I LOVED this book! The characters were relatable and realistic. I am happy to recommend this to my students!

I honestly did not know this was part of a series. So i Will not give a review based on that. I hear other people say this book can be read As a stand alone. But i feel that would not be the right thing to do

Unfortunately, I could not get in to this story and had to put the book down, however, I am grateful for the opportunity. Thank you.

A fun and great book.
This took me back in time when I was that age. It was a fun and quick read.
The story is very relatable and realistic.

This felt very real. It reminded of me being in high school, things happen that knock you around and you have to figure out who you are. Having a good group of friends always helps you going, which is what this book is about.

I didn't know that this book was a part of a series when I request, but it doesn't have any importance, because the books have isolated stories.
I like this one, it was a great and funny read.

Thank you Net galley for the chance to review this book in exchange for a honest review.

I didn't know this book was a part of a series when I requested it, but it works well as a stand-alone. I really enjoyed Luke & Elly's stories, well I liked all of them and how they were all intertwined. I liked seeing the different status quo between the characters and how they dealt with what their families thought compared to what they wanted.
Even though I did not read the whole series I did enjoy this books

Twelfth Grade Hopes And Fears concludes the American High School Series. I didn't realise this until the end of the book but due to the book being written in such an amazing way you couldn't tell as the book explained the situations which I presume must of happened in the previous books in the series.

The events in the book are well written and a realistic account of what happens at high school and could quite easily be some peoples reality. The main 4 characters in this book all have their own struggles but they overpower them and don't let their struggles define them.

Overall a really enjoyable book which will no doubt help some people and not make them feel so alone.

Also posted on https://sarahdturnbull.wixsite.com/sarahsbookreviews/post/twelfth-grade-hopes-and-fears-by-bruce-ingram

Twelfth Grade Hopes and Fears is the last book in Bruce Ingram's "American High School" series. It follows the same four students it has followed for the last three years and this book recounts the senior year of Luke, Elly, Marcus, and Mia. Readers read chapters from the perspective of these four students, starting from the beginning of the school year to their graduation. Each of these students lead different lives, but they are easily intertwined as these two duos, Luke and Elly, and Marcus and Mia start romantic relationships. I think their characters were very sweet!

While I haven't read the first three books, Twelfth Grade Hopes and Fears works just fine as a stand-alone novel, as Bruce Ingram tells the audience about previous events that have happened in past years. I think it might actually be preferred to read this single book because I feel like this book doesn't need preface to be read.

I had some concerns with the novel, and most of the concerns stemmed from the novel being told but not shown. Nothing was explicitly described, so the story actually felt quite flat. I wanted to enjoy it a little more because I did enjoy the characters, but Bruce Ingram leaves nothing to imagination as he literally tells the audience exactly what happens with which characters and at what time.

Also, as a recent high school graduate, I didn't quite relate as much as I had hoped to. There are many moments in the novel where the author tries to delve deeper into social issues, such as race or sexuality, but again with the writing style, it comes off awkward and too much. For example, Hannah is a side character who is gay and when Marcus asks her on a date, she tells him her situation and full-on explains everything, like how she used other boys as her "beards" to cover up her sexuality. I think that is highly unrealistic that someone would do such a thing. Another part in the novel that coordinates with what I previously said is a quote from one of Mia's chapters, which says "Probably better than anyone, I know Hannah's struggle with the gay thing." This just seems highly insensitive by cutting down Hannah's sexuality to "the gay thing." At the end of the novel, Mia even mentions Hannah's sexuality in her valedictorian speech, omitting her friend's name, but there was no relevance to do such a thing and in reality, that could have really hurt someone.

All of these social issues are just glossed over and doesn't actually add meaning to the novel.

A smaller concern with the novel is the fixation the characters have with dating. There's a lot of dating involved, like who's dating who, asking people out on dates, and such. Even Marcus, whose girlfriend had to leave in fear of her family being deported, is thinking about dating. I just feel like that dating isn't always on people's minds, but of course, it's just a novel.

My last concern is the inclusion of adding the perspective of four side characters outside of the main four. In fact, it makes it more confusing to add 4 more thoughts on top of everything. After reading the entire story, the additional point of view of these characters had nothing to do with the novel and it could have easily be removed and the story would have stayed the same.

Above all, I really enjoyed the characterization of the four main characters. They weren't exactly three-dimensional, but they were more than two-dimensional, as we see all of their aspirations. I related to their hopes and fears the most because as a high school senior, everyone is thinking about their future and how to shape it in a way that is perfect for them. This is definitely seen as Luke and Elly start shaping their present to fit the future they hope for by enrolling for university classes together near the end of the story. Even Marcus and Mia think about their future together and hope they'll be waiting for one another after university.

I think this story is great for students! It provides a semi-realistic view of high school. I think readers will love the characters above everything else. I think it is a great book to read over an afternoon.

A captivating and heartwarming conclusion to a Young Adult series that speaks on so many different topics difficult parent situations, grief, impending adulthood, and so much more. The storytelling is impressive and makes you want to root and cry for our protagonists every step of the way. This is the type of story that will resonate with a lot of high school seniors who have trepidations about moving on with their life and separating from their support group.

I honestly did not know this was part of a series. So i Will not give a review based on that. I hear other people say this book can be read As a stand alone. But i feel that would not be the right thing to do

I didn't know this book was a part of a series when I requested it, but it works well as a stand-alone. I really enjoyed Luke & Elly's stories, well I liked all of them and how they were all intertwined. I liked seeing the different status quo between the characters and how they dealt with what their families thought compared to what they wanted.
I felt really connected to these characters and it definitely took me back to my high school days. I think this is definitely a book teens in high school can relate to.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!

I finished this book relatively quickly, mostly because it is such a simple read. This might be a good choice for older students with lower reading levels, although it does lack a lot of the "spicy" content such books often have. In fact, a lot of the content of the novel felt sort of pollyanna-ish. If written as kind of a "slice of life", well, there wasn't a ton of life to the story. The writing lacked sophistication (again, to some extent understandable if this was written for lower-level readers), and at times read like a student's narrative essay. This book may find itself in a no man's land - not engaging or sophisticated enough for older readers, and beyond the scope of interest for younger ones.

I started reading this a few nights ago, and I honestly did not like it. I wanted to really try and get into it but i don’t know what it was about the book that just frustrated me. Thank you Netgalley & publishers for this opportunity. Nothing against the author, this just wasn’t for me.

Twelfth Grade Hopes and Fears is the fourth and final novel in a series of books about a group of kids working their way through high school. Although this book is about high schoolers, it is definitely written for a middle-grade audience, and I am reviewing it from that perspective.

Overall, I have to applaud all the things that this book tried to do as a middle-grade. The characters are all diverse in many different ways, including aspects of racial and ethnic diversity, neurodiversity, and class diversity. The characters in this book also spend a lot of time thinking about very deep and complex things that it could be great to introduce young teens to, such as the history of poor whites or of black people in America or the ways people talk to one another.

I would likely encourage parents to read this book before giving it to their kids, for a couple of reasons. One, I know some parents want to ensure that their kids are reading age-appropriate things. And two, I think a parent should know the topics covered in these pages so they will be ready to discuss them as their child reads.

I do have a few complaints. First, I didn't feel like the character's voices were distinct enough from one another. The overall voice was really young and, yet, tried to talk about very mature things in ways where the thoughts on the issues were fully formed which I just didn't find realistic. I do think that that could have been intentional to keep the attention of a younger audience but get the point across. Nevertheless, it hampered my reading experience a bit. Also, because the book covered a whole school year, it tended to feel choppy at times and the timeline of the switched perspectives felt a little off.

But, overall, an interesting read that has great representation that I can only really encourage in books targeted for growing audiences.

DNFed at 33%.
Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me. All the drama that was supposed to fuel the plot was so BORING I almost fell asleep in the bus. The writing was quite poor and there was almost no dialogue and the characters were acting like children, even though they were seniors in high school. I understand that this was probably written for kids in middle school, but honestly, how boring can a middle-grade book be? Percy Jackson is middle-grade and every other sentence makes me laugh out loud!
After suffering through 18 chapters I decided this isn't worth any more time or patience. Although, this may be perfect for smaller kids, so if you are a parent of one, I'd give it a try.

Twelfth Grade Hopes and Fears American High School (Book 4) works great as a standalone novel. It's an interesting and enjoyable read that follows four wildly different but wholly relatable characters as they navigate the trials and tribulations of Twelfth Grade.