This is a great book just as good as letters to the lost, Brigid writes charaters with such depth that it makes my heart beat faster and feel emotionally attached to each charater.
Go into this book expecting to feel an emotional bond to each character.

An interesting read with important topics of truth and lies.
The relationships between the characters were refreshing however I felt the ending wasn’t slowed enough, it felt a touch rushed.
In all honesty it did take me sometime to get into this book with multiple restarts but it was an okay read all in all.

“Words are words, and it’s more about how we use them.”


I’ve been a long time fan of this authors books and Call It Want You Want didn’t let me down. I was beyond absorbed in to this amazing novel and the characters felt so believable.

The story is crafted around family dramas, friendships, a failed suicide attempt and what its like to live in the aftermath of your decision or consequences from someone else’s choice, and it ask the question do two wrongs make a right.

Ultimately what someone perceives as to what that person deserves might not be the same as some else’s. Be careful who you judge because you sometimes have no idea what they deal with.


Maegan & Rob both struggle in their own ways but find a connection together and peace from the storms raging their lives. It was a honour to be apart of their love story. A beautiful novel that had me reading till the early hours of the morning and when I read the last page I didn’t want to say goodbye.

Thank you to the publisher & netgalley for the e-ARC in return for my honest review.

Brigid Kemmerer is the queen of writing sweet but troubled male leads. In Call It What You Want, I really fell hard for Rob Lachlan and his flight to convince the world that he’s not like his scheming father. Maegan made a cute pairing for him, the cop’s daughter to match a thief’s son. Although, she had less going for her, in the sense that the conflict of her story came from the fact that her older sister was pregnant with her university professor’s baby. She stilled shines, but definitely not as bright as her male counterpart.
The actual romantic scenes were some of the best I’ve ever read, the perfect mix between sensitive and steamy. It had the kind of depth of passion - without being explicit - that I’m not used to seeing in YA, and I really liked how it walked that boundary.
I loved Rob’s character progression, particularly in his friendship with Owen. There was something about it that reminded me of The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner, which I love.
Although I’ll always think of Letters to the Lost as her best, I loved the themes of this one, and the well researched background to the characters lives. The financial trickery Rob’s family got into was easy to follow but difficult to predict. It’ll please any current Brigid Kemmerer fans, and intrigue new readers into wanting to read more!

I am absolutely in love with this book! I read letters to the lost last year so when I saw this book I just knew I had to read it. I loved Rob and Meagan and the dynamics between them and their own family dynamics. The thing I loved about Rob was that he wasn't a typical rebel, that him and Meagan aren't overly different as people. In letters to the lost, the main characters were stark opposites and even though Meagan and Rob were once different people, because of their situations they are quite similar. One thing I love about YA is the theme of friendship and family and Brigid hit that nail on the head. I also love books that have multiple povs as it allows the reader to get the story from different perspectives. I loved that even though romance played a part in this book, there was more going on with their own family issues. I didn't find the story too predictable either, there were a couple of twists I didn't see coming. I loved the message that there isn't such thing as just being inherently good or inherently bad, that there is a lot of grey area and that just because a person does a bad thing, it doesn't erase everything they did that was good.

This book deals with some really hard subjects in a really great way- reinforcing that really important life lesson that bad people can do good things and good people can do bad things. A really worthwhile read.

Call It What You Want is an absolutely beautiful story that follows themes such as family, friendship, pregnancy and so many more.

What I loved the most about this book was the characters. Rob and Maegan were two of my favourite contemporary characters I’ve read about! Rob was this sweet boy who’s had his life ruined by his dads mistakes. And, Meagan is this girl who’s had her life ruined by one mistake she made. The two of them cross paths because of a project and we follow their journey from there. Not only did I really love Rob and Meagan, I really liked Samantha too! I’ve not read any YA books that follow a teen pregnancy before and loved the way it was handled in this book. I found Samantha and her conflicting feelings about the baby, the father and her parents really interesting to follow. I really enjoyed reading about her and am glad with how it ended up.

Rob was my favourite! I swear Brigid has such a knack for writing soft male characters that I fall in love with and Rob was definitely no different! Seeing how he’s at the bottom of the social pyramid and learning that he wasn’t always did break my heart. I really think it was interesting how your parents mistakes can really make or break your life at high school sometimes. What Rob’s dad did was horrific but it broke my heart how much everyone thought Rob was in on it even though that’s definitely not how it turned out - I mean the reveal of what happened with his dad and the people involved had me SHOOK.

Meagan had such an interesting story arc too! The girl who cheated on her exam and ruined 100 people’s exams therefore shoving her down to the bottom of the social pyramid too but is actually a real brainiac who just wanted to be as good in her parents eyes as her sister. I feel like sibling rivalry like that is such a big thing to so many people and I feel liked the way it was explored through Meagan and what she did and then Samantha getting pregnant. And the way she saw the best in Rob and then the thing happened and then she was questioning him and then THE ENDING. I just love the two of them so much.

We also had such a cast of side characters! Connor and Owen being my favourites! Connor I felt like we go on such a journey with him throughout this book and in the end finding out about him and his family was kind of sad. Owen, who we were routing for and found myself questioning throughout!

Overall, I really, really loved this book and I am going to go and read all of the books I can by Brigid because I love her writing style and her characters!!

