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Well, That Was Awkward
Gracie has never felt like this before. One day, she suddenly can't breathe, can't walk, can't anything and the reason is standing right there in front of her, all tall and weirdly good-looking: A.J.
It turns out A.J. likes not Gracie but Gracie's beautiful best friend, Sienna. Obviously Gracie is happy for Sienna. Super happy! She helps Sienna compose the best texts, responding to A.J. s surprisingly funny and appealing texts, just as if she were Sienna. Because Gracie is fine. Always! She's had lots of practice being the sidekick, second-best.
It s all good. Well, almost all. She's trying.
It turns out A.J. likes not Gracie but Gracie's beautiful best friend, Sienna. Obviously Gracie is happy for Sienna. Super happy! She helps Sienna compose the best texts, responding to A.J. s surprisingly funny and appealing texts, just as if she were Sienna. Because Gracie is fine. Always! She's had lots of practice being the sidekick, second-best.
It s all good. Well, almost all. She's trying.
314 pages, Hardcover
First published February 28, 2017
376 people are currently reading
3838 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Vail
56 books457 followersBirth
I was born on July 25, 1966, in NEW YORK CITY, and grew up in New Rochelle, NY, with my mother, my father, and my younger brother Jon. (And down the street from my future husband, though of course I didn't know that until much later.)
Interests
Some details, I do know-I was very into reading and theater, so I read every book I could get my hands on (especially realistic fiction, either contemporary or historical) and took acting workshops and auditioned for every play in school, camp, or the community. I played Peter Pan, Miss Hannigan in Annie, Benny Southstreet in Guys and Dolls, the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, and lots of extremely memorable chorus parts-for instance, I was "girl number two" in Fiddler on the Roof-the one who said "We heard about your sister, Chava". I didn't care -I just wanted to be on stage. Waiting backstage before curtain call, after giving my all in a performance, was the best feeling I knew. In seventh grade I started taking magic lessons, and by eighth grade I was making all my own spending money by performing at kids' birthday parties as a clown named Tallulah. I liked the freedom of wearing all that grease-paint-I could be as wacky and un-cool as I wanted. I tried dance but felt so clumsy. I faked a sprained ankle to get out of the recital. I took voice lessons which made me a little light-headed (and I was afraid of the voice teacher's growling, drooling Doberman) and both saxophone and piano, neither of which I ever practiced. I did well in school but started a lot of my work at the last minute, in a crazy mad dash, so that it was never late but there were usually careless errors or areas I had to fudge. I had this idea that to work hard at something was sort of a negative, an admission that I didn't have natural talent. If I wasn't going to be Mozart and have the music (or dance, or math, or social studies term paper, or whatever) channeled through me from God, then I was just embarrassing myself by all that workmanlike effort. I didn't get over that idea until after college, by the way.
Career Ambitions
I never really planned to be a writer. I planned to be a financial wizard after learning about option-spreading at age 10, then a poet after discovering Shakespeare at 11. After overhearing "the real power is held by the lobbyists" on a class trip to Albany, I planned to become a lobbyist. Secretly, of course I always imagined myself as an actress, but that didn't seem hard or important enough, and also I worried I wasn't naturally gifted enough.
Parents
My parents were always great. I liked to make them proud, and they trusted me and supported my efforts and interests, which was sometimes weirdly tough. There was so little for me to rebel against.
As a Kid
When people ask me what I was as a kid, I always feel like my answer is at best incomplete.What are you like, as a kid? I'm still trying to figure out what I'm like as an adult.
Socially
Well, things went in waves. Sometimes I felt very "in", very aware of and tied in to the whole scene, excited by who liked whom, all the gossip, some of it less than kind. Other times I felt so alone-like there was nobody like me, nobody who liked me, nobody to talk to. And much of the time it was somewhere in between. A best friend when I was lucky, and a few people in each crowd I liked and who liked me. I resisted being classified as a brain or a jock or alternative or popular-too limiting. I would have to shut down too many parts of myself to be just one type.
Adolescence
I went through a very intense stage in middle school (Junior High). I worried about being too ordinary. I also worried about being too weird. I also worried about changing states of matter, my inability to be morally certain, ignorance (my own and world-wide), and making a fool of myself.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/rachel...
I was born on July 25, 1966, in NEW YORK CITY, and grew up in New Rochelle, NY, with my mother, my father, and my younger brother Jon. (And down the street from my future husband, though of course I didn't know that until much later.)
Interests
Some details, I do know-I was very into reading and theater, so I read every book I could get my hands on (especially realistic fiction, either contemporary or historical) and took acting workshops and auditioned for every play in school, camp, or the community. I played Peter Pan, Miss Hannigan in Annie, Benny Southstreet in Guys and Dolls, the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, and lots of extremely memorable chorus parts-for instance, I was "girl number two" in Fiddler on the Roof-the one who said "We heard about your sister, Chava". I didn't care -I just wanted to be on stage. Waiting backstage before curtain call, after giving my all in a performance, was the best feeling I knew. In seventh grade I started taking magic lessons, and by eighth grade I was making all my own spending money by performing at kids' birthday parties as a clown named Tallulah. I liked the freedom of wearing all that grease-paint-I could be as wacky and un-cool as I wanted. I tried dance but felt so clumsy. I faked a sprained ankle to get out of the recital. I took voice lessons which made me a little light-headed (and I was afraid of the voice teacher's growling, drooling Doberman) and both saxophone and piano, neither of which I ever practiced. I did well in school but started a lot of my work at the last minute, in a crazy mad dash, so that it was never late but there were usually careless errors or areas I had to fudge. I had this idea that to work hard at something was sort of a negative, an admission that I didn't have natural talent. If I wasn't going to be Mozart and have the music (or dance, or math, or social studies term paper, or whatever) channeled through me from God, then I was just embarrassing myself by all that workmanlike effort. I didn't get over that idea until after college, by the way.
Career Ambitions
I never really planned to be a writer. I planned to be a financial wizard after learning about option-spreading at age 10, then a poet after discovering Shakespeare at 11. After overhearing "the real power is held by the lobbyists" on a class trip to Albany, I planned to become a lobbyist. Secretly, of course I always imagined myself as an actress, but that didn't seem hard or important enough, and also I worried I wasn't naturally gifted enough.
Parents
My parents were always great. I liked to make them proud, and they trusted me and supported my efforts and interests, which was sometimes weirdly tough. There was so little for me to rebel against.
As a Kid
When people ask me what I was as a kid, I always feel like my answer is at best incomplete.What are you like, as a kid? I'm still trying to figure out what I'm like as an adult.
Socially
Well, things went in waves. Sometimes I felt very "in", very aware of and tied in to the whole scene, excited by who liked whom, all the gossip, some of it less than kind. Other times I felt so alone-like there was nobody like me, nobody who liked me, nobody to talk to. And much of the time it was somewhere in between. A best friend when I was lucky, and a few people in each crowd I liked and who liked me. I resisted being classified as a brain or a jock or alternative or popular-too limiting. I would have to shut down too many parts of myself to be just one type.
Adolescence
I went through a very intense stage in middle school (Junior High). I worried about being too ordinary. I also worried about being too weird. I also worried about changing states of matter, my inability to be morally certain, ignorance (my own and world-wide), and making a fool of myself.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/rachel...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 582 reviews
April 13, 2017
Loved this book. Rachel Vail's characters, adults and children alike, never fail to come alive on the page. And the tiny little age-appropriate romance made me so happy!
January 21, 2019
Well, That Was Awesome!
Hello, new favourite book :)
Well, That Was Awkward is one brilliantly funny, very clever, unputdownable, grin-worthy absolute blast of a book. Oh my gosh, I loved it so.
Well, That Was Awkward is a charming loose retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac ~ always a fun premise to remake for teens of today ~ who are texting and emoji-ing all over the place. It's a real feel-good story with delicious puns, quick witted humour, a tortoise (and a rabbit), a suddenly cute boy, best friends, epic inside jokes (Never. Gonna. Happen.), and the perfect amount of depth to flesh out all the characters. The characters are in grade 8 and they are perfectly awesome. Oh, and the parents were also complete classics! I love when parents are just as funny and original as the teen characters (shout out to all you awesome parents out there! Haha).
True to the title, there were many hilariously awkward moments, so this should be your next read when you're in the mood for some LOLs (haha). I seriously loved this ~ it's a perfect blend of some of my fave things in fiction: light-hearted fun with the perfect amount of angst, awkward shenanigans, characters who are my people, and a plot which builds in anticipation to a sweet. sweet climax and charming and cool resolution.
Note: this is a perfect one for all the MG readers out there, as well as YA readers - and adults who love to smile and reminisce about those awkward early teen years, haha.
Hello, new favourite book :)
Well, That Was Awkward is one brilliantly funny, very clever, unputdownable, grin-worthy absolute blast of a book. Oh my gosh, I loved it so.
