This is the second book with a love interest named Taggart that I've read this year.

Anyway, nothing is going to beat Jen's last book, Unclaimed Baggage, but this was cute.

Millicent "Millie" M. Chalmers is one of very few young women in the debate circuit in her state, and she is determined to win it all again for her fourth (and final) year of high school.

Taggert "Tag" Strong could not care less about winning debate, even when it angers his teammates, his school, and his parents. He is not willing to debate against whatever he believes in, even if that means his opponent wins.

Millie and Tag are in the middle of a debate about gun reform, when there is an actual shooter scare. They end up trapped in a closet together, with Millicent asking why he decided to tank the debate. Millicent decides to help him with a new kind of debate. As they work together they grow closer, but what will happen when they are forced to once again debate each other?

This book was a surprise hit for me. I had hardly heard anything about it going in, but it sure wowed me. Lots of think pieces in here about debate, gun reform, misogyny, and more. This is very much a book about morality and the responsibility of everyone, even the youth, within a community to fight injustice. Specifically about not upholding old rules or traditions when they create a disadvantage for others or uphold outdated sexist ideals. I especially enjoyed Millie's final debate against sexism (and specifically a certain all male team) she has faced as a young woman in debate.

It was also good to see Tag recognizing his wealth and privilege as a white male and try to do something with his power, while also not speaking over those whose voices need to be heard. I also enjoyed that debate was not his only passion, he also loves cooking and creating meals for others. This was a fun addition that added depth to his character and formed a bond with Millie over strange food combinations.

Millie and Tag were very cute together, but also very respectful of each other and their boundaries. Tag understood Millie's drive and hated somehow being the reason she was called names and disrespected by her peers. Millie was happy to help train Tag in a new form of debate and it made her realize her love of teaching others. Helping Tag also pushed her to try new techniques herself, instead of sticking to her strict rules. Both helped the other be more authentic to themselves and to push against bullying, shaming, and online harassment.

The commentary on sexism in debate could be applied to so many different clubs and sports, which makes this book very easy to understand and to engage with. It also helps created a feeling of rage, as many women have been placed in similar situations. I am no debater, but this novel had me hooked from the beginning, right up until I cheered at the end. Even the snippets of debate information throughout was a helpful and interesting way to enrich the reading experience and allowed the reader to connect with both Millie and Tag. I highly recommend this book if you want a powerful novel about fighting for what you believe in and changing the world one debate at a time.

This book was so good! I just loved the characters. My school didn't have a debate team so I learned a lot from this. I would definitely recommend this author!

I learned so much about LD debates reading That’s Debatable by Jen Doll. Initially I picked this up because the BRIGHT yellow color of the cover caught my eye. I am a magpie in my heart of hearts. However, I ended up really vibing with the story and the characters and the romance. That’s Debatable follows two point of view characters, Millicent Chalmers and Taggert Strong. Millicent is a debate rock star and well on her way to winning all the debates she enters on the circuit. Taggert is a private school student who can only argue the side he personally agrees with. When the two are thrown into a closet together at a competition during what they think is a shooter event, it turns out they also really vibe. And so, Millie starts helping Tag learn how to be better at debate. Can the relationship last or really go anywhere? Given the two are from opposite teams, the opposite side of the tracks and Millie’s mom made her promise no boys because they are a distraction and she needs scholarships.

I absolutely liked my time with That’s Debatable. My school didn’t have debate team growing up so all the concepts in this book were new to me. I LOVED Millie though. And Tag and his lucky pumpkin tie — as a an autumn aficionado myself. This book was sweet and also feminist and interesting. I liked that it alternated point of view between Millie and Tag. Also, I know nothing about Alabama and so found that such an interesting setting. I’d recommend this if you are in the mood for contemporary young adult romance about teens who participate in extracurriculars.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

Review will be posted on Forever Young Adult 1/9/23.

Content Warning: Depictions of a potential school shooting situation.

Cover Story: So Fun!

I don’t know if this lively yellow cover totally “fits” with the tone of the story inside, but it’s so fun and eye-catching. I like the details on Millie’s braids and Tag’s lucky pumpkin tie and the speech bubbles are definitely on-brand.

The Deal:

Millie has won the national debate championship three years running, but in order to secure a really great scholarship—enough to pay for the full ride there’s on way her single mom can afford on her own—she needs to rock this fourth and final year. Everything is going well until one of the first debate tournaments of the season when there’s a potential gunman in the school, and Millie finds herself sheltering in place with Tag, a slightly eccentric debater from a richer part of town who has decided he simply cannot argue the immoral side of a topic he feels strongly about. When the all-clear is given, Millie and Tag are not only immensely relieved but have found in each other an unlikely new friend.

