“It makes sense for you to be pastel. You’re trying to cover up your hurt with something bright, but the color doesn’t shine through. It only makes it to pastel. I understand.”

I really loved "The Pastel Effect" and I think this will be one of my favorite book of the year!

Caroline's mom passed away when she was a young child and it’s been her and her dad ever since. The friendship between Caroline and Cody is confusing, and Caroline struggles with him because of his fickle nature.
Plus, Caroline is struggling with her demons and the reader surely cared so much about her. But she fight them back.

Cody is kinda a smart dumb**s. Sometimes he disappear and can't see the real feelings Caroline has for him. In the second part of the book, it switches to Cody’s POV. I don't really know if I liked it or not.... but after a big plot twist I like how Cody always tries to better himself from the past.

The story itself was quite emotional; it took me back to my high school days and my young self surely could loved it. It felt real, I also hoped to have a friendship like that. Caroline and Cody's messages are one of the most amazing things in this book. I loved how they communicate and are doing better with little things they have in common.

Heartbreaking, beautiful and captivating! This book has everything you could ask in a YA novel, from well developed characters to the mention of really important topics for young adults.

This was a lovely story about the journey of two people trying to make sense of their lives, it made me cry quite a bit. Heroine is th daughter of a single dad, who never could commit to a serious relationship since he lost the love of his life, the heroines mother. The heroine is scared of the legacy of mental illness that comes from her late mother, and struggles to come to terms with her place on world where healthy relationships are far and few. Her relationship with the hero is very flawed, like almost every character in this book. He hurts her again, and again because of his own hesitancy to break out of the mold of expectations his family and friends have set for him. They have a very strong bond based on how well they understand each other, in all aspects except the heroines mental health, and the heroes difficulty to stand up to pressure.
When the book fast forwards to their adult life in college with a massive twist in the plot, I was hoping this is where we would come to hear more about the heroes motivations about when he treated the heroine terribly, but his redemption arc goes in a different direction all together. This change in his behavior is sudden, explained logically by the book, but I would have enjoyed a slow growth of personality instead.
It's an engrossing and emotional book, ny biggest take away was that everyone is flawed, you have to choose what's flaws can you live with, without undermining your self respect. It treats mental illness and the way family members see it, very well and gave me a very good perspective about anger and sadness. But my favourite character in the book was probably the heroine's best friend who follows her religious family's rules but craves a typical high school experience, and her brother, steadfast in his religious beliefs, slightly patriarchal, yet a good friend.

I honestly think The Pastel Effect is my favourite read of the year so far, I adored this book from start to finish and I genuinely do not have a criticism for it...

From the start I was drawn into this story and I loved the way it was presented to us a couple of teenagers trying to navigate the incredibly stressful experience that is high school. In fact, a lot of what was written resonated with me and reminded me of my own experiences in school and I think that's part of the reason why I loved it so much, it felt very real.

The book itself was beautiful. Every word written and spoken was carefully crafted to bring us happiness, or sadness, or excitement. There we no shortage of emotions that I felt during my read of The Pastel Effect.

I loved the characters that we were on this journey with, every single one of them felt relatable.

The relationships that the author built up with Caroline and her Dad (Teddy) was stunning, I was moved so many times throughout this book. We were shown a strong relationship between Dad and daughter and we were shown Teddy as a single Dad and how he raised Caroline into this strong young woman. The whole backstory they had was amazing.

I loved how Tressa (Caroline's Mom) had this influence throughout the book, without her actually being there as well. The author featured her beautifully and brought her to life through the pages of her diary.

Cody, I changed my opinion on at various points throughout the book, but when the latter section was from his POV my feelings towards him completely changed, I was in awe of him. His character was written so true to teenage boys!

The journey that we saw our characters go on, a journey of love and self discovery and joy and sadness and everything inbetween was truly beautiful.

One of my favourite things about this book was how it introduced topics that should be discussed and included in conversation. Namely, the topic of casual sex, the topic of consensual sex and the topic of therapy. The author wove these into the book perfectly.

The ending of this book made me SOB, it was the most fitting ending to the most wonderful book.

I have nothing but praise for The Pastel Effect and Arly Carmack and her writing. This was amazing and I honestly would put this as my favourite read of the year so far.

This book was sent to me as an ARC on NetGalley. However, all opinions are of my own.
I was craving a YA book, so this seemed like the perfect candidate. From the off I knew there was going to be mental health representation and I’m always down for that. So before we go any further - TW for Bipolar disorder, unwanted thoughts, depression and self harm. Although, I will say, the situation dealing with self-harm was doing very eloquently.
Caroline was a typical teenager and then she meets Cody - who turns her world upside down.
It deals with love, heartbreak, grief, loss, and strength.
I really loved this story and dispute things that happened, I really enjoyed the ending. I love how it all connected together!

