Audiobook Review - Maybe Meant to Be is a coming of age/coming out story that I really wanted to love. Unfortunately, the storyline seemed all over the place and the alternating points of view were at times confusing. Mark this as an additional purchase for large collections.

Everyone at the Bexley School believes that Sage Morgan and Charlie Carmichael are meant to be…even though Charlie seems to have a new girlfriend every month, and Sage has never had a real relationship. When Luke Morrissey shows up on campus, his presence immediately shakes things up. Charlie and Luke are drawn to each other the moment they meet, giving Sage the opportunity to spend time with Charlie's twin brother, Nick. If Charlie and Sage are meant to be, why can't Sage stop kissing Charlie's brother? And why can't Charlie stop thinking about kissing the new boy at school?

Thank you so much to @netgalley for the ARC! If you like high school drama (think Never Have I Ever vibes), look no further! I could totally see this being made into a movie or series. I really loved Charlie’s character and how he was able embrace who he was with some encouragement from his friends and introspection. All the raw high school emotions were depicted so well and I felt like I was back in high school listening to other people’s drama. Sometimes Sage’s character was annoying and the drama was a little too much (like so much of the heartache could be avoided if people just talked about how they felt), but as a book is targeted to a YA audience it makes sense that things were more dramatic and the emotions more heightened. The audiobook performance was great and I really liked the narrators.

I received an audio arc for this book via NetGalley!! Thank you! This is whole mess of high school/coming of age/love quadrangle (?)/miscommunication drama but I didn't exactly hate it. I also didn't exactly love it. There were some super cute scenes and I looove the dynamic between Sage and Charlie but I'm definitely too old for this writing/story (it's YA and she do be YA-ing more so than this authors other books). I imagine myself loving it if I were the target audience, however!!!

2.5 rounded up.
This book was republished this year, but it is the author’s debut work. It definitely read as a debut book. I am unsure if it is a YA book- but it reads as such.

I love a coming of age story- especially with someone understanding and allowing themselves to live a true and authentic version of themselves. I just feel like this book needed a little more flushing out and defining of what it was.

Special thanks to Net Galley and RB Media for sharing this advanced listener copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This was a cute book but maybe lacking a bit in depth. I enjoyed the cute love stories between Charlie and Luke and Sage and Nick and was rooting for them to work it out but some of the drama about why they couldn’t be together seemed forced.

I enjoyed this shifting point of view from chapter to chapter. It gave you insight into what Charlie or Sage was really thinking or experiencing. I listened to the audio book version so it was clearly from one or the other and not hard to differentiate. I will say I didn’t love the voice the narrator used for Sage and the other female characters. It was a bit grating but I get what they were going for since the characters are meant to be teenagers. I found it made it hard to connect with Sage’s storyline though as it was distracting.

My heart broke for Charlie as he grappled with his feelings and how to come out. I wish he wasn’t forced into coming out to his family but I can also see why Luke would want to be with someone that was more ready for the relationship he wanted. Tough place for sure especially since they are young. I’m glad it worked out in the end for them.

The ending was part of lacklustre as well. I was hoping for something more when we got to jump ahead a few months. Maybe someday the author will revisit these characters and we will get to find out how college and long distance worked out.

Overall, I enjoyed the cozy prep school vibes and all the ups and downs of young love. Definitely a book that you could curl up with a hot chocolate and a cozy blanket kinda vibes; perfect for fall.

I received an ARC of the audio book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a high school romance novel and the characters definitely acted their ages in how they approached their reactions to relationships. The book was sweet and the romances in the book were very sweet.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the audio-ARC of Maybe Meant to Be.

This is a rerelease (new title and cover) and that's how I got the arc.

I was really excited to read this book because I've read a couple of K. L. Walther's other books and enjoyed them. Unfortunately, this book was not for me and I really didn't enjoy it.

