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Slingshot
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An exciting debut contemporary young adult novel perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell and Mary H. K. Choi
Grace Welles had resigned herself to the particular loneliness of being fifteen and stuck at a third-tier boarding school in the swamps of Florida, when she accidentally saves the new kid in her class from being beat up. With a single aim of a slingshot, the monotonous m ...more
Grace Welles had resigned herself to the particular loneliness of being fifteen and stuck at a third-tier boarding school in the swamps of Florida, when she accidentally saves the new kid in her class from being beat up. With a single aim of a slingshot, the monotonous m ...more
Hardcover, 352 pages
Expected publication:
April 27th 2021
by Wednesday Books
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What a beautiful, realistic, extremely poignant novel with John Green and Sally Rooney’s character vibes! Realistic fiction dances with coming of age!
In this book: NOBODY IS PERFECT!
Parents suck! Teachers are biased! Protagonists are flawed, making so many mistakes to break each others’ hearts.
Angst, sadness, taking risks to fall in love and to be loved in return, loyalty, pure honesty, dysfunctional families, self-discovery, bullying, destroying your emotional barriers are the issues were reali ...more
In this book: NOBODY IS PERFECT!
Parents suck! Teachers are biased! Protagonists are flawed, making so many mistakes to break each others’ hearts.
Angst, sadness, taking risks to fall in love and to be loved in return, loyalty, pure honesty, dysfunctional families, self-discovery, bullying, destroying your emotional barriers are the issues were reali ...more
Actual rating: 3,5
I always had a weak spot for book covers, it is well known true, so when I saw the beautiful design for Slingshot, I knew I had to read this novel even before I read what it was about.
I went into it expecting nothing, as more and more not-so-flattering reviews showed up. I still wanted to give it a fair shot.
From the very first chapter it was obvious why so many people dislike the story. The main character, who is not only unlikeable, but rude, shallow and in her mind above eve ...more
I always had a weak spot for book covers, it is well known true, so when I saw the beautiful design for Slingshot, I knew I had to read this novel even before I read what it was about.
I went into it expecting nothing, as more and more not-so-flattering reviews showed up. I still wanted to give it a fair shot.
From the very first chapter it was obvious why so many people dislike the story. The main character, who is not only unlikeable, but rude, shallow and in her mind above eve ...more
One of the worst romances (?) I've ever read.
Featuring an opening chapter where the 15 year old protagonist is convinced her teacher is her soulmate, and yells at him upon discovering he's engaged.
Um. YEAH. It's a massive yikes from me.
If any of the above was mentioned in the synopsis, which it wasn’t, I would have veered far from this book. Sure, Gracie being in love with her teacher is only a side plot in the midst of the main romance, but it was a very uncomfy aspect to add; one I feel was ...more
Featuring an opening chapter where the 15 year old protagonist is convinced her teacher is her soulmate, and yells at him upon discovering he's engaged.
Um. YEAH. It's a massive yikes from me.
If any of the above was mentioned in the synopsis, which it wasn’t, I would have veered far from this book. Sure, Gracie being in love with her teacher is only a side plot in the midst of the main romance, but it was a very uncomfy aspect to add; one I feel was ...more
Jul 17, 2020
Chelsea Humphrey
marked it as dnf-lost-interest
Now available to request via NetGalley!
*Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy.
*Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy.
Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of Slingshot in exchange for an honest review.
I am so uncomfortable and no one will convince me that anyone in this book is the age they say they are. Anyways, let's unpack this.
We open on Grace, our 15 year old protagonist talking about her certainty that her and her bio teacher are soulmates which is... creepy and problematic but hey! Maybe it's an innocent crush Grace doesn't realize is creepy. Except it isn't. Grace goes so far as to cuss out the ...more
I am so uncomfortable and no one will convince me that anyone in this book is the age they say they are. Anyways, let's unpack this.
We open on Grace, our 15 year old protagonist talking about her certainty that her and her bio teacher are soulmates which is... creepy and problematic but hey! Maybe it's an innocent crush Grace doesn't realize is creepy. Except it isn't. Grace goes so far as to cuss out the ...more
Thank you Netgalley for approving me for this title!!
