4.5 Stars“You don’t always get to pick the role you’re going to play in life, but it’s good to play whatever role you got the best way you can.”Fate and its fun little twists can bring people together. When we need a push or hand, life seems to provide inspiration or help in one form or another. I believe with all my heart that we bump into and find people in this world when we need them the most. No matter how far we have to go—through time, land, space, or high school. In Matthew Quick’s Boy 2...

1.75 ✰The main plot was nice, but the end felt really random. It was a whole different story and didn't make any sence.

What a peculiar book. I'm not saying it was necessarily too offbeat but it was different in a way I didn't expect it to be. In a good way. In an excellent way actually. Finley is heading into his senior year. Things look good for the most part. As good as things can be with living in Belmont--a town run by the Irish mob. He's been training all summer with his girlfriend Erin for basketball season. They both are on basketball teams. Erin is a star on the girls’ team and is pinning her hopes on ge...

Finley's entire life is basketball and he trains tirelessly even though he's nowhere near the best player on the team. As his dad says, effort can outwork talent. Basketball consumes his every waking thought and he wouldn't have it any other way. Without basketball and the team he'd have too much time to remember all of the things he's desperate to forget. Russ is new to town, a basketball phenom who's love of the game died with his parents. Now he's calling himself Boy21, saying he's an alien l...

Meh. It had potential. but didn't live up.Review to come.YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads

I think this is now my second favorite Matthew Quick book behind Silver Linings Playbook. The last one of his I read was so weird (The Good Luck of Right Now) that I don't even remember what it was about. This one had a great story and an interesting message. If you have just finished a monotonous read and need a quick pick me up (only 5 hours unabridged audio), this is worth giving a try.It has some light-heartedness. I has some despair. It has comedy. It has tragedy. Side note: I finished this...

Going into this book I thought it was going to be a story about friendship, and how that changes each boy's life, but I was very disappointed. It felt like the friendship was never given the chance to develop, and was almost an afterthought, and not the central theme of the story like the synopsis seemed to suggest.I liked Finley, and I felt for his struggles, and his work ethic. I liked that not being a star basketball player didn’t keep Finley from working harder than the anyone else on the te...

I think I have some sort of crying disorder. Seriously. The characters in this book have their tragedies and vulnerable emotional moments, both big and small, and it's all very authentic, but c'mon.Next thing I know, I will be crying at heartwarming television commercials.Oh wait, that's already happened. I need to read something funny, like NOW. Real review later. This will be a good one for reluctant teen readers who want something both unusual and serious that doesn't talk down to them.[I edi...

Ella Fitzgerald-I'm beginning to see the lightWOW! This book was not what I expected it to be at all. I didn't expect to sympathize or connect to this book, because I felt like it would be JUST about basketball (Sport ,in general, are not my forte). Boy, was I wrong. This book has probably been the book I've connected to the most. Why is it that some people are born into fantastic situations and others wait their whole lives for a break?Friends and characters like Finley rarely exist in real li

**I just finished reading this again as a read aloud. I love this book. 10/17/12**Review originally posted at Y.A. LovePlain and simple, Boy21 is a GREAT book. I was on the search for a quality read aloud for my freshmen English classes, so I picked up Boy21 on a whim. I wanted to read it anyway, but I kept thinking about my 3rd hour freshmen class that’s primarily boys who don’t enjoy reading. Boy21 seemed like the perfect fit for them, so I went with my hunch and started reading it. As soon as...

Rating: 3.39 starsMatthew has become a favorite author due to his unique characters, unusual plots and inspirational themes that lift the reader's spirits among other things. Renown for the film adaptation of "Silver Linings Playbook", he's an under the radar type and extremely talented storyteller. We first meet Finley McManus, a 17 year old living with his father and Pop, his wheelchair bound grandfather in a modest home in the Philadelphia area. A decent student, his passion is basketball and...

Rating: 5 StarsMy Opinion Of This Book: Absolutely stunning book!______________________________________________I wasn't really expecting much from this book since the blurb sounded pretty strange, but my goodness did this book blow my mind! Everything about this book was fabulous. THE GOOD. ● Finley: Finley is our main character. Instantly, there was this connected - and when I say 'instantly', I mean from like chapter 1. I honestly feel like me and Finley are one and the same (except I'm a

(2/1/13) My school’s book club chose this book because the author is coming to be a speaker at the annual writing conference. It was chosen I guess so we can ask him questions about it at the conference. I also have to write a small review for the school newspaper so I’m not quite sure how I’m going to do that…Here’s the thing. I don’t like basketball. I don’t like playing it, watching it; I think it’s pretty boring. But it is a huge deal at my school. The basketball team is doing really well (s...

Great! I read this in just one sitting!

This review said EVERYTHING I wanted to say. While I mostly thought it was a good concept of friendship, as well as personal conflict of love and basketball, alas, I was disappointed to feel that the conflict (and the idea) never really fully developed. The friendship was overshadowed. I never really got to see Finley and Russ connecting over basketball. Plus the Irish mob plot was a bit too much for me to completely enjoyed this book. Too many things at once. I am sure I will be happier if the

Honestly the only reason why I picked up another Matthew Quick novel was because of Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock.It was one of my favourites back in 2015 and the brilliance of that book made me pick up another book by the same author. Thankfully I was not disappointed. I mean yeah this novel isn't as amazing as the other but still, it was good. Boy21 follows Finely, an 18 year old boy who plays basketball and his jersey number is 21. He has a girlfriend named Erin who also plays basketball and th...

As seen on The ReadventurerThere is not nearly enough YA books about friendships. For some strange reason, romantic relationships are promoted as more important. While I agree that at some point in life you do meet that special person who becomes your partner in everything, up until that point it is friends that help you out, support you, accompany you through life.Friendship, the healing, supporting, non-judgmental type of friendship, is what Boy21 is about. Or is supposed to be about.I love th...

Q, is for Quick 1.5 StarsYou can lose yourself in repetition – quiet your thoughts; I learned the value of this at a very young age.Boy21 is my second Matthew Quick novel, and as far as comparability goes I have to say that I liked Silver Linings Playbook much more than this one. I mentioned in a recent review (The Knife of Never Letting Go, I believe) that there is a timeframe within a story where a telegraphed secret has to be shared – a writer can either win me over or lose me entirely bas

After reading Matthew Quick's amazing novel Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock earlier this year I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review the author's latest release in the UK, now aimed at a younger audience.After being so impressed by the first book I read from Quick, I admit I had incredibly high expectations for this one and because of this it was hard to give it a fair shot - as it simply wasn't quite as good as Leonard Peacock. Don't get me wrong, this was still an excellent piece of writ...

The book has been very thorough, its extremely detailed and only because of Matthew Quick's craft. I absolutely love it! He manages to make one verb/noun/adjective a real stand out in that particular moment, and I love that because its quick(no pun intended), filled with thought and deep with emotion. Another thing I also loved is that I could really relate to this book, since i indeed do play basketball and know all about the game. It really gave me an arousing feeling and made the book a whole...