Accidental has a very unique plot. I was surprised to know about the storyline after te first hundred pages. The romance was much like insta love. It was a refreshing and mind opening read.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury YA for the digital ARC of Accidental by Alex Richards!

Accidental follows Johanna, a teenager raised by her grandparents after her mother was tragically killed in a car accident - or so she thinks. The truth is revealed when Johanna's absentee father barrels back into her life and lays it on her: Johanna accidentally killed her mother as a toddler when she found her father's gun.

This book takes a hard look at gun violence in the US, and how in addition to street crime, the deaths of children who have found unsecure guns or of other people they shoot accidentally is much higher than it should be. Johanna is understandably distraught when she finds out. She suffers from panic attacks, and while she has supportive friends, those friendships also suffer in the face of her devastation.

I mostly enjoyed this book. I will say I didn't really feel a connection with Johanna. She spends most of the book having various tantrums and yelling at anyone who looks at her. Like I said, her despair is totally warranted. I can't imagine finding this information out over a decade later. But unfortunately, I just felt like instead of feeling empathetic toward her, I find myself skimming a bit in the second half of the book.

Those issues aside, I think this book was really well written. The dialogue was done well and was believable for teenagers, and the plot moved along at a nice pace so that the story didn't feel like it lagged.

Overall I would say if you're interested, give it a read! I would definitely read more from this author in the future.

Johanna has a pretty good life living with her grandparents, hanging out with her best friends, and now she even has a boyfriend! Until one day when her father shows up & turns her world upside down!
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When Johanna finds out her mother didn’t die in a car accident but that she accidentally shot her with an unsecured firearm she is left reeling. How could her grandparents lie to her?
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Will she ever be able to forgive herself for what she did? This book will take you on a journey through the emotions Johanna feels as she tries to come to terms with what happened. It doesn’t help when everyone at school finds out & when she wants to put up a mural to bring to light the importance of gun control she finds she’ll have to defend her motives behind it.
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This heart wrenching YA Contemporary is well written & elicits emotions that are relevant in the world we live in today.
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I would definitely recommend it!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The blurb for Accidental drew my attention, due to the timely discussion around gun violence and the way it shattered a family’s lives, with teenage Joanna trying to sort through all these emotions of just now finding out, especially the part about her being the one who pulled the trigger as a young child.

I love how it dealt with Joanna’s burden in light of finding this out, as well as how it impacted her relationships with her grandparents and estranged father. Her journey towards coming to terms with these issues is conveyed beautifully, and it’s truly uplifting.

I didn’t care much for the romance with Milo…it felt a little awkward, especially in terms of some of the descriptions of sexual intimacy. However, there is still a sense of realism to that too that complements the rest of the story. He’s not a knight in shining armor, perfect romance novel hero; they’re teenagers and this is her first real relationship.

This is an important book I hope a lot of kids and their families read, prompting discussion about the issues in it and how it relates to what’s going on in the world today.

Johanna’s life has always looked a little different from her friends. Her grandparents have raised her since the age of two, when her mother died and her father disappeared. Other than being told her mother died in a car crash, Johanna knows next to nothing about her as her grandparents have never been willing to talk about their daughter. That all changes when Johanna is contacted by her father out of the blue. When her father rolls into town and blows the cover story of her mother’s death, Johanna’s world is turned upside down. Her father reveals that her mother died after being shot by Johanna who, at the age of two, had found her father’s loaded gun in her parents’ bedroom. When the truth starts to spread around town, Johanna is left grappling with her guilt publicly while facing bullying for a “crime” she can’t even remember at school. As her junior year draws to a close, Johanna struggles to sort through her complex emotions surrounding the resurgence of her father, her mother’s death, her grandparents’ lies, and a budding relationship with the new boy in her class.

VERDICT is that this is a timely story about gun violence that I think has the potential to open teen readers eyes in a new way to this topic. I thought having Johanna as the accidental perpetrator of gun violence as a child was a heartbreaking way to approach this topic and had me thinking more expansively about what is at stake without much stricter gun laws nation wide in the United States. I really liked Johanna as a character and was really invested in the relationships she had with her grandparents and best friends Gabby and Leah. I thought the role of the new boyfriend she encounters at the beginning of the story felt a little contrived, but he was a really likeable character and an important outlet for Johanna. I hope folks reading this novel will be pushed to think about gun violence and how it affects countless lives every day, as well as their own role in helping creating safer communities through stricter regulations.

