliché, amounting to incredible amounts of pointless melodrama. The MC has no personality, except tolerating abuse from his "friends".

This one wasn't for me sadly. The writing wasn't my favorite and I found it very slow paced. The characters were not my favorite I found them very immature. The idea and premise of the story were great but I just couldn’t connect with it.

This was full of so much potential, but I found it so flat, and was confused by both the pacing, and the fact that the characters repeatedly made the same mistakes. I think stories like this are important, and I'm sure this book will resonate with many people, but unfortunately this just isn't quite what I'm looking for in a queer story these days.

I tried really hard to get into this book but I was just bored the whole time so I couldn’t finish it.

Sadly, this book wasn`t for me. I wasn`t invested in the story or the characters ._. I really wanted to be, plus the front was cool! But it just wasn`t for me.

This one wasn't for me. The writing wasn't my favorite and the characters were immature and some relationships I just didn't understand. The idea and premise of the story were great and I wished I had liked this book more.

This was a pretty interesting concept, and though I wasn't sure I would like the story, I ended up being really surprised! Great play on family dynamics with the road trip but I also just appreciated the way the story handles its LGBTQ+ characters.

Unfortunately had to DNF the book at about 20%. The writing I felt was a little stilted and did nothing for me.

This book was fast paced and I really enjoyed it. It was a happy(ish) ending in a crazy time. I did feel like Benny was ... extra and some key moment we’re overly dramatic in a way that was like “what just happened?” But overall I enjoyed it.

The Mixtape to My Life is not a story for me.
I received an arc for an honest review, but this was a DNF for me.
I just couldn't connect to the story or characters.

I'm kind of on the fence about this book, I thought it was an okay read but I also felt like the writing was a bit juvenile and the characters weren't my favorite.

This is set in 1994, so being gay is less tolerated and Justin has to hide who he is for fear of being bullied at school or disowned by his parents. I felt for Justin in his struggles, finding love for the first time and trying to sort out your feelings. He also had a lot of drama with his friends. Benny has been his best friend for two years, but at one point he calls Justin a homophobic slur, which I hated and had a difficult time liking Benny after that. Lila wasn't as bad, but the fact that she didn't seem mad at Benny after what he did kind of bugged me. Even Justin was overly dramatic sometimes and needed to stop letting his emotions rule him.

There are some cute moments, especially between Justin and Dominic and I also liked all the 80s rock songs throughout the story. I can see that this is based on the author's life and that does give it more meaning to me, but it felt a bit unpolished and young.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

The mixtape idea, with chapters being named for different songs from the 80s, was a good one, but seemed forced. Again, I wasn't feeling much depth from Justin as a character. Here, as an example, I kept having to remind myself that Justin was into music. He never really developed into a full character for me.

Thank you to #netgalley for my early release of #MixtapetoMyLife. This book felt to me like a coming-out age story set in the 90s. The Main character Justin lobed music mainly from the 80s and was in a band at school. Justin ended up talking in love with the star highschool guy, the popular one. At the beginning, only one person knew about Justin's sexuality, otherwise he was still hiding in the closet about it. Justin has more than just the problem of being gay. He also has a rocky relationship with his father whose also the school sports coach and pressures him to get involved with sports which isn't Justin's thing at all. There's a spicy romance between Justin and the star boy of highschool, Dominic. Dominic is also from Justin's past and becomes his present again. Dominic is confused on what's going on with him but at the end realizes his feelings for Justin.
In my personal opinion I only gave this book 4 stars because, I felt it went way too fast. Yes, Dominic and Justin have a past but this wasn't a "pick up where we left off" moment. All this book was in the spanse of 2 weeks.

A huge thank you to Big Hearts YA via Net Galley for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a huge bust for me. I honestly expected to love it because I grew up in the 90′s and have a huge appreciation for 80′s hair bands. I was totally expecting a throwback to my childhood while reading some reconnection romance and that is just...not at all what I got from this.

