I decided to DNF this book after a few chapters.
Honestly, I found it boring and a bit too young for me. I know that the point of the book was Noah figuring out her queerness, but being queer/queer characters were not mentioned once in the 50+ pages I read.
I appreciate I am not the target audience so would probably still encourage younger and questioning readers to pick up this book.

This was such a quick read for me, and I really enjoyed it. Noah is a very loveable main character, and she really took me back to how I felt at her age. At first I was afraid there would be a lot of friendship drama, or maybe even friendship breakups, but I was so glad to see the friends working through things and their friendship group expanding instead.

*4.25 Stars*

I really enjoyed this little book. i can't lie, I like Hazel more but this was very good. The main character was layered and I felt her love of animals through the page. It was a lot of anxious fun, I really felt for her but I saw how everything would crash and burn pretty soon and I wanted to get there. And yet, I still enjoyed the journey. I loved seeing her grow throughout the book and I really had a good time getting to know Noah and seeing her get to know herself. I did wish she wasn't so focused on her own plans at times and see what was really around her but, in the end, that was part of her charm.
Basically, that was another very good book by Maggie Horne and I cannot wait for more!

This book was a bit of a mixed bag for me, so let’s start with the things I enjoyed!

The thing that stood out the most for me was the depiction of compulsory heterosexuality. I thought it was done really well, as we saw Noah pick a boy to ‘have a crush on’, and look at her straight friends and try to copy the way they felt and acted about boys. Sometimes it lead to hilarious outcomes, sometimes heartbreaking, and I thought it was done really well.

I also really liked the different relationships that Noah had with her friends and family. She has a strong (and true-to-life) relationship with her older sister, and all of the friendships were really sweet.

To be honest, the relationship with Jessa – the girl she has a crush on – was the most underwhelming. I didn’t really get a sense that Noah fancied her, or that the way she felt about Jessa was different than any of her other friends, until the very end. Mostly it came from other characters (such as Noah’s sister suspecting she had a crush) rather than Noah herself, and I would have liked to see a bit more in the text.

With that came lower stakes for me in the story. I wasn’t particularly invested, and the book didn’t really engage me in the way I wanted it to.

There are some really great themes and ideas in this book, but overall I found it fell a little flat for me.

I received a free copy for an honest review.

When Noah returns from summer camp, she can't wait to tell her BFFs all about it. She is shocked to find that all they want to talk about is boys....who kissed who and who is crushing on whom. Feeling like an outsider and desperate to fit in, Noah fabricates a summer romance. As her friend from summer camp arrives as the new girl at school, she digs herself deeper into the lie. Will she end up hurting the person she really has feelings for?

This book made us laugh and cry in equal measure, taking us on a rollercoaster of emotion throughout. We were rooting for Noah at the same time as covering our eyes at the predictable outcome of each fib. We loved the way that Maggie Horne wrote the conversations between the friends and the language they use to discuss life, it was perfectly pitched and very true to life.

This coming of age story exploring tweendom and relationships is a lovely exploration of the changes which occur in your tweens and teens that impact friendships. It deals with peer pressure and reminds you to be true to yourself.

Thank you to NetGalley and Firefly for sending this eBook for review consideration. All opinions are our own.

Fun read. Plenty of drama with friendship, family, identity and romance complications. Perfect for the tweens.

Because I really enjoyed Maggie Horne’s debut ‘Hazel Hill is Gonna Win This One’, I was incredibly happy to be granted this eARC of ‘Noah Frye Gets Crushed’ from NetGalley!

Noah Frye is 12 years old and struggling to understand her best friends Zoey and Luna’s new obsession with who’s kissing who. As they discuss their first kisses and crushes, the pressure mounts when the girls’ attention turns to Noah. Not wanting to be ‘found out’ as someone completely uninterested in relationships, Noah quickly lies about speaking to a boy over the Summer break.

“I thought I’d gotten away with this whole fake crush thing – I figured that once school started again, Luna and Zoey would figure out that they had more stuff going on in their lives than boys, and they’d forget I ever said anything. I hadn’t thought they’d ask Jessa about it.”
Jessa is Noah’s new friend from Summer camp. As Jessa is about to start school with Noah, she is relieved when Jessa meets Luna and Zoey at school and they get on well. Jessa holds her own and tells Noah’s friends that she wasn’t interested in the immature boys at her old school. This makes Luna and Zoey think that Jessa must be very sophisticated!

Together, they start to plan a Halloween party. Of course, Luna and Zoey want to invite the boys. As the little white lie snowballs – can Noah keep her lie and her friends?

