i couldn’t finish this book sorry. from the first moment i didn’t connect with the mc and just the first few scenes were too awkward, tense and full of second hand embarrassment to let me continue

This book was not what I expected. I thought it would be a cute contemporary but I was surprised. It was a good book, I enjoyed it, but it wasn't my favorite. I liked Wade as a character and as a love interest too, and his and Gracie's relationship was so cute. Gracie got on my nerves a lot, but I liked her sense of humor (and her music taste too, I love SP).
Overall, I think it's a book worth reading if you like YA contemporaries set in boarding schools.

I thought this book was great!! The story was fun, and had me laughing through it. The characters felt like old friends which definitely helped the story. :)

Grace Welles is fifteen, trapped at a third-rate boarding school in Florida, and pretty much resigned to a lonely and miserable life. Her father has another (real) family in California, sneaking away to occasionally remember that Grace and her beautiful, flighty mother exist. Grace has no friends. But one day she helps a fellow student, Wade, who is being attacked by a group of popular boys. The two form a strange friendship that eventually blossoms into more. Suddenly, life has meaning. But with this meaning, comes feelings, and the realization that there may be more to Wade than his kind and cool exterior.

I've been sitting on this review, because I honestly cannot tell if this book was amazing or terrible. I know, I know--how is that possible? Helnwein has written something very different here, in many ways: a raw, awkward story that often makes you cringe and want to look away. She spares no detail (or language) when covering Gracie's forays into friendship, drinking, and sex. You forget she's fifteen/sixteen, which is probably what makes it so hard, at times. Yes, she's alone at boarding school, but still? Is this what happens at boarding school? Perhaps that's my problem with all boarding school tales. (At least no one gets murdered.) It's a paradox. Grace falls in love with her biology teacher, which seems sweetly realistic. But when he rejects her, she curses him, destroys his property, and more--is this truly allowed, even at a third rate school? Every thing is excused as "needing the tuition money." Not so realistic.

If you're able to overlook the terrifying behavior of these young students (perhaps made all the more frightening to me, as the mother of young daughters, one of whom is actually named Grace), there are some poignant moments here. Helnwein really does capture the beauty and absolute fear of falling in love for the first time, and Grace and Wade's relationship is pretty magical. The self-centeredness of adolescence--how the world revolves around nothing else. Much of Grace's coming of age is realizing that a great big world exists beyond her. But it's tender and sweet watching her fall. There are some cute friendships too.

At many times, this is a funny and heartbreaking book. There are a lot of serious topics hidden between the craziness. Gracie and Wade are truly lovely characters, and I cared for both of them deeply. I think I was just thrown by some of the characters acting/speaking older than their age and the fact that the book truly tells it how it is, right in your face. It takes a bit of an adjustment. I'm not sure this book is for everyone, but there's a tenderness and beauty to it, and I think many teens would enjoy it. 3 stars.

DNF. I really liked the premise but the writing did not work for me at all. It wouldn't be fair to the book if I finished reading and gave it a low rating.

I'm just going to say this was not a book for me. I'd started seeing reviews that it may not match a 'romance' look, or that it was grittier than expected, so I went into it already knowing that I didn't know what I was in for. Even with that mindset, it was nothing like I'd thought it would be.

Gracie and the writing style of the book gave me some real Holden Caulfield vibes - which, if you're into, you may be into this. I can definitely see some translation of that style into a YA setting, and in that way, this works. But I hated Holden - he's pompous and overinflated and in general bums me out (and not in an 'i can appreciate the literary works' way), and Gracie is basically that, notched up by 11. I was never on her team, and even when I thought a tide was turning, she'd obliterate it and I'd get thrown right back into hating her.

I also think the cover does it a disservice - the colours, the softness, the overall upscale beachy vibe it has...I get that it has a slingshot, but that's not enough to convey the content of this book. It needs to be something grittier, something darker.