May 20, 2020
Fanna
marked it as high-priority-tbr
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2021-releases
↣ digital copy received via the netgalley ↢
May 20, 2020: The cover has just been revealed and it's yet another illustrated bliss like Wednesday Books' other amazing covers. OMG. ...more
i received the arc from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review
i’m still trying to figure out how i managed to actually finish reading this book. i was hoping for something that was a little more emotional but instead i got something that was melodramatic. i wasn’t a huge fan of the main character and a lot of the situations were over exaggerated.
this book honestly had a lot of potential. it’s a shame that it didn’t live up to it.
i’m still trying to figure out how i managed to actually finish reading this book. i was hoping for something that was a little more emotional but instead i got something that was melodramatic. i wasn’t a huge fan of the main character and a lot of the situations were over exaggerated.
this book honestly had a lot of potential. it’s a shame that it didn’t live up to it.
I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Oh, huh, well... Slingshot was definitely a frustrating read for me. In it, you will meet Gracie and Wade. In the beginning, I loved Wade because he was completely and utterly adorable. Yet, there was so much about him we didn't know because Gracie was self-centered and shallow. She was completely horrible to anyone and everyone. Plus, I also got crazy psycho vibes from her throughout the book.
Wade was no different once we ...more
Oh, huh, well... Slingshot was definitely a frustrating read for me. In it, you will meet Gracie and Wade. In the beginning, I loved Wade because he was completely and utterly adorable. Yet, there was so much about him we didn't know because Gracie was self-centered and shallow. She was completely horrible to anyone and everyone. Plus, I also got crazy psycho vibes from her throughout the book.
Wade was no different once we ...more
UPDATE: Apparently there are a lot of sock puppet reviews on this books, all comparing this to Catcher in the Rye, having no other reviews etc. This makes me extremely mad that an author would do this, so this is being bumped down to 1 star.
I wanted to love this book. I saw early reviews and almost everyone loved it. But I couldn’t get past the fact that the main characters were 15, when they felt like 17-18. I just ended up thinking about “ew, is this what my brother does/thinks about”... So i ...more
I wanted to love this book. I saw early reviews and almost everyone loved it. But I couldn’t get past the fact that the main characters were 15, when they felt like 17-18. I just ended up thinking about “ew, is this what my brother does/thinks about”... So i ...more
My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
WELL! For a while there, I thought my entire review would be written in capital letters. This author has a quirky wit and a very wry sense of humour.
Fifteen year old Gracie was, in her own mind, a "Rebel With Lots of Cause." She was the illegitimate daughter of a man with a "real family" on whom he showered most of his affection, time and money. Gracie and her "always look on the bright ...more
WELL! For a while there, I thought my entire review would be written in capital letters. This author has a quirky wit and a very wry sense of humour.
Fifteen year old Gracie was, in her own mind, a "Rebel With Lots of Cause." She was the illegitimate daughter of a man with a "real family" on whom he showered most of his affection, time and money. Gracie and her "always look on the bright ...more
Received a Netgalley ARC in exchange for an honest review.
TW: abuse
Please be safe while reading it!
I had mixed feelings while reading this book. One moment I would feel like I’m finally enjoying it and then the next I’d dislike it again.
Okay, but what is it actually about? Slingshot is told through our main character, Gracie Welles’s, pov. Gracie goes to a boarding school, and, as you’ll find out in the second chapter, her home life is far from perfect. Long story short, one day while skipping ...more
TW: abuse
Please be safe while reading it!
I had mixed feelings while reading this book. One moment I would feel like I’m finally enjoying it and then the next I’d dislike it again.
Okay, but what is it actually about? Slingshot is told through our main character, Gracie Welles’s, pov. Gracie goes to a boarding school, and, as you’ll find out in the second chapter, her home life is far from perfect. Long story short, one day while skipping ...more
I thought I'd check in with what's going on with YA these days. Maybe this was not the book to try.
It begins with the main character Gracie crying in a bathroom over a teacher, twenty years older than her fifteen years, who is now engaged. She has decided out of the blue that she is in love" with said teacher, and screams the house down at him for daring to have his own life.
This subject (which I really don't want to read about, blech) could have been handled sensitively. Kids that age live in t ...more
It begins with the main character Gracie crying in a bathroom over a teacher, twenty years older than her fifteen years, who is now engaged. She has decided out of the blue that she is in love" with said teacher, and screams the house down at him for daring to have his own life.
This subject (which I really don't want to read about, blech) could have been handled sensitively. Kids that age live in t ...more
Spoiler free review
“Love is love. It’s all that matters.”
