Hello, bookworms! Welcome to my review of Slingshot by Mercedes Helnwein! This book releases on April 27, 2021. Firstly, I'd like to thank Wednesday Books and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Now let's dive into this review!
This book follows Gracie Welles, who is miserable and bored at her third tier boarding school in Florida. She's come to accept her suboptimal life, but everything changes when she saves a new student, Wade, from getting beaten up by classmates. From that point forward, her and Wade's lives are intertwined as they grow up and explore new feelings, thoughts, and ideas. I unfortunately didn't enjoy this book very much. The story just didn't resonate with me and I disliked multiple aspects of it. The biggest issue I had with this book was the main character, Gracie. Her personality was exasperating and irksome; she was incredibly rude and had zero respect for anyone. It irritated me how she claimed to be much more mature than her classmates but acted so childish. This book turned me off from the first scene, in which Gracie was crying and yelling at her teacher whom she had a crush on because she learned he was engaged to someone. It was uncomfortable for me to read everything from her perspective because I didn't agree with most things she thought or said. This book did present some self-growth in Gracie, but most of it was packed at the very end. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of improvement until she returned to school for her junior year, and then she was suddenly much more mature. The main thing I liked about this book was Wade. He was sweet, considerate, and always did kind things for other people. His character was interesting and had depth, and I liked reading about him. He was definitely the highlight of the book for me. I also liked Gracie's roommate, Georgina. Her conversations with Gracie were always really amusing and interesting. I wish she'd been in more of the book; I would have liked to learn more about her. Two other major problems I had with this book were the abundance of swearing and the unhealthy messages about sex. This might not bother some people, but I personally didn't enjoy reading a book where the characters threw swear words into every single sentence. I'm perfectly fine with some swearing in books, but this was overly excessive. The way sex was presented in this book was also bothersome to me. One of the older girls at school tells Gracie to have sex with someone that she doesn't care about--instead of saving it for someone special so she's not too "emotional." It's also mentioned that characters didn't use protection while having sex. I feel like those aren't great messages about sex for a book to present. This book also touched on important topics like abuse and mental health; however, I disliked some of the ways the book talked about mental illness, like how Gracie said her mom was "insane" numerous times in reference to her mental illness. That's all for my review of Slingshot. I wish that I'd liked this book more than I did, but unfortunately I only gave it 1 Star ⭐️. Hopefully anyone who decides to pick up this book will enjoy it more than I did!
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Hey there, bookworms!My name is Rose (she/her) and I'm the creator of Books of Magic and Mystery. I love reading YA books, especially fantasy and mystery. When I'm not reading, you can find me baking, studying, or cuddling with my super-furry pets. Visit me on Instagram @booksofmagicandmystery! Archives
November 2021
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