I didn’t like this at all. I guess I was expecting something much different than what I got. The writing style was stifling to say the least. It took away from my experience and joy of reading a new to me author.

The Year of Living Awkwardly was a cute high school drama, filled with ups, downs, and plenty of angst to keep you turning page after page. I wish I would have picked it up over the summer because it would have been a great beach read. It was a little more juvenile than I was expecting, but it was still a really cute and fun read. It definitely brought back memories of my high school days! The characters were fun and pretty believable, but I felt like there were just a ton of cliches and not a whole lot that was truly original. The mean popular girl who steals the best friend and the crush, the family drama, etc.

I think this would be a fun read for young high schoolers, and it would definitely be an enjoyable summer read. I would highly recommend this novel if you were a fan of To All the Boys I've Loved Before or similar novels. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Pulse for sending this novel in exchange for and honest review.

Rating 3/5

Charming and funny!
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon Pulse for the opportunity to read and review The Year of Living Awkwardly: Sophomore Year by Emma Chastain!
Chloe shares her daily experiences through diary entries. She lives with her single father after her mother left them. Chloe's mother went to Mexico with her much younger boyfriend. Needless to say, Chloe is angry at her mother. Chloe and her co-worker Grady have an entertaining relationship. Once school starts, so does the worrying and the drama of high school life. Friendships, dating, the musical and family spin Chloe out of control and she learns about herself in the process. Charming and funny, this realistic fiction is a blast to read with dynamic characters, drama and humor, 5 stars!

Sometimes I just get SUPER into high school contemporary romance/comedies and this was definitely one of them. I loved Chloe and Grady and Tris and just all of them. ALL OF THEM. Except Reese of course, but you're not supposed to love her. Unless you love to hate her, maybe.

It's a fun story told sort of in diary form. Chloe is starting sophomore year of high school, her parents are getting a divorce, her love life is a disaster, her friend group is gaining and losing members and having rivalries and her dad is dating her favorite teacher.

I have never read the first one. I will so have to now though because there's probably more Grady in it and I will die. I hope there is a sequel (with even more Grady).

There is an impressive amount of sex talk and sex in this for a book about 15 year olds. I would prefer if 15/16 year olds were maybe not having sex? I am an old prude. And a couple of swears. It said it was for age 12 and up which is still maybe accurate.... I would maybe go to 13/14 and up though (such a prude). But really good writing and characters and situations and I loved it.

Chloe has a fun voice and sense of humor that takes me back to my teenage years, back when everything was supposed to be simple, but wasn’t because of teenage awkwardness.

This book reads just like a diary entry. Many of the entires are short and filled with thoughts as they come to Chloe. While there are consistent themes, like family, friendship, and romance, there are also many smaller subplots following Chloe’s journey into sophomore year, and they get resolved at different times. This is great in that it reflects actual life, but it was a bit harder to read as a book because I wanted to have a unifying plot to follow.

That said, I enjoyed seeing Chloe’s growth as she takes the lessons that she learned freshman year. She still has much to learn, but she’s grown more mature and is capable of handling issues that were overwhelming to her as a freshman.

I especially like how Chloe comes to realizations about what is important in life. Such as finding meaning in the role she’s given, being a true friend when others won’t be, and learning to love people who are hard to love. Lastly, she learns that romantic love isn’t all about the sparks and the immediate physical attraction or even about looking for someone higher up on the social hierarchy. What’s important is finding someone who genuinely cares about you and will be by your side.

Love this character! Reading as a diary gives her a lot of voice. I thought the author did a great job at making the character real. I felt like she could be one of my students!

I was extremely excited to see the opportunity to join the blog tour for this one, since I SPED THROUGH and LOVED the first book so much. I really put myself in Chloe’s shoes as a freshman in high school. I even said in my review that I wished the author would write a book for each school year! Needless to say, I hopped on this quickly.

Chloe had some immaturity and normal-ish “high school related” flaws to work through in the first book. I rooted for her so much in both stories because I could really see her growing and changing. She constantly recognized how privileged she was and how she was often complaining about silly (in the grand scheme of things) issues, but they were still HER issues to work through. I absolutely LOVE her voice and her authenticity. I don’t think I’ve ever read a YA book that feels more real. The diary format helps but the overall voice in the story is so natural. I remember feeling so many of the same emotions throughout my early high school years. She goes through illogical and logical reactions to what’s happening around her, and has her mature and immature moments. Like the first book, I placed myself right in her shoes and remembered what I felt like during those years.

I LOVED the ending so incredibly much, but I need more. PLEASE let there be a junior year book next. Please. Keep em coming for the next two years of her high school career!

