List of all the reasons I loved this book:
- Written in list form, Quinn keeps a diary of all her deepest, darkest secrets… a diary that is now being used to blackmail her! Now she has to do what the blackmailer wants… before all her lies are exposed! I’m choking back the emotions this book gave me, cos as you might be able to tell from that description… it was a wild ride!
- Bold and different to a lot of other contemporaries out right now, this is a coming-of-age story for a new generation.
- Far from being a goody two shoes, our main character has a lot of growing up to do. And yet, that’s what makes her so relatable. Her journey isn’t about achieving perfection or being the best (amazingly this isn’t yet another book where the main character gets into an Ivy League 😉), but about her finding out who she is. I really appreciate how this book shows that it’s okay to make mistakes and grow from them, because life is a process. And your story doesn’t end at your high school graduation!
- Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry gives us a fair dose of realism, showing the complexity of friendship, romance and family relationships. The romance is cute and has a fantastic first-love feel. The friendships are explored with great care. And I especially loved that it didn’t give us the cookie cutter family image- it’s more down-to-earth than that.
- Happily, so many of the characters are humanised. Sure, there’s one or two irredeemable people in the bunch, but most have some humanity to them.
- There’s a lot about redemption and hope and growth in this book. This deals with difficult and significant issues in a grounded way. I loved the maturity and heart of the main character- and it was her attitude that was the saving grace of the story.
- Plus, we get to cheer on some justice being done by the end of the book!
- I can safely say I was delighted with this contemporary- it was one of the best I’ve read in a while!
Rating: 5/5 bananas
And that’s all for today! Have you read this book? Do you plan to? Let me know in the comments!
the orang-utan librarian 
I’ll have to put this on my TBR! Also, funny that you said that about main characters getting into Ivy leagues bc i have a post in my drafts talking about that. As an admittedly bitter senior who got into none of the prestigious schools I applied to i have a lot to say about realism 😅
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Ah that’s great!! I really hope you like it ☺️ ahh that’s so interesting- I’d love to read that! Honestly, even as someone from the UK, I know that’s completely ridiculous and not how things work. I get it in shows like gossip girl with the 1%… But reading so many contemporaries, it’s like every single ya heroine and her boyfriend get into Harvard 😅
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oh yeah definitely, there are a bunch of elite feeder private schools that send a ton of kids to them, but if you’re like a “normal” middle class person, there’s almost no chance. You have to be a child prodigy, founder of the latest global nonprofit or just extremely lucky lol. Not exactly most YA protagonists. That trope bothers me so much because books usually don’t even show them working on homework or anything school-related either before they get into Harvard
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Haha yeah that’s the impression I get from real world stories! But Hollywood makes it seem like anyone and everyone go, like it’s not totally elitist (the funniest example was in to all the boys I’ve loved before, where in the book she gets into a good college, but in the movie it’s multiple ivy leagues… Even though she does no work?!) Haha yes!! Also if a movie is ever set in the UK, the protagonist will always get into Oxford 😅 (so funny, cos we have our own “league” of top unis, but never mind that, if Hollywood is in charge, it’s Oxford or nowhere! Oh and even funnier is when they do clips of “Oxford” and it’s in London 😂😂😂 they did that on pretty little liars and a bust a gut laughing) sorry, rant over 😅
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Ooh, this sounds good!
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It was ☺️
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Yes! This was such a good book and I’ve already read it twice 🙂
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Ah I’m so glad you thought so! ☺️
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Excellent post! I can’t wait to read this book!!
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