Can't Say it Went to Plan is the perfect title for this book! After graduation three young women end up at the same resort. Even though they are strangers all of them have something happen to them that deeply changes them. Wanting to feel independent and rebel against certain rules their parents have set for them leads them on very different journeys. I think teens will really relate to this story,

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

This book was an interesting mix of light and heavy. I got it on NetGalley ages ago as an early ebook edition. I was in the mood for a light read, so I finally picked it up. I was surprised to find it contained some heavier issues. I’m not marking this as containing spoilers only because everything is front and center within the first few pages and if you read an excerpt, you’d know all of this. But just incase you want to go in with only the description of the book jacket then I’d stop reading here.


Ok, still with me?

This book is about a few groups of teenagers who recently graduated high school. They are taking a kind of spring break like trip. They all different reasons for going.

Zoe worked so hard all through high school and is trying to go to college pre-med. The trip is with her cousins, they were all born so close together that they are more like siblings. Zoe is definitely much closer to her cousins than to her actual,older, “perfect” sister.
At the last minute, Zoe’s parents freak out about the trip and say she can’t go. Given that she’s a legal adult and also paid for the trip herself she decides to go anyway. She sneaks out.

Dahlia is going with her group of friends. Their story is tough. Their best friend died from cancer about a year earlier. She wanted her best friends to take a trip in her memory and leaves money behind for them to take this trip.
The girls are trying to live for her too.

Samira is going with a group of friends and her boyfriend. She hasn’t known any of them that long because she moved to the school during senior year.
She puts all the time and effort into planning the trip and gets no appreciation for it. Her boyfriend dumps her immediately before they leave. She realizes quickly that she’s only really friends with one of the girls. And that girl finds a guy soon after arriving and Samira is kind of left on her own.

I liked how each of these groups was there for a different reason. I will say that I am not great at recalling names so it got hard to keep track of all of the girls and all of their friends.

I am an adult many years past highschool. But I’ll be honest with you, I was never someone who wanted to go on any version of a wild spring break trip. If the teenage drinking might bother you, it’s worth remembering that the characters are probably legal and able to drink at 18 in their country. And honestly, I think it was shown in a light that’s like saying “be careful out there kids”. I don’t know if that sounds corny but I thought the author did a good job of showing these characters on the verge of adulthood, with some big heavy stuff on their shoulders, trying to have fun with their friends without losing control.

One week of vacation after their final year of school - what could be better? For Zoe, Samira, and Dahlia, a lot. These three strangers all thought they had planned the perfect trip, but for various reasons their plans were turned upside-down before they even left home.

This one started off slow and confusing - it’s really 3 different stories, the characters weren’t actually connected which lost me at first. I wish the three stories were more intertwined in some way. Because of this, I struggled at times. While I enjoyed the different stories, I was not in a place where switching between the 3 kept me as captivated and interested as I wiped have liked. Perhaps as a less busy time in my life this would have stuck better and kept me more engaged.

Thank you to Harper360 and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

This was so fun - I read it in one sitting. There's a lot going on - lots of characters and storylines - but once you catch yourself up, it's immersive, compelling and completely enjoyable.

this sat in my library for so long and i tried to pick it up a few times but couldn't get into it. that is probably a me problem and not a book problem, but it just wasn't for me!

A creative and original story with a great plot device. The story takes awhile to immerse into due to the number of characters and storylines that are incorporated. A coming of age story that set during a central event of a festival. The execution was a little off but still an entertaining read.

From the first paragraph, I knew this book would be a good one. I immersed myself into the book from the first chapter and I cannot say enough good things about this book! Honestly amazing! The writing is incredible and the plot is just one to die for. I am absolutely obsessed with this book. My favorite part would have to be the character development throughout the book. Character development is something I look forward to and this book did not disappoint.

This had the potential to be really fun and it was just a let down—pretty average. Not one of the three storylines stood out for me, though I do think it was a cool plot device to have three different stories all going on at this one festival kind of party week. I only wish that the storylines intersected more—making it much more of an effective plot device.

I am a huge lover of YA books, but I have to admit this wasn’t one of my favorites. The concept of the book is great. As a girl who just graduated high school, there are many emotions, many things going thru your head and many ways your life is getting ready to change. With the 3 main characters of the book, this displayed that thought. I loved that each girl essentially was bettered by the end of the week thru the comments of strangers which ended up intertwined in the story. The beginning of the story was a bit of a slow start for me that picked up after about 40% thru. Honestly, the book made me reminisce back to my own “senior week”. It was a cute book, but I wanted it to be so much more.

Fast, fun read. However, I was confused. There were too many characters. Too many story plots that didn't blend together too well. All in all, I liked my time reading this, but I wouldn't want to read it again.

I really wanted to love this book but perhaps it's not just for me at this time, in this stage of life, whatever it may be I really found it a struggle to get through. The story didn't feel real, at least it didn't feel like something I could connect to. I can definitely see how younger audiences may love this and connect immediately.

