I have mixed feelings about Slingshot. I would give it 3 1/2 stars if I could, however.

First, the good things. the story was enjoyable. I wanted to find out what happened, and I did care what happened to the characters. It was they type of book that is easy to read, that is, you can just read and let the story wash over you.

However, there were things that I didn't like about the story.

First, the main character was fairly unlikable. I thought maybe her story arc would make her a more likeable person, and in a way, it kind of does, but not by a whole lot. Her relationship with Wade is a little toxic t00. She's a complete jerk to him but he's in love with her? The last ten percent of the book explains it, but it doesn't really make their friendship (at first, at least) less toxic. Later on the book, they practically ghost each other, even though they're both in love with each other still. I realize that not talking can create tension in a story, but this goes on for far too long to be enjoyable.

Then there's the character's voice. The main character sounds like an adult trying to sound like a 15 year old. She's far too--I'm not sure if introspective is a good word for it. Perhaps if she was a genius it might explain the way she thinks, but there's no indication of that. Gracie also picks up smoking in the book, but there doesn't really seem to be much of a conflict in this (which you might think would occur since she's 15 when the book begins). She's very drama-prone, which some teens are, but it's almost like she examines her drama-riddled life like someone older might.

Gracie also has a crush on her biology teacher. Some kids do, so that fact didn't bother me, but then when she has a hissy-fit because her adult crush is engaged? She way overreacts on this. And it's very cringe-worthy after she falls for Wade and apologizes to the teacher for the way she over-reacted. But she is an unlikable character, so maybe it's in character for her? I'm not sure if she's supposed to be unlikable though.

And the ending. Is this supposed to be a romance? Because romances are supposed to have a happy ever after or happy for now, at least. This book has neither. It has a--maybe happy someday? Ending.

That being said, the book starts out with the main character wearing a witch costume, crying in the bathroom, in December. I found that quite intriguing (and there is a very good explanation for it). I'd love to give this book four stars on enjoyment, but even though the story was enjoyable, there are too many problems for that.

This beautiful book tells the story of a young girl going out of her comfort zone and experiencing new things. Wade and Grace together is hilarious, entertaining and enlightening. Absolutely a must read book!

This book was such a disappointment. After seeing this author being compared to Rainbow Rowell and John Green I had high hopes for a new voice in YA but this book was not for me. The only reason I finished it was so I could post this review.

Slingshot starts with the main character, Gracie, crying because her biology teacher doesn't love her back. This plot point really bothered me and I felt it was unneeded. Gracie claims to be in love with her teacher and when he shuts her down (as he should, because this is completely inappropriate) she lashes out at him. I found Gracie to be an unlikeable character who is rude to pretty much everyone she encounters, at the end of the book she has improved but only in the last few pages. Everything Gracie does throughout the story makes no sense to me, maybe I'm getting old but this 15 year old does the most bizarre things. I found her unrelatable and was frustrated with her actions as I kept reading. Also I think this was supposed to be a romance? It was not particularly romantic if that's what your looking for.

She's mean for no reason and hurts Wade's feelings constantly. I loved Wade and he was the only redeeming thing about Slingshot. He was adorable and he honestly deserved better than Gracie. Some other side characters were alright but none were so great to save this book for me. This depiction of teenagers felt off and unrealistic. The ending was unfulfilling and I just didn't like this book. There were also multiple physical fights which I didn't care for and the overall plot was confusing. I couldn't figure out where the author was going and in the end I was annoyed with Gracie and unhappy with the ending.

Overall, I did not like this book at all and wouldn't recommend it to anyone. There's an inappropriate fixation with a teacher, abuse, physical fights, teen sex and cursing if any of those bother anyone reading this review.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

I did read some of the reviews prior to submitting my request for this ARC copy of Slingshot hoping I would disagree with the negative commenter. I am sad to say I was just uncomfortable the whole time reading this book and I nearly DNF. Just inappropriate and squirmy. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this book for an honest review.

