I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion. 

I'm still on the fence about this book.  I wanted to LOVE it, but I just couldn't get into it.  I think I may have to read this again to wrap my feelings around it.  Its a quick read!

The Goodbye Girls has an interesting subject which is what pulled me in. Lizzie and Willa form a break-up company: the dumper purchases a unique gift basket that includes favorite items of the dumpee that the Goodbye Girls then assemble and deliver in secret. The business is successful and running smoothly for a while until someone sets out to sabotage the company by sending vile baskets that are labeled from the Goodbye Girls. Along with the mystery basket sender, there are are a few other dramatic tidbits to watch unfold.

While the overall plot is solid and entertaining, the characters are not. Lizzie, Willa, Garrett, and Trish are all one-dimensional. There is little background or explanation given for why each character is the way they are. We know that Lizzie and Willa are best friends but we don’t know the extent of their bond. We don’t really know why Lizzie and Trish are so enamored with Garrett, except for that he’s a cute football player. Most importantly, we don’t get a clear understanding of why Lizzie has such an intense loathing for her sister Trish; these sisters are the classic cliche of sibling rivalry but it seems very superficial and their relationship should be given more depth. 

[Thank you NetGalley and Nimbus for giving me an advanced copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.]

I really wanted to like this book. The synopsis of it sounded so good, I haven’t read or heard of any like it, that’s why I was so interested in it. 
While reading this book, Lizzie was the best part of it although maybe a little immature at times. Willa was rather annoying, because she was always getting after Lizzie about certain things were imo she had no right to do. Also going after Lizzie’s older sister Trisha I mean she’s not the nicest person ever but I still don’t think that Willa should have said the things she said. It was really hard for me to like her. 
I did like that here was a mystery to who was sending the mysterious breakup baskets. 
Not sure what else to say other than… this book wasn’t for me. I really did want to like it, just felt like something was lacking. 
*I was given this book by netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

The story was very light and not much really happened. The main idea is that these two friends want to go on a school trip to New York and one of them Lizzy cannot afford it so they work together to form a business selling "break-up baskets" for the students at their school. However someone starts sending rogue baskets and the girls must find out who it is. There was a mystery element in there but I feel like it wasn’t executed in the best way as I wasn’t excited or intrigued to find out who was behind the bad baskets. The characters were all quite annoying and seemed petty and I couldn't see much personal growth with any of them throughout the book. 

This is a good quick read when you just want to read something that isn’t heavy but unfortunately for me it lacks the substance that I usually enjoy in a book.

This is a really quick, decent read that will leave you thinking "Oh... OK". The characters in this were all really hard to like for me personally. The hatred between the two siblings seemed highly exaggerated considering there was no actual inciting incident to cause a feud this bad. The friendship that Willa and Lizzie had kind of had a weird dynamic to me that I could never fully figure out. I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion or not, but I personally though that Lizzie's dating choices were just straight up wrong. 

The book wasn't bad, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. There was too much animosity throughout the entirety of the book and too little resolution. I think that the idea is cute, but it just didn't work out well for me.

This book was okay... it definitely wasn’t my favorite read. 
I felt Lizzie to be really immature. I didn’t really care for Trish that much either. I was surprised to see how Trish was more domintant than Lizzie, given the opening scene. 
To me, I didn’t find this read to have any sparkle. It was short, yes. But the storyline was just drawn out and flat.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This story was very unique and engaging. Not like any other book I've read before. I'd recommend for young adults and up.

The Goodbye Girls was cute and fun. I loved the idea of these breakup baskets, even if I could see the problems with it coming a mile away (they're teenagers after all). At times I found Lizzie to be annoying and quite the martyr. There were some big issues in this book (with her mom and her sister) that I wish were explored a bit more, but this was a cute summer read and would recommend it out to anyone looking for cute.

This book was a decently enjoyable and quick read. If you're not totally and utterly tired of the sibling rivalry trope, which is very present in this book, then you may enjoy this particular read. 
The premise of this book seemed immensely interesting, and although I don't have any issues with the way the plot as hinted by the synopsis is played out throughout, I can't say that I'm able to rate this book very highly. I didn't find it very insightful, though it was interesting enough, I think the entire plot is sort of rushed through. This isn't reflecting anything about the pacing, which I actually enjoyed and thought was not too faced-paced or slow, but near the end, the entire mystery is solved but many conflicts are not really resolved, which gives me a sense of unfinished business. (Note, my copy had the text of texts from characters exempt throughout, so there may be some things that I'm missing from the story, as I was unable to read any of the texts supposedly on the page whenever they were mentioned). 
There are a few mysteries taking place in this book. Mostly, they revolve around family issues. I think this element of the story was interesting and kept me entertained. I don't think it was particularly useful, but not enough to the point where I felt it took away anything from my experience reading overall enough to complain about it any. 
I liked that there are little hints littered throughout the story, I think it always heightens a reading experience when the reader feels they've figured something out before it's actually revealed. 
Lizzie as a character wasn't terribly unlikeable. I found her rivalry with her sister, Trish, a tad bit annoying, and it was in these moments where I didn't really enjoy reading from Lizzie's point of view. But overall, she was a decent person and character and reacted accordingly to different situations, at least in my opinion. The book tries really hard to make Trish as unlikeable as possible, and it works, but comes across as exactly that, trying too hard. 
I really liked that this book was set in Canada! There were lots of points of familiarity to me because of this, and so few books that I actually enjoy, if at all, are set in Canada, and so I really appreciated this. 
The fact that Lizzie is so head over heels for one guy the entire book was a bit unrelatable to me and hindered my enjoyment of the situations where he was present. But this isn't the book's fault, and so this is just a note I'm making in my review and nothing to dock points for. 
Finally, the ending. I felt like the entire end of the book is rather rushed. The book seems pretty short to me, and this reflects on how I view the ending to come together pretty fast as if it was written in one big hurry. The situation at school isn't elaborated on, either is Lizzie's situation with Garret, or if she'll be going to New York or not, if she and Willa make up, and the situation with her mother. All these subplot points established with no redemption or explanation for them before the book ends sort of abruptly. 
I think this book features a lot about family relationships, secrets, and the inability of teenagers to exist in functioning relationships. However, this book wasn't overly meaningful, and at the end of the day I rate it as how I reflect upon my experience reading it, mediocre.