Millie offers to help Tag find a way to win debates to keep his parents off his back for “tanking” his one extracurricular, and Tag helps Millie discover that there’s more to life than one single hobby.

BFF Charm: Natalie Imbruglia x2

I liked both Tag and Millie but I’m not sure we’d ever be friends IRL. Millie is very single-minded in her love of debate but also with the pressure she puts on herself to win so she can afford college, and she doesn’t really have that many friends because of her intense focus.

Tag very much marches to the beat of his own drum in a kind of hippie-dippie way, but he can quite literally afford to do so because his family is well off enough to allow him the opportunity to “explore”. His heart is in the right place but he reads a bit naïve, and you want to hope that he’ll be able to funnel all that do-gooder energy into something actually productive as he gets older.

Swoonworthy Scale: 3

I never really felt the romantic connection between Tag and Millie—while I’m rarely one to advocate for LESS romance, I don’t know if they needed to “go there”. It almost felt like the only reason they got together was to add in some of the later relationship drama surrounding the fact that Millie’s mom doesn’t want her dating while she’s focusing on getting her scholarship, but those were the most boring parts of the book for me.

Talky Talk: Footnote Fanatic

The author is obviously very passionate debate, and in her author’s note she recounts her own history with debate and how it’s changed her life for the better; that’s definitely cool. I did appreciate how she explained the ins and outs of the process for those of us who have never done debate before. On the flip side, those explanations felt very…well, to put it this way: if you’re a Gilmore Girls fan, the way debate was described was by someone with Paris Geller levels of intensity.

And where I struggled was that I just couldn’t get as into the topic of debate as the author, and thus there were parts of the story I didn’t connect with. Coupling that with characters that I liked well enough but didn’t love and some story beats that felt a bit clunky in the third act…and, well, it was all just fine.

Factor: Author Insert

I don’t know if this was just a personal annoyance or something others will feel, but because the characters had to frequently discuss controversial topics, I often felt like we were “breaking the fourth wall” and simply reading the author’s own opinions on things. And while I didn’t disagree with those opinions on topics like how we need better gun control and capitalism is an inherently harmful construct, etc., I sometimes felt like I was being preached to instead of losing myself in a good book. On the one hand, I feel like if someone without strong opinions reads this book it might be helpful to learn how to structure an argument and interpret the “for” or “against” views on certain topics…and on the other hand, I don’t know if many younger readers would stick around long enough to actually get to that point within this book.

Relationship Status: I Concede

Based on the history I had with your older sibling, I really thought we were going to connect, Book, but your passion for argument, while admirable, is just not something I’m personally into. You can feel free to tell me the highlights later, but I think I’ve gotta skip attending any more tournaments in person.

FTC Full Disclosure: I received my free review copy from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. I received neither money nor peanut butter cups in exchange for this review. That’s Debatable is available now.

Thanks to NetGalley & Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows the two POVs of two teenagers in the debate circuit but both have very different lives. They're first traumatized early on in the book with a school shooter scare but end up bonding throughout the book with their passion for debate.

This was a pretty fast-paced and enjoyable novel! I was pleasantly surprised. I will say though, it does get a bit preachy at times but it makes sense since it's all about debate! I personally find the cover a bit misleading because it's not a typical cheerful rom-com book, it's more like a realistic fiction book with romance taking the backseat. Very enjoyable and fleshed out characters!

Great book and enjoyed the characters . loved the slight romance and the how well the group worked together. Overall a great book . I would read this author again.

This story has everything I could want in a YA novel: feminism and opposites attract. This novel explores heavy topics in a new and fresh way. If you are looking for a book that offers a fresh and thoughtful view on the issues surrounding our society, pick this book up. I would definitely read it again and will be recommending it to my students.

Debate seems to be the default club for "serious" characters in fiction. Teens who are intense, driven, that sort of thing. And this book is no different. We explore the inherent sexism in the debate circuit but also the moral obligation of debaters, the morality of arguing something you don't agree with. The interpersonal relationships are predictable, the antagonist one note. Enough depth to make it worth reading but nothing mind blowing.