DNF 30%
I tried.
I really tried to finish the book, and I really tried to like it.
The blur is great and we are talking here about a debut author, So I wanted to support her, especially because one day I hope to publish my book and I'd love to have others' support but also I want honesty and here it's me being honest.
There are so many things wrong n the story and I just read 30% of the book, The protagonist is unlikable and as a reader, I need to root for the MC character, I want to be on a journey with her, and in this book, I just want to be away from her. ,
The first scene is shockingly cringed, and a little disturbing a reaction like that from our main character is meant serious problems at least to me.
And the narrative is not the best, there are so many repetitions, on one page I count more than 10 'was", awful choices of words and grammar mistakes.,
I didn't want to agree with other reviewers but I'm afraid they were right.
I'm totally disappointed.

The writing is not my favorite, but I enjoyed the plot. I also enjoyed the characters. They were lovable and I related to them quite a bit.

This book was... oof. I think my primary complaint is that absolutely no one acts their age, there is a whole lot of completely unacceptable sex between minors and non-minors. I am completely fine with adult themes (swearing, drinking, and sex among them) but it is a hard "yikes" in fifteen year olds. Grace is sort of terrible at best, the romance is awful and abusive, and the adult themes were a no. Do not recommend,

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my (very honest) review.

There’s a lot going on for this book.. and not in the best way. There are SO many reviews on this, some good mostly bad but I wanted to come at this with a clear and open mind.

Unfortunately, I agree with the majority. This book, the characters, the storyline, the humor just wasn’t for me.

Grace Wells, 15-year-old boarding school student, comes off as a bit disillusioned and prickly and most definitely a loner, which is why, when she rescues new kid Wade from some bullies with her scarily accurate slingshot skills, she says she wasn't doing it for him at all. But this unfailingly upbeat and friendly guy manages to bring her out of her shell, and they become inseparable. Their long, random conversations and their shenanigans lead to love - until Grace's self-sabotaging secret starts to bubble up, and she really has to come to terms with that lesson all teenagers eventually have to learn: the universe doesn't revolve around her. This isn't the sparkly rom-com type of YA, it's more of a grittier yet offbeat type where the character is a bit of an outsider or misfit but has this wry, self-deprecating humor along with a bit of a self-destructive 'tude (thus the tagline for this book: "two people finding each other and then screwing it all up"). Things might not turn out perfectly for them, but that makes the stories feel more real-world and satisfying in some ways - comparisons for me would be Permanent Record by Mary H.K. Choi or Frankly in Love by David Yoon. Also, interestingly, it made me think a lot about Curtis Sittenfeld's classic boarding school novel, Prep, which I read earlier this year. The main characters felt quite similar in a lot of ways in how they were these poorer-than-their-classmates loners who got involved with the most popular guy for some misguided reasons and sort of self-sabotaged because of it. This one, though, is the high schooler's perspective on the situation, whereas Prep is the adult looking back on her time in high school perspective.

3.5/5 stars

Slingshot is a hilarious and quirky read that will have you laugh out loud, The characters are strong and have hugely independent attributes which makes it interesting to watch their growth as the story progresses.

Grace is in trouble.
Grace is 15 and has fallen in love with an adult mentor, and she's fallen hard.
Grace is reactionary in ways that cause both her and her peers harm.
Grace is utterly unlikable.
Grace is also, in a powerful, base, honest way, completely relatable too.

