I’m a bit conflicted on how I feel about this book just because I found it too fast-paced for my liking to the point where I didn’t really connect with the characters.

Sloane and Ethan are in an on-and-off situationship however while Sloane would like to make their relationship more official, Ethan is not so keen. The only character I really liked was Lauren as she was supportive of Sloane even though Sloane kept going back to Ethan and spoke her mind about the situation. I could relate to how Sloane was feeling as I myself have been in a couple of situationships unfortunately.

I didn’t feel any sympathy for Ethan at all because even though he suffered a childhood trauma, that doesn’t really excuse his behaviour.

3 stars for relatability as it really captures the emotions of being in your 20s and thinking you’ve met the love of your life only to get repeatedly heartbroken.

This just wasn't it for me. I don't even begin to know how to address this is a positive way. I get that the "relationship" is suppose to be toxic but this was just so toxic and off putting.

This book felt like 500 Days of Summer. When someone tells you the truth you should probably believe them the first time. It wasn’t a bad read, of course it was relatable but the yo-yo back and forth between the characters became exhausting, especially when there were so many opportunities to move on. I can understand why the writer wanted to put this type of book out there, but I find it hard to call something love when you give someone everything and they give you half of themselves. One line that really peeved me was when it was from Ethan’s point of view and he mentioned two years, three break ups and one broken heart. Only one broken heart after all that time?! It is a young coming of age book which lends it self to the struggles of finding yourself and knowing your worth. It can be seen as a cautionary tale!

1 ⭐️ What initially interested me about this book were the promised Taylor Swift references. Unfortunately everything else about the book, did not hold up. Ethan was actually a terrible human being, and Sloane was mainly just annoying and knew no self worth whatsoever. Everything felt very surface level and at no point did I ever enjoy their relationship or this story. I understand that this book is portraying an unhealthy relationship but it did so in a way that was not engaging or worth reading.

Thank you NetGalley & Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

OMG!!!!
This book was like a huge for me <3
My bf left me in November and I was kinda mess and found a quote from this book on booktok and was like "why not...add to tbr" then I found it while I was searching for my next read this year...
This book was like the last few months of my life even the healing phase and I owe the author for writing such an inspiring book like that for lost girls like me.♡

The character development of Solan was great and Ethan character reminded me of my ex so I can relate.
Lauren was so lovable friend and like a big sister.

Totally recommend and it's also a clean romance.

desperate fmc who's "in love" with walking red flag "emotionally unavailable" mmc. that's it. that's the book.

this book had so much potential. it was similar to Normal People, but lacked the chemistry and emotional depth that Normal People had. the writing focused too much on conversations with side characters and less on the actual emotion the characters were feeling. we were told that Sloane was soooo in love with Ethan about 200 times but we were never shown it? it was so painfully obvious how uninterested Ethan was in an actual relationship (because of his past but we never really get into that) and i cringed at how delusional Sloane was and how she kept circling back to their situationship. i do like books about messy, complex characters and their relationships, but the execution lacked any emotion and chemistry to get me to care.

I could not with this book. All this is in the first 10% is college kids going to the bar and drinking. I've been to college, I know the party scene, I don't need a play by play of consuming alcohol and playing drinking games.
Honestly it turned me off. Sloane and Ethan aren't even interesting, they're lacking depth. Everything every character says sounds so scripted. Albeit it's a book, but the dialogue doesn't flow naturally.

2🌟. Honestly just couldn’t stand this book. The only positives were the Taylor Swift references, the setting being partly in New York, and Lauren. Ethan was just a coward and toxic and the most boring man alive. Sloane was downright whiny and annoying. The characters got drunk like almost every single chapter like is that all you do in your free time? The writing felt extremely surface level and there was no depth. Their “relationship” was just so toxic and not enjoyable to read about. I really wanted to like this but sadly it just fell completely flat for me. Thank you to Netgalley, SOURCEBOOKS Landmark, and Alissa Derogatis for this ARC.

⭐️ go girl, give us nothing.

but in all seriousness, how did this book get published?! it was a <i> hot hot hot </i> mess. the writing was some of the worst I've read -- the writing was <b> bad </b> and the plot wouldn't even get picked up by freeform or the cw. in this story, we are following the ultimate pick-me girl and f*ck boy as they drink excessively, hook-up and do the "will-they, won't-they" dance a million times. there was VERY concerning scenes in here that were borderline sexual assault (i.e. getting so drunk that things get "fuzzy" and still continuing to hook-up with someone). the story is set in NYC, but is is clear that the author has never lived in a city, let alone NYC based off of all of the cliches and stereotypes that we included about city life.

ty to Netgalley & Sourcebooks Landmark for an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

WELL. 1) please hire an editor, this ain't wattpad. 2) Sloane was the dumbest, most idiotic character I've ever read about, like girl bffr, learn of something? 3) Ethan makes me want to commit crimes, and not in a good way. 4) The idea was good, the execution was NOT. A hard pass, sorry.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc of this book in exchange of an honest review.
I understand many of the criticisms thrown at this book are actually the point of it. It tells you from the preview that this is going to be about untrustworthy characters and that the relationship probably won’t be a healthy one. But I just couldn’t relate at all.
I knew from the start this book just wasn’t for me, so I kind of dnf it. I couldn’t push myself to keep reading.

