DNF - this started as a book about a girl dealing with her recent break-up by possibly watching another couple, but by 20% she was simply unlikable.

I wasn't able to get into this book within the first couple pages. I didn't really like the characters and didn't feel the need to read on further to find out what happens. The cover is very pretty but I didn't like how long the title of the book was nor the name. I suggest this book for a younger audience than older teens. The book might get better but I rather spend my time reading books in enjoying. This one however I was not.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Lu Charles has had writer's block ever since her boyfriend Leo broke up with her at the beginning of the summer before they go off to college. Unfortunately for Lu, her scholarship is tied to her job writing for Misnomer. When she eavesdrops on Cal and Iris, who have decided to break up at the end of the summer before going to college themselves, Lu is convinced that they are the key to breaking through her writing drought. Cal and Iris increasingly become the focus of Lu's life.

Lu reminded me of a deer in the headlights every time she tried to sit down to write her article. I wanted to snap her out of it and get her to <i>just move already</i>, and it was frustrating at times not to reach into the book and help her snap out of it. <spoiler>I did appreciate that at the end of the book, there was no miracle where things turned out great despite her best efforts to sabotage everything; the ending was realistic. </spoiler> I felt so bad for Pete, Lu's best friend, for the way she treated him, and I was glad when he finally stood up for himself. For me, this story had a dichotomy where I didn't want to read it because I was so frustrated with Lu, but I did want to read it because I enjoyed the story, especially when other characters were the focus.

I could not connect with this book no matter how hard I tried. This was a DNF for me, unfortunately. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The book's focus on how relationships make the jump from high school to college (or don't) is fine, and somewhat relatable. I suppose so is Lu's tendency to procrastinate or find herself unable to get work done. However, as the book went on, she became less and less sympathetic. If this book had been told from Pete's perspective, I would have been yelling at him to get out of that friendship. If Iris had been the narrator, she should have been calling the cops: a "reporter" who extremely purposefully eavesdrops on a dramatic part of her life, lightly stalks and then befriends her in order to write about her relationship, (then tries to kiss her boyfriend?!) and then lies a lot about writing the column that was the alleged purpose of this whole thing doesn't come off as understandable, it comes off as borderline dangerous. And if Lu's boss had been telling the story, it would have been about a frustrating employee who was a terrible communicator and took advantage of offered extensions.

I was glad that Lu wasn't rewarded with a new relationship and her scholarship after her behavior, but reading through the story with her, none of the things she did or learned felt worthwhile and it didn't seem that she was particularly heartbroken over the things she lost due to her summer adventures.

And although "show, don't tell" is something of a writing motto, I think most of the examples of Lu's writing might have been better told about rather than shown. The articles neither shed particular light or poignancy on the relationship with Leo that apparently led Lu to have basically a slow-motion breakdown, nor made Lu's talent so apparent that I understood why she would be hired so easily or given such significant leeway in her job.

While it might be slightly realistic in a portrayal of teenage selfishness and shortsightedness, I felt that this leaned too far into the worst aspects of a character and I found that somewhat insufferable.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF (did-not-finish) for me. I appreciate a good love story and a well-written YA novel, but this one just didn’t do it for me. I was bored from the beginning and couldn’t stop myself from rolling my eyes. The characters weren’t really enjoyable either and I wasn’t connected to the story at all. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this early in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this book 100 pages. At this point, I wasn't vested enough to continue reading. I wanted so much more for Lu as a character. She was so focused on the lives and relationships of others that she wasn't truly living her own, and it was frustrating as she was driving the plot. I tried to reconnect with my teen/twentysomething angsty self to think if she would like this. It didn't connect with that version of me either. I so wanted to like this one, and the premise sounded like I would. However, the way this one was going, I just didn't.

Great Story!! i love the idea of this and was very pleased with the result. Its my first read of Alsaid's and i was not disappointed. i look forward to more of his books!

Set in New York City, Lu and her boyfriend Leo have just broken up and Lu is feeling heartbroken with a serious case of writer's block which may just be the end of her pending scholarship. Just because college is a few months away shouldn't mean that love has to end. When she meets Cal and Iris, she falls in love with the idea of the perfect relationship and the contrast with her own love lost. Spending long hours with the interesting couple may just give her the ideas she needs to write for her online magazine and save her future but can she do it? And can she save her own relationship with what she learns?

While I have enjoyed Alsaid's previous books, this story fell short for me. Lu felt whiny and the story repetitive. I liked Cal and Iris but I felt like these characters were forced to provide the "Hollywood" version as a comparison to Lu's relationship. In addition, Pete and Starla could have added so much more but didn't move the plot or character development until the very end. The story gave all of Lu's thoughts, conversation about the same thoughts, and then writing about the same thoughts to be too repetitive--it was like reading several chapters over and over again. Each family member was also described the same way over and over again with no growth as a unit or a change in interaction with Lu. This story could have been tightened up and been a better read.