I found the whole story to be incredibly frustrating, annoyingly childish, and full of so much angst that I struggled to get through it. I think most of this stems from the characters. I didn't really like any of them, to be honest. I felt no connection to any of them and, quite frankly, they all have more than one instance where I wish someone would just shake some sense into them. I understand this story involves high school students, but come on, this was overkill on the teenage cliches.

The beginning of the book felt like you were just dumped into the middle of the chaos and I had a really hard time getting my bearings.

Charlie's character arc also bothered me. It was hard to see his progression and just the way that he handled everything. His character made me cringe almost every time he was present and I really wish that it didn't. I don't know if how his situation was handled in the story is the best way to approach this topic.

While I didn't like this book, I do plan on picking up more books by this author in the future.

Charlie and Sage are best friends, and everyone thinks they’re destined to be together. But they both have secrets. Sage actually has feelings for Charlie’s twin brother, and Charlie is tired of pretending to be someone he’s not.

I really liked KL Walther’s book The Summer of Broken Rules, and this one was also really enjoyable! It reminded me of Christina Lauren’s Autoboyography, another YA coming out romance. I really liked the main characters and their connections to each other. They felt really genuine and relatable in some ways. The audiobook narration wasn’t always the greatest…being from Maine, I cringed at the mispronunciation of Bowdoin, and some other words. But overall it was a really sweet YA with multiple romantic threads.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for an advanced copy of this audio-book

I felt ALL the emotions reading this book - happy, sad, hopeful, mad, and frustrated. I loved all the characters and the boarding school setting. There was so much character growth around this coming of age story, with our MMC, Charlie, coming out as gay to his family and friends after he falls hard for the new boy at school.

This was def a YA story though - I got very frustrated at times with how certain things were handled, but it is YA so I get it.

Rating: 3.5 stars

This is such a sweet coming of age boarding- high school story. There are four main characters and two intertwined love stories. Two twin brothers Charlie and Nick, Sage Morgan and newcomer Luke. Sage is the best friend everyone loves and is in love with her. Shes a sweetheart. Everyone thinks her and Charlie are the perfect match and have been together since childhood. Their friendship is unmatched. Sage is in love with his twin, Nick. This is such a sweet story, young love, growing up and figuring out life. I loved the way complex feelings, emotions are handled I this story and the way the characters are told. The dual point of view really helps you become connected and feel what the characters are going through. The audio narration is phenomenal. The dual narrators do such a great job telling the story that keeps you engaged. Narrated by Alexa Elmy; Graham Halstead. Many thanks to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This book consist of approximately equally amount of things I liked and things I didn’t like. The story in the first half was just bland but things getting picked up after that and I enjoyed it! The characters were good but I wished there was more character development. I absolutely adored the relationship of Luke and Charlie! But then the way it kind of felt like they were forcing Charlie to come out (I didn’t like that) plus I hoped there was more of Sage and Nick’s relationship. I loved the boarding school set up, the side characters, and the sweet ending ❤️

I may have been too old for the target audience which is why I feel the way I do about this one.

The high school drama was definitely present here. By the title, I expected this to me more of a romance story. It ended up having teens afraid to admit their true feelings. Flip flopping relationships. Hearts breaking. It felt very early 2000's. In the beginning it was hard to keep up with. With so many characters, it was confusing to know who was involved in certain parts. I respected the bond between the two main characters and how they always had each others backs even when it meant they lost something.

The female voice was fine, but when she was quoting another character her voice got higher and annoying.

oh well, guess it’s a dnf at 40%😭. i didn’t care AT ALL! i was almost halfway through and still trying to figure out who’s who in relationship to who which you’re supposed to know pretty early on right? you can see why i didn’t care since i couldn’t tell who was who. the school setting was also confusing, especially since i’m not american so some of the terms they used were never explained. and those 40% were extremely forgettable. a big nope

Really loved The Summer of Broken Rules, so I was excited to read this one. Unfortunately, I really struggled to get through it and really only finished because it was an ARC. It was not very engaging and really drug on for way too long for me. I do think the story had an important message and it ended nicely, I just wish there would have been more going on throughout the story.

