Slingshot follows Grace, a fifteen years old girl who isn't the sweetest person. She's very rude and closed off so when Wade comes along and tries to be her friend after she rescued him by using her slingshot against a bully, she pushes him away. Until she doesn't and slowly, Wade becomes a big part of her life. That boy was so sweet and amazing, I just wanted everything good to happen to him because he deserved it... He clearly was the better person of the two and I loved him. Also when something was revealed about his family situation, I was so angry and sad for him. Grace has also a unique family situation as her father has another family that comes first and doesn't know about her and her mom (who pretends like everything is okay). Overall, I liked it but it wasn't perfect.

I feel like one of the problem some people have with this book was the age of the main character and the things she did at that age (having casual sex) and I agree with those reviewers for the most part. When I read, I usually imagine characters a little older than they actually are especially when they're fifteen so it didn't really bother me while I was reading. It's only after that it made me think.

There was something else that bothered me and it was the ending! It wasn't satisfying and I felt like it was missing another chapter or an epilogue where Wade and Grace would meet again. I also hated that they spent months without talking. I guess the author chose not to to make it realistic but come onnnn, I wanted more.

(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a contemporary YA novel. The main character, Gracie, of this novel was very unlikeable, swore a ton, and wasn't nice to others. She is delusional in her thinking and made what I read of this novel awful. I made it about 30% through and was done with the swearing and horrible treatment of others, like Wade. Not for me. Loves the cover though!

This book started slow for me but picked up toward the middle and I wound up enjoying it. It started with Gracie being completely miserable and went on like that for a good third of the book. “High school misfit” is not really a preferred genre for me. I liked the romance aspect, which felt true to teenage drama. I liked Gracie’s friendship with Beth and her interactions with Anju and Georgina. Gracie was a weird girl but the book was well-written and interesting.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this copy of the book. Any opinions I have expressed here are my own.

Yeah, I didn’t like it. I feel like a lot of authors lately are trying to normalize abusive relationships/behaviors, romanticize them. And that’s what really happened here. The main character is awful and unlikeable. And I find it to be super important to be able to connect with the main character.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.
This comes out : 27 April 2021

This book was something I was looking forward to a lot. Unfortunately, my expectations were much better than this book actually was.

I have a lot of issues with this book, one of the main ones is that it is for teens and it contains a very unhealthy, abusive relationship that is passed off as not much or "okay to do".

I don't care that the abuser is a woman or a girl in this instance, it is not okay and as a teen everyone is not as mature as to understand that this is abusive, unhealthy and not a game to be playing. Furthermore it promotes it as a joke and the abuser is our main character. YES OUR MAIN CHARACTER.

So this goes as follow:

Grace our main character is fifteen, I want you to keep that in mind while you read this because she acts like 5 or 17 nothing in between, starts the book by crying because she had a crush on a teacher who she discovers is now engage. (This is so, like I can't compute of course he is not interested in you, you are a minor: HEY if a teacher is interested in you that's illegal, he or she is an adult you are a kid). Like this girl was for sure that they were meant to be and soulmates, like her grasp on reality is seriously damaged. She ends up insulting the fiancée to her face, mind you and then telling the teacher he is doing nothing with his life and blah blah blah... She keeps saying how mature she is, only is interested in men (which girl you are a teen ew) and acts out in that teacher's class now as a way to cope ?!! Again she is 15, she then says that in a couple of years they'll be together, but like she still wants a relationship with a 30 years old man. In her head she even talks about how the broke up , her and the teacher, she is seriously stuck in that delusion of hers. This girl needs psychological help, this is not okay. She also ends up bullying her roommate for no reason, like no reason at all. She also hates another girl (Anju) because she briefly had a crush on Wade, slut shaming her and humiliating her in front of everyone. She like only makes up with that girl because they like the same band ??? After this girl called her out on how she is basically abusing Wade. Also there is this poor random older girl who feels emotionally forced to share deeply personal things with Grace, because Grace see's her as perfect and decides that she's a role model even though this girl introduced her to smoking, once again she is 15.

Any who, other stuff happens, One guy is bullying Wade, honestly don't care that much about the names, she proceeds to save Wade, by shooting her Derek with a slingshot, mind you it could potentially permanently damage someone in real life, and then saying it was nothing and not letting him sit at lunch with her. In this novel she is basically also emotionally abusing him the whole time, being extremely jealous of his friendship with Anju, and using it to emotionally manipulate and control him. Also, doing actions in front of everyone just to hurt him. She also, got Wade's skateboard taken away and threw cereal with milk at him because "I am so mature but cannot talk about emotions" when they broke up. (And she only regretted the skateboard incident at the end BTW)

And as if this was not enough already, thankfully they don't get back together, but everyone is no longer in contact, Wade=ignores everyone and Grace=no longer interacts with Georgina.

Overall, I hated it, I do not understand how this was even approved as a YA book, because to me it is not appropriate for the age range and it could be damaging to some teens who will think this is okay because the main character never apologizes and only really feels bad about the skateboard and not all the people she abused, bullied and hurt.

Extremely disappointed by this beautiful cover.
unfortunately, 1/5 stars

Bookarina

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This seemed like a promising, fluffy teen plot but I was disappointed in the result. I felt like Grace never grew from her experiences throughout the book and she didn’t act her age in MANY of the situations throughout the book. I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more if the book followed Wade for the main character rather than Grace. The majority of the book, I was wondering what the plot/purpose was and also felt like it was dragging because of this. It definitely could have ended after parent’s weekend, everything after that felt unnecessary. Lastly, I feel like the title could be changed since a slingshot is mentioned very briefly and out of nowhere. A slingshot does not have a lasting impact on the plot or the relationship.

A captivating and oft times troublesome emotionally novel of teen love, angst, insecurities, and life. It is a very compelling novel cover to cover.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 Stars!

Slingshot is an adorably hilarious coming of age tale about Gracie, who is just trying to survive high school (boarding school!). Helnwein does a wonderful job of creating a true-to-life account of what's it's like to be a teenager, the emotions, the drama, and the friendships. Without providing too many spoilers, this book really pulled me back to high school feelings. Everything was a lot; there were so many emotions and everything was the absolute end of the world - Helnwein captures that perfectly. The only reason I don't give this book 5 stars was Gracie's relationship with Wade - at times it felt incredibly manipulative and full of jealousy. Overall it's a good book.

Teen angst is such a powerful thing, and there are so many dumb decisions made during those years. Slingshot really conveys these feelings. We follow Grace in her sophomore year at a boarding school, where due to one incident, meets Wade. There are plenty of feelings of frustration at characters, but that's what you should feel in a book about teenagers.

This book will remind you of how awkward it was to be a teenager attempting to navigate social circles and strong emotions. It follows a teenager at boarding school as she learns to deal with love and friendship while not inviting people to truly understand her. Overall a good read, but a bit long in the middle. There are references to sex, drugs, and underage drinking so this may not be an appropriate choice for a teenager.

What a poignant tale of teenage discovery and growth. I love this book because everyone is flawed and that is the reality of life. We sometimes get so wrapped up in our escapism that when things aren't perfect we revolt. This was an amazing book about discovery, awareness, and development, and I was deeply moved with the characters and how genuine they were. A beautiful book.

A great story about being a teenager and how we learn to deal with issues like love, family, growing up. At that point in time being an adult feels like it will be a long time away, but when looking back it feels like a long time ago. Making friends and falling in love for the first time and not knowing if it truly is or if true love even exists. Really enjoyed this story and loved Wade's character. Hopefully there will be a follow up story for Wade and Gracie.

Slingshot was a great YA read!

Its pretty great when one kid sees another's struggle and sticks up for them. And that's where the slingshot comes into play... Grace pegs the bully with her slingshot and Wade is the lucky one who gets away. The two become friends, but there is so much more to their relationship than just casual friends. Grace gets him and she just might be able to save him from himself, not just the bullies.

I am not remotely prudish but this book is definitely being marketed in the wrong age bracket. Yes, I know this is how a lot of high schoolers act and think, and I'm aware that realism is a good thing generally, but this is not a young adult book.

So many contemporary romances (for any age group, honestly) seem to be hyperfocused on pushing the envelope and being as edgy and problematic as they can possibly get by with. This one is no different. Trigger warnings for graphic sexual content and graphic language (again, I am not remotely prudish but c**t in any context is triggering for me and so I will include this trigger warning).