I can’t remember how I heard about Accidental but I do remember I wanted to read it as soon as I learned about its existence. It seemed like a book that not only had never read anything like, but something that is current and could almost have been ripped from the headlines. I knew it would be a heavy book, and I was prepared. And although it wasn’t as emotional as I expected, Accidental was a book I was happy to have read.

Accidental is about 16 year old Johanna who is being raised by her grandparents after her mom was killed in a car accident when Jo was 2. At least that is what she is raised to believe. But when her MIA father shows back up in her life Jo learns the truth, her mother never died in a car accident. Her mother was in fact shot by Jo with an unsecured gun her father owned. Suddenly the easy like Jo was living is no longer right. Jo is just angry. She is angry at her grandparents and at herself and at her life. And when everyone at school finds out things get worse and Jo has to really decide if she can forgive herself for something she doesn’t even remember doing or if she is going to let her anger eat her away.

What I liked about Accidental is that it wasn’t a book that was preachy about gun violence which obviously is a problem we have here in the US. Alex Richards took a subject and wrote about it in a thoughtful manner that made you think and sympathize. My heart broke for Jo and all the other kids this has happened too because it is senseless and stupid and something that just doesn’t have to happen. That is what I liked about this book the most. I also really liked Jo. I understood all of her emotions and why she would push people away and then feel bad. She went from thinking one thing her whole life to learning she played a part in killing someone she didn’t even remember. That has to mess with someone’s head.

Accidental is a solid read and one you should have on your TBR. Whoever told me to read this one was right, it is not a book to miss. My review may be a little vague because it is hard to explain until you experience the pages, but just know this is one you should read.

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Accidental

Author: Alex Richards

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 4/5

Recommended For...: gun violence, contemporary, part trauma

Publication Date: July 7, 2020

Genre: YA Contemporary

Recommended Age: 16+ (gun violence TW, blame, death, gore)

Publisher: Bloomsbury YA

Pages: 368

Synopsis: Johanna has had more than enough trauma in her life. She lost her mom in a car accident, and her father went AWOL when Johanna was just a baby. At sixteen, life is steady, boring . . . maybe even stifling, since she's being raised by her grandparents who never talk about their daughter, her mother Mandy.

Then he comes back: Robert Newsome, Johanna's father, bringing memories and pictures of Mandy. But that's not all he shares. A tragic car accident didn't kill Mandy--it was Johanna, who at two years old, accidentally shot her own mother with an unsecured gun.

Now Johanna has to sort through it all--the return of her absentee father, her grandparents' lies, her part in her mother's death. But no one, neither her loyal best friends nor her sweet new boyfriend, can help her forgive them. Most of all, can she ever find a way to forgive herself?

Review: Overall, the book was amazing! The book had some great writing and the characters were compelling. The world building was also done well and I think the author, for the most part, handled the issue of gun violence very well in her book.

However, I felt really weird about the second half of the book. It felt like the author was taking a political stance and using this book to vent about the issue than to let the story develop naturally. It book was great and I loved the message about gun safety, but it just felt like a political debate at the end of the book. Of course, there are no easy answers when it comes to gun violence, but for the sake of the book and putting aside my own beliefs it didn’t feel natural.

Verdict: It’s a great read!

Johanna is sixteen-years-old, has two best friends, lives with her strict, old-fashioned grandparents and is drooling over the very handsome new guy at her fancy private school. Though her mother died in a car crash when she was little, she barely remembers her or the father who abandoned her when she was little. She’s always been with her grandparents, and everything was fine until suddenly nothing was fine.

Her estranged father sent her a letter wanting to reunite, so Johanna decided to take him up on it. When they met he told her she’d killed her mother by shooting her with a loaded gun she’d found under the bed. He was remorseful that he’d left his loaded gun in a place where a toddler could reach it, but that didn’t stop Johanna from going into a tailspin. Furious at her grandparents for lying to her for years she cuts off communication, but also can’t forgive herself for killing her own mother. Though everyone tells her it wasn’t her fault she doesn’t believe them, and neither do the students who start bullying her at school and online.

Gun violence, unsecured guns, statistics for family shootings, and gun control are just some of the topics readers will learn about as Johanna fights a battle to heal her damaged soul. Her story may give readers the impetus to think about ways to raise awareness for these societal issues.

Recommended for ages 14 and older.

