Wow. I cried. I cried reading a YA contemporary romance?! This book was way more than what I expected. I thought I was diving into a cute YA contemporary romance, but it was so much more. Goffney skillfully covers topics of race, grief, loss, anxiety, forgiveness, family, friendship and love. I only wish I had read this book in high school. . .
I will definitely be picking up more from this author as this was her debut.

3.5 stars.

First off, I don't know how you're supposed to rate and enjoy an audiobook when it's an automated synthesized voice. There's no emotion there's no normal pauses and speech cadences and it could really all be one long run-on sentence like this one. So that was disappointing. It's hard to connect with a story that lacks emotion. It was very difficult to get into the story.

Poor Quinn lacks confidence and a sense of self. But hey, what teenager doesn't? Her life is all about making lists. So much so that she has a journal dedicated to her lists. When it turns up missing she's terrified. When someone starts blackmailing her with it, she starts to fight back. And honestly, she needed that push, that kick in the butt to start LIVING instead of LISTING. I'm not saying what the person did was right but it certainly worked out well for Quinn. The romance really did nothing for me. Again, it could be because of the terrible "narration." Do you ever think about the characters' lives after the book? I don't think they're together after the book.

I got the audio book from netgalley. I went into this book expecting a high school romance book and while it is that there is so much more to it. This book dealt with racism and understanding one's identity. While I guessed who the blackmailer was early on it was still interesting. I found Quinn likable and even though I would not truly understand her struggles I felt for her. I loved seeing Quinn's growth throughout the book. At the end I did still have questions and felt something was just left out.

This book is was a 3.5 star read for me. I liked it, but there were some issues. It discussed racism in a very real way and captured the emotions of being a teenager well. I felt like some of the phrasing was a bit repetitive. I also thought that the end wrapped really quickly, and it didn’t fit with the pacing of the rest of the book.

Having your journal found by someone at school has to be every teen girls’ nightmare. Well, this is even worse. Quinn keeps a journal of lists, it’s where she writes down her worst fears, the most terrible things she’s ever done, and her most secret and private thoughts, and not only did someone find it, but they’re using it to blackmail her!

Quinn uses list-making as a way to get her fears out of her head and onto paper instead. It’s her coping mechanism. But when someone finds and steals her journal and starts posting a list a day to a blackmail Instagram account for the whole school to see, she has to keep the blackmailer at bay long enough to work out who it is and stop them.

An unlikely friend (Carter Bennett) joins her quest, helping her tick off the items the blackmailer demands of her, and supporting her as she works through her fears and the trauma of being bullied. Along the way, this new friendship helps Quinn open her eyes, experience things outside of her comfort zone, and develop some unexpected feelings. Oh how I love a good enemies to lovers story!

I adored all of the characters in this book (main and supporting) and couldn’t get enough of them. This book will tug at your heartstrings in a big way—I dare you to try not to be moved.

If it’s not on your TBR, add it now. It comes out May 4, 2021.

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry is a story of a girl, Quinn, who writes down all her thoughts in list form when times get so overwhelming and she feels like she’s going to explode. After a mix-up resulting in her losing her journal, Quinn finds herself being blackmailed into doing the things that scare her the most. With the help of her new friends, Quinn tries to catch the blackmailer and get her journal back. But are her friends really her friends?

My first impression of this book was that it was painfully juvenile, then I thought to myself that I am not the intended audience for this story. I guess I’m so used to reading about teens, especially Black girls, experiencing some form of trauma. But it has been a refreshing experience to read a story about a Black girl not experiencing trauma and her worse experience of racism is being called an Oreo.

I wish I had this book as a teen. So much of that subtle racism permeated my high school life. There has to be so many Black kids growing up as the only one in White environments, who are considered “basically White.” This seemingly benign sentiment is so harmful to the identity formation of this age group, and we need more stories like this that talk about how statements like these are not ok.

And while I listened to the audiobook version, I really liked the bulleted list aspect, and I usually hate quirks like this authors add to mimic the behavior of teens. This format works much better in audiobooks than things like text exchanges.

One thing I didn’t enjoy was the mystery/pseudo-thriller aspect. I enjoy trying to figure out who did something, but this attempt came across as insincere and trying to do something the tone of the story was ill-equipped to do. Plus, it was too predictable from the beginning.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and I loved watching the characters develop over the course of the book. It’s a sweet read, with a subtly powerful message. I would recommend to any teen that is the only one, and for folks who restrict their emotions for the assumed benefit of others

I received the audio version of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this one. The overall theme was entertaining, the writing was great, and the characters were so charming. I am really excited for this book to publish so I can share it with my friends!

