The Impossible Story of Olive in Love by Tonya Alexandra

Pages: 304
Publish date: April 2017
Publisher: Harlequin Teen Australia
ISBN: 9781489220479
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon US – Amazon AU – Dymocks

The Impossible Story of Olive in Love:

I received an arc of The Impossible Story of Olive in Love by Tonya Alexandra from Harlequin Teen Australia in exchange for honest review. This has no way influenced my thoughts and feelings of the book.

The Impossible Story of Olive in Love was one of my of my most anticipate books of the year and I cannot begin to explain how disappointed I was. I disliked this book, a lot. It had so much potential, but the protagonist just ruined it all.

The Impossible Story of Olive in Love follows protagonist seventeen-year-old Olive, who is invisible to everyone but her true love. Plagued by a curse that a gypsie cast upon the female of her family, Olive has been invisible her whole life. No one has been able to see her, but they can hear her – and that makes life difficult. However, there is one up to this curse – she can be seen be her true love. But what if the only person that can see her, isn’t what she expected.

I cannot even begin to explain how much I disliked Olive as a protagonist, even a character really. From the first chapter, I knew that we were never going to get along. Throughout the novel all she did was complain, she was immature and for being invisible only thought about herself. And then she meets her ‘true love’ and becomes infatuated. But, she also treats him life shit.  I also felt that Olive had no character arc – at all. She learnt a whole lot – and she just ended up where she was at the start.

The romance was one of the worse things about The Impossible Story of Olive in Love. It’s basically ‘love at first sight’ and ‘instalove’ mushed together. Tom was very interesting and I really enjoyed him as a character alone. But, as a love interest, I didn’t sit right. Tom is quiet a couple of years older than Olive and while it’s not a big difference, Olive is still underage.

My heart broke for Tom, he is infatuated by Olive, but she just treats him life crap most of the time. While I understand Olive hesitation – it was taken way too far. Tom was I felt, a character that could be easily influenced, but he was intrigued by Olive and only he could see her.  And for a good chunk of the relationship – she hasn’t even told him that she is invisible.

The family aspects of The Impossible Story of Olive in Love like most of the book was hard to like. Olive lives with her older sister as her father has gone on an ‘adventure.’ Like most of her relationships, Olive doesn’t appreciate her sister. Most of the time I just wanted to scream at her.  Her father, let’s just not talk about him.

Throughout The Impossible Story of Olive in Love we see Olive interact with her gossip blog that she sister is the face of. I enjoyed this aspect of the novel somewhat. I like when a protagonist does a similar thing that I do – was that was interesting. But, like I said her relationship with her sister is very shaky.

While I didn’t enjoy the characters and relationships, I did enjoy the plot. It’s what kept me going. I was intrigued by the curse, and the way everything around it works. We find out some interesting information about that has to do with her parents. However, I was left hanging for me. I felt that the ending didn’t exactly leave with me satisfied.

Overall, The Impossible Story of Olive in Love wasn’t for me. Olive as a protagonist didn’t sit well with me, as well as the romance. The plot was intriguing and I kept reading for that alone. I was hoping that there would be some resolution, but I was left disappointed.  The Impossible Story of Olive in Love explores the notion of love, family and friendship. 

Have you read The Impossible Story of Olive in Love? What did you think of it? Are you planning on reading it? Let’s Chat!