Well, That Was Awkward is a charming loose retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac ~ always a fun premise to remake for teens of today ~ who are texting and emoji-ing all over the place. It's a real feel-good story with delicious puns, quick witted humour, a tortoise (and a rabbit), a suddenly cute boy, best friends, epic inside jokes (Never. Gonna. Happen.), and the perfect amount of depth to flesh out all the characters. The characters are in grade 8 and they are perfectly awesome. Oh, and the parents were also complete classics! I love when parents are just as funny and original as the teen characters (shout out to all you awesome parents out there! Haha).
True to the title, there were many hilariously awkward moments, so this should be your next read when you're in the mood for some LOLs (haha). I seriously loved this ~ it's a perfect blend of some of my fave things in fiction: light-hearted fun with the perfect amount of angst, awkward shenanigans, characters who are my people, and a plot which builds in anticipation to a sweet. sweet climax and charming and cool resolution.
Note: this is a perfect one for all the MG readers out there, as well as YA readers - and adults who love to smile and reminisce about those awkward early teen years, haha.
October 29, 2020
As a current 8th grader this is not how we think and these are not the problems we face or the things we focus on, these characters sound like 5th graders I mean I'm just saying.
July 15, 2017
Omg omg omg omg that was the cutest book I have ever read in such a long time. It was so freaking cute. I'm actually speechless. I want more. I wish the book didn't end as quickly as it did. I wish there was a second book!!!! I usually don't read middle school books because I'm so much older but I really enjoyed this one because it reminded me of the awkwardness and weirdness of middle school. It reminded me of all the problems in middle school and all the drama. It was so realistic, like all the stuff in this book actually happened in my middle school. I loved how gracie and emmet were texting for their best friends the whole time and they actually ended up liking each other. They originally were friends and liked other people but they ended up together and it was the best combination ever. I didn't like how the book just ended with her being shook like I want to see them go on dates it's no fair. And I was so cheesed when sienna wanted to make more friends like people always take best friends for granted it's so dumb. I highly recommend this book to remind you about your middle school experience. And Riley the mean girl was on my nerves I was so happy when sienna finally stood up to her. And the whole addition with Gracie having a dead sister and family issues and trying to solve the family issues was a super interesting add on.
July 25, 2016
What a delightful reading experience this was! The voice is pitch-perfect, as are the ever-shifting loyalties and relationships of the characters. Vail is skilled at mining the adolescent experience in a cringe-worthy, aw-honey kind of way, but never, ever talks down to her audience. The NYC setting, cast of characters and relationships made me think of Goodbye Stranger, but with a heavier dose of comedy. Like Stead, Vail showcases city kids who aren't the children of upper crust Manhattan society. There is a touch of Cyrano de Bergerac here, but the reader doesn't need to be familiar with the reference to enjoy the story. Will definitely be on my top of 2017 lists
April 24, 2018
AW <3
EMMETT I LOVE YOU
EMMETT I LOVE YOU
November 9, 2019
3.5*. AWWW SO CUTE WHATSYEYA <33
March 13, 2019
I think that a possible theme could be to support others even if it means that you won't get what you want. This book shows how hard middle school can be, and how much drama takes place. Also, even though Sienna and Gracie are good friends, Sienna gets the guy that Gracie likes but Gracie still helps Sienna out. Even though Gracie is going through a lot, she tries to act like she isn't.
July 30, 2018
Rachel Vail writes some good characters! This could have been a cute, Cyrano de Bergerac type middle grade romance, and it would have still been good! But Vail added a layer of depth: Gracie and her parents are still dealing with the unexpected death of a child, years before Gracie was born. This adds interesting interactions between Gracie and her parents, as well as Gracie and her peers. The story arc was somewhat predictable, but that didn’t make this any less of a sweet, enjoyable read.
September 6, 2017
I do so enjoy a smart love story. This ranks right up there with my faves. It's lighter than Eleanor & Park, but just as swoony. It's as sweet and funny as Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, but unlike with Simon, there's really no surprise as to who Gracie is meant to fall in love with. And that's okay. Gracie's clever, somewhat manic internal monologue is endearing and pulled me through the story even though I knew pretty much all along what the payoff would be.
This is a feel-good story with humor, great writing, lots of heart, and compelling characters. Win.
This is a feel-good story with humor, great writing, lots of heart, and compelling characters. Win.
February 21, 2019
Well, that was adorable. Funny, so relatable, and heartwarming. I can't wait to give this to some of my middle schoolers. I want to see more of these characters!
