Pages I Never Wrote - Marco Donati

“Why would he want to date me? I can’t even hold a pen.” 

Luke has good friends, a passion for books, and dyspraxia, a disorder that, ironically, makes him unable to write. He also has a hatred for anyone who tries to help him. Yet when he fails his first term at university due to his learning difficulties, he’s forced to get support. 

That’s how Nate, an excitable last-year student, becomes his self-proclaimed personal tutor and starts writing down essays for him, as a distraction from his own quarter-life crisis. 

But Luke’s writing ambitions are not just academic. He dreams of penning a novel, although that’s never been a real possibility. Until now. 

Will the two boys manage to write a successful love story together?

Blurb taken from Goodreads.

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I was lucky enough to see some information about this book on instagram prior to its publication. I love being able to follow new authors and discover new reads, so I saw it as a great opportunity to hopefully find another story I love. Only a couple of weeks later, I was in the fortunate position of winning a giveaway where I was a gifted a copy of the book. I put it to the top of my stack of July reads immediately.

I had a feeling it was going to be a really sweet read from the cover, and I was right. As soon as I started reading, I found it warm and comforting; a sweet romance that was very easy to read. I finished it in just a couple of days and really enjoyed it.

Rating: ✫✫✫✫

The Story

The story follows a university romance between two young men, both of whom are trying to figure out what they want from the world. One requires a tutor, and the other happens to have some extra time on their hands. Hey presto - we have a meet-cute!

I love a good romance, so I knew this would be right up my street. It was really sweet, and I loved being able to see how their relationship developed. It's a very difficult position to be in when you feel anxious, or that you don't really fit into the world around you, and it's the people around us who help us to find out happiness. I could see that this was the case in this story. What I really liked was that the characters weren't forced through innumerable trials and tribulations just for the sake of an interesting story, as I find is often a problem with similar romance stories. Any obstacles that sprang up were natural, and were resolved very organically within their story. In essence, it felt very real.

The part of the book that I loved the most was actually the way it dealt with a character who has dyspraxia. I've never actually seen this portrayed in fiction before, and I thought it was an interesting element. Not only did it provide a deeper narrative to the story, but it also helped me understand a little better about the everyday struggles of those with dyspraxia. Learning while reading is a wonderful thing, and makes me enjoy stories so much more!

The one thing I did wish had been slightly different in the story was the exposure of some of the minor characters. Some of the supporting characters, especially Luke's friend Katy, were really fun and interesting, and I would have loved to have seen more from them to really intensify the relationships within the narrative. However, the book had all the elements of a great young adult romance. It had fun characters, a sweet storyline, and it ticked a lot of boxes for me.

The Verdict

This had all the best elements of a great young adult romance; a cute plot, fun and relatable characters, and the added element of Luke's dyspraxia, which made for an informative part of the story. I would really recommend this easy read for fans of contemporary stories.