But when she accidentally saves the new kid, Wade Scholfield, from being beaten up, everything about her precariously balanced loner world collapses and, in order to find her footing again, she has no choice but to discover a completely new way to exist.
Because with Wade around, school rules are optional, weird is okay, and conversations about wormholes can lead to make-out sessions that disrupt any logical stream of thought. Nothing’s perfect, but that’s not the point. When they're together everything seems uncomplicated in a way that Grace knows is not possible.
Except it is.
So why does Grace crush Wade’s heart into a million pieces?
Acidly funny and compulsive readable, this debut is a story about two people finding each other and then screwing it all up. See also: soulmate, stupidity, sex, friendship, bad poetry, very bad decisions and all the indignities of being in love for the first time. (Pub Date: Apr 27 2021)
Grace barely knows why but she ends up saving the new boy in her boarding school from the popular one, this act will change her life much more than a punishment from the principal.
Yes, there is romance in the book and it's got the spotlight, but it really isn't the main thing. Most YA's are coming of age in essence but this one really focused on Grace's growth from someone who doesn't care about a thing or person to... well you'll need to read it to know which way she goes. Falling in love (or is it not love?), kissing and doing other firsts are simply the steps.
The book was fun to read but Grace was in the way of that, in my opinion. She's the type of main character writers need to be ultra careful, because you need her to have issues but not enough your readers won't care. And that's what happened to me, at least. It wasn't that I couldn't relate to her problems: she's got an abnormal family, she doesn't have enough money so she ostracizes herself at school... But I really couldn't like her. Wade, who is supposed to be the book boyfriend is cute but it also took me some time to develop anything for him—which at least made me understand why Grace wouldn't be into him when he's clearly smitten, for I'd be the same. Nice effect but again it's hard to swoon over a puppy.
A lot of the points are also a little all over the place and when you reach the end you wonder: why did this waste so many pages when nothing would come of it. My big example is the slingshot, I barely know what happened to it after we meet Wade, and it seemed important at first, what with being the title and all.
Although it was fun and I feel that Grace's conflicts were important, I think this ended up more like an average read. With elements that would normally made me give it 2 stars and others that would have made it a 4-star, weren't it for the former. As unstable as it was, I can't call it bad and would even recommend to people looking for more different experiences in contemporary YA's.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
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