October 14, 2022
It’s that time of year..
Back to school. I walked over to the shelfs and pretended like I was going to get a book, solely to make my teacher happy. Until something caught my eye, it had a cute cover and an interesting title. So I picked it up, not expecting much. Little did I know how much I would like it.
Well, that was awkward, it was written by Rachel Vail. This is a story about a girl named Gracie, and her three friends and they go through a LOT together. Sadly her parents are very over protective and it’s all because of one big incident.
I really loved the tone and style of this book. I would have rated this 5 stars but it got bumped down to 4. It was only a four because the beginning felt too slow. But my advice is to just stick with it because it got a lot better. This book can be suspenseful, serious and funny all at the same time. But some of the chapters unfortunately felt long even if they were fairly short. Each chapter is more exciting than the last one, but if I had to choose one it would definitely be when they were at the party! This story brings you on a rollercoaster of emotions, and demands you to lose sleep because of it. I think that's what makes Well, that was awkward so special to me. This is a page turning/ hilarious/ drama filled book so if you enjoy any of those things you should really take this book into consideration when deciding a new novel. This book is a realistic fiction story that also has a very interesting
and creative storyline.
That said this was a great book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a good read.
Back to school. I walked over to the shelfs and pretended like I was going to get a book, solely to make my teacher happy. Until something caught my eye, it had a cute cover and an interesting title. So I picked it up, not expecting much. Little did I know how much I would like it.
Well, that was awkward, it was written by Rachel Vail. This is a story about a girl named Gracie, and her three friends and they go through a LOT together. Sadly her parents are very over protective and it’s all because of one big incident.
I really loved the tone and style of this book. I would have rated this 5 stars but it got bumped down to 4. It was only a four because the beginning felt too slow. But my advice is to just stick with it because it got a lot better. This book can be suspenseful, serious and funny all at the same time. But some of the chapters unfortunately felt long even if they were fairly short. Each chapter is more exciting than the last one, but if I had to choose one it would definitely be when they were at the party! This story brings you on a rollercoaster of emotions, and demands you to lose sleep because of it. I think that's what makes Well, that was awkward so special to me. This is a page turning/ hilarious/ drama filled book so if you enjoy any of those things you should really take this book into consideration when deciding a new novel. This book is a realistic fiction story that also has a very interesting
and creative storyline.
That said this was a great book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a good read.
April 9, 2023
Wow, if this isn’t a middle schooler’s mind… At first I hated the pacing of this book. Then I started thinking about the conversations I have with my own child and it clicked. I’m recommending this to her next!
March 3, 2018
Great story of friendship, family and first love.
January 13, 2022
one of the worst books i have read.
March 8, 2022
I enjoyed this middle grade book that tackled grief and awkward middle grade dynamics/relationships, all while semi-retelling one of my favorite plays: cyrano de bergerac. It was probably more of a 4 star read but needed some editing (the ages of the narrator’s sister never aligned with the anniversary of her passing - and it was mentioned a lot) and the audiobook narrator mispronounced some words that threw me off 😅 probably all petty complaints. Still a good read.
July 13, 2018
Sweet junior high story about friends, friendship, pre-dating, bullying, belonging, family, and loss. Vail is quite the wordsmith, and she is adept at teen-talk, including texting between characters. Think of this as at the early end of Jennifer E. Smith books--same audience, just months before. Now I need to read Unfriended!
November 8, 2021
I absolutely love this book! Rachel Vail smoothly blends Gracie's average teenager anxieties with a devastating loss. Gracie is so sweet and is very lucky to have friends like Sienna, AJ, and of course, Emmet!
February 9, 2024
this book was not it for me. my friend read the book “Unfriended” by the same author and thought it was really good. we both read this one and it was not good. it is not romantic at all and the kids in it are still in middle school. i would say this book is good for 8-10 year olds. not a good rom-com
Want to read
March 9, 2017A portrayal of romantic life that’s appropriate for upper elementary readers narrated by a voicey, nerdy main character who is a little too quick-witted to be realistic.
Gracie likes AJ.
AJ likes Gracie’s best friend, Sienna.
Shy Sienna isn’t sure how to respond, so Gracie writes Sienna’s texts to AJ.
I appreciated that this book had a premise that was appropriate, realistic, and appealing to both elementary and middle school students -- first crushes, first kisses, puppy love, and a lot of awkward.
