Brigid Kemmerer is one of my favorite contemp YA authors! (Her fantasy novels are also excellent, I hear, but I've only read her contemporary ones.) Every new book of hers is better than the last, and this one is no exception.

It's hard not to feel sorry for Rob. Yes, his dad did a horrible, unforgivable thing but Rob is paying for it. (Although, after a failed suicide attempt, it's not like Rob's dad is doing well, either.) He's lost basically everything and he has no support system to speak of. Maegan IS responsible for the mistake she made, but I feel like her choice is also understandable. It's not a great choice, but I understand why she did it.

Their friendship is this really amazing thing that neither expected (or particularly wanted) but that both really needed. The conversations they have are incredibly thought-provoking and would lead to some fascinating discussions in a book club. 

Also, I love Owen and would really like a companion book about him, please.

Highly recommended.

I'm in the middle of my rom-com book month and I was so happy when my request was approved for this book! I read A Curse So Dark and Lonely last month and LOVED IT, so when I read the synopsis for this, I was excited because it seemed right up my alley! This book came to me at the perfect time because I had just finished reading a one-star rom-com that I was really disappointed in, and this one came along and got me right back in the reading mood!
I read this in like two and half hours because it was so easy to get sucked into. I really loved the characters and it has some GREAT friendships, which is another high selling point for me. The plot is heavy at times but in a good way, and I liked how all the heavy topics were handled. The main characters were great- I've realized during this rom-com kick that I really prefer dual POV romances because you get both sides of the relationship. Maegan and Rob were super cute and I loved the side characters. Samantha and Maegan had a great sibling relationship (though I did NOT care for Sam's actions during and after the party), Owen and Rob's friendship was FANTASTIC, and all the moments with Mr. London were really sweet. Even Connor grew on me a bit at the end there.
There isn't much of a plot to this, but I loved the characters so much that I didn't really care. I was invested throughout its entirety and it never felt slow to me. I laughed and I cried and I was super happy with the ending. I didn't even think about highlighting quotes because I was too busy focusing on reading and what was happening. The discussion about wealth and who deserves it was an interesting plot point. It's easy to see the motivations and the 'Robin Hood' aspect of it all, so it definitely brought up some moral questions while I was reading and I'm satisfied with how it all worked out! Though the ending did feel a little rushed and short, I've enjoyed both of Kemmerer's books that I've read so I'm gonna try out Letters to the Lost as well! :)
*Trigger warnings: abuse, suicide, abortion, theft, cheating

I love love love Brigid Kemmerer, so when I saw this book up for review I had to read it IMMEDIATELY.

Call It What You Want is a fast paced, emotionally charged, romantic contemporary about Rob and Maegan, two teens who are both dealing with the after effects of past choices. Pressure from her family and seemingly perfect sister caused Maegan to cheat on her SATs which led to everyone in her testing room getting invalidated scores. Enter stage left, social pariah number one.

Rob has always been the popular guy. But when his dad commits bank fraud and fails at a suicide attempt, his entire life changes. Rob is left to pick up the pieces and help administer home care for his father, while also dealing with the entire school being convinced that he must have known what his father was doing, and was involved in helping. Enter stage right, social pariah number two.

When Rob and Maegan are paired up to work together on a calculus project, sparks of tension quickly turn to trust and understanding and someone to lean on. From there, the two enter down a path of new choices and deciding what is right what is wrong and what is morally gray.

I really loved this book! It’s so heartfelt and has just the right amount of angst and heaviness. Rob and Maegan are both really likable as individuals and as a pair. The development of their relationship is really nicely paced and it felt very believable. There were definitely crumbs dropped throughout the story that pointed at what was to come, and in the back of my mind I was often screaming “NO, DON’T MAKE THAT CHOICE!” