This cover alone is enough to draw me into reading this novel. Add in the interesting plot...and I'm sold. However, this just did not work for me. Grace was just not a likeable character to me. It seemed like she was constantly being negative and it made me not want to root for her. I pushed through the first 150 pages and just had to put it down. The ending definitely could have been better and she ended up changing but I just could not continue reading this book.

All I have are negative things to say about this book from completely foul language to disrespect for adults, especially teachers, with little to no consequences or regret, and with unprotected sex that’s treated in an incredibly immature and foul way, full review on good reads. This one is a NO WAY for me.

DNF @ 10%

I typically don’t DNF books this early on, but I really struggled to get into this book. Gracie was a rather unlikeable character, and I was off-put from the very first chapter, as Gracie states that she is convinced that she and her teacher are soulmates, and cries upon finding out that he’s engaged.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

After an uneventful holiday break, away from her boarding school where Gracie tries unsuccessfully to heal from heartbreak over learning that the so-called love of her life, her biology teacher, is newly engaged, she returns to Midhurst School. She is a bit of a loner and incredibly angry at the world. But, when she sees a fellow student being ganged up on by three other students, she whips out her slingshot and takes aim. Little does Gracie know that one act changes the whole course of her life and begins what is to be a great change in her as a person.

After saving Wade from his little band of attackers, the two form a friendship that she is resistant to at first. But Wade and Gracie are inevitable. Now, Gracie is finally living her life. She is doing things she would never have done. She is breaking rules and making quasi-friends. And while she is falling for Wade, she is forgetting all about her obsession with her biology teacher.

When a mistake from just before the start of her relationship with Wade surfaces, things begin to crumble around her and all of the growth she made begins to not matter. She is heartbroken and alone once again.

Slingshot from Mercedes Helnwein was a look into the turmoil and angst of teenage life. Gracie was crass and not always a likable character, but in that I appreciated her so much more. I could relate to her so much at that impressionable age of fifteen. She can be mean, and she can lash out, but the Gracie from page one and the Gracie from the last page are so incredibly different.

Not only is Gracie dealing with aftermath of her choices, but she is learning to question the delicate relationships she has with her parents, and also learning how to evolve with other friendships in her life.

I absolutely loved this book. I loved the depiction of young love; first love; unwitting betrayal; first heartbreak… And in all of this, the process of growing and learning; of learning to be okay with who you are and the choices you have made.

I love that this book faces all the normal teenagers finding their way issues and flips them! Such an interesting look at the other side, the less traveled way to do things. I like that this author explored issues that are sometimes avoided in mainstream books. I also loved the authors writing style, there was so much humor injected into the writing!

I really wanted to enjoy this book but in the end it fell flat for me. The first third of the book started off great, it had a lot of potential and I was enjoying it. But after that point it wasn’t keeping my attention and I had no interest in the characters. I started the book liking the main character but after half way through she just started grating on me. The ending definitely didn’t give me a satisfaction and it could have been better.

Leider nicht mein Fall

"Slingshot" von Mercedes Helnwein hörte sich gut und erzeugte bei mir Lust darauf, mal wieder ein Buch zu lesen, dass eigentlich für jüngere Leser:innen gedacht ist. Doch leider war das Buch nicht mein Fall.

Gleich der Anfang sorgte dafür, dass ich mich nicht ganz wohl in meiner Haut gefühlt habe. Und dieses Gefühl konnte ich auch nicht mehr abschütteln.

Dabei fand ich es schon sehr gut, dass neben der ersten Liebe auch Freundschaften einen wichtigen Stellenwert im Buch eingenommen haben. Auch wie sie thematisiert wurden, fand ich durchaus überzeugend.

Da für mich der Schreibstil der Autorin aber nicht so richtig rund war und mich einige Sachen inhaltlich gestört haben, war das Buch insgesamt für mich leider eine Enttäuschung.

What to expect with “Slingshot?” Well. At first when reading a 15-year-old Grace tell her teacher he’s fucked up for having a fiancée when he’s her soulmate, I was skeptical. Fast forward the first four slower chapters to set up Grace and Wade’s personalities, and I was gripped.

If you’re a fan of John Green’s “Looking for Alaska,” think similar boarding school vibes with even snarkier authentic teens full of raging hormones and teen angst. Some of the shockingly simple but beautiful imagery will stick with me (ie “her glowing peach iced tea hair”)– Grace’s voice reads sometimes self-centered but often hilariously real to the teen struggles we’ve all faced. I have never read a more authentic account of first time woes and feelings: I was laughing out loud in appreciation.

This book is ending my final sweep of 2020 reads with a bang. Take a chance on this one. 5/5: thank you Netgalley for this amazing ARC!

I'm really not sure how I feel about this book. There were parts I really liked and the teen angst in me was all for Grace trying to figure herself out. The relationship between Grace and Wade was very typical of an all in "first love". Again, I'm just so unsure of how I feel - overall it left me feeling hopeless which is not a great feeling to have. Some reviewers have a problem with the amount of sex and while it does seem prevalent in the story, that didn't bother me. The story dealt with serious teen issues and I appreciated that. I just wish some of the ends had been tied up in prettier bows - but that doesn't always happen in life, does it?

There are times when I feel like I've given up on the YA genre. The stories are all the same and blend into each other, BUT this one, this one marches to its own drum and I loved it. I don't want to give anything about this book away yet, so once it gets closer to its pub date, I will update my review. Lets just say this is a great one!

The synopsis labels Grace as 'unhinged' and I should have paid more attention to that piece of information.

Grace is just an unlikeable character. Hopelessly 'in love' with her biology teacher, Slingshot opens with her yelling, crying and swearing at said biology teacher after finding out her is engaged.