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is not my typical read, probably because I am an adult and my years of teen angst are long gone. But there is one quality that kept me reading: the author, Mercedes Helnwein. Her use of language is (by all accounts) extremely clever. The vocabulary, the wit, the sometimes geeky science analogies, made it unable for me to put the book down.

This story follows Grace during her sophomore year at boarding school. Little does she know that a swift shot of her slingshot, would lead to a transformation– breaking away from the lonely, crushing on biology teacher, Stephen King reading girl. Filled with all the sophomore year drama; falling in love, exploring sexuality, friendships, awkwardness, and the like, Grace experiences any and every emotion a teenager grapples with as they learn who they are and what they really want from life.

There are times in the novel where I just wanted to scream at the characters because of their decisions; probably because I see where and what will happen to them if they keep on that path. But really, this book is not written for me. I don’t think I am the main cliental. As a school librarian, I would suggest it to my high school students if they were interested in realistic fiction. I think this story is more than just the emotional turmoil of being a teen. It’s more of a reflection on how having those emotions and feelings is not uncommon and how decisions shape who you become; also that you have no control over who your family is, but how you choose to overcome it.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for giving the opportunity to access this ARC. I really enjoyed it and look forward to adding it to my library when it is released!

I really wanted to like this book. I liked the description and I thought it would work for me. I saw a few 1 and 2 star reviews, but I figured it was subjective and I read it anyway.
First, I'll say that I love boarding school settings and the humor was pretty good. It wasn't all bad.
The bad thing was the MC.
Ugh, Grace Welles is awful. She starts the book crying because she's just discovered that the teacher she has a crush on is engaged. She is genuinely convinced that they are soulmates. What the actual fuck? The teacher is obviously not a pedophile and doesn't really seem aware of Grace's feelings at first, but Grace won't give up. So she throws a fit like a five-year-old, insults the fiancée to her face, calling her ugly, and goes on to insult the teacher by telling him that nobody cares about his class and that he's doing nothing with his life. She talks about how boys are too immature, she only has eyes for a man, and it's fucking creepy. So as a result, she starts acting rude and failing his class on purpose. She isn't even one of those people who say "I imagine that we'll be together in ten or so years." She wants a relationship with a thirty-year old NOW. And she doesn't realize how wrong she was until the end. In the beginning, she thinks she ACTUALLY HAS A CHANCE with him.
There's even a scene where she, in her inner dialogue, says she and the teacher "broke up." Like she actually thought they were in a relationship. This is clearly some psychological problem, and we're supposed to actually listen to this? I've read some pretty bad main characters in my life (Claire from Ship It and Chelsea from Watch Us Rise come to mind) but none who did things like this.
Then there's the fact that she's bitchy to her roommate, Georgina, for no reason, except that she plays musical soundtracks without headphones (that's the only thing I think she actually pointed out about her.) She takes out her anger at everything by bullying Georgina and messing up their room. In fact, there is kind of a lot of girl hate in this book, as Grace also hates her classmate, Anju, just because she briefly had a crush on Wade (who Grace treated like shit, but I'll get there.) She assumes that Wade likes Anju back, which he doesn't, and she gets extremely jealous and humiliates Anju in front of her whole class by slut-shaming and lying that she seduced Wade while he was in a relationship. When Anju tries to call Grace out for how she treated Wade, Grace refuses to listen and tries to insult her in every way possible. She thinks she's being clever and confident, but her dialogue is straight out of a Disney channel show. The only reason she even forgives Anju is because she finds out that Anju likes her favorite band, but not before gatekeeping and complaining about people wearing T-shirts of bands they don't listen to (unpopular opinion, but let them wear what they want.) Thankfully, the girl hate does end after Grace establishes friendships with Georgina and Anju.
But in contrast to the girl hate, there's her obsessive worship of a senior girl at her school, Beth. She can't even mention her name without going on and on about how cool and unique Beth is. All I really remember about Beth is that she convinced Grace to start smoking (which she quit by the end of the book, but still) and that she was treated by Grace like a free therapist. All they do is talk about Grace's personal shit while Grace puts Beth on a pedestal of being perfect, causing Beth to be reluctant to share the more personal parts of herself and feel like she has to be this sophomore girl's fairy godmother. Sigh. Essentially a non-romantic Manic Pixie.
I mentioned this already, but Grace is also a HUGE MUSIC SNOB. Not as bad as Raya from 1000 Words for Love, but close. I'm not going to hate a character because they have different opinions on things than me, but I will hate one who shames others for their harmless interests. She has a whole monologue (in her head) about how much she hates musicals because they're not "realistic," which is a huge snobby cliché, and has to throw in a line about how "pop music is bad enough." She later begins a sentence by saying "I like older music, for the record," and her taste is basically just anything that came out before 2000. It's completely random, from 90s alternative to early rock music. She sounds like she's trying way too hard to prove herself as superior for this. I used to be, and still am sometimes, so embarrassed about my music taste (which is mostly, yes, musicals and pop) that I never revealed it to anyone for fear of being mocked, and I had to deal with the "I only listen to real music" type almost every day at school. It's exhausting. Can she please just let Georgina enjoy what she loves?
I'm not going to dislike Grace for having sex with Derek, the bully, because it's easy to be manipulated by people like him. But I am going to dislike how she treated him.
Now, onto the worst thing about Grace. I'll call this section OUR MC TREATS HER BOYFRIEND LIKE SHIT AND REFUSES TO CHANGE.
I'm talking, not even until the end. I'd better bulletpoint this.
- It all starts when she hits Derek with a slingshot to get him to stop bullying Wade. When Wade thanks her, Grace brushes him off and says that she doesn't really care about him as a person and that it was just "common decency." She even openly refuses to let him sit with her at lunch. I hate, hate, hate, HATE characters who are rude to potential new friends.
- She gets insanely jealous about him being friends with Anju
-She writes a manipulative emo poem about him in class. When she's done reading, she crumples the paper, hits him with it, and runs out of the room. Nobody does that out of being emotional, it's clear that she wanted to hurt him.
- She got his skateboard taken away and threw cereal with milk in his face all because he didn't know how to talk to her after they broke up.
The only thing on that list she actually regretted later was the skateboard thing.

