Best Friends for Never

by Adrienne Maria Vrettos

When a friendship pact goes magically awry, eleven-year-old Hattie must figure out how to make amends.

After Hattie and her three best friends watch one of their classmates publicly defriended in the school cafeteria, they make a loyalty pact promising never to mistreat each other. But after Hattie unwittingly breaks the pact, her friends begin ignoring her. In fact, they literally don't even know who she is anymore! Can Hattie figure out how to break the spell and make things right again?

Acclaimed author Adrienne Vrettos brings poignancy and gentle humor to this magical story of friendship and loyalty.

Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Drama, Magic, Friendship, Contemporary, School

240 pages, Hardcover

First published April 26, 2016

About the author

HELLOOOOOOOOO THERE!!

Sorry for shouting, I'm just really excited to see you! I'm still figuring my place in the Goodreads community out, so please be patient with me and feel free to reach out - I am ALWAYS happy to talk about books!

My very first middle-grade novel Best Friends for Never just came out with Scholastic, and I am just beyond excited. I have always wanted to write middle-grade, as it is middle-grade books that made me fall head over heals in love with reading, and with writing.

I've also written books for teens, including Skin, Sight, The Exile of Gigi Lane, and Burnout. I'm working on a new book for teens now, but it's top secret so I probably shouldn't tell you about it. But once I know it's coming out, I'll be shouting it from the rooftops :)

Now I'm off to add more books to my bookshelf!

Reviews

[Myra Faye · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75, be yourself be honest =)

[Juliana Shoopack · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was an ok book all though it was confusing at first because it went right into the book without much explaining.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hattie is 12 years old, and starts a new school in a small town where everyone has grown up together. She makes new friends, but is very concerned with fitting in with them. She wears the same clothes they all do, choosing not to wear the cat t-shirts she once wore in Brooklyn. Nor does she talk about a fantasy series she has read and loved and immersed herself in. When one Zooey, one of the most popular girls in school is publically defriended in the school cafeteria, Hattie becomes concerned about her place in this new friendship group. She writes a Friendship Pact which she urges her new friends to sign. But the very next day, the friends claim not to know who she is.

Up until this point, the story is a somewhat typical story of a girl trying to fit in and work out friendships. But the Friendship Pact was made on the night of the Harvest Festival and now Hattie is jinxed, which is why her friends can't remember her. So suddenly the story becomes magic realism, which changes the pace and moves it from the usual tween friendship dramas. As she gets to know Zooey and Maude, another character, she is able to think about what type of friendship she had.

Good for younger tweens - no sex, no romance, just friendship and magic and some good messages with a touch of subtlety.

[Amairani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best Friends For Never by Adrienne Maria Vrettos is a very intriguing book. One day at school, Hattie and her best friends are witnesses of a public humilation to one of her classmates,Zooey,who is also one of the most popular girls in Hattie’s school at the time. Her friends,Celeste,Piper,and Fee,who are also very charismatic characters make a pact regarding the fact that they will never do that type of humiliation to one another. One day at the Harvest Festival, Hattie unwillingly breaks the pact and is now under a jinx. Her new friends,Zooey and Maude go on a journey to try to unjinx Hattie. As much as I love this book,I would’ve wished that Hattie was a lot less insecure of herself. She changed who she was to try to make friends at a new school. In a way,I understand that she is new and wants to fit in,but I still wish she would’ve been portrayed a bit differently. This book is humorous,insightful,and well put together. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes books about friendship with a twist.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just okay - same old same old. Magic, friends - middle school.

[Ciara · Rating 5 out of 5]

After seeing one of her classmates get defriended in the cafeteria, Hattie worries that the friends she's made in her new town will abandon her. So she makes a friendship pact and has them sign it to make sure they'll always be friends. But then, the day after the town harvest festival, it's like her friends have literally forgotten who she is! Hattie starts getting really scared when she learns about the harvest jinx, but everyone keeps reassuring her that it's fake! Still, Hattie wonders if it might be real and she's trying to figure out what she should do to break the jinx before it's too late!

I loved every part of this book. Its cast of characters was wonderful. I love that Hattie is a nerd (because I'm also a nerd), and although I didn't like Fee for the majority of the book, I liked seeing her character develop and change toward the end. And the message about not changing yourself to fit in with people is spot on. There was also lots of humorous moments and plenty of small town charm! Any kid who loves books like the Willow Falls series by Wendy Mass will love this book too!

[Giselle Herrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

After moving from Brooklyn to small-town Massachusetts, Hattie makes friends with a trio of girls who are a few notches down from the “tippy-top of the sixth-grade popularity pyramid.” To fit in and avoid being labeled a nerd, Hattie hides her obsession with a fantasy book series, her love of cat-themed T-shirts, and her disdain for team sports, a deception that renders her a victim of a mysterious “jinx” that has long plagued the town. For Hattie, the curse has consequences with echoes of Groundhog Day and It’s a Wonderful Life: each day she must reintroduce herself to her closest friends, who have no memory of who she is. Vrettos (Burnout) makes good use of an entertaining premise to dig into middle-school pettiness and social politics as Hattie bonds with the school’s dethroned queen bee and with an insightful teenage girl who works at the local historical society, where Hattie searches for the secret to reversing the jinx. Writing with a light touch, Vrettos balances universal adolescent topics of self-honesty, acceptance, and stereotypes.

[Mx.Lucey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars ⭐🌠🌌🌟
Content Warning: Bullying and classist
I know I've been reading a lot of kids books lately ; I'm not sure why they've just been intriguing me lately. While some of inside jokes were a bit redundant and the plot a bit predictable ; the morals against bullying are good. They end on the note of be yourself and you'll be okay is great on the surface but I disliked that Zoe&Hattie weren't actually friends in the end due to Zoe being more popular....that felt very classist to me.

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book feels like real life, I love this book!!!!!

[Jnase1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I expected, but still a good read.

[Rachel Hammond · Rating 2 out of 5]

the theme of this book is you should not exclude anyone even If they are different.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story with good pacing, but seemed underdeveloped.

[Krystal Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a little bit confusing at times but overall it was a very great book to read.
I like how this book is kind of long.

[Joyce Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

YA readers will recognize the cast of charismatic characters who roam the middle school halls and the neighborhoods of small town Trepan Grove. Hattie moves to the town from Brooklyn, New York during the summer and becomes friends with a group of girls with whom she’s trying desperately to fit in. If that means repressing her love of reading fantasy and wearing cute cat T-shirts, it’s totally worth it. Almost totally. She misses her best friend in Brooklyn and their nerdy common interests.
After witnessing a classmate endure a public, humiliating defriending in the school cafeteria one day, Hattie wonders if her tenuous, new friendships are safe. She devises a loyalty pact designed to assure that the friends will never mistreat each other. The four girls sign.
Then, Hattie unwittingly breaks the pact. Consequences are immediate, and the next months become a nightmare journey down a rabbit hole, as she seeks a way to correct her mistake and regain her friendships. And, as does Alice in Wonderland, Hattie runs into obstacles that seem unbeatable and finds help from improbable sources.
This reviewer is on the far downside of being a YA reader, but I was enchanted by this story. I’d like to visit the little New England town of Trepan Grove, meet Hattie’s group of “middle popular” girls, and see the attic repository of the town’s historical society books and documents. I’m not too much of an old dog to appreciate being reminded of the lesson Hattie learned, either.
The author’s delve into a bit of fantasy is a clever way to obviate her message without preaching. The inviting, realistic characters and relationships will have kids appreciating their own positions in their various micro societies. An intriguing plot and appealing ending will have them recommending the book to their own friends and classmates.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fitting in is never easy, especially when you're the new girl in a town where everyone else has grown up together. After twelve-year-old Hattie's parents decide to move from Brooklyn to Trepan Grove, Massachusetts, she is uncertain about how to look and act. Even though she is befriended by three other girls, Piper, Fee, and Celeste, she hides the things about herself that she thinks they won't consider to be cool. After all, being obsessed with a fantasy series will never fly among the popular girls at the school. As the sixth grader tries to copy the interests and tastes of those around her, she starts losing parts of herself in her bid for friendship. When she watches one of the school's most popular girls, Zooey Zervos, get dumped in a very embarrassing way by her own friends, Hattie panics and writes out a document intended to bind her crew together. But the town has a curse on it associated with the Harvest Festival, and suddenly, Hattie finds that her friends no longer know her. As she tries to find a way to break the curse and fix things, she and Zooey surprisingly become closer. Although I could see the ending from miles away, I still enjoyed this journey of self-discovery with its reminder that trying to be someone else to impress others never works. Ultimately, being true to oneself is the way to go. Surprisingly, those who are our true friends accept us just the way we are. My heart ached for Hattie during several parts of the book as she became increasingly socially isolated and even at the beginning of the book when she decides to forsake all the things she and Rae, her best friend back in Brooklyn, once shared. Middle grade readers will enjoy this title as will many teachers because of the insight it provides into Mean Girl and Teen Queen behavior as the result of Zooey's fall from popularity, for the most ridiculous of reasons.

