All Nighter

7| If We Ever Meet Again by ACRL37

Reviewed on December 29, 2014

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Available • 41 parts, 191 pages • 2.7M reads • 19.3K votes • 2.7K comments

Language: English

Description: Theirs was the greatest story never told. Until now. It's a tale of lust, love, betrayal, and friendship that teaches a group of college students studying abroad in Bangkok one of the most heartbreaking lessons they'll ever learn: sometimes, even the greatest love can't conquer it all.

Review:

If We Ever Meet Again is about an unforgettable group of college students bonded together through a study-abroad in Bangkok. Throughout the school year, they experience several hook-ups, party almost every weekend, build friendships, develop romances, go through inevitable dramas, and journey through several, different adventures altogether.

Ok let me just say that I LOVE THIS STORY SO MUCH IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL I WANNA CRY I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW THIS ONLY HAS TWO MILLION READS. I first read IWEMA three years ago, and honestly, it took me a while to get over it. Now that I've read this again for the second time, I guess it's not going to take me as long to get over the emotional pain, though I can still feel it throbbing in my heart, lmao.

Everything that happened in IWEMA is quite realistic (except for the near-death experiences). No wonder the author mentioned how parts of its plot are based on true-to-life experiences. All the drama that the girls went through and how they successfully handled it are so on-point, it's kinda funny. Basically, the main girls consist of the one who accidentally hooks up with the off-limits guys, the one who always gives straightforward, snarky comments, the one who's drama-free 'cause she avoids getting too attached to anyone in the group, the one who's tight with everyone in the group that without her, the group will crumble into pieces, and the one who tries to make certain girls fight so she can be the replacement, etc. And the guys, of course, are the chill, drama-free ones except when they're fighting over a certain girl. Yeah, it's kinda funny how their characters are so familiar, lol.

The connection between the prologue and the second part of Chapter 31 is just f*cking brilliant. The prologue is focuses on the main guy, while Chapter 31 is on the main-est (lol) girl, although the entirety of IWEMA is narrated through a third-person voice. I actually have a love-hate relationship with this kind of narration. I don't like it because as a reader, the narration feels limited, 'cause I've been so used to reading stories in first-person voices. With a third-person one, I feel like I don't completely know what's going on in the character's head - what he's truly feeling at the moment. However, I still like it because it works perfectly well with the prologue and Chapter 31. The limitation of the narration brings out such frustration from me, making me feel even more deeply sympathetic towards the two main characters. (If only they could just voice out what they truly feel!) I also like the third-person narration because it feels like Fate is narrating the story, like it's responsible for everything going on with the characters' lives.

There are also a lot of hook-ups and fragile friendships going on in the beginning, you'll get confused about who's with who and who're friends and who aren't. Even I get kinda confused on my second time reading IWEMA, but I guess those are likely to happen in study-abroad's. Nevertheless, Bangkok is indeed unforgettable. Drama aside, all the great stuff happened during their adventures, trips, and partiesac. All these actually helped narrate how their friendships are built and tightened. I also like how the guys are always with them not only for flirting reasons, but also for pure hanging-out, friendship reasons. The romances are there, but I really appreciate how the author effectively maintains the importance of friendship among the girls AND the guys in IWEMA. The story just gives off such a nostalgic feeling every time the gang is together complete since not all study-abroad friendships and relationships are bound to last after the year because all of them are scattered in different, rather distant states in the United States. The author also has a way of making IWEMA readers feel attached to the characters that once they graduate, have to say goodbye's and see-you-later's to each other, leave the unforgettable city of Bangkok, and go back to separate parts of the US, you'll totally feel like you're one of them, like ugh, I don't wanna leave you just yet!!! Can we start the year all over again?

Favorite Quotes:

Farrah: She pretty much dragged me here.

Blake: Well I'm glad she did, or I wouldn't have had the chance to meet you. I'm Blake.

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What the two of them had was real. It was the kind of knock-you-down, once-in-a-lifetime love that had inspired countless movies and songs and poems, the type of love so many people dreamed of finding and so few ever did.

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Farrah: I think people enjoy life because they know they're going to die someday, and so they have to make the best of their time here. If people lived forever, what's the point? Life would lose meaning. You need pain to know happiness, and you need death to know life.

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Blake: I'm one hundred percent in love with you. Whatever happens - whatever I say or do - that'll be true. Always has been, always will be.

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Farrah: You promised you wouldn't leave me.

Blake: I know, baby. And I won't. You'll always have a piece of me there with you.

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Not everyone gets a happy ending, and not all loose ends get tied up in real life. The most she could hope for was that neither of them would forget the time they spent together.