3/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper 360, HarperCollins for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I feel as though shifting third person narration was an odd choice here; first person might have made it easier to immerse myself. I also had a hard time keeping the plotlines straight, and who was friends with whom. I appreciated that the loose ends tied together somewhat throughout and at the end, but this might have worked better with a narrowed focus on one group of friends. One minor quibble: I had NO idea where this story was taking place, and it threw me.

I think this is one of those "good for someone but not for me" novels.

This is literally what I anticipate the holiday’s of the British youth to go on. It’s so interesting and I absolutely loved it. I was very caught up in it, for sure.

3.5 stars rounded up

Can’t Say It Went to Plan is a wonderful jaunt about three groups of teens who go on a weeklong vacation after graduation, particularly following Zoe, Samira, and Dahlia. Zoe has held herself to very high standards and is stressfully awaiting college application results. Samira moved to a new school halfway through the year and has planned the perfect vacation for herself and her new friends. Delilah is grief stricken, having lost her best friend Stevie a year ago. Their vacations get off to a rocky start all around but each is optimistic that they will improve, with a little help from some awesome people along the way.

This book felt like a perfect beach read, though I didn’t read a single sentence of it outside. I love the unassuming queer inclusion, the visual references and second hand embarrassment. The unsureness and anxiety and the grief and exhilaration of new experiences.

These vibrant characters shone above their surroundings, which could have been better described. Also, their stories were mostly separate, with some small intersections before the main ones at the end. I wish there had been one big event, or maybe the three main characters meeting up and forming a friend group at some point. Instead, there were a dozen or so side characters with separate experiences that I struggled to keep track of. I would read the chapter character and take several seconds to remind myself what that character had just gotten up to, who their friends were, what day it was. I would also have to remind myself of the character’s friend’s names, in case they were relevant to another character’s story, like if they popped up as a cameo. It was a lot to pause and think over for what I self described as a beach read.

I enjoyed this book as an easy read that dealt with difficult topics like grief, anxiety, imposter syndrome, and bad friends. It was light and passed by quickly with lots of dialogue and a little drama to keep the plot moving. While the ending was somewhat disappointing, given that our three main characters didn’t culminate in the ultimate friend group, I felt genuine emotion at reading their stories.

I received a copy of this book as an e-ARC through NetGalley. Any and all thoughts are my own.

Can't Say it Went to Plan follows the lives of three different girls: Samira, Dahlia, and Zoe, all on a week long vacation for senior week. There are highs and there are lows, and through it all there is hope as their stories find each other in ways they didn't expect.

Unfortunately, this story did not leave up to its expectations. First, this story felt very middle grade to me. Everything was kind of simplified and didn't make sense at most parts. It almost felt a bit childish to me, and as a result it really drove me away from the story.

The characters were... okay. I felt I related the most to Samira because she goes through a whole arc realizing that her friends and boyfriend are really bad for her, which felt a little rushed to me. But I've had a similar scenario happen, especially when I planned a lot of my own trip and lost some friends from it. So I related the most to Samira, and also a little bit of Dahlia due to her anxiety. I do think the romance from Dahlia's story was pretty good as well and very positive, which you don't really see a lot of in stories these days. However, I will say that Dahlia was almost completely defined by her attachment to her friend Stevie that passed away prior to the events of the story. It really pulled me away from her in that regard.

Zoe for me was the weakest of the bunch. Her story had almost zero plot to it and a lot of the characters from her story were mostly forgettable. I think I only really liked one scene from her story and that was it. I felt like this story would have been improved upon if her story either had an actual plot to it, like the others, or if it was removed entirely.

The story overall had some good messages, but it felt a lot more for a younger audience, like don't let your monsters overtake you and live life to the fullest, so it didn't really stick for me. The entire story, it felt more like I, as the reader, was completely separate from this world and never once found myself truly immersed. Whether that's because of the characters, the plot (or lack of it), or the writing style I can't really tell.

Can't Say it Went to Plan is a good starter contemporary with hopeful messages, but a lackluster plot and some forgettable characters.

I found myself relating more with the parents than the characters of this book. I found it hard to read at times
Thank you Haper360 and NetGalley for the advance read

Recieved another copy from publisher. Thank you for the opportunity! I look forward to reading it and I apologize for the inconvenience

DNF - Did not finish. I decided not to keep reading this title because I’d did not connect with the writing or plot. Thank you, NetGalley and publisher for the early copy!

CAN'T SAY IT WENT TO PLAN was such a cute and funny YA story! I really liked all of the main characters, Zoe, Samira, and Dahlia. The first half of the book was a bit confusing, but it really picked up in the second book and became really enjoyable. It was also a bit difficult to keep up with all the side characters, but I feel like they were all real and fleshed out enough that this wasn't a huge issue. The queer and POC rep was awesome as well. Overall a really great book with some awesome summer vibes- I'd recommend!

3.5