::sighs:: It's not you, it's me. Well, mostly me. 
 I had every intention of giving this three stars, I really did. YA is always iffy with me, and I went into this knowing that and trying to keep an open mind nonetheless. There are plenty of YA books out there that I love, that I even consider favorites, so I know I can enjoy YA books. I was hoping this would be one of those, and while I realized it wasn't going to join my list of favorites, I didn't have any major issues with it. Eleanor and Park are both decently written - teenagers are hard to nail down as characters, and the author did a good job of giving them consistent, realistic voices. I appreciated Eleanor's resiliency and inner strength, and Park's willingness to face down the criticisms of his peers to do what felt right. I really liked Park's parents - now that I'm on the grownup side of the equation, I found myself sympathizing more with them, and hoping I can be the kind of parent who understands when their teenager just needs to do something, regardless of how stupid it may see, and helps them as best I can while still being a responsible adult. 
 But the point of the book isn't the characterization, it's the romance. FIRST LOVE. And just ... ::sighs:: It's not my thing. I totally get why people love reading about high school misfits who beat the odds and find each other and experience the thrills and awkwardness and exultation of first love. But it's not something that particularly draws me. I had my own thrilling awkward exultant high school experience, and I don't really get anything from reliving other people's. And that aside, I didn't really get into the romance between Eleanor and Park. It never grabbed me. They seemed to be laying a foundation for a sweet friendship, and then suddenly they're holding hands and in love. And I know, I know, first love, high school, fine. It just wasn't translating for me. I appreciated the general idea of it, but I didn't really buy it. 
 Still, I like my ratings to be a balance of what I personally think of a book, and what the book is offering outside of my emotional reaction to it, so I was going to give it a fair three stars. But then, that ending. I'm subtracting a star specifically for the ending. Maybe if I'd connected more with the romance, the "heartbreak" of the ending would've resonated more with me, but since I didn't, it just annoyed the hell out of me. I read 350 pages for ... that? 
 Oh, well. I read this to fill the high school prompt of the popsugar challenge, and now it's filled, so that's my silver lining.