I didn't like this book. I found the main character very immature and the way she reacted to her teacher was extreme. Also, many of her actions were immature as well. I found the ending quite abrupt. I was surprised when I turned the page and it was over. I felt that many aspects of the plot were left unfinished.

Slingshot by Mercedes Helnwein is a contemporary YA novel about Grace, a teen who has found herself at a boarding school where she saves a fellow student from a fight with a slingshot. The story is focused on Grace discovering herself and connecting with an unlikely friend.

I went into this book expecting to love it, but it unfortunately fell flat for me. While I think the dialogue was intended to be funny and representative of teenage abrasiveness, it made it hard for me to connect with the main character. I found the first portion of the book to be uncomfortable and made me cringe. I was glad to see some growth in the main character over the course of the second half of the book, but overall this one didn't work for me. I would recommend this book to fans of contemporary YA who enjoy reading about teens making mistakes and working towards discovering themselves.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC of this title which did not affect the contents of my review. All opinions are honest and my own.

This was super blah for me. A bit too cheesy of a romcom. I picked it up and put it back down about a million times and just couldn’t get into it, unfortunately

The cover of this book drew me in, and I quite liked the authors writing style!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

Grace, a quirky, likeable-unlikeable, semi-rebellious main character begrdugingly makes friends over the course of her sophomore year at a private boarding school. She has never felt like she fit in. After all, the only reason she is able to afford the school is through her dad's guilt money.

When Wade shows up late, the first week of school, Grace is in heavy like. He is not like anyone she's every met and they become fast friends changing the course of her year.

Coming of age story, mixed with acceptance of one's self and place in the world, this is a perfect book for YA readers who like to root for difficult protagonists who make bad decisions and continue to make their lives difficult for themselves. The ending may not wrap up in a neat bow, but it is the perfect way to end one chapter of Grace's life as she launches into another.

Title: Slingshot
Author: Mercedes Helnwein
Type: Standalone
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Coming of Age

Slingshot was a big no for me. I tried to enjoy it and there were some parts of the book that I enjoyed more than others, however the overall feel and vibe of the book wasn't to my liking. I remember reading Cather in the Rye in high school and hating the story and hating the main character. I found this story very similarly told as Cather in the Rye and hence it made it really hard for me to get into. I don't find characters who constantly do the wrong thing appealing, I don't understand these characters arcs and I don't find them entertaining. I felt like screaming at Grace to get her s*it together and she just wouldn't. Her mind was a mess and therefore her actions and consequently the book, for me, ended up being a mess.

With that said, the writing is good. The same goes for Cather in the Rye, the book is popular for a reason and it holds a lot of thematic elements that are important to discuss and dissect in an English classroom, the same idea can be said about this story. The thematic elements of coming of age and finding oneself confused about their sexuality, their love life, their life in general is very normal and my issue was never the writing but the characters. Maybe because of my Hispanic background I wasn't able to relate to the characters and their definition of problems, maybe I grew up too fast and I wasn't the teenager that was confused and hence I don't understand Grace's inability to make one thing right. However, I appreciate the author for writing such a recluse character. Grace was complex and even though I didn't relate or enjoy her mind, I am guessing some people might.

The story overall begins with Grace being infatuated over her science teacher and being mad at him for being engaged. This for me was already telling that although Grace was 15 she acted as if she was a child. Where I go back to my point of maybe not understanding her mentality due to my background which doesn't make me the most knowledgeable person to criticize her. However, the story wasn't fun for me. I sided with the secondary characters more and I wanted Grace to realize her issues. In the end I feel the story took a turn for the better and then we go back to the story being about Grace only and her process of finding herself (again, I understand this is the point of the book, but when you don't like Grace it makes it hard to enjoy the process of her finding herself rather than the tidbits of romance).

* I received this eArc from Netgalley and Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review *

--- 2 stars ---

I'm not really sure what to do with this one. I liked the depth of the characters but they weren't necessarily likeable characters? They were all little shits. Which I'm pretty sure was the point but they often commented on how they were terrible people as if that was an excuse for why they were little shits and I'm just over here like, "okay?".

There wasn't really much plot. Other than typical teenage drama. I'd list it out for you, but that'd pretty much be the entire plot and then there'd be no real reason for you to read the book.

