I WAS BORN FOR THIS: TikTok made me buy it! From the YA Prize winning author and creator of Netflix series HEARTSTOPPER

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The three of us ... we were born to be together,” I say. “And I can’t leave that. I don’t want to leave that.” The writing was good, I read the whole thing in almost 1 day and I think this kind of prose works best for contemporaries where it is good but not too poetic as to be distracting. I always read contemporaries when I want to take a break from fantasy so I like it to be light when I do so. A huge, huge cast thing about this book is that it preserves the humanity of all the characters. It is a book that focuses on friendship, not romance; character development, not plot.

That's why people get into fandom and bands and stuff. They just want something to hold on to something that makes them feel good. Even if it's all a big lie.” There is also Jimmy, A gay trans guy who is like the main boy in the band, it was also good to read a representation of this kind that was well done! He also suffers from Anxiety and as someone who lives with anxiety, I could relate to that. My point is that there was so much diversity in the book but it never felt like it was forced and it rather fits perfectly into a real life mold. What I found refreshing is that Angel's and Jimmy's sexuality aren't plot points in this book. It's part of them, but it doesn't define every aspect of their lives. They are their own people. Who they love does not matter, what matters is that they love them.The third novel by the phenomenally talented Alice Oseman, the author of the 2021 YA Book Prize winning Loveless, Solitaire and graphic novel series Heartstopper - now a major Netflix series. The same can be applied to all of the other characters. What is most important is that none of this feels forced. Not only do we have a rainbow of sexuality and gender-fluidity, but this book reflects a tiny but amazing part of this world's diversity.

Angel/Fereshteh Rahimi - The biggest fan of The Ark. Eighteen, Muslim, and I felt like they were on the Ace spectrum. The writing is flowing so naturally and beautifully. It's so easy to read, the language the character use is very appropriate for their age. Alice Oseman gets all of the aspects of writing teen characters. Everyone's normal, everyone's weird, everyone's just trying to deal with their own life and keep calm and carry on. And hold on to something that'll keep them going. That's why people get into fandom and bands and stuff. They just want to hold on to something that makes them feel good. Even if it's all a big lie." This novel is meant to criticize the tendency of certain fans to develop a violently unintellectual fixation (fuelled by parasocial fantasies and social media addiction) on one thing, and one thing only, in this case, a boy band. In the beginning, you wonder where Oseman (who seems to write (at least in part) from experience) will go with that, since it's such a huge part of internet culture seldomly examined outside of fandoms themselves, but after some time, the protagonist's endless repetition of phrases along the lines of OMG I LIKE THE ARK SO MUCH becomes exhausting and starts to feel like a very, very hamfisted way of telling the reader that fandom culture is unhealthy and involves creepy fixations on real people and is very bad indeed.I also have to admit that hearing the story for the first time I was surprised to feel a sense of annoyance. I was annoyed with how often the fans, the Ark, Angel and Juliet used the word love, making it almost meaningless. I was annoyed by how often Angel needed to mentioned that not every fan was a crazy, mindless fangirl. I thought yes, I get it now, I can only hear it so often. Nevertheless, I still loved the story, the characters and the message. I can't wait for Alice's next novel, which will have an aro/ace main character! This story is also about friendships made on the internet. To meet their idols and go to one of their concerts, Angel and her online friend Juliet decide to meet for the first time in real life and spend the week together at Juliet’s grandma’s house. It’s both of them realising people aren’t necessarily the same on internet or irl, and it’s okay, because some of people are way more confident on the internet and shy when they have to talk to someone face to face. Now let’s talk about the pic of Rowan and Jimmy sleeping together in their bed. *lol* OR let’s just talk about how close they are as friends! I mean it’s so obvious that they love each other a lot, just not in the way the fandom wants them to. There’s no Jowan, but I really adored their interactions and how much they seemed to care about each other. You can see that they are really close and that they are super comfortable around each other. I’m like that with my besties too and a very cuddly person. (Do whatever you want with that random info. *lol*) So for me to see their strong bond was really nice and even though they argued quite a lot in the ending it was only because they cared so much about each other. =) The portrayal of fandoms, fandom culture, toxic and marvelous aspects of being part of the fandom is very accurate. I'm sure the book will be a fun read for both fandom and non-fandom readers.

The Ark with me – my school friends, my parents, my older brother – but no one really cared. They usually just found me annoying, because once I start talking about The Ark, or anything really, I find it kind of hard to stop." Perhaps the reason I didn’t like this book quite as much is because it very much reads as a slice-of-life; while all the characters grow and change in ways both large and small, they don’t necessarily get satisfying conclusions. This is a style of storytelling that tends to appeal to me somewhat less, and despite knowing this is the point, I admit to wishing for more.

Rowan’s girlfriend, Bliss, has got to be my favorite character - she is the hilarious icon I needed in my life, and her arc around her relationship with Rowan is fantastic. She is bisexual and biracial Chinese. Well, I didn’t realise you were some sort of fandom celebrity,” he says with the fakest smile I’ve ever seen. This book heavily talks about the “good side” of fandoms and the “bad side” of fandoms throughout the entire story. And I’ve never really been obsessed with a “boy band” but I have for been a part of fandoms that have quite literally saved my life. Sometimes you have to put your time, energy, and passion into something other than your “real life” to feel like you belong, and that’s valid. Hell, that’s more than valid; it’s amazing. Angel for sure uses The Ark for escapism and for a sense of belonging, and we get to see the good, the bad, and all the in-between moments.