Thank you to Carla Hutchinson at Hot Key Books YA for gifting me with an ARC.
Themes: Love, secrets, race
Quinn keeps lists of everything - from the days she's ugly cried, to "Things That I Would Never Admit Out Loud," to all the boys she'd like to kiss. Her lists keep her sane. By writing her fears (as well as embarrassing and cringeworthy truths) on paper, she never has to face them in real life. That is, until her journal goes missing . . .
An anonymous account posts one of her lists on Instagram for the whole school to see and blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears, or else her entire journal will go public. Quinn doesn't know who to trust. Desperate, she teams up with Carter Bennett - the last known person to have her journal and who Quinn loathes - in a race against time to track down the blackmailer.
Together, they journey through everything Quinn's been too afraid to face, and along the way, Quinn finds the courage to be honest, to live in the moment, and to fall in love.
I have been SO excited to read this book and was buzzing to get a copy. Okay so I'm obsessed with YA love stories so a Black love one is just all I need in life. Quinn is a privileged Black girl, compared to Hilary Banks which made me laugh out loud, and she keeps a to do list. Not just chores or things to get through the day but lists such as who she wants to sleep with, list of her fears etc. Carter, a smart and very cool guy from her school accidentally takes her journal and then it goes missing. But the gag is Carter is on her list of boys that she fancies! So she's stressing that he's seen it.
So the journal is missing and now someone is blackmailing Quinn to do her to do list, like tell her parents she faked getting into Columbia and her acceptance letter was done on Word (this is totally something I would have done).
I love love love this book. I think the characters are developed so perfectly. Olivia is my twin soul—she's this no nonsense, feisty girl who will gladly throw some fists even though she's short. This is me.
The tone about race was done perfectly. I know Black people who almost try and hide their Blackness and like Quinn aren't always aware that they're doing it but on the flipside Carter embraces his Blackness and so does Olivia, who is mixed. I always say they're are not enough books with mixed characters and just the realness of her saying she wears braids because her white mum doesn't know how to look after her hair.
Ultimately the book is about being brave and actually living life. Quinn starts of so scared of expressing herself and at the end she has fully embraced all parts of her life—the good and the bad. This is defo one of my fav YA books and I adore that the proof is of Quinn's journal. If there's a YA book to read this year, it's this one.
5/5
Grab a copy here (out in May)
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