This young adult book follows young woman who uses journaling and lists to try to bring control into her very messy life. She has to deal with her feelings about multiple guys, cyberbullying, a grandmother with dementia, parents who might be divorcing, and racial issues.

Our protagonist had a journal where she keeps a bunch of cringy lists that get lost. She then begins to get blackmailed on top of all all the other issues she has. Quinn is a mess(!) like any senior in high school. She lies while calling people out on lying, she let's her white friends say racial slurs and says nothing, and she hasn't visited her grandmother who she was super close too because she's afraid of seeing her fragile. While she is trying to remedy her lies she is engaged in an enemies to lover troupe.

I loved how this booked tackles all of the different facets of being black. How a mixed girl feels different from a darkskinned girl to an uppeclass Black man profiling a lower class young black man.

Thank you Harper Audio and NetGalley for these book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a brilliant story, although honestly heart-breaking at times.
The characters were very well balanced and I felt empathy towards each of them for the battles they were all fighting. Being a teenager is no fun at all - I am glad my experience was many years ago and I did not have to face what teenagers now and in the future have ahead of them.

I very much enjoyed this audiobook and listened over two days whilst crafting which gave me a lot of time to think about the storylines and how the actions of one person can have the ripple effect on many others.

There is a good lesson on being there for each other and I hope this book is received well by readers on release date. It was brilliant.

I would read more from this author in the future.

📕 Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney📕
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Quinn keeps lists of everything—from the days she’s ugly cried, to “Things That I Would Never Admit Out Loud” and all the boys she’d like to kiss. Her lists keep her sane. By writing her fears on paper, she never has to face them in real life. That is, until her journal goes missing . . .

Then an anonymous account posts one of her lists on Instagram for the whole school to see and blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears, or else her entire journal will go public. Quinn doesn’t know who to trust. Desperate, she teams up with Carter Bennett—the last known person to have her journal—in a race against time to track down the blackmailer.

Together, they journey through everything Quinn’s been too afraid to face, and along the way, Quinn finds the courage to be honest, to live in the moment, and to fall in love.
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Oh how much I enjoyed this book, This was such a beautiful hate to love story. It was so wholesome and made me feel so happy. It’s definitely something that I ended to read to get my head out of everything that’s going on in this world.

This is a debut novel and wow I am impressed. I honestly thought I wasn’t going to enjoy it as much since I had really high hopes for it, but I’m glad it lived to the standards. It was so beautifully told and written. The characters were such great additions. I loved how it was structured and the way it had many different lists. I also really did like and appreciate the black characters representation. Ughhhh so adorable!!!

I really loved following Quinn and Carter grow as human beings. Quinn definitely changed and learned to be much more honest. It was so fun following them along with other characters. Their journey to complete Quinn’s fears are such great details and how they’re trying to figure out what happened together was so good.

I would highly recommend this when it’s released. I had such a fun and enjoyable time with this story. Such a beautiful and wholesome experience. I do wished I had a physical copy because I’ll always remember this story and it’s definitely an all time favorite. I listened to it via audio and I still really enjoyed it so much. Such a beautiful and memorable story!!
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Rating: 5/5 ⭐️
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**I received an audiobook review copy in exchange for an honest review. Huge thank you to NetGalley, Harper Audio, and Joya Goffney for this lovely story.**

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry is a fantastic #ownvoices YA debut from Joya Goffney.

This book has it all: friendship, romance, revenge. And, the chemistry between Quinn and Carter as they try to solve the mystery of who is blackmailing Quinn is electric.

It's a novel about finding yourself and telling the truth - no matter the cost. I can't wait to read more from Goffney.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

this book tackles very important issues. Most of the characters are bipoc and speak out about racism. There's also the topic of being "white enough" that was a major part of the book as well@as racism within the bipoc community which I found very pertinent. It's an important book for this and should be read by as many people as possible.
Now, looking at the story itself it was pretty cheesy and predictable. It was entertaining, but not overwhelmingly good.
For these reasons, I gave this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. It was a good book that tackled important issues.This book comes out may 4th.