This was not as bad as people were making it out to be! A little young-sounding for me, not the best dialogue either but I have read worse.

This book is probably closer to 2.5 stars for me. The only thing keeping it this high is that I read it in one sitting, so it clearly kept me at least somewhat interested. However, there were so many parts I struggled with (and maybe these won't matter to you as much).
First, I absolutely hated the MMC and the FMC was pretty frustrating too. They did the same back and forth dance multiple times, always stating that this break up would be the last, and then absolutely nothing changes. No growth, no conversation, nothing.
The MMC can't figure out how to love someone because of his trauma, which is poorly explained and kind of explored but then abandoned. No one ever calls him out on it (other than the FMC kind of?), and he never gets help.
My biggest question is why does Sloane even like the guy?! We don't really see any fun moment or conversations that show why she is head over heels for this boy. There are a couple of references to things they've done together that we never see, which was annoying. I would rather have read about those moments than just overhear a reference to some great weekend. She falls for him but I definitely did not.
There are also some basic editing errors, like the wrong year listed for a chapter and missing quotation marks more than once. This book is set to be published soon, so it feels like those should have been fixed by now.
Finally, 2 small spoilers that really made me not enjoy this read - There is a cheating plot line which personally, I can't stand. Totally get that some may be fine with this but just a warning if you aren't. More importantly, I would NOT consider this book a romance read. I don't know what it is, but when I see "romance" I have certain expectations that were not meant with this book.

I was down bad with the title and synopsis of this book, but once I started reading I just could not get into it. The sentence structure and dialog feels very juvenile. I had to double check if this was considered a new adult title. The characters fell flat for me, especially Sloane and Ethan. I get that the point is that their relationship is toxic, but I didn’t feel an ounce of chemistry between them. Great idea, not so good execution. And it could just be that this book wasn’t for me and that’s totally okay!

I do want to see what Alissa can do in future works and I look forward to reading more from her!


*** Thank you Net Galley and Sourcebooks for the ARC!

Sloan and Ethan find themselves in a very odd and on, no commitment relationship. Sloan is head over heels and as someone who has been there before i think this book really showed all of the emotions and thoughts that a person goes through in this type of relationship. It is an amazing story about realizing your self worth and friendship. This book was so beautifully written and I loved it. I will definitely be buying it when it comes out in 2 weeks!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an arc of this book in return for an honest review.

I had high hopes for this book but it fell flat for me. The story idea had a lot of potential but the writing was mediocre. The whole book consisted of telling not showing so it got a little boring. The characters also didn’t feel very likable. I think it would’ve been better if they were so that the reader could empathize with them. Like I said before, I think the story idea is good but it was not executed well.

Call It What You Want, told in dual POVs, follows the years long “almost relationship” between Ethan and Sloane during their final year at university and the years following.

Author Alissa DeRogatis has painted a beautiful, modern, and fully realistic portrayal of a “situationship” or “almost relationship”throughout this almost love-story. Call It What You Want was fully of raw emotions, hard truths, beautiful friendships, and a relatable storyline that perfectly expresses the whirlwind of an almost-relationship in your 20’s.

Like Sloane and Ethan, I was, too, a senior in college in 2016. The writing fully encapsulated what senior year at university was like during this time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for a copy of Call It What You Want in exchange for my honest review.

i had read a lot of bad reviews but wanted to give it a try to see for myself. honestly, i didn’t like most of the book. maybe i would’ve if i related to any part of it but this just wasn’t for me

Sadly I decided to dnf at 25%
The plot wasn’t bad but I really couldn’t get into the writing style. It kept taking me out of the story which affected my entire experience.

This was infuriatingly realistic. I think a lot of people have been in a toxic relationship, or situationship, where the hope of the relationship is far more idealistic than it will inevitably play out. The plot feels repetitive because these types of relationships are repetitive. Will they, won't they? Been there, done that, but maybe this time will be different. Spoiler alert; if it's that off and on, it will never truly be on. “This is a love letter to all girls who have had a hard time getting over someone they never dated”.