Thank you to Harper Audio via Netgalley for the advanced listen of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am a HUGE audiobook listener and I have to say it was really hard listening to a synthesized voice. There was no emotion and I found it hard to get into the book at first. However, I stuck with it and really ended up enjoying the story. So to keep with the theme of this book lets make a list!

Reasons you should read this book:

1. It's an enemies to lover romance
2. it is a YA coming of age (my favourite!)
3. if you enjoy making lists and you maybe owned a 5 star spiral notebook you will enjoy this (lol)
4. the Mario Kart references HAHAHAH (I died!)
5. real talk about race!
6. I'm telling you to read this book.
7. it's sweet, lovely and funny

What if your journal, filled with all your darkest secrets, painful regrets & fears, ended up in someone’s hands? What if this person used them to force you to complete a list that could get you in so much trouble … but also maybe free you, would you?

Thank you so much, NetGalley, and to the publishers for letting me get this book!
This book dealt with classism, racism, anxiety, pressure, falling in love and learning from mistakes and regrets. Quinn proved that education, being callout, and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone will free you.

My Favourite parts of this book were:
- The honest and good friendship that sparked between Quinn & Olivia
- The friendships in this book! I loved the romance, but honestly, the friendships in this book were my favourite
CARTER BENNET being such a good person. I am in the Carter Bennet FANCLUB! I wanted this ship since he offered to help her! He was still an asshole for what he did, though!
- Quinn telling off those racist 'friends' Gia & Destiny and putting them in their place
- How well I think it did with all the issues raised in this novel.
The only comment is the book ends before I would have liked.

I will be adding this to my library when it is released because it checks all the boxes, and even with the computer-automated narrative, I loved it!
I’d love a sequel!

I’m sorry. I just can’t with the way this audiobook is done. It’s a computer generated voice that is reading, and it looses the whole point of human communication. The sarcasm....completely lost. The inflection on words and even syllables....completely lost.
I *think* I would have been been interested in the book. It had a great premise. And the beginning really hooked me. Whatever would happen with the notebook being found. And my goodness, who found it. What consequences would there be for her inner thoughts being revealed....and to who?
But I just lost interest with that computer generated voice. So much of the book (especially being a YA book) was lost with that awful, soulless, humorless voice.

An absolutely delightful read with an important message about identity, Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry features the life of Quinn, a teenage girl who uses lists to organize her life and dreams of following in her parents footsteps by attending Columbia University. Quinn attends a very white and upper class school and her parents have never offerred opportunities for her to connect with Black culture the way others may have growing up. This story handles this issue with incredible nuance. When Quinn realizes her journal of has been stolen (and that she's being blackmailed), she works with the last person seen with the journal--Carter Bennett-- in order to overcome her greatest fears. It is with her friendship with Carter that allows her to come to terms with racial issues and other aspects of her identity. Aspects of the book which held this from being a five star read was its predictability of the plot and the maturity of the teenage aged characters. I wish the story had been allowed to be slightly "messier." Nonetheless, this book is thoughtful and empowering. An absolute must read.

As someone who loves making lists, the premise of this both intrigued and horrified me. It felt very "Harriet the Spy" but with high school students, set in a wealthy white area/school in Texas and featuring a Black main character. (Is that all? Lol)

Quinn keeps lists of pretty much everything - boys she would kiss, greatest days of her life, things to do before she graduates, and all the times she's ugly cried. These lists are her foundation, her way of reminding herself who she is. Except one day, her notebook goes missing. She's quick to blame Carter, one of the only other Black kids at her school who also happens to be the last person to see it, especially once she starts getting blackmailed by an anonymous person on social media. He swears it isn't him, and to prove it, he teams up with her to help her figure out who is actually behind it. The blackmailer threatens that unless she accomplishes her "to do before I graduate" list, they will publish her lists online one at a time, slowly exposing all the worse parts of her. So that's how she finds herself roadtripping to colleges and drinking with a fake ID at a bar downtown, which sound pretty awesome for a high schooler. Unfortunately, she also put some other things on that list she never had any intention of doing, but her blackmailer doesn't seem to care.