I received a digital advance reading copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book is simply unforgetable. It's the first book I've read about a school shooting, and it was just as horrifying and jarring as you would expect. Sadly, I think this book's only selling point is the subject matter, however. It was gripping and tragic, but the characters, writing, and structure didn't support that very well.

A lot of the time I was grappling for details, not sure what was going on or who was who. The characters themselves didn't have a lot of time to be fleshed out, and by the end of this book, I didn't find myself particularly attached to them. I do not feel as if I was given enough information so that I cared for these characters, the characters all felt flat to me. Perhaps it was the way in which the story was written.

The end of this book was something that held the best message for me personally. I really enjoyed that even though the situation that everyone went through was traumatic and terrible, there was an air of hope. That aspect was done in a way that was respectful to the tragic events and helped bring a positive message to the difficult narrative that this book represents.

Accidental is such a refreshing read, a book that I can confidently say we don't encounter much. Don't you just admire authors that are brave enough to weave a story that includes heavy and tough subjects about todays society? I personally think we should stop shying away from books that are considered "political".

In Accidental, Johanna, our main character, is dealing with a secret that her absentee father brought with him when he showed up after missing from her life for so many years. We get to see why the huge secret was kept hidden in the first place, how it affected Johannas relationships and most importantly, we get to witness how Johanna will handle all of it. I really didn't like our main character at first and it took a chapter or two before I warmed up to her. Johanna is authentic with a real voice of a teen who got her life turned upside down. You can really feel how betrayed she was as it was written in a very effective way by the author. Johanna as a person isn't perfect, she's angsty, she can be self-involved and mean to her friends and even to her own family but what's great about Johanna is that Richards took us with her on her journey to emotionally maturity. She became self-aware and owned up to her mistakes and everything was penned in a very realistic and interesting way. (and side note: I REALLY LOVE ALL THE STAR WARS reference) l really commend how the relationships are written especially the one with Johanna and her grandparents. It was moving and one of the main drives of this story.

I really enjoyed the plot and the pacing of Accidental which makes it difficult to put down. I was fooled by the first two to three chapters thinking it will just be another YA realistic fiction, but I was so wrong. Every chapter is striking and written in a gorgeous way which makes it very readable. The story is executed in a very brave and yet delicate manner. And what I really find great is how everyone got their character development and that everyones underlying subplot was addressed. Each subplots has a purpose as well that makes the story as a whole. There was a light touch of romance that I really like!! I fell for our love interest, Milo. He's an amazing and realistic teenage boy. The romance isn't that heavy but necessary as it showed how Johanna managed to use this relationship for her betterment. Truly admiring!

If you think Accidental is just another YA Realistic Fiction, think again. Accidental has something new to offer at the YA table and it's something that every readers should read at least once. Accidental is brave and necessary, a story with a punch!

Oof, I don't like giving out 1 stars but I had to zone out from this book to keep myself from getting blood boiling angry. I just don't have anything good to say. I absolutely hated the main character. She didn't listen to anyone and just heard whatever she wanted and then flipped out on the people around her even though they didn't say that at all. Her thoughts just seemed very black or white. You're either completely on my side or completely against me. She also just made SO MANY assumptions and her friends kept saying they weren't true but SHE WOULDN'T LISTEN and then get mad at them because she thinks they think badly about her even though they made obvious they don't. For most of this book she is absolutely furious at her grandparents, which I understood for the most part but then she started getting mad at them for not talking to her anymore while she is the one constantly pushing them away and when they try to talk to her she just completely flips out on them. Of course these people are going to leave you alone for a bit because you need to cope with this shit and you've shown them you don't want their help. Don't fucking be mad at them for giving up. The inner monologue was so fucking repetive as well. I honestly think I read the same line on like ever other page. It was mind numbing. The main character also didn't go through any developement she just flipped a switch from one page onto another and it was super jarring.
The romance was absolute shit as well. It just happened really quickly and I felt 0 chemistry between the two characters. A lot of the romantic scenes also felt a bit innapropiate. There's literally a scene were the main character had a panic attack, the love interest calmed her down and then they had sex. That felt so innapropiate to me. I mean, timing is everything and that wasn't the time to fuck. The plot was super boring as well. The main thing that starts of this book seems so unrealistic to me. I get that it actually happens and that it happens a lot but I would have loved a bit more explenation about that because it was so hard to wrap my head around. Some characters also did a full 180 about half way through this book and it just felt like the author forgot that these characters were apart of the first half and their switch was never explained. Well, one was but I thought that explenation was so poorly done. This book also just dragged out too long. This book definetly could have been cut off a bit earlier than it was because those last couple of chapters just weren't nececary and even more boring than the rest.

