This was a decent read. Quick and simple. Something nice for the summer, it was quirky and cute but not one I’d put on my shelf permanently, I wasn’t a fan of the writing style but it was a good read so I’m not going to dock too many stars.

"You can't be all things to all people. You can only be yourself." - Aunt Vee's wise words to Lemon

Elle Pallmore's young adult novel Lemon Lavender Is Not Fine is delightful, touching, heartbreaking, and full of truth. This fast read will have you rooting for the book's main character, Lemon, as she navigates the tricky, scary, yet sometimes fantastic waters of high school. First love, bullying, family drama, and friendships direct this story.

Lemon's family has a huge secret. When Lemon falls for the new guy at school, she becomes the target of the school's mean girls, and that family secret threatens to come out while the rest of Lemon's world falls apart. Seeing the impact of these circumstances on Lemon is downright heartbreaking. I wanted to show Lemon how to stand up for herself, I wanted to help her make better choices, I wanted to teach her to believe in herself. Instead, as in real life, Lemon has to learn these things herself through trying, failing, picking herself back up, and trying again. The process is not easy, but the reward is powerful!

Teens and adults alike will enjoy this book. It will remind you of the good, and bad, of high school, along with the challenge of figuring out who we wanted to be as young adults. Parents of tweens and teens, this story will tear at your heart; but it will also remind you of the joys of being a teen. For all readers, It will give you new eyes to look on those who are dealing with things we do not know and cannot understand.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and BooksGoSocial publishing for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. It was truly a delight to read.

My first foray into NetGalley was with LLINF, and I really enjoyed it.
The book initially read a bit like a fanfic - the main female lead’s life is all woe and doom with no relief in sight - but developed into a modern Cinderella (with less cheese, thankfully).
I really appreciated how the full details of the big mystery aren’t all given at once but instead the author unfurls more information as the storyline develops.
The best point for me though was how utterly, perfectly TEEN this felt. The romance wasn’t a perfectly scripted love story, it was delightfully awkward in a very young adult manner that rung oh so true and I feel is rare in YA fic.
For those that love a good heartfelt teen romance with a bit of real life grit, I’d recommend you give Lemon Lavender a whirl.

I received this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

This book was super cute and relatable to just about any 16 year olds trying to figure out who they are in the world. Add some family and school drama, and one can be royally confused. Overall, the book was well written but at times felt simple.

Lemon, as the main character was very well developed and although she was frustrating to me at times, it added dept to the book. A good book makes you feel things about the main character. Frustration was a good thing! I wanted to scream at her to talk to an adult! Listen to your friends! But her lack of ability to do either of these things added to the overall story!

Also, because Lemon was the lime light for this book, many of the main characters were underdeveloped. Graham being one of them. Their relationship started too soon, ended even sooner then we barely saw him again until the end and they end up together? A little more full character development for Graham or even more interaction between the two would have really push it over the edge for me. It just felt like the book spent a little too much time on Lemon's tantrums that could have been spent on relationship building or destruction.

However, as I said, overall the book was good! I would be happy reading this again and have even recommended it to my Middle School age daughter to read!

Thank you NetGalley and

A fun romance and the effects of social media bullying on teens. I liked Lemon and enjoyed her development.

Lemon Lavender struggles -on a daily basis- to get through the day. She goes from being nobody to being one of the most targeted people in school in a very short time and she doesn’t know how to deal with it. She’s losing friends, her sister is still missing and the boy she -all of a sudden- likes, well.. he’s ‘off limits’ for her.

In this book we learn how to deal with certain problems, as well as seeing what it does to someone else. Lemon grows into this whole new person and that’s really cool..

The story was okay, 80% of the book was really sad and that made me want to put it down a lot. But the ending made up for it. The characters.. besides Lemon and Graham, they weren’t a lot of descriptions for the others. Just enough for you to know the connection they have with Lemon. I usually like my characters a little bit more detailed.

I read this in a day! I had to know how things were going to turn out for Lemon & her family!
Poor Lemon! She is wrung through the wringer by girls at school & no one believes her side. I was glad she was finally able to find her voice & tell the world she didn't deserve what was being dished out to her.
Lemon & Graham were so cute! I was rooting for them from the beginning.
This was a tough book to get through at times, because people were being so awful to Lemon & it made me want to throw the book & shake Lemon to stand up for herself!
I was glad it all ended how it did.

My apologies I could not finish this title. Just dont think it was my time to read this book. Maybe at another time I can try again

This is a really taut, character-driven, angsty novel where the emotion is so perfectly wrought that it was sometimes painful to read. I immediately identified with Lemon, and it was easy to sink into the plot. I have to say Pallmore's ability to capture the anxiety and heartbreak of high school is unparalleled, and the ending was perfect!

