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Review: Tell Me Everything by Sarah Enni

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Tell Me Everything by Sarah Enni

Tell Me Everything
Sarah Enni
Point
February 26, 2019

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Goodreads

About Tell Me Everything

YOUR SECRET’S SAFE … UNTIL IT’S NOT

Ivy is the shy artist type and keeps a low profile—so low that she’s practically invisible to everyone at Belfry High School except for her best friend, Harold. As sophomore year begins, Harold takes up a hundred activities, leaving Ivy on her own. Luckily she’s found a distraction: the new anonymous art-sharing app, VEIL.

Soon Ivy realizes that one of her classmates is the VEIL user who needs new paintbrushes … and another is the one visiting the hospital every week … and another is the one dealing with their parents’ messy divorce. While she’s too scared to put her own creations on the app, Ivy thinks of an even better way to contribute—by making gifts for the artists she’s discovered. The acts of kindness give her such a rush that, when Ivy suspects Harold is keeping a secret, she decides to go all in. Forget gifts—Ivy wants to throw Harold a major party.

But when all those good intentions thrust her into the spotlight, Ivy’s carefully curated world is thrown into chaos. Now she has to find the courage to come out of the shadows—about her art, her secrets, and her mistakes—or risk losing everything and everyone she loves the most.

My Review

In TELL ME EVERYTHING, Ivy has the best voice of anything I’ve read in a while. I loved her awkwardness and the way she paid attention to people. The writing felt really natural and funny.

I enjoyed the story a lot, too. I liked that even though she was figuring out secrets of people around her, her judgments weren’t always accurate. And she also has to learn that even when they are accurate, it doesn’t mean that her interference will be welcome.

She also wrestles with this desire to be part of things but also invisible, which really resonated with me. It’s hard to find the right balance for me, too.

Overall, I loved so many things about TELL ME EVERYTHING. Somebody go read it so we can have coffee and gush about it together! Ha!

Seriously, though, if you like Sarah Dessen’s books or THE UNLIKELY HERO OF ROOM 13B by Teresa Toten, then you definitely want to check out TELL ME EVERYTHING.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Ivy discovers one of her friends is gay. Her best friend is black.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Someone posts slurs against someone who’s gay.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog. I received a free copy of TELL ME EVERYTHING in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Wonder of Us by Kim Culbertson

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , ,

Wonder of Us
Kim Culbertson
Point
Published April 25, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About The Wonder of Us
Riya moved to Berlin, Germany, with her family for junior year, while Abby stayed behind in their small California town. They thought it would be easy to keep up their friendship—it’s only a year and they’ve been best friends since preschool. But instead, they ended up fighting and not being there for the other. So Riya proposes an epic adventure to fix their friendship. Two weeks, six countries, unimaginable fun. But two small catches:

They haven’t talked in weeks.

They’ve both been keeping secrets.

Can Riya and Abby find their way back to each other among lush countrysides and dazzling cities, or does growing up mean growing apart?

My Review
I worried that this story would be too light and cheesy for my taste, but I was so wrong. I loved the way the story of Riya and Abby’s friendship develops and unravels and their scrambling attempts to fix things. Though the girls are in late high school, the story is clean and sweet, definitely something to consider for younger teens just beginning their foray into young adult literature. Might be a good fit for someone who enjoyed the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants or Sarah Dessen’s books.

The setting rotates through major European cities, which was another really fun element. I liked that both girls had such different personalities that they experienced the cities in different ways and valued different things about them. Those differences made it easy to see why their friendship was a challenge but also why it had been so rewarding to them.

The one element I struggled with was Abby’s relationship with her mom, who had recently divorced her dad. Abby clearly blames her mom and doesn’t find a lot of resolution in her relationship through the story. While I know that wasn’t the point of the book, I would have liked to see at least a little bit of hope there or a broadening in Abby’s understanding of her mom’s decisions.

On the whole, though, I enjoyed the story a lot and think it’s a great summer read.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Riya and her cousin Neel are Indian. Abby is white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A couple brief instances of British profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
A few brief kisses.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Neel and his friend order beer (they’re of age to drink). Riya and Abby go to some teen clubs where they drink soda.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.