Thank you Netgalley and Bloomsbury USA Childrens Book for providing an ARC of Accidental in exchange for an honest review.

Accidental by Alex Richard's is about Johanna who has grown up living with her grandparents because her mother died in a car accident when she was young. Johanna father has decided not to be in her life until now day he gets in contact with her and breaks some devastating news she did not see coming.

Accidental deals with issues such as father daughter issues, school issues and friend issues.

I have such complicated feelings about this book. I was so excited and honored to be approved for an arc of this book, so I immediately jumped in. The premise really intrigued me because of the conversations I knew this book would have about gun control, especially the tragic circumstances where children find guns and accidentally shoot them. However, I just didn’t feel this book did what I was expecting to do.

Things I liked:
- I loved the writing of this book, and the authenticity of Johanna’s character throughout most of the book! She felt like such a real teenager in the way she acts and talks. She’s sarcastic, a bit pessimistic, and has a super edgy sense of humor. She also had killer music taste, and I love how passionate she was about fashion and clothing. All her hopes, dreams, feelings, felt so real and tangible, and I was sucked in from the beginning.
- I also admire what this book tries to do! Gun control is such a controversial and topical issue in this day and age, and I don’t see many YA books that tackle this subject, and even more specifically unintentional shootings involving children. Accidental discusses the dangerous of lax gun laws, and where the blame should be placed in unintentional, child shootings.
- I liked the support system that Johanna had. Her friends, and grandparents were a rock for her as she comes to terms with her involvement in her mother’s death. While there were some bumpy points in all of their relationships, especially with her grandparents.

Things I didn’t like:
- While I admire what the author tried to do with her discussion of gun control, by the half way point it felt so preachy. It took on such an overly political tone, and I feel like Johanna’s character did a complete one-eighty that felt extremely jarring.
- I also didn’t enjoy the relationship that Johanna develops with Miles romantically. Don’t get me wrong, it was a super sweet romance, but I feel like Miles was so underdeveloped that I was not at all invested. I felt so disconnected when they had deep heart to heart sessions, and I couldn’t really understand why they were romantically involved instead forming a really meaningful friendship.
- I also feel like the high school environment was poorly portrayed. All the kids at Johanna’s high school were very stereotypical mean kids, and their only purpose was to antagonize Johanna. They felt super unaware and uneducated, and very cartoonish, which is not the case at all with most teenagers. It felt like the author was dumbing down, and putting down all of the other kids outside of the main characters circle, to uplift them and make them seem “woke.”

Overall, I was pretty disappointed with Accidental, but I did love some aspects of it.

This is a book that doesn't quite have a counterpart to compare it to. Gun violence, while prevalent in being discussed, very rarely addresses children and guns. When it is in books, it mostly focuses on mothers and fathers dealing with the fallout, never placing the focus on the child involved dealing with the fallout several years later. In Accidental, Johanna receives a letter from her father. The same father that she's learned walked out on her when she was young, right after her mother died in a car accident. Her father wants to meet, and she accepts, a little begrudgingly. Jo's best friends, Gabby and Leah, are just as suspicious as she is, but opportunities like this don't happen often. Maybe he doesn't want money or an excuse or something bad. Maybe he just wants to get to know her. So, she meets him. She's a little confused when he reacts weirdly to how her mom died. It WAS a car accident right? But after some nudging, he finally confesses at the next meeting: Jo, when she was a toddler, had found a loaded gun on accident and shot her mother while she was sleeping. There was no car accident.

The news of this takes Jo on a journey of self discovery and self acceptance. She has a difficult time coming to terms with this realization and understanding it truly wasn't her fault. Internalizing the guilt she feels leads to several difficulties and relationship strains that she never saw coming. The only shining light in her life is what's developing between her and the new transfer student, Milo. Right now, it's easier to tell everybody that everything is fine. Even if it isn't. But if they think she's fine and she says she's fine, then everything will be, won't it? Everyone has a breaking point though and Jo's just starting to realize what hers is once the news of her past breaks out around the school.

