I really wanted to like this book. The synopsis held so much promise, but the book failed to deliver as much as I hoped for from it. I enjoyed it well enough, but with a few tweaks it could have been an even more enjoyable read.

Unfortunately this just wasn’t for me. I didn’t enjoy the writing style in this book and the story didn’t really intrigue me. Others may enjoy it but sadly me and this book just didn’t get on.

This was so cute!!
Definitely not my go to book but I enjoyed it.
Was a little cliched but nothing that we aren’t all used to!

This was a really quick read for me. I have been trying to read more LGBTQ fiction and I am glad I picked this one up. I enjoyed all the relationships involved and why it was hard for people to express there feelings. It was definitely a teenage kind of obsessive love which wasn't my favorite and the level of bullying that went on I didn't like. While I understand that alot of LGBTQ kids get bullied I have never seen it to this scale but like I said I know it does happen.

What Happens When explores the life of Molly Kennan as she navigates her senior year after accidentally outing herself at a party. It is important to continue expanding the LGBTQ+ genre, especially for young adult readers, and Boyette does that successfully. There are some problematic parts and issues that feel thrown into the mix, particularly with the relationship that develops between the main character and one of her love interests, but overall the story is easy to follow and a great option for a YA reader.

I was approved for an arc of What Happens When, but missed the download date. I still plan on reading it and will review then.

They are very cute characters and it is a story aimed at the LGBT public and acceptance among students.
This is all very vanilla, very nice, in the end, everything turns out well and it is a beautiful book that you would give a 13-year-old girl for her birthday but that's it.
I really liked it, although I do not consider the best story or example for teenagers, the characters were very flat and everything predictable. The only interesting one was Zia and in the end, her character loses a lot of light and becomes just another one. The others were decent but very meh.
In the end, it took its 3 stars.

I had really high hopes for this one, but like Molly's senior year - it was an epic disaster for me. If this had been a debut I would say that I see potential. But it's not. And I don't.

I had a lot of trouble getting into the story at first. I didn't love the main character and she said and thought some very problematic things.

Stevie‘s review of What Happens When by Samantha Boyette
Contemporary Young Adult LGBT Fiction published by Bold Strokes Books 12 Mar 19

One thing I like about Young Adult romance is its unpredictability compared to more grown-up subgenres. Sometimes I can get almost to the end before knowing how things will work out for our main protagonist, and that was very much the case here. One week before she’s due to go back to school after the summer, Molly Kennan accidentally outs herself as a lesbian by getting drunk at a party and making out with the host’s cousin. Although Molly’s parents and younger brother are supportive of her, Molly’s best friend – the daughter of a preacher – no longer wants anything to do with her and does her utmost to turn everyone else against Molly too. Just to confuse things further, Lily – the girl Molly made out with – has transferred to their school, having had a rough time since coming out of her own accord at her previous place.


Feeling cut off from everyone, Molly skips her usual after-school activities and applies for a job at the local diner. There, she meets Zia, a more experienced waitress and a few years older than Molly, and is instantly smitten. Zia seems keen to hang out with Molly, and soon the pair are sharing secrets – and more – although Zia is keen to keep what she does and talks about with Molly separate from what goes on between her and her boyfriend, who seems strangely unaware of Zia’s past as told to Molly.

Back at school, Molly is being bullied by her former friends, and Lily has set up a Queer Alliance group. Suddenly Molly has a whole bunch of new friends right across the LGBT+ spectrum, not to mention allies that include her brother and his friends, as well as a very supportive teacher. The group decide to raise awareness and money for a charity supporting queer teens by holding a same-sex danceathon, much to the annoyance of their detractors. Soon, though, lots of kids are signing up to take part, especially after a fight breaks out between the Queer Alliance kids and the bullies. The event looks like being a success, if only they can avoid it being stopped by a small group of hostile parents, led by the father of Molly’s former best friend.

Molly, through it all, is still torn between her feelings for Zia and those she’s developing for Lily. I really couldn’t see how things were going to end, although the finale to the story was just perfect. I loved this book even more than the previous one I read from the same author and can’t wait to find out what she has in store for us readers next.

Grade: A

This ended up not really being my type of book, unfortunately. I finished it but I felt like the older-girl plot line was out of place with the rest of the book.

I couldn’t put this book down! I finished this in two sittings but probably could of done it in one because it was such an easy and cute book to read.

Page one Jo’s straight into the story and left me super curious. Molly is so relatable and I love all the drama in the book that keeps in interesting.

I absolutely love the way it’s written, it’s just down to earth and full of humour. It’s just such a feel good book and I love that.

The power behind the book is amazing too, it’s not just about lgbt characters finding love, it’s about much more than that. This would be an amazing read for anyone struggling in school with their sexuality.

I loved this and I think the author did an amazing job.

Netgally Review:

was not fan. It is rare that I do not finish a story, but this was one for me. I very much liked the cover.

I read this book in one sitting, it was written in a nice fluid style, however, the story line just didn't do anything for me. The gay/lesbian representation was good but a bit cliché. I know that in certain places, there is still a lot of awkwardness around this question and that a lot of people are scared to come out. Obviously the subject was really interesting because I think that a lot of people just blindly suspect that because marriage for all is accepted in some places, that there isn't discrimination any longer in other places. I have gay/lesbian friends and I know that it isn't the case, that a lot of people still worry about coming out and what people will think of them; so I appreciate that this book reminds people that inequalities still exist and that people are still being discriminated. I really appreciate there to be so many books speaking about this because it is only with people knowing that opinions can change.
This book follows the life of a girl called Molly Kennan who has just come out as lesbian because she was caught kissing another girl at a party and it follows her struggles through her senior year. She meets a girl at a diner and decides to work there and although the other girl is straight she wants to try her luck. During this time, the girl whom she kissed at the party really likes her and wants to be with her.
Obviously the subject matter is important and the representation was very well handled (obviously the author is lesbian so she knows) but the book just didn't do too much for me. It was a nice book to read in one sitting and I enjoyed it while I was reading it, it just isn't very memorable, for me personally but I know that a lot of other people will like it a lot more. I didn't like Zia and Molly's relationship because I found it very toxic but I really loved Molly and Luke's brother-sister relationship, and I rooted for Lily the whole way.
It was a nice, quick, fun read so I gave it 3/5 stars.