I listened to an advanced voice galley of this book and am obsessed. What a cute but incredibly timely book. The main character is a young black woman in a predominantly white school, who creates lists of everything in her life. When her journal goes missing she is blackmailed into completing one of her lists. I loved the characters in this book and the personal journey Quinn went on in discovering what it means to be a black woman and to overcome her fears. What a fun and beautiful young adult story.

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry is a tale about young black girl who's essentially addicted to writing lists. From everything to her biggest fears, her biggest crushes, when Quinn thinks of a list, she has to write it down in her journal to get it off her chest. It's where she keeps her most personal of thoughts, and when it goes missing one day, she understandably freaks out at the thought of anyone reading it and learning the things that she doesn't want anyone to know. Then she's blackmailed by an anonymous person who's threatening to post her entire journal for all their peers to see unless she comes clean about one of her lists within a set time frame.

I'll admit, when I first read the synopsis of this book, I thought it was going to be a black romantic comedy about a girl who's desperate to find her journal and happens to fall in love along the way. It is a little bit of that, but it's also so much more. Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry touches on racism, colorism, classism, and I think the author did a really good job portraying the hurt the Quinn felt at the racist things her so-called friends said to her or about her, both intentional and unintentional. We also witness Quinn's own prejudices against blacks who live differently from her, including Carter, that I believe stems from her father's prejudices in a scene that happens fairly early.

What I really loved about this story is that no one was free from consequences, and all (or almost all in some cases) eventually came to understand why they were wrong, either by being told they were by the person that offended, or from their own reflection. I also loved Quinn's biracial friend Olivia and how it was touched upon that not only was she bullied in school, but she was also frequently told that she wasn't "black enough" to be acting "as black as she does." As a fellow biracial woman who's also light-skinned, I've been fortunate to not have had similar experiences as Olivia (that I can remember, anyway), but growing up I did struggle with my identity because I didn't feel like I belonged in either race. Too black to be white, too "white" (or not "black enough") to be black. My heart goes out to anyone who's multiracial out there with similar feelings, and I just want you all to know that you are valid.

The narration for the audiobook, I have to say that I was impressed. The narrator isn't a human one, and though I did chuckle a bit at hearing a synthetic voice read out words like, "aight," "nah," etc., I was still taken by surprise by how much I was still able to connect with the characters and the story without hearing the human emotions being expressed by a human narrator.

Wow, I loved this book!!!!

Thank you to Netgally and Harper Collins for getting me an audiobook arc so I could read this book.

Someone please tell me there is going to be a sequel? I mean, I know this one has not even been released yet but, I am going to need that sequel.

This book is so cute and reminded me a lot of "To All the Boys I've Loved Before," but way better (sorry). The way this book had such a cute enemies-to-lovers plot that also tackled themes like racism, bullying, and bad coping mechanisms was so wonderful and fascinating. I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy of this. I want one for me and one for my classroom library please!

I received this Arc copy from Netgalley for an honest review. I really enjoyed this story, it has To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before vibes so if you like TOTBILB you’ll definitely love this. I loved Quinn’s attitude throughout the story and how she managed to become stronger over the course of the book. Carter was perfect, along with his little sister. The relationship between all the characters fit wonderfully. I do think I would’ve finished it in a day if I wasn’t listening to the audiobook but it was amazing either way. 5/5 stars.

This is such a great YA romance about finding yourself. I loved the discussion of race between the characters. As a fellow list writer, I enjoyed the way this book was written.

I am not sure if to review the book or audio. The book was great...I enjoyed it. I know this was not the actual audio book, but I have to say that I had a hard time with it, I had to rewind a few times to listen again. The book is well written and very engaging.

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

I think I will be forever drawn to young adult novels. I think people that count them out because they have "young" in the description are missing out tremendously. Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry is a prime example of why I love this genre. It is full of raw emotion, and learning about the world and I think we can all use a little bit more of the latter. My favorite thing about this book was all of the lists. They really help bind the novel together and really help us understand Quinn. Another thing that added some drama to the story was her journal being stolen. I always enjoy a good mystery and trying to figure out what happened as the story goes along with the main character. This is definitely a coming of age story that I think anyone can enjoy. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys young adult fiction or contemporary fiction.

I thought this was a very thought provoking book. As a parent I thought it hit on many issues that we should be aware of for our own children especially in the world we are living in today. Quinn is faced with many challenges in this book, from racism, cyber bullying, to discovering who she is. This book also emphasizes the "don't judge a book by the cover" as Quinn finds herself seeking help from unlikely friends. I really enjoyed this book.