I have to say I wasn’t really a fan of this one.
I felt like Willa and Lizzie were just all around immature little girls instead of teenagers able to go on school trips to New York.
Trish as well - what a petty, petty character.
I felt as if the idea behind the story was good but I just felt as if there was so many glaringly obvious “mysteries” in this book.

This was a sweet and emotional book which took us along the thoughts and feelings of teenage girls. Full of everything you’d think of in a book of teenage children!

I will not be giving feedback on this book as I couldn’t really get into it but I think others may enjoy it.

This book was an enjoyable and quick read. If you enjoy the sibling rivalry trope, which is very present in this book, then you will love this book.

I couldn’t get into this book. I tried multiple times and it just didn’t grab my attention. I skimmed through hoping something would grab me but nothing ever did.

I really enjoyed this one! I loved the way the characters bond together to find who did it and the fact that these girls are strong!

Wasn't able to download. Tried multiple apps and still wouldn't work. Sounds good though so I will eventually purchase.

The Goodbye Girls by Lisa Harrington

Lizzie needs money for the class trip to New York. She needs to earn it in order to go on the trip.

She comes up with an idea, instead of singing telegrams, it will be break up baskets to ease the pain of splitting up.

Surprisingly the business takes off quickly and the money rolls in. Lizzie and her best friend Willa are swamped with orders.


But someone starts to sabotage them by sending nasty baskets to people pretending to be the breakup girls.

Who is responsible for this? You need to read the book to find out.

I liked the book, liked the mystery of it and while it wasnt the best book ever it was enjoyable.

thanks for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review, netgalley

The file format for this book would not open on my Kindle, even after following a few steps to convert, etc. This sounds like a great title that I’ll probably end up getting at the library.

This was NOT as cliched as I was expecting it to be! Surprisingly, I requested this on a whim and really enjoyed the writing and characters. It hooked me from the start and even after I finished it, I couldn't stop thinking about the plot.

Highly recommended!

So much potential with this idea! But unfortunately, it just did not do anything for me. The sibling rivalry was too much and just didn't work or make enough sense - it just came off as unnecessarily toxic and really tarnished my reading of the book. It seemed a bit all over the place with not enough of a focus on plot. It just wasn't for me

I loved this book, mainly because none of the guesses I had about the ending came completely true. It is hard to surprise me with books anymore so when one does it usually ends up In the favorite category. It is a fast paced edge of your seat, gotta finish it before I go to bed book.

Fun YA Read! The premise is interesting and I could totally see high schoolers trying to start a break-up service! I liked the realness of the characters and seeing how they develop.

I didn't care for this book because of the sister's! I would never treat my sister's that way! Almost dnf'd this! Thank you netgalley for the free arc in exchange for an honest review!

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. The story and writing was great, but I’m not a fan of belittling and that’s how it felt with the meanness between the two sisters.

Rating 3/5

I neither liked nor disliked this book. I respected the character designs and plot line, but felt the plot was too rushed and in fact did not have closure on all of the obstacles seen in this book. I also get that one of the obstacles was sibling rivalry but it borderlined bullying in my opinion which is NOT okay in any sense. Other than that, it was a quick read with good ideas.

Read this in one sitting. It was a nice, light YA read and exactly what I needed. I really enjoyed the writing and the premise.

I really liked that things didn’t end in a cliche way. The ending actually surprised me.

This book was pretty cute. However, it felt a little juvenile to me, which is necessarily a bad thing, and I would definitely recommend this to a thirteen year old girl. That probably took about a star off my enjoyment, and the other star comes from the ending. (also I guessed the solution to the mystery pretty much right away but I read a lot of mystery thrillers so that's more on me).

Plot: Lizzie and Willa need money, and they need it fast. The students of Halifax West High need an easy way to break up with their S.Os. Enter the Goodbye Girls, a business that'll break up for you, for a fee. This is obviously not a great moral plan, and things follow that route.

Characters:
Lizzie- Lizzie was okay, she was just a little too selfish for my liking. She could've learned a little more at the end because she didn't REALLY improve. She dates her sister's boyfriend, which bothered me deeply. She keeps secrets but screams at others for keeping secrets. She's not really that likeable, but she's not unlikeable enough to be unlikeable, which makes no sense I know. Overall, I think she needed a redemption arc that she didn't get.

