Mysterious Ways by Wendy Wunder is a fun and engaging coming-of-age novel.
I found this to be so entertaining I was intrigued from the very beginning.
I literally could not put this book down.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

I was super excited to read this book but unfortunately, this was a letdown for me. Perhaps I am too old to read YA (I'm 26), perhaps I just read this when I had a bad day. Hypothetically, I liked the idea of this book that is a coming-of-age story about a teenager in a mental hospital because she can know everything about a person the second she looks at them. I also thought this book had too many cliches about Gen X and Gen Z, (and while I do agree that Gen X and Gen Z may meet some of the stereotypes, I thought the book focused too much on them which made the book slightly annoying).

I also read the audiobook by Georgina Sadler and while I thought she was a great narrator, I was still bored by this story unfortunately.


I may try this book again at a later date and see if I have a new opinion but for now, this was a huge disappointment for me.

Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

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This was engaging enough, but I'm not sure I was the right audience for this book. Even though it didn't fall into the formula of other YA books, still fit firmly there and didn't reach the depth I hoped it would
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I enjoyed this YA book about a girl who can hear other people’s thoughts. It was a unique story and I liked the main character, Maya. Maya used her “power” to help people, which not many people her age (or any age) would do. Some talk of mental illness & suicide. Yes, there were some political conversations, but I didn’t feel like it was too much. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader’s copy.

What a great read! I really enjoyed Mysterious Ways and the main character Maya, who is a teenage girl navigating mental health and being at a new school. along with the fact she can read minds. I am looking forward to reading more books by Wendy Wunder in the future.

A moving YA coming of age story with great mental health rep that has a young teen girl able to hear other people's thoughts and suffering from her own form of depression and anxiety. This was good on audio and very relatable but didn't have as much depth as I hoped for. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest thoughts. Recommended for fans of authors like Rebekah Crane.

I loved this book from start to finish! This was a really fun and emotional story that was a joy to read. It was interesting to explore the complexity of Maya's psyche. Impossible to put down and one you won't want to miss.

Wendy Wunder’s Mysterious Ways is an intriguing exploration of the burden of knowledge and the complexities of teenage life, yet it falls short of fully realizing its potential. The story follows seventeen-year-old Maya, who possesses an extraordinary and overwhelming ability to know everything about a person simply by looking at them. This unique gift, or curse, has led her to the Whispering Pines Psychiatric Facility and now to a new school where she struggles to find her place. Maya's internal conflict—wanting to connect with others but fearing the weight of their secrets—creates an interesting premise that invites readers to ponder the consequences of such a power.

However, while the concept is compelling, the execution sometimes feels lacking. The pacing can be uneven, with some parts dragging while others rush through key moments that could have been more deeply explored. Maya’s relationships, particularly with the new guy she meets, feel underdeveloped, leaving the reader wanting more depth and emotional resonance. Despite these flaws, Mysterious Ways does offer thought-provoking moments and an original perspective on the challenges of empathy and connection. It's a solid three-star read that may appeal to those interested in the intersection of supernatural abilities and teenage angst, but it leaves some narrative threads frustratingly unresolved.

This was a miss for me. Maya seemed really inauthentic. Her personality was grating, and her point of view was contrived. The book was confusing and the plot was not as fascinating as the blurb made it out to be. I think the author had a good idea that she just wasn't able to execute.

Language: R (33+ swears, 10+ "f"); Mature Content: PG13+; Violence: PG+
In the first quarter of the book, Maya has started a new school. That's it. I stopped because I can only read about nothing going on for so long.
The mature content rating is for drug and alcohol use; partial nudity; mentions of strippers, prostitution, pornography, condoms, masturbation, rape, sexting, and sex; innuendo; kissing; and groping. The violence rating is for mentions of illegal activity, assault, guns, animal cruelty, self harm, child abuse, cannibalism, and suicide.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio and Wednesday Books for the review copies of Mysterious Ways by Wendy Wunder. The cover immediately brought me back to a childhood favorite, Harriet the Spy, and I did appreciate the voice acting and production of the audiobook.