Read this book if you like: Dual POV, hard hitting topics, opposites attract

Check triggers*

Millicent Chalmers lives in a small Alabama town, raised by a single mother. She's not here to make friends. She's here to win, and she's on track to set a record in the state debate tournament for the fourth year in a row. Calm, cool, and always in control, Millie doesn't care what anyone else thinks of her, least of all the sexist bullies bent on destroying her reputation.

Taggart Strong couldn't care less about winning debate. He comes from a wealthy family who pushed him to being in debate for his future. Much to the consternation of his teammates, school and parents he will argue only things he believes in.

The tournament takes a scary turn which leads to Millie and Tag unexpectedly working together. Maybe Millie can teach Tag a thing or two about using his head, and Tag can teach Millie a little bit about following her heart.

This book was so good. I loved the debate aspect of the book. They hit on a lot of tough topics like school shooting, gun control, gender equality, and more. I love the use of footnotes throughout the book. I think this would be a great read for teens and adults. Definitely get this one! It comes out August 30th!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author, and MacMillan Children's for the gifted ebook! ❤️

This is a fun realistic fiction book for any current high school debate team member. Millie is striving for her 4th state debate championship as a senior. She has scholarship hopes riding on it and can't let anything get in her way. Tag is getting sick of debating resolutions that he doesn't agree with so he starts debating the other side and is losing all of his debates. When Millie and Tag are brought together in a terrifying moment, Millie starts coaching Tag on how to debate a side that he doesn't agree with in a way that he can win but still make his real views known. "That's Debatable" is filled with lots of great debate information (all footnoted to make sure non-debate readers aren't confused) as well as a a critical look at continuing sexism in the debate circuit. Teens who like light realistic fiction that still packs a powerful punch as well as any adult who once a high school debater should enjoy this book.

I love this author and this was a perfect high school coming of age story. Really funny and sweet with good characters.

This is a thoughtful and very engaging novel. Millie Chalmers has one the statewide debate tournament for the last three years. She is determined to win it again her senior year, setting a record and winning a scholarship she needs for college. At the first tournament of the year, she is slated to debate Tag Strong, who is less interested in winning the debate than saying what he believes. When an incident happens at that tournament, Millie and Tag end up being stuck together in a supply closet. Despite their differences, Millie agrees to help coach Tag about how to improve at debate without sacrificing his own beliefs. Tag is thrilled, and, through all the time they spend together, they grow closer while Tag learns about debate, Millie learns about cooking, and they learn more about each other and what they want for their futures.

This book offers strongly developed characters and explores several complex issues in a sensitive and perceptive way.

Highly recommended!

"I owe it to myself to see what might happen. To put who I am and what I feel out into the world, regardless of how much it might scare me. And to fight sexism and douchebags every step of the way."

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This book was an okay experience for me. There were some things this book did really well and some others that left something to be desired.

I really liked how sexism and bullying were portrayed in an academic activity as I don't think it is focused on enough. We see females on debate teams being judged on their appearance and even their tone of voice. That's Debatable talks about how women are often accused of being too emotional if they are passionate or have an opinion about something whereas men don't face the same criticisms.

What didn't work for me was the teenage romance between Millicent and a boy named Tag. It was fine however I feel like a friendship could have worked just as well and the romance wasn't needed and added nothing to the story.

Thank you to Fierce Reads and Netgalley for the ARC!

“When women do stuff that guys in power don’t like, when girls step out of their ‘acceptable’ role, they get slammed for it. That’s how misogyny works. It happened to Mary Wollstonecraft and it was happening to me.”

That’s Debatable follows Millicent Chalmers, a debate champion three years in a row and aiming for a fourth. She’s an excellent debater but faces challenges as one of the only girl debaters in every competition she attends. What I loved about Millie was that she remained fiercely confident in her debate abilities despite feeling like many debate judges and competitors having something personal against her.

Enter Tag, a rich boy from a rich school. A shooter scare happens at a debate competition and Millie and Tag get locked in a storage closet in the room they were debating in, stuck until someone comes to let them know it’s safe to come out. Tag is a debater, but not a very good one. As the book goes on, Millie teaches Tag how to improve his debating skills and the two become friends. As the book goes on, they wonder if they could be more.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It handles a lot of heavy topics like sexism and gun violence with respect and nuance. My main criticism of the book is probably something that will be fixed in a printed version of the book. Each chapter has little footnotes at the end of each chapter that elaborate on terms and detailed noted within that chapter, but you get to all of the footnotes so long after you started the chapter that you don’t remember what the footnote is talking about. However, I’m confident this will change in the printed format and have footnotes on the bottom of pages that need them.

I have a few friends that are in debate that really enjoy it, and I would definitely recommend That’s Debatable to them if they ever wanted to read a book that focused on debate!

This book…wow. It hit on so many issues we see in today’s world. Sexism, racism, guns, bullying, parental expectations, snobby rich kids getting their way.

Millie is such a relatable character and while my home life is different than hers, the expectations her mom placed on her in accidentally turning her into a little mini me to rectify “mistakes” she had made in the past is such a relatable concept for teenagers nowadays and one that I have some experience with.

Tag was the perfect carefree counterpart to Millies’s character. And honestly the definition of dream guy, I mean, he always had a whole restaurant in his backpack (and don’t get me started on that croque monsieur) And I loved that throughout the book, recipes for the foods he made were included and it really made the characters feel real and like I was talking to them.

This book, as one has likely figured out, is about high school debaters/debate teams. None of the schools I attended had a debate team, so I was absolutely lost so I’m glad the author explained a lot of the terminology. Much of the explanation was in the form of footnotes, the bane of “Nevernight” readers existence, which were helpful but my one complaint would be that the footnotes were at the end of the chapter so I would forget what term or phrase was being described. Hopefully, the final copy of the book clears that up (ideally, footnotes at the bottom of their respective pages if that makes sense)

Overall, it was an absolutely beautify written, thought provoking, poignant novel about modern issues and doing what’s right for you even when it seems wrong for others. While also elegantly lighting up the mood by appeasing to food lovers (I could go for a croque monsieur right about now)

I'm a sucker for debate-themed books, and this one is no exception. It feels like a classic YA contemporary, but unique enough to be its own story. As a story it flowed well, and I was invested in the characters throughout, even if it was a little bit heavy handed with some aspects. Overall, I definitely recommend it if this sounds like your thing.

THAT’S DEBATABLE is truly that classic, cheesy YA book, interwoven with the more serious issues in a high school debate environment. It dealt with school shootings, misogyny, sexual harassment, etc. While I do wish that since these topics are so heavy and so prevalent that they’d been mentioned before the start of the book, I do think that a book focusing on these issues fits really well with the debate themes. As a debater myself, I can’t fully relate to Millicent’s experiences, but that’s not to say that there aren’t serious problems with environments like speech and debate, and I think that this book does an interesting job discussing them, even if it’s a bit clunky at times.

As a whole, I really enjoyed the characters and the character work throughout this book. Tag and Millie have a great dynamic and I enjoyed the way that they both had different ways of approaching the world and being vulnerable, but that didn’t necessarily involve miscommunication for the sake of miscommunication. Though this isn’t strictly a character growth book, the characters still grow, although Tag is still a lovable golden retriever type (who cooks!!) from beginning to end, and Millie is still as ambitious and successful in getting what she wants as ever.

At the end of the day, this book was definitely a success in my eyes. I love to see more debate books, and especially ones that feel like they have as much of a heart for speech and debate as this does. It had some good elements, like the footnotes, and I really enjoyed overall how the story came together. And even if I refuse to ever recommend L-D debate to someone, I’d definitely recommend this book.

That’s Debatable by Jen Doll, 352 pages. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group), 2022. $19.
Language: R (86 swears, 10 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
For Millie (17yo), it doesn’t really matter what she thinks, because she needs to debate and win in order to get scholarships for college. But when she debates against Tag, she discovers another side of debate: using your voice to say something that matters. Tag keeps losing because he insists on debating the right side of the argument, regardless of the rules of debate. But Millie thinks she can help them both stay true to their values and win.
Millie has always been good at debating, but her journey in this book is about finding her voice – who she wants to be and what she wants to say. Doll encourages readers to find their voices and use them in ways that matter – stand up for whichever causes and values are important to you! We can do more good in this world by speaking up and then doing something about what we’re saying. The empowerment practically jumps off these pages. I also love how Doll uses footnotes throughout the book to add to the debate preparation from facts vibe – and there are even some of Tag’s recipes in there, just for fun.
Millie, Tag, and their families are implied White, but Millie and Tag each have have an implied non-White friend. (Tag’s friend refers to himself as Southeast Asian and doesn’t get more specific.) The mature content rating is for innuendo, sexual harassment, and mentions of sex, blow jobs, nude photos, and sexual favors. The violence rating is for fist fights and discussions of school shootings.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen