*This book was provided as an uncorrected bound manuscript by Wednesday Books in a WBReaderFest giveaway.
Goodreads Synopsis:
An exciting debut contemporary young adult novel perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell and Mary H. K. Choi
Grace Welles had resigned herself to the particular loneliness of being fifteen and stuck at a third-tier boarding school in the swamps of Florida, when she accidentally saves the new kid in her class from being beat up. With a single aim of a slingshot, the monotonous mathematics of her life are obliterated forever…because now there is this boy she never asked for. Wade Scholfield.
With Wade, Grace discovers a new way to exist. School rules are optional, life is bizarrely perfect, and conversations about wormholes can lead to make-out sessions that disrupt any logical stream of thoughts.
So why does Grace crush Wade’s heart into a million tiny pieces? And what are her options when she finally realizes that 1. The universe doesn’t revolve around her, and 2. Wade has been hiding a dark secret. Is Grace the only person unhinged enough to save him?
Acidly funny and compulsively readable, Mercedes Helnwein’s debut novel Slingshot is a story about two people finding each other and then screwing it all up. See also: soulmate, friendship, stupidity, sex, bad poetry, and all the indignities of being in love for the first time.
My Review:
I wish I could say that I was blown away despite my expectations of a book I would be unable to like, but I was exactly right and more. I definitely think there should be more unapologetic female characters in YA, but Gracie was over-the-top problematic. Right off the bat she’s heartbroken because as a 15-year-old, she just found out that her 30+ year-old biology teacher has a fiancée and she holds it against him for most of the book. She even mentions that some people might see it as a “thing” but she doesn’t believe it’s an issue. So immediately, I’m weirded out. A little later Gracie’s new friend Beth insists that Gracie should try to seduce the teacher anyways, which is extremely not okay.
In addition to this, Gracie is made out to be some stone-cold bitch that only warms the slightest bit around Wade, but really? She’s unlikeable even to the reader who can see inside her head! Wade was also too perfect; he made few mistakes and maybe one big one but overall he and Gracie weren’t evenly matched at all which put me off of both of them.
For me, this book was like when I was much younger and my parents would cook a meal I knew I didn’t like but still had hope for. I would then try it, but it wasn’t at all worth it and perhaps even worse than before. I wish I could be nicer about this but I do think honest reviews are important and I just found this book to be really off putting.
Because of this, I wouldn’t recommend this book. Both the characters and plot were just beyond me here. I couldn’t tolerate it and I almost DNF, but kept reading because there was a blackout.
Overall, I would rate this book…
⭐️/5.
The Fiction Feature 