A laugh-out-loud, realistic portrayal of a freshman year in college for fans of Emergency Contact, Broad City, and The Bold Type. Getting in is just the beginning. Phoebe can’t wait to get to college. On her own, discovering new things, no curfew . . . she’ll be free. And she’ll be totally different: cooler, prettier, smarter . . . the perfect potential girlfriend. Convenient: the only person … girlfriend. Convenient: the only person from her high school also going to York is her longtime crush, Luke.
Luke didn’t set out to redefine himself, but as soon as he arrives on campus, he finds himself dumping his long-term long-distance girlfriend. And the changes don’t stop there. In fact, being on a soccer team is the only thing that stays the same.
Just when things start looking up (and Phoebe and Luke start hooking up), drama looms on the horizon. Rumors swirl about the Wall of Shame, a secret text chain run by Luke’s soccer team, filled with compromising photos of girls. As the women on campus determine to expose the team and shut down the account, Luke and Phoebe find themselves grappling with confusing feelings and wondering how they’ll ever make it through freshman year.
“Ellen and Ivison absolutely nail teen dialogue, taking readers on a laugh-out-loud-funny journey through the ups and sometimes horrifying downs of freshman year. Flirty, bawdy, sloppy, and buckets of fun.” —Booklist
“Marked by a refreshing absence of mean girl drama, well-rounded and caring boy characters, fluid writing, expert pacing, and genuine humor…full of heart.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Captures the central experiences of starting college…[an] entertaining novel.” —Publishers Weekly
“A realistic yet sharply humorous portrayal of two people trying to find themselves and their way forward.” —VOYA
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This review is for an ARC and is my unbiased, honest opinion.
YIKES! I truly wanted to love this book. I think the cover is amazing, the synopsis sounded great, etc. I was really excited to read this one but it just did not work for me. The synopsis had me thinking the book would go this way but it ended up going another, if that makes any sense. I also struggled with the amount of people in this book. I literally could not keep up with who was who, who was with who, etc. I eventually stopped trying. Also the drama was a bit too much. It seemed like there was ALWAYS something going on. It was just too much for me. I did struggle with connecting with the main characters. I just didn’t care one way or the other about them. I never felt invested in their lives. I will say, I enjoyed the friendship between Phoebe, Frankie and Negin (I hope that’s the three who had the epic friendship anyway). I loved how they were always there for each other, even through some very embarrassing times. If you’ve read the book, you know which scene I’m referring to. That’s true friendship right there.
I think the biggest issue was Phoebe being in love with Luke. The same guy she went to school with but only spoke to him 5 times in 7 years. She was very much in love/obsessed with him. Turns out it was just the idea of Luke that she was in love with. I mean, how else could you love someone you don’t know and have barely spoken to? Luke Taylor wasn’t someone I wanted Phoebe with anyway. He was this self centered, constantly wavering jerk. He didn’t know what he wanted but wanted to keep everyone on standby just in case he decided to lean towards them for THAT day. I’m not sure if we were supposed to root for Phoebe and Luke but I definitely didn’t.
There was one thing that I really enjoyed in this book. Abbey and Luke trading random greeting cards with each other on special occasions was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s definitely something I want to start doing haha.
Overall, I truly wanted to love and enjoy this book. I tried my hardest to look at the positive side of things but it just didn’t work out.
I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was definitely not my favorite book..As a mother of an 18 year old getting ready to head off to college, I had a very hard time reading this book. I am not naive, but I do know that there is so much more to college than alcohol, weed and sex. I really wanted to share this book with my daughter before she heads off to school (especially to help her realize that high school relationships don’t generally last through freshman year of college) but I definitely don’t want her to think that the behaviors in the story are the “norm”.