*SPOILER*

And the ending? I hate that too. I get that some people think having a happy ending is overdone, but honestly, not having one is way more overdone. Not like I wanted Grace and Wade to stay together, but did they really have to make her no longer interact with Georgina after she started a new school year? And for Wade to refuse to stay in touch with anyone? It was more of a non-ending. Maybe realistic, but I just don't like the lack of resolution left there.

I really did like the writing style and if the author were to write another book with a better main character, it would be an auto-read. This just wasn't it.

I really wanted to like this book.

As an educator, I read a lot of YA in search of new novels for my classroom library. I teach tenth grade, so my students are around fifteen or sixteen years old. I would not put this book in my classroom library, and that unsettles me some, because I don't believe in censorship at all.

The very first chapter has the protagonist weeping in the bathroom after cussing out her biology teacher because she found out he was engaged. She thought they were soulmates. It was a very awkward, even unrealistic scene.

The novel is filled with profanity, which normally doesn't bother me much, but this just seemed gratuitous. And then there's the sex.

So, because I was reading because I generally enjoy a diverse section of YA novels, and because I was looking for classroom library material, I never finished this book. It was immediately clear that this book was not for me. I hate that because the description was so promising.

I am grateful to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC and the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I first have to say I have no idea how this is being published as a YA book. I would not like my niece reading this book at all. I DNFed this book due to content. It was very cringy and over the top. There was so much profanity and sexual content that didn't add to the story or character development at all. Sex was written in such an unhealthy way. Beth even tells Gracie to just sleep with any random guy to lose her virginity already. Granted I know not everyone saves sex for marriage, but this didn't seem like it was shown in a very postitve light at all. It just felt like the subject was taken very lightly with no mention of using condoms. None of the characters were remotely likable. The main character Gracie is a total nasty bitchy person that does not care about others. She's just always angry, which I get because she is a "teenager" but it was just over the top. I felt that all the relationships were really unhealthy also. Gracie is really dependent on Wade to make her happy. The dialogue was also so cringey. One line was even about how trees smell like cum and I have no idea who talks like that or why it was even mentioned in the first place. This book made me so uncomfortable and I really had to push myself to get to the 58% mark. I finally had to give up when I didn't see any consequences for actions or any character development.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

WELL! For a while there, I thought my entire review would be written in capital letters. This author has a quirky wit and a very wry sense of humour.

