DNFed this one. I got about half way and it just felt like it pushed everything and used every trigger word they could. I support and respect the opinions I read in this book but instead of it being part of the story it felt like they were forced in there to meet some agenda.

Mysterious Ways is an insightful coming of age YA novel featuring Maya, a clairvoyant 17 year old. Maya struggles with the weight of hearing everyone’s inner thoughts, but it makes her empathic. She looks for the “why” behind people’s actions. This struck me, as I’ve found it’s important be kind, since no one knows what anyone else is going through.

As the mother of 2 teenagers, I thought the author was able to accurately capture this “anxiety generation”, with references to The Common App, grade inflation, always knowing the nearest exit in case of an active shooter, the mental health room at school, and “fighting the patriarchy”. The book was slow for me at times, not being the target audience, with an occasional over abundance of ancillary characters and subplots. I listened to the audio version and thought the single female narrator did a good job overall. I would recommend this to YA fans looking for a realistic teenage coming of age story. 3.5/5 ⭐️

Favorite quote: “Having hope is more important than getting what you hope for”

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

This one hit for me more than I was anticipating. It’s solidly YA following a high school student who hears the thoughts of everyone around her. It dives in head first to the psyche of high school students and adults who may interact with them. I would have eaten this up in high school. As an adult, I still enjoyed it - maybe because I don’t feel like my core self is all that different from when I was 17. Idk what that says about me, but there you go. I do think parts of it are largely not relatable, and I don’t think I’ll be alone in that thought. However the good outshines the meh.

The narration of the audiobook was solid. I enjoyed the performance and didn’t have any complaints.

Thank you NetGalley, Wendy Wunder, and Macmillian audio for this audiobook ARC.

An emotional YA book about serious topics. Unfortunately it was not for me and I lost interest while reading it,

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.

Mysterious Ways is a genre that I like to call "philosophical young adult". I think people who like John Green or Jennifer Niven (like Turtles All the Way Down or All the Bright Places) would like this book too.

I think this book wasn't really my vibe BUT it was a very interesting listen and I really thought the concept was so interesting! I do think that my like for this book definitely grew throughout the book which I would say counts for something! It's like a philosophical YA book + a lil theological addition👀

Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio for an early copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review!💖

This one was quite intriguing! I was taken on an emotional journey of self discovery, comedic relief and a little bit of WTF? If I’d have had the time, I’d have devoured it in one sitting! The narration was spot on! I will definitely recommend!

This book is a charming meditation on mental health, parents and dreams, and the inherent complexities of adolescence—featuring one very special teen. The author is deeply respectful of the several generations depicted, capturing their voices and points of view, often with humor but never veering into parody. The narrator is youthful and compassionate.

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.

Overall I found it hard to get invested in the story. The concept of a girl who can hear everyone's thoughts was intriguing, but for me the story fell flat. The constant mentioning of Gen X and Millennials and Gen Z was a little much and became annoying very quickly. This one is a pass for me.

I was actually surprised how much I liked this book considering I’m not usually into things like mind reading or super powers. But I really liked all the characters in the book and I got sucked in fast. The narrator was very good and the author wrote the mind reading part so well that I didn’t mind it at all. I’d listen to a sequel to this just to spend more time with the characters!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC audiobook in exchange for this review.

I…didn’t get it?

Here’s what I understood from this YA in which our heroine, Maya can read minds. Like, she looks at you and knows what you’re thinking.

The book begins with Maya as a patient in Whispering Pines, a mental health facility in rural Pennsylvania. It’s not clear why she’s there (I mean the mind reading thing seems like a ringer, but she hasn’t told anyone yet). She’s made friends with Bobby, another in-patient, and football star outside those four walls.

Then Maya rejoins the world: Her parents, two hippies who own a record store. Her school, where she has no friends because she’s the weird one. Her neighborhood, where most of her friends are accepting adults. And the last character, I think, which is causing her undue stress is the state of the world and climate change?

Anyway, she makes a friend, she likes a boy, she tries to use her mind reading to save people and things.

I think?

The first 60% is absolutely meandering, building nothing resembling a plot. And the writing definitely feels like an adult trying to sound like a teenager, so that didn’t help. The last 40% kind of has a vague “save the bobcats” plot, but honestly you guys, I have only one takeaway from this book: I have moved my comfortable audio speed from 1.7 to 2.0.

I hope someone else can explain this one to me. I really need to reconsider my DNF policy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC. This one is out August 27, 2024.

I was so exctied for this read but unfortunately just ended up being confused and annoyed at Maya, the main character. There were so many topics and stereotypes touched on it made it feel chaotic and overwhelming. I was unable to latch on to a narrative that felt cohesive and ended up annoyed with the characters.

