I enjoyed this book. I like Leila Sales and this one didn't disappoint. I was drawn in from the beginning. I didn't think that Winter was a bad person, she just made a bad decision. I felt sorry for Winter and everything that happened to her. It took her awhile but she became her own person by deciding how to write her apologies and finding her words again. It did feel a little angsty at times, but Winter had to figure out on her own that she was at fault for her actions. In the end it teaches a valuable lesson about taking responsibility for the actions that you commit.

Very good YA novel that illustrates the consequences of social media posts. I enjoyed the novel and found it to be very relevant for today's generation.

"Of couse I wasn't that terrible person. I couldn't be. I was a good girl. I'd never once gotten detention. I didn't even run in the halls. I was nothing like the person being described online."
Before we go any further, I want you to understand this: this is not a good book.

Do you ever read something so atrociously god-awful that when you finish it, all you can do is just sit there, stare at your kindle, and think what the hell. WhatthehellwhatthehellWHATTHEHELL and how in the name of all that is good in the world did this book ever get published? how did this not get thrown immediately in the bin of every publishing agency it got sent to?

I try not to swear often, but if any book deserves to be cussed out like a sailor, it’s If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say.

Guess what?? I have N O T H I N G nice to say about this book. ;)))))

I definitely am opposed to burning books, but if anyone ever asked me, “if you could choose one book and you HAD to burn every copy of it that exists, which would you choose?” I would know immediately which book I’d pick. I’d strike the match and this novel would be done for. Goodbye forever. If the entire world were destroyed and the only reading material left was this story, I would never read again. My kindle feels dirty now. I don’t want this thing anywhere near me.

If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say fulfills the wet dream of every person who has unironically said they’re anti-PC, anti-SJW, anti-anti, or anti-whatever else conservatives are calling people that don’t put up with bigotry nowadays. God forbid people, like, call others out for saying racist stuff on the Internet. GOD FORBID there’s actually, like, consequences for the stuff you say. God freaking forbid.

I requested this book without reading the blurb. I saw that the cover was in the same palette as the bi pride flag and assumed that it was a story about a bi girl. It wasn’t.

Instead it was an “observation” of “internet-shaming culture” or whatever the frick that means (disclaimer: yes I know what it means, please don’t try to explain it to me. I know).

If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say is the story of a white girl named Winter, who won the Scripps National Spelling Bee five years ago. After the spelling bee this year, she makes a racist tweet, goes to bed, and wakes up to realize that the tweet has gone viral, she’s been memed, and everyone hates her. I’m not going to state the tweet in this review because I don’t want to type out the words, but suffice it to say, it was bad. Winter (now deemed “White Winter” by the internet) doesn’t know what she did wrong, and refuses to take the blame for her actions. As her world starts to come down arund her Along the way she does some more blatantly racist stuff, and has a “character arc” where she realizes that: omg! what she said was racist and gross and wrong!

Sounds like a pretty daring story to try to write, and idk maybe it isn’t a book that ever SHOULD be written (why are we giving people who say this racist stuff a voice??) but honestly what gets me really in a bend is the fact that the moral isn’t “don’t be racist” it’s “hey, um, maybe you shouldn’t attack people on the Internet :/ even if they’re saying racist, mean things, that doesn’t mean you should be mean back :///”

Which really freaking sucks!!

Listen, there’s a point in the book where one of the characters describes the Internet as a “lawless land.” And when the people of the Internet decide that someone is bad, they crucify them and they don’t ever get redeemed. But listen, even though that may be one of the iffy parts of the “law of the Internet” or whatever you want to call it, the Internet being a “lawless land” is actually a POSITIVE thing. You wanna know why? Because people can educate. People can be educated. I have learned so much more about the privilege that I have as a white person because of the Internet, but instead of this book making it all about white privilege and coming to terms with it and the good parts of the Internet it decided to go with the “uwu all those SJWs getting mad over everything omg just shut up it’s not a big deal :///” and that’s. bad.

The entire book is full of Winter justifying her racist thoughts and actions with "I'm not that bad of a person!!" and "if you knew me you would know I'm not racist!" here's the deal tho: every white person is racist because every white person has systematic privilege. and Winter actively REFUSES to believe this.

We’re expected to feel pity for this Winter girl, but I don’t. She has done nothing to deserve my pity. She has done nothing to deserve the reader’s pity. I don’t feel an inch of pity. I feel disgust.

Another awful thing about this is, hey!! the 2 (two) poc characters are basically stereotypes to help further the white woman’s narrative. Literally from the first scene with Jason, all his character does is fill the role of “black person helping educate their white friend on racism” stereotype. Corey is just there to fill the “see, not ALL black people are angry about this” role. That’s so awful??? Like jfc write a freaking book.

This book is also full of other characters supporting Winter in her racism, saying "hey, it's not that bad." and that's so annoying to read?? like one character says "'But if I had to say? I think what you did is no worse than what a zillion other people do every day... You made the mistake that so many people make online, of thinking you were just talking to your friends.'" This quote effectively makes it seem like that the problem is Winter not realizing that social media isn't private, not that she freaking said that racist stuff in the first place. That's so wrong??

And listen, I am usually pretty lenient when it comes to characters saying SOME crappy stuff, as long as it’s part of their character arc, but Winter took being problematic way over the line, has no redeeming qualities, and here’s the deal: if you want readers to appreciate the arc, they character has to secretly be a good person on the inside. Which Winter isn’t. She’s just not. And the things she said at the beginning, middle, and end of this book are I N E X C U S A B L E. I literally don't even care about her character arc. Character arcs are my favorite thing in books but she is such an awful human being for the first ~90% of this that I don't even care. She’s a bad person who said bad things and doesn’t want to freaking take the blame. I hate her and if I had a shelf called “worst main characters” she would be top of the freaking list.

People of color don’t deserve to have to see a book like this, with these opinions, in print. It’s bigotry at it’s worst and I can’t believe it’s being published. This entire concept, everything about this is so backwards-thinking that I’m surprised it wasn’t a thing in 2014. Screw this book. I hate that I read this. I hate it so much.

Quick impressions: I think this is a conversation-starting, thought-provoking story that explores the question of what happens after someone says/does something stupid online. In today's call-out culture, the phenomenon of people getting dragged and then labeled/ridiculed/fired keeps happening again and again. I think the main character is purposefully clueless, because if she were more aware she wouldn't have made the error she made to begin with... Her non-apology (mentioning no ill intent, literally saying she has two black best friends, defending herself and giving excuses) is like a hilarious checklist of how NOT to apologize, but that's the point. She *is* a privileged, educated white girl who doesn't understand... until she does much later on in the story.

Sales delves into issues such as why not every person of color has to find something offensive or problematic for it to be considered such; why non-white friends shouldn't have to explain privilege to their white friends; how intentions don't matter to those who are hurt by actions; and how people can grow, change, learn from their mistakes and truly make amends.

I can imagine middle and high school teachers assigning this book discussing it with their classes. The book has a "ripped from the headlines" feel that makes it particularly relevant. I don't think Winter is supposed to be likable for a lot of the book, but there are reasons for that. She grows up, though, and learns to see beyond herself.