I wonder how I would have responded to reading a story about a protagonist like Grace at 15. I remember being around kids who were distinctly like her, with a hard tough exterior, and a slightly mushier inside just waiting to be cracked. And honestly, waiting a week after finishing this book... I'm 33 now, and I still don't know what to think.
I only know that her characterization and her growth, which somehow to me felt simultaneously sloppy, messy, and honest, made me want to give her a home and a safe place.
To be clear, many of the things Grace does in this book are terrible and honestly, pretty unacceptable. The gaslighting. The lying by omission of truth. The abuse she dishes out to the people she loves. Grace is incredibly immature, and seems mostly unaware of said immaturity, but definitely knows she can do better, which gives me hope.
Adding to this, I'm not sure Grace is necessarily supposed to be likable. Helnwein does a fabulous job towing the line between relatable and abhorrent, and describes first love in a very real, not candy-coated kind of way. It feels fresh.
I really liked this one.

RATING: 4.5 out 5 stars

SLINGSHOT by Mercedes Helnwein is a firecracker of a debut. This YA contemporary is set inside a shoddy boarding school in Florida, where Gracie is a committed loner, avoiding any kind of social activity other than talking to her biology professor. She surprises herself when she saves a new student from being attacked by the popular boys, but it’s not some altruistic act. Gracie hates the popular boys. Wade, the transfer, is now determined to be Gracie’s friend, and their relationship begins to evolve until they’re hopelessly, irrevocably in love with one another, the kind of love where all that’s left is to lose.

This book has a fresh perspective and voice that readers are either going to love or hate. Gracie is tough. She’s terrible at apologizing, has a massive chip on her shoulder, and is generally mean. In fact, she’s probably her own worst enemy. That being said, her attitude is a means to cope with life and to protect herself from it. For some, this could make her difficult to read, but for me, it made her utterly human, even when her behavior was frustrating. I would’ve liked to see her undergo a bigger change in the end, but in real life, most of us don’t wake up one day monumentally different. It happens slowly, over time.

Besides that, the ending in general left a bit to be desired. Not a single plotline was tied up nicely with a bow, except for maybe the one with Mr. Sorrentino. At minimum, we do know the characters are going to be okay, and in a way, this outcome is poetic as it matches Gracie’s own journey and again, real life. However, I was so emotionally invested in the novel that I needed a bit more to feel fully satisfied. There seems to be so much story left to be told, and I want to know more about where all the characters land, particularly Wade, Derek, Gracie, and her mom. I’d love to read a sequel.

That being said, if you’re looking for a contemporary romance that will make you ache for days with surprising plot twists and complex characters, you should definitely read SLINGSHOT. I couldn’t put this book down, so much so that I stayed up all night reading it. I had to find out what was going to happen, and days later, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

Some of the content is mature, so I’d recommend it for an older YA group.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC

This was quite an interesting read! Although I wasn't really a fan of Grace Welles... she needed greater character development for me to like her. Also, this book had way too much swearing to my liking. But, I thought Wade was a person who was trying to break his horrible past and figure himself out, and I enjoyed reading that. This book really does represent a typical high school scenario, and I respect it for that.

This book was not for me. I can see the appeal for YA readers but I could not connect with the main character- I found her highly melodramatic and unlikeable. I didn’t find the opening scenes relatable or believeable and just couldn’t get into this one.

I appreciate the opportunity to have read it, but did not enjoy it.

Loneliness and a lack of stability, from having no friends and no reliable parental figure to rely on, has made 15-year-old Grace Welles into a cynic. This foul-mouthed self-proclaimed ‘jerk’ knows she’s prickly and alone, and seems to prefer it that way. While she can clearly identify and blame her largely absentee father and delusional mother, she is not self-aware enough to realize that she suffers from some delusions, herself. All in all, this made for very difficult reading, as a grumpy teenager with an amazing vocabulary for her age, complains about everything and everyone around her.

I am going to have to dnf this one.

[From the beginning we find out that Gracie is in love with her teacher and she thinks he is in love with her. I'm glad that the teacher wasn't but how Gracie feels about him is a sub plot that just makes me quite uncomfortable.