It feels like the book was trying to be relatable to "gen z" but comes off as feeling more like a "boomer" had a couple of conversations with a "gen z" teen and wrote a book.

I did like the narrator for the audio.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an Audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

After starting this audiobook, it quickly became apparent that I was not the target audience and due to my core beliefs, I would have a hard time listening objectively. I expected a fun YA book but it was heavy with religious references and also heavy political stances. I decided to not finish the book and will not be rating it on other sites. For a YA read, I did think that the narrator was a good choice and appreciated the trigger warning at the beginning.

𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 &| 𝐀𝐫𝐜 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
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Gosh, I am a SUCKER for books with title chapters (name of chapters), I just get so excited to see that lol I know lame!

The premise and the cover art are what caught my attention to this story, but unfortunately, the story itself wasn't keeping my attention. I was just confused.

The audiobook was good! The narrator did a good job. The audiobook rating itself would be a 4 🌟

𝙳𝙽𝙵 @ 50%
𝙽𝚘𝚝 𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐
𝙱 𝚄 𝚃 𝚒𝚏 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚏𝚏 𝚘𝚏 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎 . . . 2.5 🌟
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𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 Aug.27
Thank you, Netgalley, macmillanAudio for the audiobook, and St. Martin Press for the eBook for my honest review.

I was intrigued when I read the synopsis. Felt like it could be a really good book. I think it was just fine. A lot of boring teen lives. Nothing extraordinary. Interesting take on mental health.

Mysterious Ways was a good YA listen. This was a coming of each story that will leave you wondering what you would do if you had an omniscient power.

Mysterious Ways is a rather unique read, especially in YA. Diving into the mind of Maya, it’s an exploration of our modern world and Maya’s life in her small town as she deals with reading the minds of everyone and dealing with “only evil continually”, feeling herself as a godlike being here to take on the weight of the world.

The concept of Maya being able to read minds because women have to be likable was really interesting, and made for a good setup. What goes on in people’s minds can be quite interesting and sometimes disturbing. And through these thoughts, she’s grown pessimistic of humanity, and believes that soon, the world will be flooded again to erase evil and wickedness, much like in the story of Noah’s Arc. This ability also leads her to landing in the psychiatric hospital when the story begins. After the first 10% of the story, things pick up for me. Most of the story is told in Maya’s POV as she’s trying to live a normal teen life, but we do get small bits from others in the community, giving us a greater scope of what’s going on. However, through her life experiences, Maya does change and grow, and it’s fitting to the tone of the story.

The book has a “hippie” energy, but it fits the story, as Maya’s parents own a record store and the worldview and narration of the story leans very progressive (at least in terms of US politics).

The humor was well placed and the mostly lighthearted tone to the prose helped the story from getting too dark. This book deals with just about all the dark/triggering topics you can in YA, including (but not limited to) mental health, self harm, suicide, sexual content (the chapter “Maximumlism” deals with a slightly spicy scene), and naming specific news/current events from the 1950’s to now (mostly the tragic kind). Then again, it’s about “only evil continually” for Maya. There’s plenty of profanity as well.

The narration by Georgina Sadler was perfect for the tone of the story and did an excellent job.

If you’re looking for something that might give you a little levity in a world that seems hopelessly dark, this might be for you.

The protagonist of this story can read other people's thoughts, as if being a teenager isn't confusing enough already. It's otherwise a straightforward coming of age story with a likable voice, healthy depictions of friendship and first sex, and a slightly uneven tone

1 Star ⭐️

YA Contemporary

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for granting me an audio ARC in return for my honest review.

Audio 🎧
Narrator 3/5

DNF @ 10%
Mysterious ways sounded pretty good given its description. It was supposed to be a book with a little magical realism and I wanted to see where the author would go with it. The main character has a power and can hear everyone’s thoughts, but it becomes too much and she ends up getting put in a psychiatric facility to help her balance her thoughts.

I read YA books because sometimes you can find a hidden gem. Also, I read them to find books to recommend to my kids. But this was absolutely awful - and I only made it 10% in, I can’t even imagine the rest of it. The first 10% felt like literal hell. It seemed like the author took all the talking points from the news and just slammed them into to this book. It started off with a trigger warning for suicide then straight into a girl reading the Bible and basically explaining how God makes all these mistakes and lies. Next, the feminist agenda was thrust upon the reader. Then, all the thoughts of the teenagers were just absolutely awful. Race, gender, religion, shaming- I could go on and on but I’m just disgusted with some YA writers feeling they need to make books like this. People wonder why the majority of our youth today act the way they do, with this type of garbage indoctrination, it is no wonder. I really don’t like DNF a book but I personally just could not keep going.