I will say, I appreciated that it did deliver on the 'indignities of first love.' As much as I wanted it to be that dreamy kind of romance, I am well aware that there isn't enough realistic portrayal of first love and first sex and how a lot of times, those are not the same. I'm not saying it was comfortable to read the bad mechanics of discovering all sorts of sexual activity and feelings, but I certainly appreciate that love isn't always a fairy tale.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Wednesday Books (an imprint of St. Martin's Press) for the eGalley of this book!

Grace was your typical 15 year old. Emotional, stubborn, angry, vulnerable. She was your typical teen and was a character who you wanted to root for. I enjoyed the relationship she had with Wade, I like reading YA books when boys and girls can just be friends, but then that changed.

It is not your usual contemporary or romance, and the side characters were definitely intriguing. The story was heavy with language and content. It is story of "firsts" and about living with the decisions you make.

Grace barely knows why but she ends up saving the new boy in her boarding school from the popular one, this act will change her life much more than a punishment from the principal.

2.5, rounded up.

Yes, there is romance in the book and it's got the spotlight, but it really isn't the main thing. Most YA's are coming of age in essence but this one really focused on Grace's growth from someone who doesn't care about a thing or person to... well you'll need to read it to know which way she goes. Falling in love (or is it not love?), kissing and doing other firsts are simply the steps.

The book was fun to read but Grace was in the way of that, in my opinion. She's the type of main character writers need to be ultra careful, because you need her to have issues but not enough your readers won't care. And that's what happened to me, at least. It wasn't that I couldn't relate to her problems: she's got an abnormal family, she doesn't have enough money so she ostracizes herself at school... But I really couldn't like her. Wade, who is supposed to be the book boyfriend is cute but it also took me some time to develop anything for him—which at least made me understand why Grace wouldn't be into him when he's clearly smitten, for I'd be the same. Nice effect but again it's hard to swoon over a puppy.

A lot of the points are also a little all over the place and when you reach the end you wonder: why did this waste so many pages when nothing would come of it. My big example is the slingshot, I barely know what happened to it after we meet Wade, and it seemed important at first, what with being the title and all.

Although it was fun and I feel that Grace's conflicts were important, I think this ended up more like an average read. With elements that would normally made me give it 2 stars and others that would have made it a 4-star, weren't it for the former. As unstable as it was, I can't call it bad and would even recommend to people looking for more different experiences in contemporary YA's.

Thank you @netgalley for the copy of the book.
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2.5⭐️
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Grace is a 15 years old, sophomore at a boarding , who’s having quite a challenging time. With her parents complicated relationship and her loneliness, Graces world seems to be falling apart until she meets Wade, who becomes her most cherished friend. Their relationship slowly starts to change as they realize that there’s a spark between them, but Wade and Graces secret might tear them apart for Good.
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Most of the characters in this story are extremely likable, especially Grace. This story started out with her being madly in love with her teacher, but loses it when she found out he was engaged. Then she insinuated to her friend that they were having an affair. This is problematic to me and honestly that story line was unnecessary.
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Grace is 15, she doesn’t sound 15, but I guess with her parents she had to grow up early 🤷🏾‍♀️. She truly a product of her environment.
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Grace is not nice. At all. She does things and then plays the victim role when she has to deal with the consequences of her actions. Yes, this story is frustrating, and I wasn’t able to separate my emotions because the character drives me mad and are quite horrible.

I have mixed feelings about this Slingshot. The cover was eye-catching and I was looking for something dramatic to read, that's why I chose it and it liked it but I didn't either. The book has cliches and a very strange and inconsistent plot, it could be developed much better but it wasn't like that.

Also, the main character was so annoying, very melodramatic, and prejudiced. What I liked was the friendship development between Wade and Gracie, it felt genuine but the romance did feel forced, however I liked how the book ended because it felt real.