It does hinge a lot on how REAL the love is between Gracie and Wade, but it's from Gracie's POV and she's 15 for most of the book so what does she know about love, really?

I think this is one of those YA books that is much better suited for its targeted age bracket. You know, I am a true believer that anyone can enjoy YA. I wouldn't read so much of it if I didn't enjoy it. And oftentimes I find that you don't have to be a teen to love the story. This isn't one of those cases. This isn't a negative reflection of the book, just that I'm not its target audience so it didn't hit me.

Now, 15 years old me would have loved this book. She'd have thought it was edgy and cool and taken what it said about love to heart. Two decades later me is like, Bleh. Love. What a stupid concept. I would definitely give this to my niece who is in the target demographic and a reader. So take that into consideration.

This is a pretty raw and realistic coming of age story of a teenage girl. Lots of the real questioning and angst of adolescence told in a way that doesn't patronize the true feelings that many teens experience. It was definitely a little too intense and dramatic at times that I think is appropriate for an older teen reader. Definitely aimed at the high school level teen. Overall, it was a good book that I enjoyed reading.

I'm still trying to figure out how i managed to actually finish reading this book. i was hoping for something that was a little more emotional but instead i got something that was melodramatic. i wasn’t a huge fan of the main character and a lot of the situations were over exaggerated.

This book honestly had a lot of potential, it’s a shame that it didn’t live up to it.

I picked this book solely based on the cover. I had no idea what it was about going into it. It's always nice going into a book not knowing what to except. Unfortunately I couldn't get into this book at all. I was going to try to push through but I just couldn't do it. I feel bad because I was looking forward to reading this. I was really in the mood for a young adult contemporary. I did end up DNFing this one.

Right away I didn't feel too great going into it. The main character has a crush on her teacher. The moment she finds out that he's engaged she flips out on him. This all happens at the very beginning of the story. It felt super cringey. Every time she brought it up I couldn't help but feel embarrassed for this girl.

Another thing I didn't like it just how the conversations were going. It just felt like it was trying to be edgy. I get I'm not a teenager and haven't been one for years. It just didn't feel natural. The main character would be talking to her roommate about something. Then I'd say to myself is this really how it would have gone or would this would have been said. It kind felt like omg I'm allowed to write about this in my book so I'm going to. I saw some people saying it felt like an adult trying to write for a teenager which I agree.

I'm upset that I didn't end up enjoying this book. I was interested in it and thought I'd really like it. Unfortunately I couldn't get that far into it and I feel bad about it. I'm really bummed about it.

*I would just like to thank Netgalley and the Publisher for giving me this e-arc in exchange for my honest opinion.*

I think that his book was just okay. If you like YA romance and are into more emotional and loaded stories being told about teenagers, ex: John Green, then this book might be for you. I definitely found that the secondary characters were more interesting than the main character, Grace. The story is told from the perspective of the 15 year old main character, and because Grace seems a little emotionally underdeveloped and kinda rude, I had a hard time getting into the story.

Thank you so much @WednesdayBooks & @NetGalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 27 April 2021)

SYNOPSIS | Gracie has recently found out that her father has left her & her mother for an entirely new family that don't know of their existence. She is feeling abandoned & alone at her boarding school in Florida when she saves Wade from some bullies with her trusty slingshot. They form a friendship & Gracie begins to realise that she isn't as alone as she thought.

WHAT I LIKED:
- that it was messy & complicated

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- the book starts out with Gracie having an inappropriate crush on her 30+ year old teacher (gross but fine, except she then cusses him out when she finds out that he has a fiancé because she believes they truly are soulmates)
- the characters are meant to be 15 but read more like 18 year olds (excessive swearing, casual sex, drinking, smoking etc)
- the entire mentor relationship focusing on advice around how to seduce an older man & lose your virginity without catching feelings
- this isn't a sweet first love story that I thought it would be

Good coming of age story, even if it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. This was a fast read, fun and interesting, although I had some difficulty getting attached to the main character (which might be both on the writer and on me, to be honest), which made empathy with her hardships and teenage angst a bit more difficult.

Super cute rom com. I will likely buy this for the library. It depends on funds but this is a good add to a YA library collection.

Slingshot is about a 15 year old girl at a third tier boarding school that has some of the most unhealthy relationships I’ve ever seen.

