I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Let me preface this with I'm not the demographic for this book so that's a factor.

This book was around 2.5 stars for me. I like the concept, but the book fell flat for me throughout. It started out strong and had a strong-ish ending for me, but I didn't feel super emotionally attached to some of the things happening in the middle. While the book was interesting following "Frogman" and his crew I feel like I couldn't pin down the point of this book and while race and mental health are touched on, it didn't feel like the story went very deep to me. All said and done it felt like it wrapped up very quickly and unexpectedly.

Overall not for me, but can see why other readers would enjoy it.

I loved this book. I was really emotionally attached to the characters. I felt like every character was unique and real. I appreciated the reality of hoarding and the consequences of it. That is also true of the advice column. It seemed the characters were trying to cope by acting out in different ways. It made the book more engaging for me and made me want to find out what would happen next and how it would all get resolved.
This is worth your time.
Enjoy!

One last note, I found out that this book is published by Wild Rose Press which is near me. I've never thought about a publishing house before but I am really proud that this press is supporting so many authors! Cheers to the Authors, Editors and Publishers! You are all awesome!!!!

Matt is the loner a school: not an athlete, not popular, and not really into any clubs at school. He does, however, give great advice online, after seeing an advice column that the counseling office has started on their school website. The advice from the counselor is terrible, but Matt' is able to add comments onto posts with his own advice, which is spot on and appropriate for high schoolers. He signs all of his responses as "Frogman". Matt and another boy in his class decide to start an underground newspaper online, The Henry Blake Underground, and Frogman's advice column goes live for the student body,

Everything seems to go well and the boys even get help from another classmate, who is very involved in the student council and even ropes Matt into helping out with that. But then some students don't appreciate the advice (especially the cheaters who don't understand why their boyfriend/grlfriend broke up with them) and they blame the Frogman. Everyone wants to know who the anonymous advice-giver is.

An interesting story. I;m not sure why Matt was so worried about being expelled from school. I've taught for 25 years and have never seen a kid expelled, even after attacking teachers. But this was a major worry throughout the story for Matt. Also, Matt's home life was ridiculous and I'm not sure why NO ADULT in the story ever reported things to CPS. But really, nothing much happened in this book. Matt read questions from students, gave them advice, people got mad, and he was all worried about being in trouble. I needed more meat to this story.

Matthew Shaw is an unintentional loner. He wants friends but friends mean inviting people to his house and his mom has made sure that he'll never do that. His mom is a hoarder and Matthew does everything he can to keep himself and his life in the house away from those outside the house.

After Matt's best friend moves out of state, Matt seeks solace in the idea of helping others. He contributes to the school's advice forum under the pseudonym of "Frogman". And while he thinks he may actually be helping, the school's counselor does not and ends up shutting down the forum. Now Matt has all this advice and nowhere to share it.

Matt enlists the help of the school anarchist and the girl who runs all the practical elements of the student body council. Together, they start their own blog and begin sharing ideas and advice with the students of Henry Blake High.

But not everyone likes Matt's advice. Some take it far too literally. Others get caught in the undertow of bad decisions. And the counselor wants to expel "Frogman" just as soon as he figures out who he really is.

Can Matt figure out how to manage his home life, his academic life, and his advice columnist persona?

Final thoughts: While there are some excellent realistic portrayals here of high school life, there are also quite a few stock characters who never seem to learn or grow. One of those is Matthew Shaw himself. There is a resolution to this story, but it feels rushed and incomplete and Matt never seems to actually change when it's all over. His life doesn't really get better. His mom is still hoarding. He's still an outcast to many. It just feels unfinished.

Rating: 3/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I loved this book and I loved the advice the main character offers! What a cool idea for a school to have that option and also the practicality of the advice he offers is beyond his years. Funny and unique story with a deeper meaning. Enjoyable read.