However, I found the message, packaging, and pacing to be a little bit off as compared to the plot. I found the premise appropriate for readers in grades 4 and up, while the voice, the nerdishness, the punning, the pacing, and the sense of humor is closer to the maturity of a YA. That is to say, I think a lot of young readers who could find this book appealing won’t, because it’s about 100 pages too long and the character seems too wise to be relatable.
I’d give this book to fans of books like Rebecca Stead’s Goodbye Stranger for a few reasons. Both have smart female characters who are witty, wise, and totally middle school. Both take place on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
Reviewed from ARC.
Gracie likes AJ.
AJ likes Gracie’s best friend, Sienna.
Shy Sienna isn’t sure how to respond, so Gracie writes Sienna’s texts to AJ.
I appreciated that this book had a premise that was appropriate, realistic, and appealing to both elementary and middle school students -- first crushes, first kisses, puppy love, and a lot of awkward.
However, I found the message, packaging, and pacing to be a little bit off as compared to the plot. I found the premise appropriate for readers in grades 4 and up, while the voice, the nerdishness, the punning, the pacing, and the sense of humor is closer to the maturity of a YA. That is to say, I think a lot of young readers who could find this book appealing won’t, because it’s about 100 pages too long and the character seems too wise to be relatable.
I’d give this book to fans of books like Rebecca Stead’s Goodbye Stranger for a few reasons. Both have smart female characters who are witty, wise, and totally middle school. Both take place on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
Reviewed from ARC.
April 3, 2021
Well, that was downright adorable.
And also intuitive, smart, funny and brimming with such a big BIG questioning heart.
Aimed at a younger audience than YA Lit, the middle-school characters are still viewing the world, relationships and their interactions with a certain degree of freshness, naivety and idealism. And yet, with a larger issue at hand, the book manages to tint fourteen year sunshine-girl protagonist Gracie with many interesting, painful and mature layers.
Yet another aspect of the book that I liked was that it was actively trying to convey a message of self-love (zits, big body, loud mouth, no filters and all). There was not much self-deprecation or long whining rants that seem to have become the mainstay of middle-school and YA Lit novels for a long, long time now.
Cute characters with a couple of cliches thrown in, the book still manages to surprise you, make you smile, tear up a wee bit and have a thoroughly enjoyable read.
January 1, 2018
I love this book for middle school and up. Lighthearted but deals with some tougher topics in Gracie's life. I enjoyed reading it!
May 2, 2020
Not my favorite. It was pretty boring at the begging and was a very predictable book. I just felt like I knew what was gonna happen and it felt all too familiar. It had a cute ending, bit I've read too many books with the same plot so I didn't enjoy it a ton. At the beginning they made a huge deal about the main characters sister, who died before the main character was born. I felt like they could have put that aspect in a little more to make the story a bit more unique and heart warming. They just sprinkled Bret in there every now and then so I think they could've talked about it more.
July 22, 2025
It kinda made me unhappy reading about someone talk about how horrible they were.. The entire time. It got to be annoying at the end actually, she talked about how no one would love her and how she had a big nose. I don’t care if you have a big nose but I wouldn’t want to be your friend either if you kept talking about how terrible you are cause your hands are big.
The other parts of the book were just filled with drama. It was ok, but a little painful to read. It was a log of people insulting themselves and others, and getting offended.
2/5 :(
The other parts of the book were just filled with drama. It was ok, but a little painful to read. It was a log of people insulting themselves and others, and getting offended.
2/5 :(
May 31, 2019
This book called "Well, that was Awkward" is a book that is a somewhat go. The reason I rated this a 3 out of 5 stars is because I hate the fact that some books when you read the sum of the story it is intresting but when you read it is boring. I recomend it to people who has a big imagination in order to know what is going on with the story.
October 26, 2017
I thought this book was very well written. It showed the real humor and struggles of the middle school experience. There were a lot of relatable moments and it showed its ok to feel. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves realistic fiction.
December 28, 2017
Yet another really good read from the 2018-2019 Lone Star list. This is #6 or 7 for me to read and so far, I have not been disappointed. I would call this one like John Green or Sarah Dessen for middle grade readers. It was sweet, funny, angsty, and ultimately hopeful. I really liked it.
February 15, 2017
This book really surprised me with its depth. Not only is it a fun, romantic, funny, witty, read but also really poignant when it comes to the main character's relationship with her parents.
April 13, 2017
This was a pitch-perfect Middle School/MG read. Characters with depth and interests outside of the plot, a sweet romance, romantic entanglements without tons of physical stuff - lovely. Hard to do!
January 17, 2019
I really didn't like the writing style or the main character.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 582 reviews