There are some absolutely adorable elements to this story which i loved: Noah’s volunteering at an animal shelter; the way the tweens speak to each other excitedly, as if every small drama is a massively big deal; and Noah’s interactions with the animal shelter’s manager, an adult with whom Noah feels safe. As Noah and her classmate Alfie bond over adopting rescue dogs, it’s clear that he will be the perfect stand-in to cover up her lie…

Just like Hazel Hill, this story raises the important message of being comfortable with who you are – and not changing because it is what you feel you should do. This novel accurately portrays the pressures on young people to mould themselves around their friends. Of course, as adults we can see that if Luna and Zoey are true friends to Noah, they will understand why she has no interest in relationships and accept her for who she is.

I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a light-hearted, fun read with drama and realistic voices.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

A little different to my usual reads, but I wanted to challenge myself this year. I’m so glad I did. This was an absolute delight to read. Getting to know Noah and all of her friends as they navigate the messiness of becoming a teenager was a blessing.

That there is something out there for our younger generation who may be struggling with the same realisation (or being just as oblivious) as Noah, this is an important story. Feelings aren’t binary, but you also cannot force yourself to like someone else just to conform with what your friends are doing.

There’s lots of cute side quests, like Noah’s volunteering job, Halloween and Thanksgiving with an appearance by Noah’s sister’s boyf! Plus bffs watching Rural Refresh and being snarky, Noah being scientific about boys and her friends being absolute goners for their boyfs- “No, you hang up!”

This was cute. A lovely story and some great representation. Think this will be great for tweens and teens.

Maggie Horne really seems to know how to pitch her books perfectly for the lower end of teen when talking about some potentially difficult subjects. Just like Hazel Hill is Gonna Win This One, this book is the perfect entry for someone feeling that something may be wrong with them when they don’t feel the same way as everyone else seems to. Noah is a great character who you can really empathise with as you follow her attempts to fit in with her friends who have recently discovered boys. Her determination to follow her plan and achieve the desired result helps show her thought process as she works her way forward, finally finding out what it is she REALLY wants.

This would be a great addition to any upper Keystage 2 library collection. Noah has been away at summer camp and is really excited to get back to her friends back home as she has some big news. But when she gets back, she discovers that everything has changed because her friends have discover BOYS over the summer. Noah doesn't get it. She doesn't understand why the boys they've known for years are suddenly such a big deal or why her friends are having to analyse every conversation or look. To try to work it out, she decides to conduct a scientific experiment to see if she can make herself have a crush on a boy.

This book is great at acknowledging the changes that happen around puberty and how they can impact on your social group and on your well-being. It also looks at how peer pressure can make you make decisions that aren't always the best for you. While Noah's reasons for not getting the big deal about boys are due to her having a crush on someone unexpected (for her), it's also a good place to have a conversation about the fact that not everyone gets crushes at the same age and that's ok, and that some people don't ever experience them, and that's ok too. I think this book also creates thoughts about how changes can make some people feel very lonely and would create a good opportunity to talk about how you can be a good friend, even if you like different things.

Noah Frye Gets Crushed is the sophomore release from author Maggie Horne, following - you guessed it - Noah Frye, a twelve year old middle-school kid. Over summer break, Noah met Jessa, a girl with all of the same interests as Noah, and she couldn't wait to introduce Jessa to all of her best friends.

But following summer break, something seems to have shifted quite dramatically: Noah's friends have become a little bit boy crazy, and Noah...is exactly the opposite. In fact, she couldn't care less about boys, and it makes her feel a little bit like a freak, like a misnomer, like she doesn't really belong in the place and around the people that used to be her safety blanket.

With only two options on the table, lose the only group of friends that she has ever known because she's an outlier amongst them or join in on the boy-loving fun, Noah conducts an experiment: find, and pretend, to like a boy, any boy, to fit in with the people that she felt at home with just months before.

But living the lie that came with the experiment becomes infinitely more difficult when Noah starts to have feelings, real feelings, for someone that wasn't a part of her plans. She had started to fall for Jessa.

So, what the hell was she supposed to do now?

I read Maggie Horne's debut novel 'Hazel Hill is Going to Win This One' and instantly fell in love with it. The writing style, the characters, the way that it felt almost like you were living the story and not just reading it.

Going into this second novel, I was worried that the magic might not be quite as prevalent...but God, was I wrong.

I devoured this book and I loved every single second of it.

So if you're looking for a fun, easy and wholesome book to read, I cannot recommend Noah Frye Gets Crushed enough.