The Pastel effect is a love story, a Young adult that tells the story of Caroline and Cody from two points of view.
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The first part is told by Caroline and talks about the fear of rejection, abandonment and mental illness that her mother suffered and how this affected her family. the second or last part is related by Cody a few years later.
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I really liked the characters, the dialogue and how Cody and Caroline interacted. I did not like reading how she was still hooked on a pattern and how it seemed that all the characters were pushing her towards that, for someone with a mental illness it is difficult to try to perceive things as others and they always struggle to keep up, that everyone continues to insist and no one will support her in her decisions to respect herself and feel valued by her own person, didn't feel right.I did not like how Cody's character continued to act although it was clear what was wrong with him.
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The POV could have been better from the beginning of the book although I admit that after several plot twists the one that introduces Cody's pov made me follow energetically to the end of the book although I did not like that she seemed hopeless to the end.
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I think it is a young adult love story that everyone will like it, and feel a very hartwarming about how the characters grow with the story
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Thanks to #NetGalley and BooksgoSocial for let me read #ThePastelEffect

2/3 of this book was a pretty standard romance. Then a twist, then a few more twists. It got so interesting and, if I had had the time, I probably would have read it in one sitting. I didn't expect the story to go that way and I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, I love random twists in books, but on the other, I wanted to read this because I wanted a fun high-school romance.

Eleanor & Park meets Sally Rooney's Normal People.

Let me start by saying that I think Arly Camack perfectly captured the angst and elation of first crushes and first loves in this book. The reader gets to experience a rollercoaster of emotions as Caroline and Cody try to navigate a relationship through their teen years.

The Pastel Effect tackles many things teenagers experience - mental health problems, peer-pressure as well as alcohol and drug abuse.

The problem was that I didn't really care for Cody at all.

Caroline let him walk all over her and by the second part of the book (which felt quite rushed) I just wasn't at all invested in their relationship. I didn't really care what happened between them.

I also felt that the friendship between Caroline and Lilly was so under developed. We're told they're 'best friends' but Lilly is absent for large periods of time - especially once Caroline and Cody start dating.

I did enjoy the journal entries from Caroline's mum, Tressa. It really made me connect with Caroline and I think it added a lot of depth to her own mental health struggles.

If you're a fan of Normal People, I think you would enjoy The Pastel Effect.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book!

The Pastel Effect is not your normal YA romance novel but goes above and beyond in ways that I have never read before. Arly Carmack displays complex and developed emotions, characters and relationships in such a lovely way in this book.

Caroline is a sophomore in high school when the book begins and befriends Cody through a maths project. The two quickly become close friends and spend more and more time together. As they get to know each other their relationship gets more complicated and reaches its peak after Cody encounters a life-changing situation that tests everything he has ever known.

The plot was exciting yet not overwhelming at the same time. Much of the writing and events in the book made me smile and laugh with fresh ideas that I haven't seen in other YA novels. As well as this, Carmack's portrayal of mental health problems and their effects on different relationships equally was equally well-done. However, towards the end there was a lot of focus on their relationship which undoubtedly made me miss other characters whose lives had been developing along side Caroline and Cody's which I really enjoyed originally.

Big thanks to the NetGalley for providing an eARC this book in exchange for an honest review

Warning that this book may be triggering for some readers as it includes mentions mental illness, drugs and alcohol, depression, self harm, accidents.

Heartwarming YA romance that delves head-first into teen friendships, relationships, and mental health. The story centers around two people, Cody and Caroline. They go through high school with an on-again, off-again relationship. Filtering through the sidelines of their lives are Cody's parents, his clique of friends, Caroline's close friend Lilly, and Caroline's dad, Teddy.

I really enjoyed the first half of the story. I found the characters to be engaging and authentic. Carmack really captured the teen-friend circle, gossip, and romance. While I liked the premise of the ending, I felt that the second half of the book was rushed and glossed over key details. Overall, this is great YA romance but be prepared for mental health issues, sexual scenes, drug and alcohol use, as well as self-harm. These topics are very well depicted and bring a realistic perspective which I appreciated. This book reminded me a lot of Sally Rooney's, Normal People, but set in a YA world.

Thanks to NetGalley, Arly Carmack, and Cohasset Drive Independent Press for the advanced eBook in exchange for an honest review. Solid 3.5 stars (wish I could round-up on the rating).

I loved this book. I read it all in one sitting, I was so hooked. The relationship between Cody and Caroline was so raw and real which I really loved. I adored the slow burn friends to lovers and watching it all slowly play out. I liked their little cop show nights and the small gestures that made big differences. It was such a wholesome book. However, I also love how it showed the bad parts of their love, it wasn’t perfect and it never worked out the way they expected. There was such a plot twist at the end!! So many in the second part actually, where it switches to Cody’s POV. I liked how the characters wrote differently and reflected their own personalities and how Cody always tries to better himself from the past. The family dynamics, especially Caroline’s, I loved so much. I also loved Dr Josh and Lily and Jordy’s relationship hehe. I also liked the way the texts were written betweeen Cody and Caroline, the sarcastic jokes etc. This is probably the longest review of positivity I’ve written because it was so good!! It’s like Eleanor and Park but even better and par the racism :))) Thank you so much for the ARC! I am so so grateful I could read such an amazing book.

