A Disaster in Three Acts by Kelsey Rodkey

Trigger Warnings

Side character with cancer

synopsis

Saine Sinclair knows what makes a story interesting. Having your childhood best friend refuse to kiss you during a game of spin the bottle? Zero stars, would not recommend it. The same ex-friend become your current best friend’s ex? Interestingly complex, unexpected, worth watching. That same ex-friend is your last chance at getting into your dream documentary filmmaking program? Saine would watch that. Working with Holden comes with its own challenges though and Saine takes some liberties in storytelling. But it seems like Holden has different plans for how this story should end.

review

I appreciated how A Disaster in Three Acts took a unique storyline like a documentary to explore childhood best friends turned enemies turned friends again turned into something more. Also, I had fun reading the banter between Saine and Holden as they reconnected. Absolutely adored Holden’s sister Mara and wished that we would have been able to see more of her. And I appreciated how Rodkey explored grief, teenage awkwardness, and family.

Saine was a character that continuously frustrated me with her choices. At times she was selfish and too caught up in grief to fully realize what she was doing was wrong. I wished that she and Holden had tried communicating better from the get-go, but I get that it’s hard when you have a crush on your best friend. Also, I thought that the friendship with Corrine was challenging as well, it was hard to understand why Saine was so invested in it, but it felt true to how high school relationships can be.

I absolutely hated the scene with Victor at the party, without going into spoilers it just felt out of character for Saine and was an instance of peer pressure that was never addressed. Had it been addressed in some way, I think I would have been able to understand the choice to include it more. I wished that there had been a longer period of growth for Saine, it felt rushed, as though it happened overnight. Unfortunately, I was missing more depth in the plot and characters for this to really shine for me.

in conclusion

This childhood best friends to enemies to lovers was full of good banter and interesting choices.