Unfortunately, the book didn't quite click for me early on. I’m not a fan of stories that mock or alienate other generations, leaning heavily into broad stereotypes—even if the intention is to provide insight into the mindset of the 17-year-old protagonist. As a disgruntled GenXer, I found the narrative more annoying and alienating than engaging. It’s rare for me to encounter a young person who makes such broad and pervasive statements, and I felt that this book didn’t provide a fair insight into GenZ either. The first third of the book was particularly cumbersome, and I found myself skipping to the middle to see if the story would pick up. While it did to some extent, the writing continued to alienate me as a reader, and I ultimately lost interest in seeing how the story progressed.

I teach GenZ students and classes on individual and family development, where I emphasize the importance of breaking free from generalized stereotypes—a concept wonderfully addressed in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk on “The Danger of a Single Story.” I felt that Maya, the protagonist, really needed someone to guide her away from this tendency. While I hoped that her ability to read minds would lead to self-growth, I was too disconnected from the plot to appreciate any notable character development.

I had a very hard time getting into this book and could not connect with the characters. I forced myself to finish this book and honestly if it wasn’t a netgalley arc I wouldn’t have finished it.

The pacing was strange and the characters were lackluster and not well developed.

loved this mystery and keeping secrets and the different point of views. Also loved trying to figure out who did it . I enjoyed the mystery behind it.

The concept had the potential to be interesting, but the writing bogged down in way too many points of view and subplots, though I do always appreciate a perspective from a dog! The book didn't seem to tell a coherent story.

The book starts with Maya in a mental institution after a meltdown she had at a swim meet. Maya can hear the thoughts of everyone around her, which can get overwhelming. As she reintegrates with her parents and starts a new school, making new friends and meeting a fascinating Buddhist-obsessed boy, she finds new ways to cope with the chaos with the help of her therapist, Amy.

This book tried to be too many things at once - a commentary on mental illness and how society treats people who are different, a fierce feminist manifesto, a tender coming-of-age and first love story, and a treatise on climate change and the stress it puts on upcoming generations. If the author had picked one or two of these things and focused on that, I think it would have been a much stronger book.

This story seemed to be all over the place. There were so many sub stories going on that it was hard to follow the main one. A couple of times, I had to look back to figure out who's story we were on.
The concept of always knowing what everyone is thinking seemed to fall apart at various times. I have read stories where this worked well. Specifically when the the person was more of a conduit - so it made sense that they wouldn't know everything. But in this story that is not the case,
The beginning of the story also seemed to be a higher level where mental illness might be linked with reading minds. And I got so excited to see where it would go from there. But then it morphed into using this ability to help friends and family.
I'm sure that for many readers, you will enjoy this book. It just wasn't the right book for me.

I loved the premise of Mysterious Ways and our main character, Maya, seemed so interesting! I loved that she was able to see so much about people's past, present, future, thoughts, the list goes on!

Unfortunately, this one fell a bit flat for me. I felt the pacing was way too slow so it kept losing my attention. I also didn’t love the characters, including Maya.

Thank you to St. Martins Press & Wednesday Books for my copy of this!

DNF @16%

Something about Maya just immediately rubbed me the wrong way. I made it just past the POV of the dog and this was just too stream of consciousness for me. Considering Maya can read everyone's thoughts, that stream of consciousness got convoluted.

Short and Sweet Review
When Maya looks at someone she’s instantly able to know about their history. As nice as this seems this power becomes overwhelming and it starts to bring her down, which is why she’s sent to Whispering Pines Psychiatric Facility. Maya is also going to start school soon which is going to be tough but when she meets Tyler she wants to know everything about him, so maybe her power can come in handy.
This book is 332 pages and I’m going to admit I had no idea what was going on, and I think it’s because of how the book is written. We have chapters with Maya’s POV and then sprinkled in are other characters POVs and it all seemed disjointed. Towards the end I feel like I kind of knew what was happening but I’m still not completely sure. Maya is able to hear people’s thoughts and sometimes she can influence their thoughts and make them change their minds about things and she considers herself to be God. I think the premise sounded great but the execution wasn’t great. I also had a hard time connecting with Maya and the other characters.
Overall, I spent most of the book trying to figure out what was going on and I failed. I wish I liked this book but I couldn’t it was way too confusing for me to follow along.

This was an absolute gem of a book to read and I really enjoyed it. I definitely think my patrons will love it as well!

This book came out of the gate saying some really negative things about God and his deity. While I really enjoyed the writing style and the concept of the story, I just couldn't get over those comments, even as I continued reading.