I’m not even sure how to describe how I feel about this in a coherent or cohesive manner either because while there were plenty of things I really enjoyed (Lila, the sheer love/appreciation of music) but there was just so much that just made me sit back and go ‘Uhhh...’ cause it just seemed really problematic and unnecessary.

* The overabundance of the ‘f’ slur in reference to gay people. Yes, I know this is a book set in the 90′s and the author himself is gay and this is sort of his own tale but still. I don’t think it was needed to be on page as many times as it was. And at one point, the MC’s supposed best friend uses said slur against his best friend to intentionally hurt him. WTF!?

* Justin’s first kiss was taken from him by Lila at the pressure from Benny, his best friend, who then gave him his first m/m kiss. Like...what?! No consent. No nothing.

* One of the song titles used for a chapter had a slur for Roma people on it. This is me being nitpicky but still. There are millions of songs in the world, Jake could’ve chosen another one that was just as appropriate for it’s use.

* A Jewish slur is used as a character’s name. Now, Justin is Mexican and I looked up the name in question and it is a Mexican name but c’mon now, author’s choice.

Oddly enough, the story itself felt very stilted but at times way too rushed. The events of the book all happened within two weeks and Justin/Dominic went from not having seen each other in 3 years (they weren’t even friends three years prior, fyi) to reconnecting, falling in love, saying I love you, wanting to have sex, and then actually running away together because they didn’t want to be apart EVER for the rest of their lives.

I can’t speak to the Mexican rep or the gay male rep because I am neither and this is an #ownvoices novel but I just can’t get past all the racist stuff, poor writing, and unbelievable plot movement to have truly enjoyed this.

What a struggle it was to get through this book. I was discouraged to continue reading when I saw a lot of other reviewers pointing out the same harmful and borderline creepy issues that I also had. From the repetitive writing to the measly plot, I was just not intrigued. I do think the author had the right message in mind, the execution just left a LOT to be desired. The romance was unconvincing and the characters just felt very flat, there wasn't anything attention-grabbing except for the lowkey annoyance I felt every time a bit of dialogue sounded too forced - which was on almost every page.
Definitely not my cup of tea, but oh well.

This was a struggle to get through and an even bigger struggle to rate. I really wanted to bump this up to a three because I feel like the author's heart is in the right place and the message was good in theory but I really hated the execution and can't rate it above a two because of that.

The writing was pretty bland and repetitive, I definitely wasn't a fan. The more I read the more I got used to it but in the beginning it was so jarring I wanted to dnf it - the only reason I didn't was because I received this as an arc and wanted to try and give it a chance.

The characters were so bland and annoying I really didn't feel anything for any of them. Justin, the main character, came off as whiny and annoying and the side characters weren't any better. I do feel for his situation and I understand a lot of his thought processes but I think his character and his actions were ruined by the storytelling and the shoddy plot. I just didn't feel for any of them and as someone who's enjoyment of things relies heavily on how much I like the characters this story really didn't have much of a chance.

I also just did not like the plot. It was boring at times, predictable and super cheesy and even had me rolling my eyes several times because I couldn't believe what was happening. A lot of things didn't make sense and things seemingly happened out of nowhere. It was just a mess. Especially where the romance was concerned. Not only was that messy but I honestly just flat out hated it. There wasn't much about them interacting with each other and then once they were together things moved so fast it was unbelievable. I mean, they were saying they loved each other after a week

Honestly, there wasn't anything that I liked about this but a lot of the issues I had with this seem like they stemmed from the fact that this was Jake Martinez' first book. The idea was there and so was the message but the execution was so poorly done there's not really anything I like about this.

Thanks go out to NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for providing me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like I sleep-walked through this entire book. None of it sank in or gripped me like I wanted it to, and I’m disappointed... but I’m angry, too, for wasting my time. I feel a little awful for saying that, as it’s Mr. Martinez’s debut, but I have to be honest. It’s just a muddled mess of high school angst, cringe-inducing encounters, unconvincing romance, and a steady bombardment of annoying, clichéd MELODRAMA.

