Review: Ask Again Later

Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Published by Harper Collins on March 11th 2014
Also by this author: Top Ten Clues You're Clueless
Format: Paperback (336 pages) • Source: Library
Goodreads •

Despite what her name might suggest, Heart has zero interest in complicated romance. So when her brilliant plan to go to prom with a group of friends is disrupted by two surprise invites, Heart knows there's only one drama-free solution: flip a coin.

Heads: The jock. He might spend all night staring at his ex or throw up in the limo, but how bad can her brother's best friend really be?

Tails: The theater geek...with a secret. What could be better than a guy who shares all Heart's interests--even if he wants to share all his feelings?

Heart's simple coin flip has somehow given her the chance to live out both dates. But where her prom night ends up might be the most surprising thing of all...

Okay this book was really funny. A bit of the humor was a little too predictable or childish for my tastes, but I really enjoyed that aspect overall. (Obviously this book was set in high school, so I can’t be too surprised). This book is about Heart, who of course has no interest in finding love. That aspect was cheesy to me but I let it slide. She is invited to prom by two very different guys under very different circumstances. Instead of just doing the logical thing and saying no to both, so she can go to prom with her big group of friends like she planned, she flips a coin. Heads: she goes to prom with her brother’s friend, Troy, who is most likely going to get drunk and obsess over his ex-girlfriend. Tails: she goes with Ryan, the theater boy with a secret. I LOVE this premise; I will read any book with the alternate timelines like this one. This book was so cute and light that I finished it in about 3 sittings over the course of 2 days. I liked the characters a lot (more below), but felt like overall they could have been fleshed out a bit more. All of her friends in the No Drama Prom-a crew weren’t given much explanation and I constantly had no idea who was who. It wasn’t that big of a deal, because giving them much more personality probably would have detracted from the actual story, but I got enough info to figure out they were a quirky theater group. I thought they were funny and definitely liked the scenes they were a part of. Schroeder was given more characterization than the others. I predicted pretty much exactly how the book was going to end but it was one of those books where you enjoyed it so much while reading that it didn’t really matter.

• Heart, our main character, was a cliche in the sense that she was not looking for love due to some mother-related issues. I loved being inside her head because she was a pretty funny MC. It’s funny because I really did enjoy this book and Heart’s personality, but I can’t recall that much about why. I think that she was relatable and had a good head on her shoulders.
• Ryan was the “tails” pick. He worked with her in the theater and she was pretty surprised when he asked her. He had ulterior motives, which I actually didn’t see coming (especially so early in the book). I liked his personality a lot and the two of them had a lot of fun together in their story, for the most part.
• Troy was Heart’s brother’s friend, who was the “heads” option. He was a jock who recently got dumped by his girlfriend, so he needed a new date for the prom. He got too drunk and Heart didn’t have the best time with his group. I figured his story would be more cliched than it was; I figured his “popular” friends were going to be rude to Heart or ignore her the whole night, but they were actually a pleasant surprise. I liked seeing that he had a softer side than you’d think, but it was annoying that he was characterized as a “big lug” more than once.

Definitely fans of contemporary young adult in general – especially those who, like me, really enjoy the whole parallel life/decision conundrum. Highly recommended for people who enjoyed Just Like Fate by Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young [REVIEW], as long as you don’t mind reading something that is pretty similar in setup. I’ve heard Pivot Point by Kasie West is kind of like this as well, but I haven’t gotten to that one yet!

Overall, this book made its way onto my favorites shelf. It was so readable, relatable, funny, and thoughtful. I don’t want to give anything away about the end, but it was perfect. I always think there is only one acceptable way to end these double story/decision books, and this was no exception. The two stories did get a little confusing at times; I kept wishing it was formatted more like Just Like Fate, where the “Stay” and “Go” were on the bottom of every page, in order to keep track of which storyline you were reading. This one could have just had “Heads” or “Tails,” but it would have been more difficult at the end when the storylines were flipped back and forth more quickly. I liked the way the end was written, especially when comparing it to Just Like Fate. The end was funny and I was happy with the author’s choice in how she wrapped things up. This book easily got 4.5 stars from me. I only felt the need to deduct a little bit because of the predictability and somewhat childish/cliche jokes that were made.

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