I get it, this book is realistic. It shows that teens make poor choices etc. but I think you can show their poor choices without that sub plot. (hide spoiler)]

Reading other reviews has definitely solidified this decision.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh, huh, well... Slingshot was definitely a frustrating read for me. In it, you will meet Gracie and Wade. In the beginning, I loved Wade because he was completely and utterly adorable. Yet, there was so much about him we didn't know because Gracie was self-centered and shallow. She was completely horrible to anyone and everyone. Plus, I also got crazy psycho vibes from her throughout the book.

Wade was no different once we got to see little bits and pieces. Or maybe it's just me and I wouldn't trust anyone if they said they really really liked or loved me after knowing me for an hour. Or a day. Seems oddly suspicious.

Other than that, the romance was okay and all the secrets at the end were okay. BUT, and this is a huge but guys, the ending was all sorts of underwhelming. Why the letter? Why not respond? Why ghost to begin with? Nothing was making sense and I was just so done with Gracie and Wade. I hope they find happiness with someone or something else.

I thought this was gonna be a cute quick read, but unfortunately I hated this book so much. Gracie is insufferable and has zero character development. Wade though was a freaking saint and put up with way too much of Gracie's crap.

So disappointed

Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me. I found the main character unlikeable and I thought Wade was too good for her. Gracie is fifteen, so she's going through puberty, emotional, and lashes out at others. To an extent, I can deal with that but Gracie was over the top mean. She said horrible things to people, even telling them she hopes they die. She hurt two boys who liked her and was consistently awful to her roommate.

I didn't feel like Gracie made much progress during the story. A couple times she showed a bit of maturity but not enough for me to change my mind about her. I also thought the ending seemed unresolved and abrupt, almost a cliffhanger but not quite. Maybe an epilogue several years in the future would have shown more growth and a happier ending.

The one character I really liked was Wade. He was going through some rough things, but was pretty happy and cared about Gracie, even when she was terrible to him. He stood up for others and tried to comfort them when they needed it. His story was a bit open, but I liked how it worked out and I think they way he and Gracie left it was good.

I hope others will see the good in Gracie where I couldn't and enjoy this more.

I received this advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have really mixed about this book. At times I enjoyed it, but at times I was just waiting for it to be over. I really tried to give this a shot, but the first chapter just really left a bad taste in my mouth.

This book immediately starts off with Grace going on and on about how her and her teacher, who was at least twenty years older, were soulmates. If that hadn’t been included, I might’ve enjoyed this a bit more, but her feelings towards him are constantly mentioned. On top of that, she has the gall to scream and curse at him for having a wife, because she honestly thought they were meant to be together. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t get behind her feelings and so called love.

That event is one of the most indicative of Grace’s personality. She was constantly whining, being rude, and was definitely one of the most judgemental characters I have ever read. Seriously, she was an embodiment of the “not like other girls” stereotype. Unlike the rest of her school, she isn’t rich, and doesn’t need a boyfriend. In fact, she isn’t even interested in guys, and thinks romance is fake. All of that combined together to make her extremely unlikeable, which is never something you want in a main character.

I also felt like this was super tropey, and chose to involve some of my least favorites tropes. Of course, we got the girl who thinks she’s super ugly, but she’s actually super pretty, and multiple guys like her. To go along with that, she also villainizes the pretty girls. I’m so tired of reading about characters like this. Can’t we ever get a character who’s confident in her own looks, and doesn’t judge others for their looks?

As for the plot, it felt pretty circular. Like most romance novels, we had the inevitable breakup, which felt like it was added solely to move the plot along. I could pretty much predict how things would play out as soon as I started the book, which was pretty disappointing.

My last problem with this book was the amount of cursing. Most of the characters in this are supposed to be around high school age, and as a high schooler, nobody I know curses that much. By the end, all of the arguments had lost any weight they had, because curses were used to describe everything.

Although this book really didn’t work for me, I can definitely see why some people would love it. Between the instant romance, cursing, and circular plot, I couldn’t wait for this to be over.

Thanks to Mercedes Helnwein and Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review