What follows are bullet points of the many reasons I disliked The Mixtape to My Life:

•Justin
I guess the main reason this didn’t work for me is the MC. He’s just... bland. This isn’t a big book (it’s under 200 pages), so the amount of info-dumping at the beginning was annoying, and the characterization of Justin rushed. My first impression of him wasn’t a positive one, and it remained that way all through the book. There was not much to like in regards to Justin, and that’s upsetting.

•The “Friends”
I didn’t see how Justin could tolerate Benny (his supposed BFF): the same person who spilled his biggest secret to his new girlfriend, and caused him to flash his crush—and crush’s mother— (full on twig and berries) without any repercussions? Like, dude, you ripped your friend’s shorts and briefs down, embarrassing the hell out of him, and then y’all go and play Mario Kart like everything is hunky dory? And I was beginning to warm to Lila, Benny’s GF, before this next part: Justin offhandedly admits to never having had a first kiss, so Benny and Lila take it upon themselves to essentially assault Justin— Lila kisses him out of the blue, unprovoked, taking away from Justin what is considered a teenaged milestone: the first kiss. AND THEN, Lila practically forces Benny to kiss Justin, too, which... what the fuck? He didn’t want to. How is this all okay? If my first kiss was stolen from me in that way, I’d be fuming! That whole passage made me so uncomfortable. Everything was always Justin’s fault, even after his “friends” did messed up, problematic things. It made no sense. There are countless other instances of Benny and Lila being the ABSOLUTE WORST FRIENDS EVER. I just gave up.

•The Romance
If I ever read a more pitiful love story...
I found it so sickeningly juvenile and angst-y and unconvincing. All that cringe-y pining on Justin’s part got old real fast. I don’t believe for a second that Dominic would ever be interested in Justin, or conversely, why Justin was so goo-goo-eyed over Dominic? Like, I get it: good looking and he stood up for you. But everything was surface-level BS. Chill the f*ck out. A hollow romance, and a one-dimensional love interest.

•The Gimmick
It seems like every YA offering has some kind of gimmick to draw a reader’s attention, whether it be a kooky character trait, or a unique setting/time period. But the addition of Justin always carrying around a Walkman and listening to niche 80’s music seemed like a cheap gimmick for a story like this. Also, the setting of the book in the nineties. If it weren’t for the musical selections and lack of teens texting, it could’ve been now. The time period wasn’t pushed hard enough for me to find any conceivable reason for it being set then. So, yeah, the “mixtapes” felt like an obvious ploy to appeal to readers by having a quirky character trait, and as though the author created the entire story around that one idea... and it just adds nothing to the narrative.

•Marching Band
It took up way too much page space, and was simply boring and wholly uninteresting.

•All the Bullies
Okay, I found it totally unrealistic that there were THAT MANY assholes at that school. I think I counted at least half a dozen who bullied Justin in some way. And they’re all, again, one-dimensional bullies: they snicker and sneer, tease and harass, but it’s... so... goddamned... CHILDISH! Give me more nuance to the bullies! High School is not like that... AT ALL!

•The Writing
The writing felt extremely shallow; vacant of any emotional impact. Tip: if you find the main character pathetic and whiny, stop reading. In this case, it just got worse. Every conflict and plot point was so damn predictable, it was not worth reading 200 pages about. You could guess each and every resolution early on. This book took the easy way out in terms of cliché plot lines and cheesy writing. To make it all go down within a two-week timeframe was just absurd to me. I rolled my eyes so much during this read, that I strained them in their sockets. Now, I have a headache. I blame everything about this book for that.

On the surface, I understand Justin’s feelings of inadequacy: of being a “coconut” in the Latinx community, but this topic wasn’t handled in a way that I found deep or resonating, and I don’t think the author pushed it far enough.

In the end, I wished I had DNF’d this. I soldiered through instead.... and that was a mistake.