To be published April 2019
Reviewed from NetGalley

A YA contemporary, Brief Chronicle of Another Stupid Heartbreak is all about teenage first love and about dealing with everything when that love falls apart.

I see this as a bit of a literary palate cleanser, it was filled with our main protagonist, Lucinda 's angsty magazine column mission to chronicle a love story. Not all stories have to be deep and while it's just okay for me, I know a few of my high school students who would love it.

"The whole world is mad with love, I realized. All the time, if they're not in the midst of it, everyone is seeking it out or hoping for it or recovering from it or looking for a better one."

This book was a bit hard for me to get through because even though what the main character Lu was going through was very relatable, she felt a bit difficult for me to connect with due to her reactions. Her insights on love overall, to me, felt so spot on though. This book was just filled with lines about love that hit so close and felt so relatable. I wish that I had some lines like that when I was a teenager. Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin TEEN for the ARC.

What might a teenaged Carrie Bradshaw be like if she were based on the television series incarnation and not a glossy version with a backdropped snapshot of the 80s? Maybe this.

Lu Charles, recently dumped teenager and fresh off her first love, writes a column for online magazine Misnomer entitled Brief Chronicle of Another Stupid Heart. Through this publication and editorial effusions of her witty and acerbic teenage self, Lu has secured a scholarship for college and allowed her creative self to blossom. She knows this is what she wants to do with her life. It feels natural and deeply rooted within her. So when she stumbles smack into writer's block following her heartbreak, Lu is not only in unfamiliar waters, but in waters that remain nearly unnavigable to her.

Brief Chronicle felt familiar and established. Lu's boss at Misnomer even presented the column to Lu as a Sex and the City type—focused on Lu's musings and current experiences as a young voice in NYC. Lu also has a part time job at the movie theater, alongside her best friend, Pete, and they are both friends with this slightly older woman who owns a nearby bookstore. Starla, the bookseller, reminds me heavily of the character Iona, played by Annie Potts in Pretty in Pink. While Iona is a good deal more eccentric (it was 1986, after all), Starla's relationship with the two teens is very reflective of the connection shared in Pretty in Pink, without feeling carbon copied.

The real crux of the novel takes off when Lu overhears a breakup between another couple. Cal and Iris have decided to end their relationship for the exact reason Lu's ended with her now ex-boyfriend, Leo: preemptively severing the love now that high school has ended and college will soon begin. Only, upon meeting up with Iris later, Lu learns that Cal and Iris have actually changed their minds and will continue with their relationship up until the day Iris leaves for college on the West Coast.

Lu, trying to both garner some deeper insight into this seemingly perfect couple and to write about them for her column and its looming deadline (which keeps getting pushed out for her), follows them around the City, spending more and more time in this bubble created by her rose-colored vision of Cal and Iris, and less and less time with her family and best friend...not to mention less and less time actively getting her writing done.

The story is also interspersed with flashbacks cleverly delivered via her previous published articles. Through those we learn a little more about her relationship with Leo, and can more accurately track its course. Also, through the use of these old copies of her column, the reader can get a better understanding of who Lu is when she's not cloaked herself in failure, heartbreak, and obsession.

I found Lu to be incredibly relatable. She's quirky and cynical, and all her flaws are amplified because of her stupid heartbreak. But that happens...I know I have been somewhere in the vicinity of this before, and I can remember having this ridiculous inner dialogue carry on in order to support the screwy reasoning.

Although Cal and Iris seemed to be this golden, unreal couple, I understood this to be through Lu's eyes and the awed, skewed interpretation of their relationship...especially in mistakenly comparing it to her own through the red, puffy eyes of heartbreak. Pete, decidedly very much an updated Millennial Duckie, is a little distant and removed from the story—inaccurately demonstrating his role in Lu's life—but this is due to Lu's spiraling behavior and inability to properly process her breakup just yet.

One thing I did wish had happened in this novel, that I kept hoping would come about—Lu realizing the different experiences in the lives of the people she knows. She gets Starla's story at one point later in the book, but I really wish it had occurred to her to ask her mom and dad about their story. Not necessarily with each other, they have been divorced for much of Lu's life, but something that would give Lu a little more perspective on the scope of life and love.

A tender and relatable young adult novel with hints of Sex and the City and a tiny dash of Pretty in Pink, all while still remaining fresh and all its own, Brief Chronicle of Another Stupid Heartbreak was really enjoyable and very recommendable.

wish I could say that I loved this book. The first couple of chapters showed such promise. But in the end I was let down by the main character Lu, who was honestly the most unlikeable character I've ever read from.