What I liked about this was the focus on true friendship. I think so many high school students, particularly girls, are susceptible to peer pressure to go along with things they aren't comfortable with for the sake of "friendship," and for Quinn that is doubly challenging, being one of very few Black students at a wealthy, predominantly-white private school - she feels pressured to go along with things or not make a big deal out of things that are, in fact, a big deal, because she thinks she should. I really liked Livvy and Quinn's friendship and what amazing friends they became for each other and how much they were really there for each other in all the ways that counted. Livvy didn't pressure Quinn to drink, she didn't judge her for being a virgin, she was very accepting of Quinn's flaws and was always willing to meet Quinn where she was rather than try to push her to be something she wasn't ready for. I hope high school girls everywhere read this and reevaluate some of their friendships to get a better sense of who their real friends are. I certainly wish this had been around when I was in high school.

The only thing that I was disappointed with was the portrayal of Quinn's friendship with her supposed best guy friend, Matt, which just disappeared as she made new friends. I'm not sure if that was meant to imply that her friendship with him wasn't real, but that's not how it was portrayed early on, so it felt incomplete to not know what happened.

Overall, a 4-4.5/5 for me!

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney
Rate 2 ⭐️

The narrator in the audio version is not for me. I DNF this book just because of the narrator. I feel terrible for not finishing but simply I cannot. Maybe if it is a different narrator or that I have a physical copy of the book I would experience this totally differently.

The book has a promise and the characters are good also. I will wait for the physical copy.

PS: Maybe I will give it a second try but will see.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Audio and Harper Teen for allowing me to listen to this ARC!

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The audio version I was given of this book was narrated by a synthetic voice (not preferable for me).

Quinn gets her journal stolen and has to face her seven fears or her journal would become public. I enjoyed this book but felt it was a little predictable but it did went into many issues that should be discussed in a YA novel. Quinn was a likable character and very emotional in my opinion. Her friendship with Olivia was the most enjoyable part for me. The romance aspect was cute but to me the chemistry wasn't there. I thought the book will be focused more on the romance aspect but it was more a coming of age book.

I won't post this review on goodreads or social media. I couldn't get through it with the synthetic voice narration. I would love to give it a try when the actual audio comes out. Thank you for the opportunity

This was a beautiful coming of age story that a lot of people will be able to relate to. I love how realistic the story and characters were. I love the growth that we were able to see in every single character (well...not all). The author did a wonderful job with this story and I can’t wait to read more.

Thanks to @netgalley @joya.goffney and @HarperCollins (#HarperTeen) for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

#ExcuseMeWhileIUglyCry #JoyaGoffney #NetGalley

A fast and heartfelt read! I really related to this book and enjoyed the premise of the journal. This bok had a little bit of everything, character growth, mystery, and relationships.

Having a boy-crazy girl was actually quite refreshing. Nowadays if a girl crushes on boys (at least in contemporary YA lit) she's considered weak and subservient.
I liked the journal idea and the lists and the mix up, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about the MC.
By 7% when I still wasn't overly interested in the plot or enamored with the characters, the profanity started in earnest, and the lists were starting to get old, I knew I would not be able to finish.
It's all the same to me if the authors or MCs are POC. I need voice. I need likeable characters. Let's not get so hung up on being politically correct that we forget what story-telling is.
I received this (robotic audio) book from NetGalley for an honest review. Full disclosure, Contemporary YA isn't usually my cup of tea. It takes a really engaging one to turn my head. This didn't fit the bill.

Quinn is living every high school girl’s ultimate nightmare - someone has stolen her journal. Every important moment, every dream, the boys she wants to kiss, every FAILURE - is listed in this journal.

Soon she’s being blackmailed by the person who ended up with it & it may just change her life as she knows it.

A list of reasons this book is worth picking up:
_ It’s a wonderful contemporary YA that shows the importance of not judging a book (or a person) by its cover.
_ Fun, unique side characters that fill up Quinn’s friendship circle and make you want to keep reading.
_ Taking racism head-on in a fresh way that made you think, especially in a YA setting.
_ A teenage first love that was sweet and age-appropriate.
_ Quinn’s flaws as a protagonist make her relatable, and endearing.
_ A great take on the pressure teens can sometimes have from parents about school + college decisions that I enjoyed reading.

Thank you to Harper Audio + NetGalley for providing me an ALC of this title - while it was not the final copy voice, this one was still a great listen, I’m actually looking forward to hearing how much better it will be with a narrator!

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All of the opinions are my own and this did not affect my review in any way.

I requested this book on NetGalley because after reading the description I immediately related to the main character and I was excited to see what the author could do with the idea.

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry is the story of an overly enthusiastic list maker who is blackmailed into completing a to-do list of all her worst fears.

The beginning of the book was a little slow, it took a while to get into the story and connect with the characters. However, once the journal was lost the story picked up and I couldn’t stop reading until I knew how it was going to turn out. I really enjoyed this book, I am not a POC however I appreciate how race was discussed in the book, I learned so much and I was able to empathize with people who are different from me.

This book covers a wide range of topics such as race, high school drama, bullying and friendship. I was truly amazed by how well the author wrote about these topics and made the book highly relatable.

The characters are my favorite part of the book, Quinn was relatable and extremely flawed and that made her growth by the end of the book much more enjoyable. The secondary characters are also outstanding, I love the friendship aspects and how forgiveness is a main part of the book.

Overall this is an outstanding debut novel that is both hard-hitting and heartwarming. I can’t wait to see what the author comes out with next and I truly recommend you pick it up.

Thanks so much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for allowing me read and review this book.

1. a robot read this to me and it was a weird experience!
2. 100% would die for Olivia. Give me your misunderstood side characters, I have so much room in my heart for all of them.
3. I have been generally over the "whoops I'm being blackmailed" genre for a bit now but this one didn't bother me. I don't know what it had that other books with this story line was missing, but I think it was that the blackmailers actually had to face consequences instead of just being like "oh sorry" and getting away with it. I wanted Quinn's mom to drag those girls straight to hell.
4. I was really, really surprised to learn that this was a debut? Joya Goffney is going to do great things.
5. I genuinely enjoyed this book. Goffney really captured that "end of senior year who am I what is happening the future is a horrifying black hole" feeling.

This is my first ARC book review! It’s an honor to be selected to review such an amazing relatable book!

Quinn is a high school senior who keeps a journal of her deepest thoughts -- her own personal “Burn Book”. When her journal is lost, she gets random DM from an anonymous IG account who threatens to publish her journal if she doesn’t complete her “List Of Things To Do Before Graduation” (a list of things that she never actually intended to do).

Quinn goes through a coming of age transformation where she faces her fears and comes clean about all of her lies and omissions with the help of some new friends. This book is about race identity, cyber bullying & friendship. Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry is a great young adult novel for anyone who struggles to be unapologetically black in primarily white spaces.

🚨Slight Spoiler🚨
My favorite part is the Bring It On reference at the climax of the story. Bring It On is a movie, way ahead of its time, that tackles cultural appropriation before “cultural appropriation” was actually a term. This occurs when Quinn & her friend Olivia confronts who they believe is behind the blackmailing IG account. “You’ve been touched by an angel girl!”Olivia says. Classic.

Thank you @netgalley @harperaudio & Joya Goffney for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This is easily one of my favorite reads so far this year!

This book was wonderful. I enjoyed it so much. I listed to the audiobook provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Quinn is.a high school senior who is just one of 5 black kids at her prestigious private school. She is preparing to go to Columbia in the fall and there is just a few months standing in between her and a new chapter in her life.

