I actually had this book on my TBR for a while and I was really looking forward to reading it but unfortunately after the first couple chapters I just found that this one wasn't for me. I couldn't really connect to any of the characters and it felt a little juvenile for my taste. However I think this could be a really relatable book to some people and it was definitely well written!

From the Taylor Swift-inspired title to the beautiful cover to the gut-punching prologue, Call It What You Want had me hooked.

When I first started reading CIWYW, I couldn’t put it down. I felt as drawn to Sloane and Ethan’s story as they did to each other - their first meeting, the will-they-won’t-they questions, the monthly snapshots of their situationship, and the friendships and heartbreaks along the way.

If you’re wondering “then why only 3.5 stars?” Let’s dive into that a bit… I think the story is great - I think it’s a story so many women need to hear and to read. It fills the gap between the sweet, happily-ever-after love stories we so often consume, and I’d love to see a refreshed version of this become a Netflix mini series.

Unfortunately, it was hard to stay focused on the story when timelines kept getting mixed up — I had to keep referring back to previous chapter dates and moments in the story to make sure I wasn’t crazy. This wouldn’t normally be such a big deal, but when the story is focusing on a month-by-month play-by-play over the span of two years, the timeline should be rock solid.

After a while, the drinking got old. It felt very repetitive in that each chapter they were pregaming, going out and “oops I drank too much.” I felt the story deserved more depth than that or at least acknowledgement of Sloane’s borderline alcoholism.

After coming off of a week of binging Normal People (Hulu) and One Day (Netflix), this book was exactly what I needed to get me back into the pages and lost in the world of first loves and the hopes and hurts that accompany them.

Despite not being able to rate it higher at this time, I can’t wait for it’s re-release in June so I can snag a physical of copy of it!! I look forward to reading Alissa’s next novel and whatever beautifully, torturous love story she has up her sleeve in 2025.

Thank you @bookedup, @netgalley, and @alissaderogatis for the ARC. All opinions are my own and honest.

Reading this book felt like watching multiple takes of the same scene.
It wasn't just that they had a pattern of on-again off-again, no, there were parts where the author rewrote the scenes from another character's POV just to add a few sentences of inner musings. It was kind of appalling, like, where's your editor?
.
I genuinely felt out of breath reading the book, it was like a broken record where the song keeps repeating one part.
I honestly didn't feel that Sloane deserved better, she made her own bed. I'm not a fan of Ethan either, but at least he was honest about his issues. Come to think about it, what Sloane did to Reese was way more horrible than anything Ethan did.
.
The dynamic of their relationship was also weird and inconsistent. For example, most of the time, Sloane didn't want to be intimate with Ethan, she literally said she was doing it to please him. However, when she was comparing it to intimacy with Reese, she suddenly started singing praise about how good it felt with Ethan.
To be frank, I think Sloane was rather obsessed with Ethan and not in love with him. She was so desperate to fall in love and once she found someone who was vaguely interesting, she just latched onto him.
For Ethan, he was more enamored with the idea of someone loving him, the gratification of being the most important person in someone's world was the reason he was entertaining a relationship with her.
.
Also, for the record, I think Reese should have seen it coming. With the amount of time Sloane thought about Ethan, it's 100% possible that her disinterest showed. If you're denying the obvious signs, it's basically asking for heartache.
.
Don't recommend it.
*I received an ARC of this book through netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

I did enjoy reading this book a lot! It was an easy read, although the relationship between Sloane and Ethan frustrated me.

I did feel as though their characters didn't develop so much, it seems that over the time that they knew each other, both were quite stagnant, but I would recommend to anyone looking for an easy read.

Reading this book felt like someone had read my own diary. It managed to put into words so many of the feelings I’d been unable (or unwilling!) to face. I think most women who read this book will have their own ‘Ethan’ and recognise themselves in Sloane.

This was a very difficult book for me to rate. Somehow, it was both very shitty and amazing at the same time. It wasn't particularly well written, but the story made me sob at points. It felt like a bunch of information was just being thrown at you, but I also felt like I was delving into my own memories (though, I have not experienced something quite this horrible.)

I don't know how to feel about either of the main characters. Or really even the secondary characters. I enjoyed this? I think?