Slingshot starts with our main character Grace sharing how she thinks her teacher who is about 20 years older than her is her soulmate. When she discovers he has a wife she went completely nuts and screamed at him endlessly. At first, I thought the book would somewhat revolve around this incident, perhaps something like revenge or whatever but no. Overall that part was really irrelevant to the plot.
Continuing with talking about the plot, ...more
“Love is love. It’s all that matters.”
Slingshot starts with our main character Grace sharing how she thinks her teacher who is about 20 years older than her is her soulmate. When she discovers he has a wife she went completely nuts and screamed at him endlessly. At first, I thought the book would somewhat revolve around this incident, perhaps something like revenge or whatever but no. Overall that part was really irrelevant to the plot.
Continuing with talking about the plot, ...more
WOW.
I loved this book more than I thought I would. Slingshot surpassed my expectations. Granted, I didn't have many expectations, but I was totally awed by this book.
Within the first several chapters my heartstrings were being pulled. I have NEVER been so emotionally moved so early on in a book before. If I get mildly emotional, it's closer to the ending of a book, but never in the beginning. And never with such intensity. That seriously wowed me.
The book is written in Gracie's, the main chara ...more
I loved this book more than I thought I would. Slingshot surpassed my expectations. Granted, I didn't have many expectations, but I was totally awed by this book.
Within the first several chapters my heartstrings were being pulled. I have NEVER been so emotionally moved so early on in a book before. If I get mildly emotional, it's closer to the ending of a book, but never in the beginning. And never with such intensity. That seriously wowed me.
The book is written in Gracie's, the main chara ...more
This book was such a disappointment. After seeing this author being compared to Rainbow Rowell and John Green I had high hopes for a new voice in YA but this book was not for me. The only reason I finished it was so I could post this review.
Slingshot starts with the main character, Gracie, crying because her biology teacher doesn't love her back. This plot point really bothered me and I felt it was unneeded. Gracie claims to be in love with her teacher and when he shuts her down (as he should, ...more
Slingshot starts with the main character, Gracie, crying because her biology teacher doesn't love her back. This plot point really bothered me and I felt it was unneeded. Gracie claims to be in love with her teacher and when he shuts her down (as he should, ...more
I LOVE books about young people muddling their way through life and love...whether it's an adult book like NORMAL PEOPLE by Sally Rooney or a YA read like THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, I'm in! SLINGSHOT is perfect for readers like me. It's a "funny/sad" story about two teenagers at a second rate boarding school in Florida, who find each other just when they need it. I like that it has a great love story, but it's not cheesy. Plus it's all from the point of view of a really funny heroine who's brave en
...more
Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me. I found the main character unlikeable and I thought Wade was too good for her. Gracie is fifteen, so she's going through puberty, emotional, and lashes out at others. To an extent, I can deal with that but Gracie was over the top mean. She said horrible things to people, even telling them she hopes they die. She hurt two boys who liked her and was consistently awful to her roommate.
I didn't feel like Gracie made much progress during the story. A couple ti ...more
I didn't feel like Gracie made much progress during the story. A couple ti ...more
ARC RECEIVED FROM NETGALLEY FOR HONEST REVIEW
Slingshot is about Gracie Welles, a 15-year-old girl attending a boarding school in Florida where she struggles to make friends and has a complicated home life due to her absent father. Enter Wade Scholfield, another student at Midhurst School, who Gracie saves from the torment of bullies with a lucky slingshot. A friendship, and eventual romance, ensues between the two.
I think a lot of the problems I had with this story could’ve been resolved by adj ...more
Slingshot is about Gracie Welles, a 15-year-old girl attending a boarding school in Florida where she struggles to make friends and has a complicated home life due to her absent father. Enter Wade Scholfield, another student at Midhurst School, who Gracie saves from the torment of bullies with a lucky slingshot. A friendship, and eventual romance, ensues between the two.
I think a lot of the problems I had with this story could’ve been resolved by adj ...more
FINALLY! I book that speaks to my humor - something that's not trendy, but an instant classic! Like Salinger's Catcher in the Rye Mercedes knows how to write smart, sassy characters with a soul. Her style is frank and no bullshit. She obviously loves the underdog and gives them a voice, while keeping the world funny and grounded. I really love this book. I hope she writes another one soon !!