As Quinn moves through her senior year, she manages her life with Lists that she keeps in a notebook. She makes a list of all the things that are important to her. Some of it is benign and silly, but some of the lists contain some of her deepest secrets. It even contains lies that she has told--including here phony acceptance to Columbia.

When her notebook of lists goes missing, a blackmailer starts to send her messages via Instagram requiring her to complete a list of things she hoped to do before graduating. She begrudgingly goes on a journey with Carter who is the last known person to have her journal. This journey includes confronting racism, falling in love, losing friends, and gaining true friendship. This journey allows Quinn to redefine herself and become someone new. A girl who is ready for her next chapter.

I was instantly drawn in by the title, and the cute illustration and then by the description where Quinn our main character is blackmailed by someone who has her journal full of lists of her deepest, darkest secrets and life goals. At first I thought it would be similar to All the Boys series but it’s completely different in the best way possible. I must note that I was given this arc as a audio book with a synthetic voice, so I think I missed some of the jokes or any sarcasm due to the voice being so robotic. It was a little distracting but it didn’t take away from Quinn’s story.

I know it’s a romance but I was mostly drawn to Quinn’s character growth where I found myself put off by her in beginning and then learning as she learned throughout the book especially when it came to Carter. Her relationships with her family, classmates and herself was so compelling that I had to keep pausing to think about how insane and ignorant our society acts during certain situations. I felt like this character was going through so much all at the same time I was overwhelmed for her too. The relationship I really loved the most was Grandma Haddie and Olivia. I was rooting for these relationships to thrive the most. I also liked how no matter what was happening their relationships with Quinn was unwavering. Plus Olivia’s Bring It On reference had me howling with laughter. She’s friend goals for sure!

This book is definitely worth picking up in May!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.
Pub Date: May 4, 2021

A terrifying and cute story about race, blackmail, and love.

What happens when you write all your deepest darkest secrets in your journal, and someone steals it? What happens when that person also starts to blackmail you?

Quinn’s journal is her life. She writes lists upon lists, of all the things she can’t say out loud. Now she has to find out who took her journal and why, before the blackmailer exposes all of her secrets—including a huge lie she told her parents and her entire school.

For the most part I enjoyed this book. It was cute and had a bit of a romantic factor to it. This book was heavily centered around race, and betrayal—which was so uncool.

Ultimately, it’s about finding your voice, and standing up for yourself in the end.

Thank you to @netgalley for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

EMWIUC (think TATBILB) follows Quinn, a high school girl obsessed with journaling and list making. She makes lists about EVERYTHING, from characteristics of her ideal boyfriend, to her deepest fears and secrets. One day, her journal goes missing, and I bet you can guess it’s not a great outcome.

This is a sweet YA romance that touches on a lot of deeper topics like bullying, racism, family expectations, and friendships. These aspects were my favorite parts of the book, because the author did a great job at unpacking these heavy topics in a more lighthearted way.

What I didn’t love was the romance. It felt a bit forced and disjointed. I hate when I read a “romance” and the characters don’t seem to have much chemistry.. anyone else?

Overall, this is a cute book. Fans of TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE would really enjoy this one as well.

3-3.5⭐️/5

I enjoyed Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry a lot more than I thought I would. Quinn, the main character is super likeable and I think many high schoolers could relate to her journey of beginning to find oneself. I liked Quinn and her need to keep lists of every and anything in her journal. Quinn runs into trouble when she loses that journal and is subsequently blackmailed. This brings up a lot of difficult issues for Quinn and she is forced to deal with them. I love the diversity in this book, not just the issue of racism but cyberbullying, loyalty between friends and parents and being an outsider in a place where you are supposed to feel welcome. By the end of the book, Quinn had really blossomed into a different character but not in a cheesy way. This is a great book for young adults that will bring not only difficult issues to light but also incorporate tough ones as well.
*Thank you to the publishers for allowing me to review ARC!