After reading and loving Brigid Kemmerer’s Letters To The Lost Series I know straight away if she did another contemporary style book I had to read it! Once again I have seen two covers for this book (pictured at the end of this post). I do like both styles of cover though I discuss them further in my “Cover Comparison Post”. The genres listed for this book are YA, Contemporary, I love YA and have warmed to the contemporary genre especially when coupled with YA and by this particular author.

The main character is former “it” boy Rob Lachlan junior, who once had it all, money, popularity and an easy life. That was until his dad Robert Lachlan Senior got caught embezzling money. He was turned in by family friend and co-employee Bill Tunstall. Bill was cleared of all charges and so he and his family were untouched by the notoriety and disgrace that the Lachlan family endure. Robert Lachlan senior couldn’t cope with the fall out from being caught having fraudulently stolen money from many of the neighbours and he attempts to take his own life. Horrifically for Robert Lachlan junior he is the one that finds his dad.
Rob has no one to call a friend at school now, even his best friend Connor Tunstall ignores hm. Someone else used to being less popular is Maegan, her dad is a policeman. It’s a good job she doesn’t have close friends as if she did it would be harder to hide the fact her sister Samantha has come home from University and is pregnant. Naturally Maegan’s family want to keep the shock news private for as long as possible. Maegan has attached enough notoriety to the family name by cheating at the school exams. The ironic thing is she is clever enough to pass without cheating.

The reason the two main characters suddenly find themselves pairs up which just leaves Rob & Maegan.

With everyone judging Rob by his fathers standard when certain opportunities literally begin dropping in his lap its difficult to blame him for taking advantage of them. First of all, there’s the money that Connor Tunstall drops when he is in the cafeteria. Rob picks it up and his attempts to return it to Connor fail. In the end he decides to give it to Owen Goettler who is on the equivalent to school dinners in the US. Which means Owen is usually eating a rather grim looking cheese sandwich. Gradually the money Rob comes across become larger and larger amounts until he steals a pair of earrings. In his “defence” the person who steals them from would not miss them or the money they cost. He has some deep thinking to do, such as should he pawn the earrings? Should he return them? What should he do?

I liked the characters of Samantha and Maegan, though throughout the book Maegan actually comes across as the more mature sister despite Samantha being the eldest. There is plenty going on in the book that certainly has you glued to your seat with the book in your hand!

I was surprised to find out the other people involved in the embezzling. Although I did love hating Connor’s dad within the book, he is a very controlling character.

Another character I was wary of but then ended up adoring was Mr London, the gay librarian with a husband at home. Despite being one of the victims Mr London soon becomes a shoulder to lean on for Rob. Through Rob’s love of books they share a hobby and have that to initiate a friendship. One that it turns out Rob really needs.

I Loved the characters that all had their own problems and family issues yet at the same time still managed to be there for each other when they most needed each other. Well written, totally believable read.

Amazing. I'm beginning to think that Brigid could write about paint drying and I'd still devour it.
This book took me under 24 hours to read, it was that good. I really love how unique both main characters are, the difference in their lives and how their relationship blossoms beautifully even though they come from different backgrounds. The problems each character faces and their struggle to comprehend right from wrong was written so brilliantly, you could see from each person's point of view. It was impossible to even feel a little annoyed at them! I was worried how this story would end but again, Brigid did a fantastic job wrapping it up.

× Fantastic story!

Thank you so much for allowing me to review this book.

This is my second Brigid Kemmerer novel and im beginning to see a pattern she writes young adult contemporary novels with hard hitting subjects and she does them really well in my opinion.

Without going into to much detail and spoiling this book Rob lives his life lonely, in the shadows after a crime his father committed, students and town folk belive he knew what his father was doing all along and so he becomes an outcast. Megan(yes I spelt her name differently to the author did in the book) cheated on a test and since then has always been branded as a cheat. When the two of them have to work together on a maths project will they find a common ground?

I personally, loved this book, I thought it was really well written it spoke well of family loyalty, wealth divides, the difference between doing what you believe is right and what is actually the right thing to do. I read through this quiet fast my only issue was I didn't like Connor he really annoyed me many times and as much as I enjoyed how they worked out their differences and yes that made me emotional, I think Connor was a shitty friend.

I will be reading more by this author in the future.

Can we be defined by a mistake that we did? Should that be the main sole that we're being judged? No, it shouldn't because we're human and we're bound to make mistakes every single day that we're alive. This story kept repeating about this and I just want to remind all of you that nobody is perfect, everyone make mistakes everyday. No one is a saint.

I really breezed through this book because it was an enjoyable read. It talks about pretty rough things but it was easy to get into it. The characters are going through tough times and they all have problems of their own. I love the fact that they are willing to be there for one another the best way that they possibly can. It really says a lot and it doesn't only apply to lovers but also friendships.

The romance aspect between Rob and Meagan was pretty straightforward and before they know it, their math project was quickly abandoned as things start to pile up. Making new friends and slowly rebuilding back what was once a broken relationship was great when I read it because it's something that I really look forward to.

I don't think that I've ever read a book quite like this as it was a really great read. I've only read a fantasy book by this author before and now I'm definitely going to look up for more stories by her. I wish that I will also enjoy it just as much as I did with these two books.

I truly loved this book!

The relationship between Maegan and Rob worked really well and the plot was intriguing as well as engaging.

My only bit of criticism would be the ending, it seemed a tad bit rushed compared to the rest of the book but the rest of it definitely made up for it :)

Thanks for this ARC!