REVIEW: Almost Never by Melissa Toppen

Almost Never by Melissa Toppen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book Description: 

Alec Murray.
He was the one.
From the first moment I saw him, I knew.
I had never been more certain of anything in my sixteen years on this earth.

But Alec didn’t notice me. At least not in the way that I wanted him to.
He noticed my best friend instead.
I stood by and watched their relationship blossom.
An outsider looking in, wishing things were different.
Torn between my loyalty to my best friend and the boy who had unknowingly stolen my heart.

Weighted by feelings I could never express out loud, I wrote them all down.
Every thought. Every feeling.
I poured them all into a letter.
A letter he was never meant to read.

Only that’s exactly what he did.
He read it.
Every single word.
But by then it was too late.

Even if he was no longer dating my best friend.
Even if I was more in love with him than ever.
He was leaving.
I was leaving.
And there was nothing either of us could do to change it.

Alec Murray was my almost fairytale.
The happy ending I swore I’d never get.

But our story is far from over…



*Almost Never is a friends to lovers, complete standalone.

I've really been looking forward to this book. I was quite literally hitting refresh on Amazon the day it was scheduled to publish so I could get it asap. This was a one sitting read for sure.

Even from the blurb, I knew this book had a Something Borrowed feel to it. Consequently, I hated the best friend Lucy (aka Lulu). Sorry, but I did hate her. She wasn't an overt mean girl like Darcy from Something Borrowed, but she was supremely selfish, and she knew it. Honestly, I think she knew exactly what she was doing with everything she went after or took from Hope. Pretty much everyone saw Lucy for who she was, except Hope. And honestly, I hated that. Fairly soon after meeting Alec, and Lucy staking a claim, a friend called Hope out on her feelings and laid it out how Lucy was always going after what Hope wanted, and ok, the first time it's presented, I can see how Hope would be in denial. But that should have been the eye opener for her. I just hated that Hope kept putting Lucy's happiness over her own. Maybe it's because I had a friend like Lucy once, but after I caught on, and found out for sure what she was like, I distanced myself from her.

I loved Alec. And as much as I wanted him and Hope together, he didn't deserve the crap Hope put him through. That bothered me more than anything. And honestly, I never felt like Hope really learned to fight for herself. If Alec hadn't shown up at the end, I don't think she would have ever had the guts to contact him, or go to him. Alec did everything, all the perusing in the book. And the rating is for him and the few times Hope let them have some time together (short though they were and far between).