Thanks, Net Galley for a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

This one's a short review due to the fact that the book was DNF'ed.
I want to start off and say that the whole idea of this plot was very intriguing to me. I started this knowing that I would either love it or hate it.
I fell into the latter category. There was a ton of teen drama and boy issues. The rest of the plot felt skimmed over in comparison. I strongly felt that Lemon was way too obsessed with what people thought of her and it didn't help her character, who I was already struggling to relate to.
I did not understand why the kids made fun of her name. You'd think that by the time she was in high school they'd be used to it. I mean, I think that is reasonable?.?
Rating: 2 Stars
*I received a complementary copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own and a positive review was not required.

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Lemon Lavender’s life isn’t going so well. Her perfect sister dropped out of college and ran away to Europe leaving their mother in a zombie like state and their father in a constant angry mood who will take every opportunity to lecture Lemon about responsibility.

In between taking care of her mother and avoiding her father’s wrath Lemon is trying to remain invisible at school. However, that’s extremely hard with a name like Lemon Lavender. When Graham Stuart starts at her school and starts to show an interest in her Lemon finally feels like things are looking up for her.

Lemon falls hard for Graham, but she isn’t the only one. Graham’s most ardent admirer makes it very clear that Lemon needs to back off or risk being the subject of a vicious gossip vlog. Lemon tries to lay low, keeping her newfound relationship with Graham a secret Lemon finds her world quickly falling apart. With vicious rumours now circulating the school Lemon finds herself in the spotlight that shreds her reputation. Her relationships are crumbling around her and Lemon has never felt more alone.

Lemon has to find her voice and fight back but only if she’s ready to step out of the shadows that have become her best friend.

I did enjoy this book and found it difficult to put down. I wanted to know how Lemon’s story played out. Whilst I was disappointed in how everything panned out I did feel incredibly emotionally connected to Lemon. Her life is in shambles and she’s just trying to be a normal teenage girl. She wants to go out, she wants to fall in love and most of all she just wants to be herself even if she isn’t quite sure of who that is yet.

Instead, Lemon is thrust into a lifestyle which no teenager should have to experience. She’s become the mother of the house and instead of having fun and focusing on her future she’s cleaning, cooking and looking after her mother. My heart honestly broke for Lemon so many times in this book and I found myself constantly rooting for her.

My biggest problem with this book is that I feel like this book is very much focusing on victim blaming. Lemon is constantly being made to think that everything that has happened is her fault.

The Lavender’s are falling apart, and Lemon is doing everything she can to keep the family together but instead of being praised for how hard she’s works she is criticised and berated for not being the perfect daughter. She’s the victim of bullying and yet the school is quick to ignore that and instead criticise her for lashing out. There were no repercussions for the actions of the bullies and instead it was all just brushed under the rug.

There is no support for Lemon in this book and her best friend is even quick to turn her back on her, telling her to man up and ignore it all. Her family couldn’t care less and even after they are made aware of the vandalism that Lemon suffered it’s completely ignored. I don’t know if that’s because of her the Lavender family react in situations they can’t control but it’s not the best message to put across to young adults who themselves may be the victims of cyber bullying.

Overall it was a good read and whilst it shows the impact cyber bullying has in the real world, I really do think it could have been handled differently.

This is a very emotional and deeply moving story of a girl who refuses to admit that she is far from fine.

I enjoyed this book, and I am so proud of Lemon from overcoming everything that was stacked against her.

However, some of the issues were merely just whisked away under the carpet -- I suppose this may reflect how the entire Lavender family tried to run/hide from their problems. But still, it never really fully goes into detail why Lemon's mother was the way she was and the entire situation with Meg.

Overall, it was a good read.

There is a full review on my blog!

I basically love this book, it was so long since I read a YA contemporary that made me relate and feel so much as I did when reading this one.
I can relate so much to Lemon and her wish to stay under the radar, just flow by without much of a word. In a world where the choice is to stay invisible or being bullied the choice is simple. I actually related to Lemon a lot, both with her trying to hide everything to stay invisible (even though everything around her was on fire) and having a hard time separating how much support she actually had in people. It's so easy in a situation with unwarranted attention and bullying to feel that everyone is looking and whispering about you, when you just want to be invisible but is dragged out in the lime light... it's tough to handle and takes some time to find a new footing in the world.

It's not just Lemon herself that I love but the whole story and the characters in it. The story felt very real and honest, and the characters felt like real people. Graham reminded me of my guy friends so much, to them it's so simple and the easiest thing is just to talk things out... but the problem is that it doesn't always works that way with teenage girls. The main "antagonist" is exactly that type of girl I dreamed nightmares about, the one who's so assured that everything they want is theirs and if the thing they want don't want them back (like a guy) they don't accept the dismissal but instead turns their anger into bullying and harassing the, likely to be, other girl which the guy in question actually likes. If they no longer there then there's no threat and the can continue getting everything they want.
On the subject of that I really love Graham, he and Lemon is so great for each other and it reminded me why I love contemporary YA books. Just the feeling that I want that kind of relationship to, to have a understanding and sweet guy liking me for who I am and having the type of relationship that is "basically best friends having a great but with a lot of cuddles, adoring looks and kisses".