I'll admit I wasn't in love with this book the first 10%. It began off much like other teen novels where one starts to feel overwhelmed with references, language, and friendships. I even felt a little heartbroken at some of the obvious attempts at diversification near the beginning. The author essentially writes that, while Jo knows another character has had it tougher as a black woman, she understands why she isn't as invested her own personal issues now that her dad is back in her life. At another point, a diner is described as giving off a "fun, pride vibe." I felt neither of these things were necessary, but in today's climate they stood out as trying to be diverse for the sake of being diverse.

Outside of that, I enjoyed the overall plot! Like I said earlier, this is a story that isn't addressed often. And, if it is, it's from an adult's perspective and not that of the child who has done it. I felt it was handled well and sensibly. I've read that some other reviews felt the last half focused a lot on politics and I felt it really didn't. As a teacher, everything in the last half made sense. Even in a public school, the series of events that occurred would happen as well. Jo's panic attacks were raw and authentic. I was grateful they were included. The scene that took place at the Shabbat dinner wrecked me and was honestly one of the turning points for the novel, for me. It's then that you understand just how bad something like this would affect a person. Especially if they've been lied to their entire lives about it. Finally, the last chapter made me cry. Truthfully. Having lost a parent (albeit not to gun violence), I know how cathartic something like that can be. I am thankful it was included and I felt it was a poignant end to this novel.

Also, godbless Milo. The world needs more people like Milo in it. We all need to be in a relationship with a Milo. We all need someone as honest as Milo. Be a Milo to others in your life. Just *sighs* Milo is the best.

The speed at which I read ACCIDENTAL is a testimony to how riveting and gorgeously written it was.

There are all the ingredients necessary to a satisfying teen book: passionate friendships, sweet romance (Milo was the cutest), love/hate relationship with one's family, bullying, school drama. But what makes this book exceptional is the subject matter it deals with—GUNS—and the delicate manner Richards has of showing a true societal problem.

ACCIDENTAL isn't a call-to-arms; it's a reminder not to be negligent. Firearms are lethal, intentionally or not.

I can't thank Richards enough for having written this important and necessary coming of age that should be read by adults and teens alike.

Although this story explores the aftermath of a tragedy, and takes us inside the main character's grief and guilt in a powerfully authentic way, the ultimate message is one of hope and resilience. The author skillfully shows us exactly where the heroine is coming from, so that we empathize even when we know she's not seeing the whole picture. Welcome doses of humor, supportive friendships, and a charming romance lighten the mood just enough. By the end, the reader is right there with the main character at her moment of catharsis.

I really liked the beginning of Accidental and it's premise, but I feel like realistic fic about topics these heavy need to be realistic with their handling of them. And Accidental wasn't.

Jo's personal tragedy quickly becomes the biggest part of everyone around her's life and while it makes sense that that's what her narrative would focus on, going the extra mile and having people bully her for it is something that just wouldn't happen, especially as widespread as it does in the book. Teenagers may have underdeveloped decision making skills, but it doesn't mean they're cartoon villains. The abnormally reaction from everyone around Jo really pulled me out of what otherwise felt like a very emotional, real story but it quickly became such a glaring part of the narrative that those emotions also felt falsified and I was unable to fully connect.

Such an amazing book. Truly kept hold of my attention and I read the book in one sitting. I can't help but to think about this book still days after I finished it.

Timely. Moving. Personal. Breathtaking.
I both didn't want it to stop but also had to pace myself. So good.

ACCIDENTAL is a page turning and incredibly moving debut, with a strong, authentic voice. The story focuses on 16-year-old Johanna, whose reconnection with the father she hasn’t seen since she was a toddler results in her learning the truth about her mother’s tragic accidental death – a truth that her grandparents, who have raised her, have kept from her for more than 13 years. The news sends Johanna spinning, as she struggles to come to terms with what happened to her mom, and to her, and the ripple effects on everyone in her family. This book tackles some tough subjects – trauma, grief, loss and gun safety – with the sensitive hand, while also exploring relatable high school rites of passage: first love, friendships and figuring out just what the heck you want to do with your life and who you want to be. I connected with Johanna from the very first page – she’s relatable, funny, artsy and as mixed up and flawed as any of us. (And, she’s a Blondie fan! I approve.) The book is also populated with a compelling cast of supporting players: Johanna’s grandparents, whose misguided attempts to protect her are still rooted in love; her friends and boyfriend, who are all trying (and sometimes failing) to have her back; and her father, whose motives are clouded by his own feelings of guilt. Definitely pick this one up if you are a fan of voice-y, character-driven YA that’s both thought provoking and emotionally resonant.