I had such high hopes for this book, but I just think that too much was going on for this one. This story has so much potential, but the characters are never really fully fleshed out which leads to there not being much development.I would have love this book to have been divided into 2 separate stories for each couple.

Yesterday was the re-release day for K.L. Walther’s young adult romance book “Maybe Meant to Be”.
This was formerly titled “If We Were Us” and originally released in 2020. Somehow both of these titles fit the story perfectly…

This book is about young love, first love and self-love. The relationships are beautiful, wholesome and heartbreaking. I was reminded about how big and raw emotions feel at this age, and how intense the social pressure to fit in can feel. Listening to the story had me feeling so nostalgic for high school, even if my school wasn’t nearly as cool as Bexley. The author did a sensational job with the describing details of dorm life, cultivating the romantic gestures- both big and small, as well as establishing the close friendships. She reminds us that we can only find true love when we are courageous enough to be vulnerable and accepting of ourselves.

Set at a New England boarding school, we follow four main characters- Charlie, Sage, Nick and Luke through their final year before heading to college. Charlie Carmichael is the big shot on campus- he is a hockey star, lead in the school play and notorious heartbreaker, having dated almost every girl at the school for at least five minutes. His best friend since childhood is Sage Morgan, equally popular senior girl. Everyone at the Bexley School and even their families believe that Sage Morgan and Charlie Carmichael are meant to be, despite Charlie’s many flings and the fact that Sage has never had a real relationship. If Charlie and Sage are meant to be, why can't Sage stop kissing Charlie's brother? And why can't Charlie stop thinking about kissing the new boy at school? The duo will need to rely on each other and their lifelong friendship to figure things out with the boys they love.

I really enjoyed the audiobook version as it was narrated by Alexa Elmy and Graham Halstead and is told in a dual POV from Charlie and Sage’s perspectives. My favorite character shifted throughout the story from Nick to Luke to Sage to Charlie, but by the end I decided that there is no way you could get me to choose 😂 I love them all!

I am officially a K.L. Walther stan having read The Summer of Broken Rules earlier this year. (And loved it!) I will be adding her latest book, What Happens After Midnight (released June 27, 2023) to my TBR this fall.

Huge thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for providing me with an ARC of the audiobook of Maybe Meant to Be in exchange for an honest review.

🏫 YA coming of age
🏫 Boarding school
🏫 Friendships & relationships
🌈 Queer rep
🏫 Dual POV
🏫 Miscommunication done well

The Summer I Turned Pretty vibes....but not.
Sage is best friends with twin brothers Charlie & Nick. Its giving love triangle vibes....but not.
She is falling hard for Nick while Charlie has eyes for someone else. Her friendship grows and blossoms with Charlie which causes some drama between the dynamic.

We get Charlie + Sages alternating pov but they aren't the two in a relationship so we actually get TWO relationship stories.

The audio was done really well and was easy to keep up with the multiple characters.

Thank you netgalley and K.L. Walther for this ALC & ARC

When I went to listen to this one, I realized that I actually read this one when it first came out as “If We Were Us” and i absolutely love it! Here’s my original review for it:

Where do I even start? I’ve been wanting to read this book for awhile so I was so excited when I was finally able to buy it. Then I started it and the first few chapters didn’t pull me in the way I thought they would (I think it was mainly that all of the boarding school stuff confused me so it didn’t really click with me) so I was disappointed because I thought I wasn’t going to like it but then the plot started really kicking in and the next thing I knew all I could think about was these characters. While Sage, Charlie, Nick, and Luke each had their own flaws about them, they all stole my heart and made me root for them. The relationships made my heart clinch in the best way and the friendships made my heart so happy. ☺️ I just really loved this book ♥️

Maybe Meant to Be is able Sage and Charlie. They have been best friends since they were toddlers. Everyone thinks they are in love with each other and either doesn't know it or won't admit it.