Read this book twice now and I still cried at the ending damn it

Review time!!
I need to start off by saying that I did read the first version and the progress that was made between that version and this one is truly amazing. This book brought in so many new factors and scenes that just really made me love the book.

In the new version we got see a side of Sloane that wasn’t just all about Ethan and I think it really added to the story. I loved watching her journey outside of him so much.

As for the situationship side of the story - it was still amazing and still a story that I think a lot of girls can relate to. This book just made me feel not so alone!!!!

ALISSA I love you & your brain & I can’t wait to read everything else you come out with!!!!

I absolutely adored this novel! It was a gut wrenching, character driven, relatable, and powerful novel with an important message. It means a lot to me and I loved it so much!!

I wanted to love this book, I wanted this to be such a retable tale of young womanhood, but it was not. I usually am not one to be bothered by writing style, grammar, and spelling. However, it made it harder to read and get the point across. I wanted a gut-wrenching one-sided romance where she realizes her worth and leaves or gets the love she deserves. They had zero chemistry and the miscommunication was beyond frustrating. It had a promising synopsis and seeing this being promoted on tik tok by the author made me feel seen and want to read it, but it did not give ANYTHING.

This book was quick and easy but overall wasn’t great. It was quite frustrating and repetitive. There was no real plot which is disappointing because the main idea was interesting. I think that if you can relate to a story like this, you would enjoy it more than I did.

Thank you to netgalley and sourcebooks for the arc of this book in exchange of an honest review.

This book felt like watching a hallmark movie where the Female Main Character is going through something in her personal life and talks about her first kiss, first person she fell in love with in college and to move on, dated another person but It was not the same and then her ex came back and she cheated on her boyfriend. After a few months, she realised she lost herself in him so she fresh start her life.

I loved the characters not all but some were really affectionate. I liked Sloane’s best friend and roommate. I liked how Ethan and Sloane met. The pace of the story was good and the book is touching, heartwarming, reminiscing with some heartbreaking memories. The backstories of Sloane & Ethan were touching. The author has described separation of parents, going through the mess, relationships, college life, first kiss and first love so well. I was happy for Sloane when she got her dream job. It gave me hope when Ethan came to New York but deep inside I knew, they are not going to be together. I am happy Sloane realised that she lost the parts of her in person who was not capable of loving her the way she did him.

Thanks to Author, Publisher and Netgalley.

▪️situationship
▪️college romance
▪️insta chemistry
▪️dual POV

this book talks about the “almost-relationships” we’ve all most definitely almost had. the writing is strong, filled with emotions, characters you get frustrated with and want to ring their neck and hug them at the same time. overall, a super quick & bingeworthy read.
thank you Netgalley & publisher for the eARC!

If you've been in a situationship you'd think this book would resonate with you, at least thats what I thought but it fell a little flat. I really wanted to love this book but my expectations were not met.

This book had so much potential, but it fell a little flat for me. The story line was great, and could have gone so much deeper, but everything stayed very surface level. I would have loved to see more of Ethan trying, and working through his problems. It was a cute, easy read, but.....meh.

DNF at 36% thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the e-ARC, unfortunately, this wasn't for me. This is fiction however, it came across more, as of a recount of events that occurred over a period of time, but there was no real plot there, outside of the situationship. Things happened, but nothing constructive and I found myself more frustrated with the characters than actually liking them.

I think the concept of the story is good, and one many people may even relate to, but I think it was poorly executed, like how this story was told, rather than shown through the different perspectives.

The ending of this book was a breath of fresh air. Too often books end with character together that should not be together. I loved the self-discovery element and normalizing finding your worth and sticking to it.

I feel like the concept of this book is something plenty of people can relate to. The story accompanies two people navigating an almost-relationship that hurts one party more than the other. It's the story about the girls who believe that with enough love, time and patience the person they've fallen for, for whom they are willing to go along with their every whim, can change. In that aspect, I think the book did its job because it perfectly encompasses the feelings that come with these situations, the types of excuses often thrown around for mediocre behaviour. However, there were some mistakes (typos mainly) and I also think this could've benefitted from some heavier editing as not all the scenes and dialogues were essential to the story. In contrast, some issues and characters could have benefitted from more development, especially the side characters who ended up not feeling real. There was also a lot of tell instead of show that if worked on in a second draft could've made this book a more substantial study of how toxic situationships are and how they affect people even after they tried to move on.