There were definitely issues with this book. Could it have been better? Maybe?

ohmygodilovedthisbooksomuch⁣
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I love reading about angsty teens who talk like adults and SLINGSHOT gave me everything! We follow Grace as she lives her loner lifestyle at a third-tier boarding school. After she accidentally saves a boy named Wade from getting beat up, her life ends up opening in ways she wasn’t expecting.⁣
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I absolutely loved Grace. She gave me Hailey Steinfeld vibes from the EDGE OF SEVENTEEN. Self-loathing and at times frustrating, I didn’t care. I just wanted her to be happy. Her relationship with Wade was a bit obsessive but I loved them anyway. I loved the female friendship Grace formed and I thought her parental situation was very interesting. I also balled my eyes out. There were sad moments but I realize my tear duct’s reaction was purely because of how much I loved these characters. Oh, and I equally hated and loved the ending 😩⁣
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I was so disappointed in this book. It had been on my list to read for awhile but once I got into it, I was kind of taken aback by how the teens were portrayed. It might just be a sign of an age gap but I really couldn't get into this.

DNF. the cover is absolutely *gorgeous* I adore it. The writing? Meh. The protagonist? Yikes. Why is it not mentioned at all in the summary that this book is about a 15yearold girl in love with her teacher?!!

CW: Bullying, fighting/assault (on page), physical, verbal, and mental abuse (on page), infidelity, toxic parental relationship, smoking, underage drinking, unprotected sex

I have a lot of conflicting feelings about Slingshot. I think the content warnings should have been more explicitly laid out in the blurb. I also wouldn't necessarily classify it as a young adult romance. Yes, there are romantic elements, but I think it falls more into the coming of age category.

It took some time for the story to get going and parts seemed to meander, but the second half definitely flowed better for me. I did feel that the ending was a little rushed though. I think the hardest (and sometimes most interesting part of the book) was the main character Grace. Her character arc was a really tough one, but that was probably the point. No one in this novel is perfect and I remember how confusing, angry, and vulnerable I felt when I was 15. Grace was selfish, self centered, shallow, rude, and so incredibly mean. Every time I would start to sympathize with her, she would turn around and do/say the most terrible thing. I'm no prude, but the prolific amount of profanity and crude language was a lot. Personally, I was not a fan of the repeated use of the word rape, for example "raping my eardrums" to describe a dislike of music.

Grace and Wade's meet cute and subsequent friendship was unconventional, but I think that allowed them to see each other as no one else did. I loved how they found a soft place to land with each other. I really applaud the author for how real and honest (though quite unlikeable) Grace was. As a parent, there were certainly aspects of the story that I was uncomfortable with (for example the Mr. S storyline that other reviews have noted), but I thought the emotions and feelings regarding first love were spot on. I know some readers will not be fully satisfied by the ending, but I think it was appropriate (and in the same vein as Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park). Slingshot was ultimately an interesting read for me, but it was not an easy one.

*I voluntarily read an advance review copy of this book*

Gracie is sick of being lonely and feeling like the only adult in the room. Her mother is delusional and suffers from mental illness and it’s just the two of them in their mobile home community. Her father has a whole other family across the country that he lives with and Grace feels like a “side project” that he tends to a couple times each year. He does pay for her to go away to a boarding school for a “good education.” She feels angry and out of place most of the time among all the privileged kids there that take everything for granted.

Until she meets Wade.

Wade is a new student transfer that she meets unexpectedly when she helps him out during a fight. She tries to be mean and distant to him, but they quickly develop a friendship. And then they fall in love. That’s where the complications begin.

This is a realistic coming-of-age story voiced by Grace. It captures the questioning and the angst of adolescence in a real way that does not pander or patronize the very real feelings teens experience. It’s engaging and honest and a great addition to the YA canon. Raw and real, I recommend this novel.

Rating: 2/5 stars, Did Not Finish (DNF)

TW: sexual harassment, student-teacher romantic relations

I received this novel as an ARC from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was personally very excited to receive this book as an advanced reader's copy. It seemed like a cute, refreshing contemporary that I honestly needed in my life. However, the execution of this story was not the breath of fresh air I was hoping for.

Our main character Grace goes to a private boarding school, although she questions her status there quite often as a lower class member of society whose mother lives in a mobile home. She's reclusive, stuck up, and has a bite that matches her bark. While struggling with her own stance at school as well as life, she ends up saving new kid Wade from some school bullies. Through this supposedly not selfless act, Grace starts to understand herself and develop friendships she wouldn't have had before.