What Happens When was a very enjoyable, light read (although with some serious themes behind it). When Molly accidentally comes out to her classmates (making out at a partywith a girl you’ve just met, inadvertently in view of a load of people, tends to have that effect), she has no idea how far reaching the consequences will be.

It’s fair to say, for a start, that Molly’s long term best friend, Carmen, doesn’t take the news very well. In fact Carmen immediately embarks on what amounts to a hate campaign against Molly, and this is really quite extreme and upsetting to read. When new girl Lily - the very same girl Molly kissed at the party - sets up a Queer Alliance support group at school, that doesn’t make the bigots any happier either.

Meanwhile, Lily clearly likes Molly and Molly is drawn to her too, but things are complicated by the attractive Zia, a waitress Molly works with at the local diner. And to complicate matters still further, Zia has a boyfriend...

While the romance plot line was enjoyable enough, the strength of the book for me was in its portrayal of the discrimination experienced by the LGBTQ characters and the effects of this. Previously content to sail under the radar, Molly and other characters come to find there is strength to be gained in joining with others. While things have certainly improved for young people in many ways in recent years, it’s easy to forget that bigotry is alive and well in many settings and while Carmen’s campaign seems extreme at times and her motivations hard to fathom, it’s not really so far fetched.

Oh, and Molly’s brother Luke is awesome,
the kind of brother everyone wants!

A great read with likeable characters and an affirming message.

What Happens When is an enjoyable coming of age book about a high school senior, Molly, who kisses a girl over the summer and finds that she is a lesbian. As she returns to school, she deals with the struggle of being gay and how she handles it with others in the school. One of her friends turns on her and bullies her, telling her that her lifestyle is against God. The girl that Molly kissed, Lily, begins going to the same school as Molly because of the problems she had being gay at her past school. While it seems like an easy match for the two girls to be a couple, Molly isn't ready to be seen with a girlfriend at school. Instead, Molly finds another girl that is out of school, Zita, who she feels a connection to. The problem is, Zita is straight and has a boyfriend.

I liked that the author told the story in the first person perspective of Molly, allowing the reader to get a full idea of the thoughts of the character. I enjoyed the build-up to the Molly/Zita relationship, but I also found it a bit shallow. Molly seems to never be willing to talk to Zita about anything more than wanting her to dump her boyfriend and get together with her. It left me wanting more. Toward the end of the book, things drag a bit and it seems the story could have been sped up to get to the ultimate conclusion.

Overall it was an enjoyable story and for younger readers it will be a good read.

I received this ARC for free fro NetGalley in exchange for an unbias review.

An easy read, great book to pick up when in a slump. It has its issues, cheating etc but I like the fact it deals with messy issues and shows life and relationships aren’t perfect, characters are good some more relatable than others I didn’t connect with the MC that much but did with others
A good story and enjoyable read

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I really enjoyed this book for what it was, a cute, quick read. This young adult book should not be passed over just because of the category this one deals with a lot of important topics,and does so really well. Another thing I enjoyed about this book was the main topic is not something that I've ever read about before it it was a nice change. The story starts out with our main character (Molly) accidentally outing herself as a lesbian at a party in front of her whole school, not something she ever planned on doing. When her best friend turns on her and her whole world starts coming down she tries her best to deny that part of her even going as far as getting herself a boyfriend. When her lesbian make out partner (Lily) transfers to Molly's school that is when things really get messy, add that to her current crush on the local diner's waitress (Zia) and things go from crazy to insane. Are Molly's feelings for Zia real? Can she accept that part of her? Does she really want to? This book had everything that a good YA story needs, interesting non repetitive plot, fascinating characters with different stories that you never see coming and a simple easy to read flow that drags you in and never lets go. I think that this is not just a fantastic YA book, but it was a good book that deal with serious issues like sexuality, and
had a good message properly delivered. Nice easy read that is good not just for young adults but older
adults as well. Check it out if you haven't already.

I really enjoyed What Happens When, it's a sweet story about a girl called Molly who drunkenly kisses a girl in front of her peers and accidentally outs herself. The initial reaction she gets is mixed and her best friend turns into her bully and tormentor and turns most of the school against her. She has to face her truth and learn to live her new life. Luckily she an adorable younger brother who has her back and that cute girl she outted herself with to help her along the way.

Boyette has captured so beautifully in her writing what so many of us went through in high school as we were trying to figure out if we were gay or not. I remember it as being such a crazy and anxiety ridden time and this author just captured every aspect of that experience that we went through with not only coming out but with first love. The story of Molly and Lily is heart wrenching in so many ways and you hope all through reading the book that these two could find a way to come back to one another. The addition of a protagonist in the story named Zia just adds that much more twist interns and trauma. The betrayal of the clothes lifelong friend throws another twist in the story that again rings oh so true to so many of us .
This is an important book for so many young people that I decided to buy some copies of the book and give them to various high school library's so that students who are going through with Molly and Lily experienced won't feel so alone. A good friend of mine who is the mentor at a high school GSA told me that the experiences that these high school students lived is what so many of the students and her GSA continue to experience. If you know of a young person who is struggling with issues of their sexuality do them a favor and buy this book for them, also it may be interesting to buy this book for adults who don't quite "get it".