Thank you to Netgalley and Nimbus Publishing for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like The Goodbye Girls. The business idea was so original, and the beginning felt so real, but everything deteriorated from there. My main problem was with all of characters, except for Lizzie, the main character. Everyone spent most of their time repetitively fighting, and I found most of the relationships to be exhausting. 

Willa, Lizzie’s best friend, spent a lot of time blowing up at her about her parent’s impending divorce and her denial of their separation. She also constantly criticized Trisha, Lizzie’s older sister, for the kind of person she seemed to be. To be fair, Trisha wasn’t very nice, but I still felt that Willa had no place saying those things. I value strong friendships, and I don’t feel that came through in this book. 

Trisha herself could have been an interesting character, but I found her to be incredibly petty. I don’t find that to be a driving character trait, and she only had a few moments where she wasn’t being rude or shallow. I could have gotten into a reconciliation story, and I did like her ending, but it wasn’t enough. Trisha’s relationship with Lizzie went way far beyond a sibling rivalry, and most of the time, I was so confounded by her motivations, which were just petty to begin with. 

Lizzie’s mom seemed to try hard to help her daughter in the beginning and was very encouraging, but once we found out about her relationship everything went downhill. She was made out to be a single parent who’s trying her best with two teenagers, but I don’t understand why she made the choices she did while still trying to be there for her daughters. 

I wish the mystery in the book had been played up. I think the book could have been stronger if it was more plot focused. I liked the parts in the beginning where Lizzie and Willa were more goal-oriented, when their friendship felt supportive, and they were set on going to New York together. If they had kept up that motivation in finding the saboteur and turning the book into more of a mystery, I would have been able to accept more of the drama. 

Overall, I give The Goodbye Girls 2 / 5 stars for all the repetition and toxicity.

The writing style was very engaging and pulled me right in. The character of Lizzie was very likeable and relatable, as was her best friend Willa. 
The plot follows a teenager and her friend try to make money ahead of a school trip to New York by setting up a business where they are paid by strangers to handle their break up for them. They create baskets of the dumpers favourite things alongside a letter from the dumper and leave it on the dumpees doorstep. The main storyline of the 'Break up Baskets' was really interesting and funny at times. The only issues I had were; a few pages were missing from the ARC so I may have missed something as the ending seemed to come about very abruptly and nothing really seemed to be resolved; the sibling rivalry was possibly slightly OTT and a little unrealistic. Overall, a fun and entertaining read.

Um ok. I didn’t really enjoy this book. I didn’t really like the sister meanness between Lizzie and Trish. I can understand sibling rivalry but that was a bit too much. I also don’t understand Lizzie’s mom. She seems mostly hard working but what kind of message is her relationship choice sending to her two daughters? 

The idea of the breakup baskets was great! I thought that was a real interesting concept and storyline but it kind of fizzled out. 

The main gripe that I have with this book is that it was missing pages. At first I didn’t think it was that important because I could kind of piece together what was going on but the final text from Willa was missing!!! I’m assuming that there was some content there, if not I just don’t get it. How can you give someone a book to read that is missing parts of it?!

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and Nimbus Publishing.

4/5 stars 

"It's weird, knowing something about someone they don't know themselves. He had no idea what's coming"

Lizzie Turner wants nothing more than to travel on the class trip to New York. Of course, that sounds easy until she realizes how much money it will cost to go - money that Lizzie and her family certainly don't have. When she notices a trend among the students at her school she turns it into a business to save money for the trip. The business? Breaking hearts. Lizzie and her best friend, Willa, deliver "break-up baskets" to students, hired anonymously to break up on behalf of a classmate. Everything becomes more complicated when someone tries to sabotage them and they end up as some of the most hated people in the school. 

The Goodbye Girls is an entertaining read, displaying a dramatic and exciting twist to the regular high-school narrative. Harrington creates a dynamic situation with characters that are dealing with both typical problems like having a crush just out of reach and very un-typical circumstances like knowing someone is going to broken up with before they do. The combination of these things made for a very compelling and fun read. 

The characters were well written, though I did not find any of them particularly likable. This was not a pitfall, as they were realistic due to their flaws but I found this to bring forward a lack of proper motivation for some of their actions. 

Overall, I found the book to be a fun read with some thought-provoking moments. I found the ending to be abrupt, not nearly giving closure on all the storylines that were presented in the novel and left many of the climax points open-ended and wish there had been a bit more of a wrap-up. This is a great read for students in middle-school and high-school or anyone who wants to enjoy a fun read about getting through hard times, dealing with siblings, or growing up.

This was a fun book and an easy read - perfect for a summer holiday! Whilst I didn’t find the characters to be overly likeable, I enjoyed reading this. 

The version I received had some missing pages (they seemed to be text conversations) which meant I had to fill the plot in a bit.

I was sent a copy of The Goodbye Girls by Lisa Harrison from Nimbus Publishing on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This was a fun read! I was not really emotionally invested with any of the characters but overall a quick fun read. I found 2 pages that were missing and it kind of threw the reading off a little. I definitely think it was worth the read!