I’ve been in isolation for the past two weeks, and I’ve been bored as hell. It’s hard to get through, there’s too much time to think and not enough human contact. So what did i result to doing? Reading this book. I wanted to immerse myself into another world, and this book did a pretty grand job of that. It’s perfect. The timings were sometimes a bit confusing to understand but I can see why, as Cody began to remember things we as readers were not previously aware of. All in all, I loved it. Right from the start. And definitely at the end!,!

First I would like to thank NetGalley and Reedsy Discovery for a copy of this advanced reader ebook! There are potential spoilers ahead.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book! When I first started reading it, I found it hard to engage with. It felt forced and I just wanted to finish it. However, once I reached about 30%, I struggled to put it down. The book picked up and I found myself devouring it all at once.

While it was hard for me to relate to the main character, it was easier to relate to the storyline of her relationship with Cody. Most people have gone through the teenage angst of wondering whether a relationship is real, wondering if the feelings are real, and not knowing how to handle it. From this perspective, the book was very relatable. In terms of the mental illness aspect of it though, I found myself not able to relate simply as those circumstances do not apply to me. However, the author did a great job at bringing the conditions to light and making the reader see what it can be like.

I will say, I wish the book had ended differently. While I do like that now both protagonists have their own health aspects to take care of, it felt rushed and not fully explained. I would have liked more of a story line regarding their therapies together, their new family, and their healing progress. Maybe there will be a book 2?

Overall, I did enjoy this book and I'm glad I stuck with it!

*Received as an ARC on NetGalley*

A heartbreakingly beautiful story.

I have completely fallen in love with this book and its characters. The story is so much more than the usual YA contemporary romance, and despite starting this book with extremely high expectations, they were absolutely and completely exceeded in all aspects. The two main characters are so raw and real and are both perfectly refreshing examples of realistic teenagers in YA books. I connected with both the story and the characters straight away and really did not want this story to come to an end, although I completed it all in one sitting. While the book does explore many darker topics, Arly Carmack addresses these brilliantly. These themes were communicated perfectly and it was extremely easy to sympathise and empathise with the characters’ experiences. Many times I was caught crying throughout my reading experience. I loved the way that Carmack expressed the true struggles that people can experience when living with these challenges, but also how she communicated the idea of learning to live with these things, instead of just surviving.
Overall a truly spectacular read and a perfect first experience of Arly Carmack’s writing. This book has quickly become one of my all time favourites.

*Warning that this book may be triggering for some readers. Mentions of mental illness, drugs and alcohol, self harm, accidents*

Genre: Young Adult / Romance

Release Date: 25th November 2020



TW: Mental Illness / Drug & Alchohol References / Sexual References / Self-Harm / Accidents



Caroline wanted the things that everybody did in highschool. The grades, the friends, the cute boyfriend - ideally her best friends adorable brother Skip. But that was never going to happen with their pastor father looking over them.

Then Cody Kirby walks into the picture during a class project. The image of popularity and confidence, part of the 'circle' - but suspciously nice. And now all of a sudden she is crushing hard on a boy who she'd only ever said a few sentences to - the first one being "What song will we play at our wedding then?"

They were the last people in town you'd imagine becoming best friends - but they have one very real thing in common - they're both pretending to be happy. Caroline is plagued by loss, doubt, and underlying issues and Cody is slowly crackng under the pressure of trying to be the person everybody wants him to be - and losing himself on the journey.

At the beginning of this story, It honestly felt a little stiff and rushed, just pushing us through so we could get to the action - but once we got a real feel for the characters it ended up with some really wonderful moments throughout.

Now, let's talk about our two main characters - they're annoying as hell. They're whiny, they're obsessed, they're naive and unreliable. But that's exactly why they're so perfectly written. Don't you remember what being a teenager was like? This story gives such an refreshingly frank look into the truths of being a confused, hormonal teenager trying to navigate who you are and what you want.

Now, this book does go to some very dark places, dealing with the issues that so many young people are going through when they're growing up - but it's mostly handled very well and while there are difficult subjects - this isn't a sad book at all. It's about living with issues, instead of just surviving with them.

Once I'd warmed up to the story, this book was a pleasure to read and very easy to speed right through - it was a slow burning drama for the first half of the book, while we navigate the complications of young love and friendship and it most definitely quickly changed pace in the end. There were a few loose ends bothering me towards the end of this tale, but this also worked in a unique way - we don't get all the answers because these kids still have a lot of growing up to do.



RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐



Thank you to Netgalley & Arly Carmack for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

I loved this book. I have never read anything from Arly Carmack but I will be exclusively be her biggest fan. I loved the character development and the though I thought there were some loose ends that I wish had been tied up but I thought the ending felt right for the story we got. I loved Caroline and Cody and their complex emotions, including mental illness and the normal teenager self-doubt. Again, couldn't recommend this book enough.