Charlie has a twin named Nick. Nick has been in love with Sage for the past two years. It is their senior year of high school and he is hoping she feels the same. They begin seeing each other but Sage wants to keep is a secret to protect Charlie. After a few months, Nick is no longer interested in being her secret. They break up.

Charlie meets one of the new students Luke. He does everything to spend time with him. Luke had already come out as gay but Charlie won't even admit to himself that he is gay. He knows that he likes guys but is too scared of how everyone will see him. So he dates almost all the girls but for only 2-4 weeks then ends it. He wants something with Luke but eventually Luke doesn't want to be Charlie's secret.

Charlie first comes out to Luke and Sage. He then tells Nick hoping it would fix things between Nick and Sage. It takes him a while to get the courage to come out to his parents. Once he does, he realizes everyone will still love him and he comes out to everyone. He gets Luke back.

I really enjoyed listening to Maybe Meant to Be and think Graham Halstead and Alexa Elmy did a good narration.

I just reread Walther’s <i>The Summer of Broken Rules</i>, so I was ecstatic when my request for the audiobook ARC of this one came through. Unfortunately, this just did not live up to the expectations set by Walther’s sophomore novel.


<b>TEENAGER DIALOGUE.</b> The first most noticeable issue lies in the way Walther writes teenagers. While she nails their behavior, the dialogue makes me cringe. They constantly call things “epic” and use other turns of phrase that feel so unnatural and forced that it is clear an adult is trying too hard to write teenagerspeak.

I noticed this a bit in <i>The Summer of Broken Rules</i>, but it was less obvious there than it was here. Knowing that this is a re-release of her debut novel, I’m glad to say that she’s shown marked improvement in this area. I just wish they’d worked on editing this a bit more ahead of the rebranding and re-release.


<b>THE CASE OF THE VANISHING PLOT.</b> My next major issue is that there is no plot. Sage is friends with the Carmichael boys. Nick and Sage like each other, but Sage doesn’t want to have a relationship out in the open due to (underdeveloped and ham-fisted) parental divorce trauma. Then there’s Charlie, who everyone assumes will get with Sage eventually after he’s done dating every other girl in their senior class. Soon, it becomes clear that Charlie has feelings for Luke, but due to being closeted, Sage now has a second reason to keep her relationship with Nick a secret—to allow Charlie to explore his sexuality without being outed.

The latter reason for Sage to keep her and Nick a secret was the much more convincing and compelling motivator. My issue with her parental divorce trauma, as stated previously, is that it felt contrived and underdeveloped. There were only vague mentions of it, and that led to it feeling like a pretty flimsy barrier, which ultimately lowered the stakes and tension of their romance. More attention needed to be given to develop that in order for it to be a convincing enough barrier to the couple’s success.

All of this relationship messiness aside, there wasn’t much else that occurred. There wasn’t anything significant that the characters were wanting or working toward that was highlighted well enough and built up within the text. Sure, you could say college applications could qualify, but they were mentioned only in passing. There needed to be a B plot driving the story forward instead of total reliance on the romantic love square that fell flat due to the underdeveloped motivations and apprehensions of Sage specifically.


<b>RUSHED RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT.</b> The last issue is that this book skips over a lot of development within each relationship in favor of fast-forwarding to relationship milestones we haven't earned. Luke and Charlie confessing their love? I felt nothing. Sage pining after Nick when he dumps her and moves onto Emma because she’s so convinced they have the kind of future together that equals babies and marriage? Nothing. How did we get here? We were being told instead of shown how strong the relationships were, and it cheapened the story for me in the end.


<b>FINAL THOUGHTS.</b> Ultimately, these issues hampered my enjoyment of this novel. As far as audiobook narrations go, this one was decently done. The two POV characters, Sage and Charlie, have their own narrators. The two actors did a decent job, but didn’t bring anything particularly extraordinary to the table.



<b>Overall Rating:</b> 2 stars

<i>A big thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, RB Media, for providing me with an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!</i>