Fifteen year old Gracie was, in her own mind, a "Rebel With Lots of Cause." She was the illegitimate daughter of a man with a "real family" on whom he showered most of his affection, time and money. Gracie and her "always look on the bright side mother" were left with the dregs. - of just about everything.

At the start of the story, Gracie is suffering the agonizing pangs of her first bout of unrequited love for her biology teacher. Gracie is an extremely intelligent girl, but you realize that she is a typical self-absorbed, melodramatic teen with a huge chip on her shoulder.

The story is told from Gracie's point of view, but the reader can easily read between the lines and see that Gracie is often the victim of her own turbulent emotions. She is very independent and scorns the popular crowd, but for some reason the cool and hip Beth influences several of Gracie's life-altering choices. Her friendship with Wade was downright charming - if you ever dared used such an adjective within Gracie's hearing!

In the end, this is a highly entertaining, insightful, and extremely well written story about growing up, making good choices from the slim pickings that life has left you with, surviving and moving on. I really liked the realistic ending. It will be interesting to see what other reviewers have to say about it.

This author took all the usual tropes and shook them up. Love triangles - you bet! But, well, that was not really a LOVE triangle in the usual sense/ Read it, and you'll see what I mean!

I grew to like Gracie, despite her prickly ways. Granted, she often got on my nerves a bit. There were times when I wanted to tell her to smarten up and tell her father exactly how she felt about his unequal treatment, but then this would have been a totally different and much shorter story, right?

Highly recommended! A five out of five for this debut novel!

What attracted me to "Slingshot" by Mercedes Helnwein was the promise of a YA contemporary romance with a darker edge to it, and I was excited to receive an e-ARC copy of the book from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The story of "Slingshot" follows 15-year-old Grace Welles, who attends a boarding school in Florida. When she saves new kid Wade Scholfield by using her slingshot to deter a group of bullies, she inadvertently alters the course of both their lives. But Wade has a dark secret. Can Grace be the one to save him?

I'll be completely honest: I couldn't even get through this book. In fact, I think I only got about 10 or 11 percent into it, before deciding to put it down for good. I rarely DNF a book (this is only the 2nd time I've ever done so) but I just couldn't go any further.

It started with the very first scene of the novel. Grace is sobbing in a bathroom, and feeling heartbroken over the fact that the person she believes to be her soulmate has rejected her. This would be fine, except for the fact that this supposed soulmate is Mr. Sorrentino, her biology teacher, who just so happens to be happily engaged to a woman named Judy.

As unrequited as the feelings are, it was still a highly uncomfortable scene to read, and it was definitely the first indication that I would not enjoy this book. It doesn't help that Grace's one-sided feelings continue to linger, to the point where even after she meets Wade, she drafts an email to Stephen King, and instead of telling him about how much she enjoyed his novel, "It," she writes about Mr. Sorrentino instead.

That said, I did keep reading, because I wanted to give the book a fair and honest chance. Unfortunately, it didn't get any better for me.

I found Grace to be very irritating as a main character, and she read as if she was much older when she was supposed to be a high school student. I also didn't feel any spark or connection between her and Wade at all, and I had an issue with the writing as a whole. It felt like the author was trying to spell everything out as plainly as possible, and while I'm certain it wasn't the intention, it did feel a bit condescending to me, as a reader.

The last straw with this book however, was when one of the bullies that Grace rescued Wade from used some of the crudest, most derogatory language I've ever seen in a YA book. I'm generally okay with at least some profanity in a book, but this specific language (which I will not repeat, because it's truly not worth repeating) was awful, and coupled with all the other problems I had with the book up until that point, I knew I needed to DNF this book for good.

Perhaps this is a book that rewards patience and gets better later on, but for me? I can't in good conscience recommend this book to anyone.

"Slingshot" is scheduled for release on April 27, 2021. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this book early!