...more
Sophomore year. High School. Love. Hate. Angst. Calm. Teachers. Parents. Honesty. Attitude. Homework. Acceptance. Denial. Love. Hate. Sophomore year in high school. We've all been there.
This story is an easy and touching read. ...more
This story is an easy and touching read. ...more
I have really mixed about this book. At times I enjoyed it, but at times I was just waiting for it to be over. I really tried to give this a shot, but the first chapter just really left a bad taste in my mouth.
This book immediately starts off with Grace going on and on about how her and her teacher, who was at least twenty years older, were soulmates. If that hadn’t been included, I might’ve enjoyed this a bit more, but her feelings towards him are constantly mentioned. On top of that, she has ...more
This book immediately starts off with Grace going on and on about how her and her teacher, who was at least twenty years older, were soulmates. If that hadn’t been included, I might’ve enjoyed this a bit more, but her feelings towards him are constantly mentioned. On top of that, she has ...more
This read was a case of the cover made me do it and unfortunately this one just did not work for me.
From the minute this story opened up on 15 year old Gracie’s delusions about her romance with her biology teacher, I knew this was not the story for me. Gracie was so unlikeable that being in her head was painful. She was mean and spiteful under the guise of being “sassy” and I could not find myself rooting for her to triumph.
The side characters just weren’t enough to keep me intrigued. Wade was ...more
From the minute this story opened up on 15 year old Gracie’s delusions about her romance with her biology teacher, I knew this was not the story for me. Gracie was so unlikeable that being in her head was painful. She was mean and spiteful under the guise of being “sassy” and I could not find myself rooting for her to triumph.
The side characters just weren’t enough to keep me intrigued. Wade was ...more
Slingshot follows Grace, a fifteen years old girl who isn't the sweetest person. She's very rude and closed off so when Wade comes along and tries to be her friend after she rescued him by using her slingshot against a bully, she pushes him away. Until she doesn't and slowly, Wade becomes a big part of her life. That boy was so sweet and amazing, I just wanted everything good to happen to him because he deserved it... He clearly was the better person of the two and I loved him. Also when somethi
...more
*𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸
Slingshot had such potential. The cover is simple, yet eye-catching. The synopsis promised an interesting book, but the story itself fell through for me.
Things get messy and unrealistically melodramatic, I would have liked some parts to been been changed, like made them older but okay.
I wasn't really a fan of Grace Welles like at all but Wade was so adorable and in end this was quick read! ...more
Slingshot had such potential. The cover is simple, yet eye-catching. The synopsis promised an interesting book, but the story itself fell through for me.
Things get messy and unrealistically melodramatic, I would have liked some parts to been been changed, like made them older but okay.
I wasn't really a fan of Grace Welles like at all but Wade was so adorable and in end this was quick read! ...more
Jan 06, 2021
Laura I.
added it
Thanks so much to Goodreads & Wednesday Books for the ARC! Review to come.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Aug 10, 2020
Althea | themoonwholistens ☾
marked it as to-read
*Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that plunged me so deeply back in my 15-year-old self’s mind—back to when the world is crazy and scary and totally indecipherable and people were so weird. While the story—somewhere between LOOKING FOR ALASKA and the latest THE BEST LAID PLANS—didn’t impress me much, the same can’t be said about the way Helnwein drew her characters and brought them to life. This story is full of heartbreak (at least if you’re 15, I imagine) and wit. I really loved the writing.
...more
i'm going to cry, i'm going to cry, i'm going to cry. But none of the tears are coming out. this book, these characters, the ENDING absolutely ruined me. NO, I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS. Someone take this book away from me before I read it another ten times.
...more
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| Challenge Corner: Slingshot by Mercedes Helnwein --> Starting September 11th, 2020 | 26 | 19 | Oct 05, 2020 04:36PM |
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Mercedes Helnwein is a visual artist and writer.
She was born in Vienna, Austria, and grew up in Germany, Ireland, and partially the US and the UK. Instead of going to college she moved to L.A. where she began putting on art shows with her friends and selling her drawings.
Her obsession with writing began at age ten when she wrote her first short story for a school assignment – The Celery Stick Wh ...more
She was born in Vienna, Austria, and grew up in Germany, Ireland, and partially the US and the UK. Instead of going to college she moved to L.A. where she began putting on art shows with her friends and selling her drawings.
Her obsession with writing began at age ten when she wrote her first short story for a school assignment – The Celery Stick Wh ...more
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