Lu is a writer for an online magazine, where she specializes on the thoughts of love. But when she gets her heartbroken by her boyfriend, she develops writer's block to the point where her editor must give her an ultimatum. Produce a column or you're fired. Out of pure luck or chance, Lu discovers a couple that are facing the same troubles her ex and herself faced. She becomes obsessed with this couple convinced that they're story is the only thing that will save her job and her future writing career.

Oh Lu. She is tactless, selfish, unreliable and a pain to read about. I detested her character. She begins to ignore her family and best friend. Obsesses over two love birds that she doesn't know and even develops a crush on the boy who is her muse for her story. Newsflash he already has a girlfriend! Girl, you are not a smart cookie by any means.

What upsets me the most about this book is that I loved the idea of it! I wanted to love it so much but the main character and her horrible personality made this book hard to pick up. I've been putting off finishing this story for weeks because I didn't want to read from Lu's perspective anymore. She drove me crazy.

I didn't love the book, I didn't hate the book. I liked the beginning of the book and the end of the book but it got a little messy in the middle. I tried really hard to like Lu. About half way through the book I was very frustrated with her as a reader. I also know that I have some bias reading this as an adult and not a teenager. I couldn't understand why she continued to make the same choice over and over again. I tried to look back and think about what I would have done as a teenager. Of course I would have tried to avoid the situation and hope it would just go away. I will purchase this book for my high school library. Thank you for the preview!

Thank you Netgalley/Publisher for an early copy

A wel-written YA novel that explores heartbreak. I plan on checking more from Adi Alsaid in the future. I recommend this to fans of YA Contemporary.

This was too cheesy and almost stupid to me. After being dumped by her boyfriend after high school, Lu has major writer's block. She writes for an online love blog but no longer has anything to write about, so becomes creepily obsessed with a couple she meets on the streets of New York. This book was just very unrealistic and did not set good examples for readers, as Lu consistently lets her friends, her family, and herself down. I've enjoyed Adi Alsaid's previous books, but this was just a flop for me.

Brief Chronicle of Another Stupid Heartbreak is ya in classic fashion. Girl is dumped by her true love. Girl is overdramatic and ridiculous. Girl makes stupid decisions. The end. I do think this book is perfect for it's intended audience of ya readers. They will relate to the characters and feel the sting of the breakup. Adults, not so much,but this book is not meant for adults. I'm rating based on ya appeal. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like I was being set up to not enjoy this book since the beginning when I thought this books was going in a different direction than it was. I was really into the book for the first chapter, our main character Lu is at the park and she meets this boy Cal, and I loved the chemistry between them. Then it turned out he was half of the relationship that Lu was going to document over the summer while they were spending their last days together before breaking up because of college. I was setting myself up for Cal to be the love interest for Lu and than had to change gears, because Cal and his girlfriend Iris were VERY much in love, and I am not here to rout for Lu to steal Cal away from her. I don't think that that was a bad way for the book to go, because there is a lot that I liked about the ending that wouldn't have happened had the story not been set up like this, but when I am prepared for something that I think I am going to like and then turn out not to get it but something completely different I tend to not enjoy it.
The other thing that made me not enjoy this book as much was just how frustrated I was getting at Lu throughout this entire book. Apparently I have mom instincts somewhere deep in me, because they for sure were coming out in me and I wanted to just jump into this book and YELL at Lu so. many. times. Again, we would not have gotten a good arc at the end if it were not for that, but sometimes there is only so much I can take before I want to put a book down.
Speaking of the ending, I both loved things about it but hated things about it too. Not going to go into crazy amount of details because it would spoil the book, but there were diffidently things said about love and heartbreak in general that I really liked. That being said, the thing that made me most excited during the ENTIRE BOOK was the last two paragraphs and what they could have led to BUT THE BOOK ENDS AND WE DON'T SEE ANY OF IT. Like, ok, I get it, the point of this story is not for what happens after that, but it had me all excited and I wanted to read that more than I wanted to read about Lu following Cal and Iris around like a weird third wheel and me feeling awkward uncomfortable during all of that even though I was just a reader.

I've come to the conclusion that Adi Alsaid is just not for me. I've tried multiple books by him and just can't get into them; however, I think younger readers (which is obviously his target demo) would be more inclined to like and even love his stories, related to these characters and just get on board with this storytelling. It makes me sad that this one just wasn't for me.

Sometimes I can't get into books because the characters really annoy me. Lu is one of those. She was bratty and annoying and selfish. though a lot of girls her age are the same way, so many teens will connect with this story. We bought copies for our collections.