Willa- Willa was funny, and I enjoyed her additions to the book. She was also a realistically emotional character, and the book would have probably been more enjoyable if she was the main character. Her parents are getting a divorce, and it kind of messes her up a bit, as it should.

Trish- I hate Trish. Trish sucked. Trish had literally no redeeming qualities and she made me really mad. She deserved a lot more backlash from Lizzie than she did.

This book was okay, and I think with a little more tweaking it could have been better. That being said, I'm really not a contemporary fan, so this may just be me. Also, the morals of this book were horribly bothersome, and NO ONE GOT PUNISHED FOR. ANYTHING. Literally nothing anyone did got the punishment it deserved, no one learned from anyone, no one even got in trouble for their bad deeds. Lizzie and Willa did a very bad immoral thing, and were completely unpunished. Trish did a(n EXTREMELY) terrible thing, and never got punished. Lizzie was a hypocrite- nothing. Their mom lied- nothing. No one is held accountable for their actions.

This book felt as if it ended 30 or so pages before it should've been, but perhaps it has more pages in the final version.

This book is written by a Canadian and set in Canada, and I really enjoyed that because I relate to the little snippets of Canada in here.

I was sent this book as an advanced copy by the publisher via NetGalley for reviewing purposes, but all opinions are my own.

The Goodbye Girls was one of those books where I was sure I knew how it would end from the beginning. When some things started happening, I just nodded to myself, having seen the signs from the beginning. If the whole book had been like that, I would have had a chard time finding any enjoyment out of reading it. As it stands, the biggest plot twist, I did not see coming at all. The characters were developed and complex enough that you didn't know right away what they were going to do.

I will say, my one major issue with this book is the fact that Lizzie is a little too self-centered, okay, a lot. Even the internal dialog she has going when something is happening makes it hard to like her as a character. I know she is a teenager, but she is on the extreme side. At least, coming from someone who is past the teenage years, that's how it seems to me. Teenagers will probably be able to relate to her more than I am able to.

Overall, I found this book an entertaining read and one that I feel teenagers would enjoy.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Author: Lisa Harrington
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing
Publication Date: 26 Apr 2018

Thanks to Netgalley for sending me and E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So this book came out earlier this year, but Netgalley still lets people request it, so I thought I’d try my luck in snagging a copy. It sounded like a fun, light-hearted and quirky read, and that’s pretty much what I got.

It was a really quick read. I finished two books in the same day; A Thousand Perfect Notes and The Goodbye Girls. It was quite nice to have something lighthearted after the heart-crushing of A Thousand Perfect Notes, so that’s probably one of the reasons I enjoyed this book as much as I did. The premise is pretty simple: Lizzie needs money for a school trip, and she and her friend Willa decide to start a special business together, sending break-up baskets to people anonymously. They rationalise this by agreeing that this is a better way of getting broken up with than say by text, but obviously some people don’t take it that way and then a bunch of things happen with the baskets and suddenly it’s for the best that they’ve done their whole business anonymously.

Both Lizzie and Willa were okay characters. I feel like there could have been a bit more depth there, particularly in terms of Lizzie. There was a lot of characters just kinda doing things, and the book might have done with a little more development of characters along the way. Same with Trish. I got some of the complex sisters who love/hate each other vibe, but not enough.

Plot-wise, it was quite a fun ride. I did guess some of the plot twists, particularly with what was going on with the mother, but even when I guessed what was happening beforehand, seeing it unfold was exciting and fun. I definitely liked the whole concept of the baskets and all the things going on with that, it was pretty interesting. Unfortunately, I’m not entirely sure what happened during the ending of the book. The E-book ARC acted up a bit, and it meant that I couldn’t read text messages that were on the page. They came up blank instead. So there were a few times when the plot suddenly jumped, and the ending was cut short for me, but obviously that’s a problem with the Netgalley copy that won’t be appearing in the finished version.

To be honest, I don’t really have a whole load to say about this book. It was a reasonable read, and I liked the quirky plot. The characters could have done with a bit more substance, but I liked some of the twists and turns in the book and how quickly I got through it. Overall, I’m giving The Goodbye Girls a 5.5/10 stars.