5/5 stars, yet again. I'm starting to believe that Maggie Horne can do no wrong. 🌟

Noah Frye Gets Crushed is a sweet and funny tale of, at times, pure chaos, following Noah who, when her best friends start talking about boys all the time, decides the way to fix this all is to (checks notes) pretend to have a crush on a boy too. Yeah, Noah. That’s gonna go so well.

On the one hand, then, this is a bit like a comedy of errors. On the other, it’s a poignant story of Noah’s self-realisation and the new friends she makes along the way. And Maggie Horne is so so good at blending the two. One moment you’re laughing at Noah’s antics, the next you’re tearing up as Noah starts to feel like a spare part amongst her friends. It’s a book I just know is going to be great for a whole generation of young lesbian readers.

I think what’s key to that is the fact that Noah has the space to mess up. She screws up! She hurts her friends! But it’s about the growth she goes through surrounding that, not only in coming to realise things about herself. She is, ultimately, a bit of a mess, but she’s learning throughout the book. It’s honestly just a very satisfying character arc that she goes through to me. Probably, it has to be said, one of the most satisfying of all the middle grade books I’ve read.

It helps that Noah is just an entirely relatable character. I don’t think there’s many people who won’t have felt like they just wanted to fit in with what their friends were doing at some point or other. Watching Noah go through that, but then come to realise that she can just be her own person separate from them too, was heartening. It was also very nice to see the support system she had around her, even if she didn’t always realise they were there, and it produced some sweet moments (and laugh out loud ones too!).

Just overall though, if you’re looking for some sapphic middle grade to be reading, Maggie Horne’s books should be high on that list.

The plot
Twelve-year-old Canadian, Noah Frye, has just returned from summer camp. Things have, however, changed in her friends, Luna and Zoey, since she was gone; they have discovered boys. Noah, who only teamed up with a girl at the camp called Jessa, feels left behind. A friend, after all, is not the same as a boyfriend, especially when the others conversations now revolve around how nice the boy is and kissing, or at least the promises of. Even introducing Jesse, who recently moved to Noah's school after her family came to town, to her friendship circle seems to go awry, as Jessa seems more popular than her. Noah decides she needs a boyfriend to have her first kiss and cuddle and thus remain actively engaged with her friends.

So, she tries, quite literally, through what she thinks are reasoned experiments to determine what is involved and if she can catch up. Picking on unsuspecting Archie, a boy from her school, she sets out to achieve results akin to those of her friends, and elder sister, Brighton. Archie's family have adopted Hank, a long-time resident dog from the shelter where Noah volunteers. Getting Archie involved seems the perfect way to get the data and, ultimately, the experience she needs and craves.

Noah has given herself a target to get her own boyfriend by. But her best-laid plans go awry when her PARENTS' home and garden renovating business starts to fail, caused by the arrival in the town of famous TV home makeover guru Brylee James and her Rural Makeover programme.

The resulting pinch on home finances means the open-door Halloween celebrations Noah's family holds yearly, a firm favourite of Luna and Zoey and all the other kids they know, won't be as glitzy as the other kids want. Noah fears her own popularity will suffer even more.

When, after a girls' sleepover at Noah's house, Jessa comes to the shelter with Noah, the whole dynamic of Noah's plan for Archie takes a tumble when, from inexperience in flirting, she insults him and hurts his feelings. So much so that the shelter's owner says that if she carries on, she will lose her job because of her bullying attitude. Jessa, quite reasonably, is confused by what she sees, mixed signals if you will, but ultimately tries to help Noah achieve her goal.

Now, because of all the ins and outs of this plot, the dynamics of Noah's family and the relationship between the friends, old and new and potential victims of Noah, I really can't say much more. But as you might guess, things will need to, and do, go wrong so they can improve before we reach the end. You'll just have to read along to discover how things turn out for Noah, her family and friends.


So, what did we think?
We loved how the young characters, friends and family interacted, the angst of figuring out life and the first steps to maturity, adulthood, friendship and, ultimately, love.

Noah recounts her progress in a diary-like style. Each chapter has a heading and, beneath, bullet points of related matters, for example, things Noah likes, dislikes or wants to achieve.

Written most sensitively and wittily (despite our protagonist's misguided and sometimes blunt tactics) and told in the first person, Noah tries her best to navigate the changes within, and in her long-time friendship circle friends, Zoey and Luna, as the others discover boys and how to interact.

What is quite clear for the reader, and I suspect deliberately so in a beautifully choreographed way, is a road map to understanding a broad range of emotions and oneself. Not everything in life is clear-cut. Friendships consist of more than just one thing. They can withstand many challenges if we take the time to understand our own feelings and those of the surrounding people. And why should these things be difficult, facts and advice obscured by others in an age of enlightenment?