Would not recommend.

Grace is delusionally in love with her teacher and it’s so uncomfortable I cannot keep reading. The summary made no suggestion that this was the case. I would’ve skipped this read altogether had I known.

*Review will be posted on my blog on 4/5/21 closer to publication date.*

**3.5 Stars**
I Liked:
*Grace is a MESS. She’s 15, at a boarding school, unlikable, mean, a jerk, lacking social skills, says whatever she wants to say usual not caring about the consequences and she doesn’t believe in love. In a way she’s courageous, for not giving a crap but in lots of ways she’s afraid (of love) but wouldn’t admit it out loud until Wade and even Beth comes into her life. Also, she and her mom are her dad’s secret family so it’s no wonder she doesn’t believe in love. The blurb says “acidly funny” and all that acid comes from Grace haha!

*Watching Grace navigate all her emotions was riveting and I could not put the book down. She’s all over the place. This girl is in love with her teacher then hates him when she finds out she was basically delusional about it. She pretty much scars a guy she hates, then sleeps with him and then unknowingly breaks his heart. If she went to my high school, this girl would have been getting into a lot of fights – she’s that girl. Despite her psychotic tendencies – I related to her thoughts about relationships, falling in love and sex because the relationships I saw growing up were totally dysfunctional too.

*As for the romance with Wade ~ they start off as unlikely friends. Then best of friends into the possibility of something more and then into love. So it wasn’t instant which was nice, because Grace has a lot of issues but it was a sweet spot in the book. Wade is a good guy but we don’t know much about him until almost the ending. His life is complicated too.

*Bittersweet ending – in true fashion, Grace falls for Wade, has this amazing time with him and it all comes crashing down. One thing is for sure with Grace, who basically hates everyone…she doesn’t hate Wade. And because Wade is so good, she learns to open up a bit…even make some friends and let some in. It’s not a total happy ending but realistic? I think so.

Random Notes:
*Triggers: student/teacher crush (one-sided), abuse, bullying

*Grace crushes on her Bio teacher – hard. She thinks he reciprocates her feelings but ugh…he surely does not. And she basically does crazy stuff to him because she’s angry at him (breaks his pencils, writes him notes, tells him off) ~ this is how we are introduced to Grace and honestly from then on, I knew she needed therapy! This might turn people off to this book right away but seriously, it’s all one-sided.

*Kind of bummed that Grace let all her grades go because of that whole teacher crush heartbreak – obviously this girl is SMART just lacking so much social skills and is almost hungrily studying others around her, hating them, judging them, needing praise (even it’s from some random guy like Derek who she hates) – dooming herself to loneliness because in the essence of it all she thinks her father never wanted her. Doesn’t love her.

*I felt called out when Grace says she was into older music like 80’s/90’s and starts jamming to Smashing Pumpkins and Rage Against the Machine. 🤣 Talk about nostalgia – that was the music of MY high school years! Yes I’m old, but damn it the music was good!

*This book totally could be a tv series, it’s quirky and dark enough, and Grace is so problematic.

Final Thoughts:
Do not be fooled by this pink, happy book cover…this is not a fluffy, cutesy love story. Grace is a mean, cold, hurt, lost teenager trying to navigate all these feelings of love, sex, and friendship. She takes it out on everyone around her, and then Wade comes along and she tries to be better, for him. This story will not be for everyone, Grace has no filter ~ but she reminds me of someone I befriended in my younger years and things turned out okay for my friend. Moral of the story, we are all flawed, the teenage years are angsty and emotional, but we can still turn out okay.

I try not to give up on books, but I was really tempted too with this book. It was a struggle to get through and it felt like it was not just written about a 15 year old but that it was written by a 15 year old who had no editor.

i’m still trying to figure out how i managed to actually finish reading this book. i was hoping for something that was a little more emotional but instead i got something that was melodramatic. i wasn’t a huge fan of the main character and a lot of the situations were over exaggerated.

this book honestly had a lot of potential. it’s a shame that it didn’t live up to it.

arc provided by netgalley for an honest review

This book was highly disappointing and a very big mess.

Most of the topics in this book were written as if they were for at least an 18 year old but the MC is a 15 year old who at the very beginning is in tears because her teacher doesn’t like her back. If that didn’t start setting some alarm bells, I’m sure that the rest of the book did.

I tried to like Grace but the way she was written made it utterly impossible, Wade was the only reason why I could finish this book but he could not make up for the pure clusterfuck that was this book.

Slingshot is about Gracie Welles, a 15-year-old girl attending a boarding school in Florida where she struggles to make friends and has a complicated home life due to her absent father. Enter Wade Scholfield, another student at Midhurst School, who Gracie saves from the torment of bullies with a lucky slingshot. A friendship, and eventual romance, ensues between the two.

I think a lot of the problems I had with this story could’ve been resolved by adjusting the age of the main characters. While they were described as 15-year-olds, Grace often spoke as if she was 18/19. I also had a problem with the portrayal of sex, smoking, and drugs, especially considering the age range of the readers this book is catered to. The first chapter starts out awkwardly with the character having a crush on the teacher and yelling at him. This book was certainly something and it wasn't done well.

I was really disappointed in this title. Overall it was a love story, but then it was a breakup, and then there was lot of sex talk. And on top of it- an unresolved ending. Pretty disappointing

The protagonist was in interesting and enjoyed how we were introduced to her as a girl hopelessly in love with her teacher and then how she deals with that relationship. I really enjoyed this one

While this book seemed really interesting, I unfortunately had to DNF it as I'm incredibly uncomfortable with reading books where a teenager is infatuated with a teacher.