The plot also highlights a problem with our growing presence online. Everyone can make and post anything they want online, and more often than not nobody holds them responsible for that. It's a scary world as it shows hoe mean and rude people can be online to someone they don't even know or have meet just to be a part of the community. To quote Lemon “They make generalizations and speculations, which others take as truth and build upon". I might not totally agree with the way Lemon handled the situation, but a part of me definitely cheered her on because good on her for dealing with the problem.

This book is a realistic yet sweet story about discovering yourself and how to narrate in a hostile involvement, trying to solve the problems all while all you want to do is just hide or run the other way. It's a story about character growth and realizing that not every decision on makes is for the better, and to then be strong enough to apologize for that.

A story that shows how challenging it is to grow up with the strong influence of social media. The student body turns against Lemon because of a couple of mean girls who decide to make her life miserable by using the internet to post stories about her. This is a constant problem in schools these days so it is nice to see Lemon being strong during her hardest days. I understood the author was trying to show that her home life was also hard for Lemon to cope with but either it needed a bit more back story or just less complicated. But overall this was a good YA book that I will recommend to my daughter in a couple of years when she is in high school. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"The message they wanted to send echoes in my head. Your feelings are worthless. You are nothing except a funny story we can tell."

Lemon Lavender Is Not Fine was a bit of a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, I really felt for Lemon's home situation: the tensions between her and her dad, and the necessity to tread on eggshells around her Mother, really struck a chord with me. That said, I did feel that in some parts, the main issues were skirted around. Why was the situation at the beginning of the book with her Mother never fully discussed? Why did the end of the book feel like the real start to a resolution for the story?

Lemon's sister Meg (how could a family name one child Meg and one child Lemon? I am baffled) is absent at the beginning of the book, having fled the pressure put on her to be perfect. I did enjoy Lemon's growing understanding of her 'perfect' older sibling, but I would have loved to see more of Meg in the book! Her absence was poignant, but more Meg in the latter half of the novel might have been equally as powerful.

As for the other main storyline, I thought that to a large extent the bullying was portrayed well. Yes, there may have been a lack of ultimate resolution, but that in itself feels honest to me. How often do bullies truly get their comeuppance in everyday life? Not often. I felt that sometimes Lemon's friends gave themselves a bit too much credit for their support - no one did anything significant to stick up for their supposed friend.

The blossoming romance at the beginning was one of my favourite aspects - I adore when characters bond over something random and simple (in this case, a slushie), and I liked Graham's character. After taking some time to reflect, Lemon is definitely my favourite. Her loneliest moments made me want to give her a big hug.

Without spoiling anything, this book was a good representation of high school bullies and their lack of remorse. I did wish for more family resolution, but that wouldn't stop me from recommending this to someone around the same age as Lemon (sixteen).

I didn’t really enjoy this, felt a lit young even for YA it felt way too young, bypasses issues and sweeps everything under the rug. I found it hard to read as I felt it ignored major issues too much


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

** Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review **
Lo primero que quiero decir es qué me sorprendió. En varios lugares, había visto el libro reseñado como de fácil lectura, pero tiene una profundidad, que me sorprendió. En un mundo donde estamos tan conectados a las redes sociales, y esta tan presente la problemática del bullying y el abuso, es importante que existan libros que traten estos temas, y sean de ficción, ya que puede ser una herramienta poderosa para transmitir el mensaje. Hay algunos puntos que tal vez podrían haber sido encarados de otra forma, y la resolución no fue del todo satisfactoria. De todas formas, hay realidad en que no sea una historia de ensueño feliz.

Lemon Lavender tries to keep her head down at school, but she has an unforgettable name--and a secret. Her perfect sister has run away to Europe, her mother won't get out of bed, and her father expects her to pick up the slack. But when the gorgeous--and popular--new guy starts falling for her, and she starts falling in return, all eyes are on her.

What follows is a BRUTAL account of abuse (her father) and bullying (the girls at school who decide she doesn't deserve to be with the new guy). I wasn't prepared for how heartbreaking this would be, since multiple other reviewers referred to this as an "easy read." Okay, the prose isn't thick, but Lemon's father was completely unsympathetic and the way he treated Lemon was horrifying. Most of the adults in her life were completely unhelpful, if not downright harmful. LEMON LAVENDER was a quick read, and I couldn't put it down, but in the end I wished there was some kind of emotional catharsis. While it may be realistic that there is little to no comeuppance for the (many) people that wronged Lemon, it was a less than satisfying ending. In the end, I'm on the fence about purchasing this, and will wait for more professional reviews before I make my decision.

A true coming of age story with heartbreak thrown in. It is a deep story that was quick to read but still hit you right in the heart.

Lemon Lavender has been cursed with an unusual name and a perfect sister. Meg, her older sister has been the sole focus of her parents but has now dropped out of university and disappeared. Their parents swing between depressive and reclusive behaviour and anger that Lemon is not living up to the expectations they have for her sister. I do love YA fiction but felt this was just a little too young for me. The story was quite bland and predictable and while it was an easy read, I didn't find it enjoyable. A lot of YA tends to tackle big issues and I thought this might have been more mental health focussed but it kind of just sweeps over the problems the family are having.