[Sidney Burbridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was ok but a bit to easy for me. i would recommend it to someone younger than me. i don't think ill read it again.

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

When 12-year old Hattie moves from Brooklyn to Trepan Grove, Massachusetts, she finds herself dressing and acting differently in order to fit in with her new friends: Celeste, Piper, and Fee. When she sees a group of popular girls publicly de-friend Zooey Zervos, Hattie gets nervous and creates a document to try to bind her new friend group together. Unfortunately, because of the Harvest Festival curse, Hattie finds herself jinxed, and suddenly her friends are acting like they don’t know her. The more she tries to tell them what has happened, the worse the jinx gets. With the help of Zooey, Hattie tries to reverse the curse, and discovers that being true to yourself is the best way for friendships to last.

This was a sweet self-discovery novel for middle grade readers that, while slightly predictable and contrived, has a supernatural twist that sets it apart from the rest. Readers feel for Hattie as she struggles to find the balance between wanting to fit in and needing to be herself.

Grades: 5-8
Genre: Supernatural
Characterization: Good
Literary Merit: Good
Recommendation: Recommended

[Merrilyn Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a small New England picture perfect town, new sixth-grade girl Hattie unknowingly jinxes herself during the Harvest Festival, which causes her friends to forget who she is. When she is aced out of that friendship circle, Hattie finds new opportunities opening up to her. She is partnered with ex-mean girl, Zooey, to research a history project. In that endeavor, they meet and befriend Maude who went to MIT at age 12 and now runs the local historical society. Hattie finds a poem that explains the jinx and she comes to realize that being someone she thought her friends would have approved of is partly why the jinx worked. So, lessons are learned and friendships continue, better than in the pre-jinx days. Topics of bullying, magic, popular kids, and friendships won and lost may attract middle school girl readers.

[Deena Lipomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hattie is excited to attend the Harvest Festival with her three new best friends in her new town, but when she accidentally triggers a decades old jinx, she must find a way to break it to restore her friendships, and maybe just be herself once again. A cute friendship story with a dash of magical realism and a nice small town setting. Each character is not super well-developed, but they serve their purpose in Hattie's life in this MG.

[Mrs. Ehlers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hattie, the new girl in town, struggles when she and her friends overhear girls being mean to another girl. She decides that she and her friends need to sign a friendship pact promising never to mistreat one another. The next day at school her friends act as if they don't know her. Somehow Hattie has been cursed with the town spell and she needs to figure out how to break the spell.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

not what I expected when I ordered it; think I would have liked it better without the magic and it just being a "mean girls" in MS novel. not sure of kid appeal but will donate it to a ES or MS library.

[Tracy (The Pages In-Between) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I entered this giveaway for my daughter. She said it was a good story, and a good idea, but it didn't hold her attention.

[Avery N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the basic friends and magic combination. What the author did really well is pulling in issues that many girls struggle with. Mean girls and fitting in.

[Kate_mshaw]

amazing

[America]

The harvest jinx is just a myth. But when Hattie makes a pact with her friends, she overlooks one thing. When her friends don't remember her the next day, their whole friendship is in chaos. Will Hattie fix this mistake, and her friendship, or will she live every day having to introduce herself to her besties?