This book was extremely hard to sit through. I read about 40 percent and had to force myself to stop because of the writing style and choice of inclusions.

The first major issue I had was the whole unrequited side romance we are introduced to at the very first page, which is Grace crying because she is in love with her biology teacher and just found out that he has a fiancé. I have extremely strong opinions about this kind of romance, so to have it thrown into your face in the very first chapter did not set the bar high for this book. I feel it would have been worse if the biology teacher actually reciprocated this love, but he doesn't. Grace tries to play it off as saying all boys are immature and that she needs someone man enough, but it never sat well with me.

Speaking of Grace, I hated her. She was so rude to everyone she met, especially to Wade and her roommate Georgina. It seemed so unnecessary and immediately made me disconnect from her as a main character. There are also some weird tidbits about her that we find out that seem... extremely out of place. For example, during the scene where she saves Wade from bullies, she uses a slingshot that she somehow always has on her and uses it to shoot a pebble at the bully, somehow stopping the whole showdown. Then later, when confronted about it, she played it off as her not liking the bully's face, all to keep her bad girl image.

All of the dialogues throughout the book made me cringe and rendered it hard to read. Here are a few examples of how cringe it was:
- There was a whole discussion on the purpose of having to pee, and why it needed to be done (I think that most of us probably know why we do it)
- One person that comes onto Grace explains the boy science behind the shape of a girl's calves and how it turns them on (I almost gagged reading it)
- IN THIS SAME SCENE the individual coming onto Grace literally has to EXPLAIN how to kiss someone, with extremely descriptive words. It was... so uncomfortable and disgusting.

One last thing of note is probably Wade, probably the most likeable character in this whole book, which is saying something. He's supposed to be the bad boy who has been kicked from four different schools before arriving at this one. Yet, we see him a majority of the time being nice or super considerate to Grace. We're told he punched someone at school, and that he and Grace skipped once, but that's it. His personality seemed a bit all over the place.

I had to convince myself to stop this book because of how much the writing, as well as the actions of the characters, made me feel uncomfortable or disgusting. I personally do not like DNFing books unless there are some serious problems, but this was something I could not force myself to sit through any more. It may be for others but unfortunately this was not the book for me.

I will admit I skimmed through this book and am surprised I even stuck with it.. I know teenagers know more and act differently than I did when I was in High School but all the ones in Slingshot seemed to be older than college age. I am around teenagers on a daily and have never seen the ones I know act near the way the ones in this book did.

Slingshot, to describe it quickly is a book about teenagers who finally get to experience first love and the mistakes that come along with the experience.

I think one of the problems I had with the book is I did not like the main character Grace at all, and though I thought I would evidently warm up to her I never did. I thought right off that her crush on her teacher was a bit yucky, even she knew it was illegal. She is rude, shallow and there was no reason whatsoever to like her. I also didn't like all the cheating that went on in the book, maybe that is my moral high ground as I do not even really like it in adult books. While I do read my fair share of YA books, I think I was way beyond my age limit on this and quickly grew tired of all the High School Drama. I really wanted to like this book, but just couldn't make myself.

Slingshot
by Mercedes Helnwein
Pub Date: 27 Apr 2020
Already have it on order for when it comes out! Funny, quirky...my students will love it!

I struggled getting into this young adult novel and did not love the sarcasm of the main character of Gracie. I received this novel as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

SLINGSHOT by Mercedes Helnwein is a sweet coming of age debut YA novel! This story is about Gracie, a fifteen year old girl at boarding school, who learns some life lessons of love, friendship and heartbreak. There were some funny moments throughout and I liked how each character went through their own changes. I really liked the writing that made Gracie’s attitude come to life. She was full of teenage angst and those overwhelming emotions that feel like your entire life at the time because it’s the first time you’re feeling them. Overall at the end this was a really cute young adult novel! I’d definitely read more from Helnwein!
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Thank you to Wednesday Books via NetGalley for my advance review copy!