A New York Times BestsellerWhat if the person you need the most is someone you’ve never met? Funny and romantic, this tug-at-your-heartstrings contemporary YA debut is perfect for readers of Rainbow Rowell, Jennifer Niven, and E. Lockhart.Everything about Jessie is wrong. At least, that’s what it feels like during her first week as a junior at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los … new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. It’s been barely two years since her mother’s death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her stepmonster and her pretentious teenage son.
Just when she’s thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from a person calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School. Is it an elaborate hoax? Or can she rely on SN for some much-needed help?
In a leap of faith—or an act of complete desperation—Jessie begins to rely on SN, and SN quickly becomes her lifeline and closest ally. Jessie can’t help wanting to meet SN in person. But are some mysteries better left unsolved?
“Three Things about this novel: (1) I loved it. (2) No, really, I LOVED it. (3) I wish I could tell every teen to read it. Buxbaum’s book sounds, reads, breathes, worries, and soars like real adolescents do.” —Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Leaving Time and Off the Page
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I loved it!
I have been reading a lot of thrillers and mysteries and I just really needed a palette cleanser, something fresh and a little more light and this was perfect.
Just two years after the death of Jessie’s mother her Dad comes home from what she thought was a business trip with the news that he has married a woman he met in a bereavement forum. Jessie has never met this woman (Rachel) or her son, Jessie’s new step brother Theo who live in L.A. Net thing Jessie know she is living in L.A. , in a huge house as Rachel is some kind of movie executive and is about to start school at the exclusive Wood Valley High. When Jessie is feeling lost she gets an e-ail from someone who is going by Somebody Nobody who wants to help guide her through the ups and downs of Wood Valley high. To be a safe place for her. Next thing you know SN as Jessie calls him has become a friend via IM. SN urges her to befriend Dri, girl in her class and just helps her in general.
Jessie goes into her best Nancy Drew mode to try and figure out who SN is. I thought it was a cute little joke that Jessie’s last name was Holmes as she was using her best detective skills. I must say that Jessie is a terrible detective though. I knew and I think anyone and everyone who read this book figured out who SN was from Jessie’s suspects right away. From the moment you met this person! Still, it was a super cute book and it didn’t really matter much to me that we knew right away even if Jessie and her friends did not. If it mattered this book would have been a 3.5 to 4.0 star book. The thing that made this book a five star book is how Jessie is still grieving for her Mother. The pain she feels is at sometimes heartbreaking. I lost my Mom and I could feel everything that Jessie felt. It broke my heart.
This is a sweet book that at first may come off as a light romance but at the heart is really a book about healing, growing up and finding a way to continue on.
I read this book because my 14-year-old granddaughter is reading it, and I homeschool her. I wanted to be able to talk about the issues in this book: loss, friendship, trust, boyfriends and new beginnings. This had it all.
I loved that the characters were intelligent and cared about each other and school. The romance dialogue might be too far advanced for some parents to approve, but teens talk like this and it’s appropriate to understand this stage in our teens’ lives when we’re investing in their social and emotional education, as well as their book smarts.
Also, as an author, this book had all the fictional elements that I want to teach my teen in her writing class: the inciting incident, the fork in the road, choices, the a-ha moment and the happily-ever-after. Sigh!
I really enjoyed reading this and loved the author’s personal information at the end of the book as to why she wrote this and how it applied to her life. It helped me feel connected to her.
Well done!
It is so cute and romantic! Reminds me a bit of You’ve Got Mail! I’m excited for future works by this author.
This is a cute YA read. The protagonist is likable and relatable.
Good for teens
I thought this was a sweet book about adolescence, grief, relationships, and young love. A girl starts going to a new school and an anonymous fellow student reaches out to her via email to help her navigate the cliques and drama. Although I thought the guy’s identity was rather predictable, it was a very heartwarming story as they connect over mutual grief as well as shared interests and perspectives. I think it would be a good read for high school students. There were some mature topics covered, but I thought they were handled in a way that encouraged safety and communication. And I loved a scene in the book that covered bullying and some of its effects, including accidental victim-blaming from a well-meaning but misguided teacher (the protagonist calls it out for what it is in a very effective way).
I felt connected to the characters and found myself flying through this book because I enjoyed the author’s style. An easy read that touches on deep themes, with a heartwarming teenage romance.
Tell Me Three Things is based on an excellent plot idea–the new kid who is guided through the use of technology around the hierarchy of a small private school by an anonymous “friend.” A high school junior grieving the death of her mother must move without warning to a new town to live with the father’s new wife and stepson (when did you get married much less start dating?), must leave her very best friend, must deal with bullying, and must try to trust again. The lower rating is because I am a retired teacher who has problems with the book labeled for Young Adults. The book portrays almost all, if not all, of the students drinking alcohol well past the point of inebriation. I do realize that high school students drink and many plan to drink to get drunk. However, I don’t think it is appropriate for that to be a celebrated aspect of a book written primarily for high school readers. I do not want this book or any book glorifying alcohol in any middle or high school’s library or classrooms or the young adult section of a bookstore or the public library.
Tell Me Three Things offers a premise that will likely be very familiar to anyone who has read/watched Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (Love, Simon) or You’ve Got Mail. It holds an identity mystery element and the conversations take on a life of their own. This YA novel also incorporates a high-school aged teen who has just suffered the death of her mother and is struggling to adjust to a life her father is moving forward with. This added element gave the story depth and made the anonymous conversations that more crucial as we watch her find her way. Overall, a likable reading experience for me, but existing fans of YA realistic fiction will most likely find even more enjoyment.
Loved this book!
Just an all around fantastic read!!! worth every minute spent alone reading this book.
Loved this book! Very rarely do I finish a book and almost immediately want to read it again.