The additional dynamics of a new girl, Jessa, Noah's parents' business problems, and Brylee James make this entire story so very compelling. For extra fun, Noah's parents rescue pugs, and have far too many around the house adding to the chaos of everyday life.

The twists and turns kept coming and kept us guessing, gasping and giggling. We were never entirely sure where we would end up with this read, which is why we loved it so. The final chapters are telling and appreciative of the situations portrayed and life.

Writing at its very best, dealing with subjects for the young teenager in a form that is neither patronising nor slanted. Maggie Horne has created another go-to piece of literature for all ages that will help inform, entertain, and make a more tolerant society.

Crunch time.
An essential, balanced, unputdownable read and a rollercoaster ride of fun, tears, discovery, misunderstandings and friendship that is right here and now for younger adult readers and a recommendable read for all.

Noah Frye Gets Crushed is a Middle Grade contemporary story that follows Noah who comes back from summer camp excited to tell her best friends all about the new friend she made who is moving to their school but instead finds them discussing the boys they kissed and are crushing on. Noah feels out of place during these discussions and for potentially the first time that she doesn’t fit with Zoey and Luna so to combat this she pretends she has a crush too.

During the story, we see quite a mix of characters including Noah and her friends, her parents, her sister and Lydia who runs the animal centre where Noah volunteers at weekly. Noah herself felt like she was twelve and while at times she possibly came across as a little bit younger the situations she found herself in and the way she acted most of the time felt reasonable for her age. The story also felt accurate twelve is often the age when some of these things start to change but it didn’t feel like they were acting like teenagers yet keeping the balance quite well. I also really liked the support that Noah found around her from her older sister who while annoying does listen to her, to the friends she already has and the ones that she develops throughout the story and the adults she has surrounding her, they all show her that they care and want to support her while also being there when she needs them.

I struggled to get invested in this one which is a shame because it's a really good and important story about friendship and moulding yourself to fit in even if that’s not who you are. There was quite a lot of drama which is completely normal for the age but not something I always enjoy reading about for extended periods.

This story tackles topics that are extremely important in a way that is suitable and understandable for younger readers. It makes them approachable and doesn’t use terms that may confuse them which I liked. Stories like this are key for younger readers to have access to as they begin to explore who they are and I’m happy that I am able to read and review in a period where so many of these fantastic stories are getting written.

I will be recommending this book and while it’s not necessarily one I’ll come back to myself I enjoyed my reading experience and am glad to have done so. It feels well suited towards younger readers in a way that can also include the adults that are around them. 3 stars as it was an enjoyable read but not a new favourite or one I’ll likely reread at any point in the near future.

Oh what a story! Funny, sad, poignant and heartwarming. What happens when your friends all have crushes and you don't and a new friend joins your group? Welll Noah Frye soon discovers and comes up with a plan to help. Best laid plans never work. It takes a lot of tears and upset for the truth to come out in the best way.  I hope everyone has a support team this good around them when they need it.

I think this book was really good and I kind of thought that Noah might be gay but I couldn't be sure and I was so so happy when it turned out that I was right and Noah was gay!

I loved this so much, and I mean it when I say will read anything Maggie Horne writes. Hazel Hill was one of my favourite books of last year, so I had high hopes for this book. I was not let down. Noah Frye manages to perfectly emulate how compulsory heterosexuality is experienced by young queer people, and how confusing and damaging it can be for them, speaking from experience. Noah had the most relatable commentary, and her perspective was just a lot of fun to read overall. A highlight of this book was the immaculate dialogue between the twelve-year-old girls and their 'boyfriends'; I remember hearing classmates saying the exact same things at that age and it was hilarious to read. Also, the story involved the characters volunteering at an animal shelter - immediate five stars.

A couple of aspects felt unrealistic: the ten-year-olds being able to volunteer at the animal shelter, and Noah's friends knowing about her actual crush but never bringing it up because they wanted to let her say it first, which I thought was nice of them but also highly improbable considering they were all twelve and quite feral. Aside from that, I loved everything about this book.

A humorous and heartwarming tale of friendship, first crushes, and self-discovery.

The author manages to weave humour and genuine emotion into the story, making it relatable for YA readers. The characters, especially Noah and her friends, are endearing and the book beautifully captures the essence of growing up, friendship, and the discovery who you are.

A feel-good ending!

A charming, funny, and heartfelt story about a 12-year-old girl beginning to understand her sexual orientation and grappling with shifting friendship dynamics. Looking forward to reading more by Maggie Horne!