I have no problem with foul language and mature content in YA books but this one felt weird because the main character is barely a teenager. Current YA seems to be more 18-21 year old protagonists so I usually don’t have an issue with content that pushes the boundaries of the genre but reading about a child lusting after an adult is just not my thing, especially at the start of the story. I don’t want to discredit the feelings of young adolescents growing up but this just felt way too adult for the age but at the same time incredibly immature.

Thank you to Wednesday book for the advanced copy for my honest review

.. and as honest as I can get, this book wasn’t for me! I hate DNF’ING arcs but sadly I just couldn’t get through this one. It was bad, just really sadly bad. You have this 15 year old who’s so moody, and I get there are people like that, but so moody that I couldn’t connect. And let’s not talk about the fact she’s stupidly obsessively in love with her teacher. Yuck! Not to say I’ve never had a crush on one, but I’ve never had sex dreams about them 🥴😣 Like whhhhyyyyyy?
This book was just sadly really juvenile in taste. I hated the characters and the whole storyline was just poorly written.

Now before I get judged for my review, I’m giving an honest opinion, which I was asked to do. But there’s some books that I think back and would ask myself would I read this as a high schooler and truthfully I would have hated it then too. (

Content Warning: Physical, emotional, and verbal abuse. Lots of vulgar language and profanity. Bullying, infidelity, toxic parents, underage smoking/drinking, unprotected sex and probably more. It's rough in here. Prepare/protect yourself.

"If it disturbs you, it's ART."

OOF... where to begin? I JUST finished reading this and I'm rushing to review it so I don't lose everything I'm feeling right now. I feel like I've just lived out the trauma of seven teenage years in the span of 9 hours (the time it took me to listen to this slightly sped up audiobook). I'm emotionally overwhelmed and want to to cry. The 38 song track list at the end of this book was much appreciated. I'm ready to lock myself in my room, blast the 90's alternative music, and cry in bed, day dreaming about all sorts of revenge fantasies (mostly the kind where I've healed my broken heart and said heart breaker is begging to have me back.)

Slingshot is a Young Adult, Contemporary (Romance? more like roMESS), realistic fiction, that takes place in a Florida boarding school. The story is told in first person from the perspective of Gracie Welles, who is abrasive, obnoxious, self-centered, and a completely unlikable character. Plenty of people will DNF this book based on that alone. Stapled on every page is dialogue I can only describe as often poetic, incredibly acidic, regularly mean, verbal diarrhea. Gracie had no filter and didn't know how to shut the f!@# up.

I spent a lot of time, at the beginning of this book, wondering... why are we giving this to young adults? is this setting a good example? Not really. But stories aren't always about idealistic outcomes, learning, or growing. Sometimes stories are mirrors that reflect pain, and trauma, and shitty embarrassing life experiences to remind us we aren't alone.

Helnwein's writing captures what it was like being a teenager perfectly. It didn't just remind me, it brought me back there and made me relive it. All of it. The mistakes, the heart break, the stupid advice we took from friends, the rage, the loneliness, the feeling of not fitting in, even all the half baked decisions we made that led us away from where we really wanted to be.

I was worried about how I would rate this book but I can't imagine giving it anything less than five stars. Slingshot wasn't just a story, it was an experience, one that I'm unlikely to forget any time soon. If you prefer books not make you feel angry, depressed, embarrassed, ashamed, anxious, guilty or uncomfortable, this story is probably not for you. If you're more like me however, and don't mind feeling negative emotions as long as a book makes you feel something, well... you may just want to add this to your TBR. I highly recommend getting the audiobook for this. It's narrated by Jesse Vilinsky and she gives one hell of a performance.

Just don't forget..."The world is a vampire..."

What a cute, fun read! I’m so glad I was approved for this one. It was an enjoyable story with enjoyable characters. I would recommend this.

I have tried several times to read this and I am finally DNF'ing at 33%. I just cannot get into this story. I just was really bothered by this soulmate crush with her teacher. It just didn't sit right with me. I will eventually try to finish this because I absolutely hate to DNF.

This book was not for me. The synopsis made it seem to be something that it truly wasn't. Three stars because the author wrote a book and that's a huge achievement. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish it. It had a lot of potential for me, but I could not get into it. It should probably also carry a warning for any younger readers as the content of the book is for older readers.