Chloe Snow is a high school sophomore who is struggling with the abandonment of her mother. She also is absorbed in taking her PSA, school, boys and friends. She must keep it all together to make it through her sophomore year.

I really didn’t know much about ‘ The Year of Living Awkwardly’ going into it. It is book #2 in the Chloe Snow’s Diary series. They synopsis made Chloe sound very angsty. As I read though the diary (the story is told in diary format) I realized Chloe is typical of how many teenagers truly are. I haven’t been a teenager for a very long time but I remember being very emotional and every little thing was a big deal to me . Even though technology has made the world an entirely different place from when I grew up, the world of the teenager is still small and very self-absorbed. This is almost how it needs to be as they learn who they are and how to relate to the world around them. For example, Chloe thinks she is never going to meet anyone and is going to wind up as a spinster. This seems silly at first but this is exactly an example how teenagers feel. Throughout the story Chloe often states that she knows she’s privileged and self-centered but that she can’t help feeling this way she does.

One of the most interesting things in ‘The Year of Living Awkwardly’ is Chloe’s relationships to other characters in the story. I think her relationship with her parents is one that will resonate with a lot of people. Chloe struggles to not let her mother’s abandonment and distant personality ruin her life. She also struggles with her father moving on from his ruined marriage and dating Chloe’s english teacher. Chloe really grows as a person in relation to her dad’s dating life. I also loved how Chloe grew with respect to her other personal relationships. She learned what things were really important to her and that she deserved to be treated well.

I loved the characters, the agsty storyline, the diary format, and the easy to read prose. I loved learning so much about “South Pacific” (I showing my age here but I couldn’t help thinking about ‘Dirty Dancing’). This is just an all around fun read with an accurate portrayal of what it is like to be a teenager. I am going to read book #1, ‘Confessions of a Teenage Disaster and I can’t wait to find out in the next two books what happens in Chloe’s Junior and Senior year.

Side note-Did anyone else notice that Chloe’s frenemy’s name is Lex in the synopsis but is Reese in the book?

Rating: 4.5 Stars

If I was asked to describe The Year of Living Awkwardly in three words, I would say: delightful, amusing, and honest.

When I started this book, I was immediately captured by Chloe's voice. Chloe clearly came across as a 15-year-old teen, and I found her musings, observations, frustrations, and fears very believable. I fell in love with her. I was happy, when she was happy, and sad, when she was sad. I raged with her, hurt with her, and even swooned with her. There were so many times I wanted to reach into the book and give her a hug, because this was a tough year for Chloe.

She experienced a lot of disappointments during her sophomore year. There was her parents' divorce, growing apart from her best friend, losing some other valuable friendships, and additional smaller, but no less disheartening, let downs. However, all these were valuable life lessons for Chloe, and only made her stronger and wiser.

Confession: I read this book, and then went back and read the first book. From my personal experience, I can tell you that the book stands on its own. Chastain fills in all the pertinent details, and you will not be lost in the story. Now, I had thought Chloe grew tremendously over the course of this story, but after reading the first book, I was really impressed with how much she changed since her freshman year. It's one of the things I love about this type of series. Getting to watch the character pass so many milestones, make mistakes, and learn from them. I think Chloe's worldview changed a lot from book 1 to book 2, and you see it in her self-awareness.

There were many times I was really proud of Chloe in this book. She made some decisions, which could have been social suicide, nipped some toxic relationships in the bud, faced some big fears, and acknowledged some of her own shortcomings. This was such a huge difference from High School Disaster Chloe.

The diary format is one I really enjoy. I feel like the character can just share their thoughts without any filter, since this is being written just for them. It's confessional in nature and usually quite revealing. Chloe's shares were quite sincere, and often hilarious. I laughed so much while reading this book, but I also thought some of Chloe's entries were insightful, and I enjoyed getting to know her so well.

Overall: What a wonderful and fun year I got to spend with Chloe! Chloe will join Ruby Oliver and Georgia Nicholson on my list of confessional protagonists, who I love. I look forward to spending Junior and Senior year with Chloe!

The Year of Living Awkwardly the second book in this series, but I have not read the first one. I will tell you that I loved this book without having read the first one so I'm sure its even better if you have read the first one. This could easily be read as stand alone book as well. I loved how realistic Chloe was. Her voice was awkward, frustrated, sad, and happy at times. She went through all the feelings and emotions that a sophomore would experience. She's dealing with crumbling friendship, a love, and her family problems. This is a wonderfully honest story about being in high school and all the complications that come with it.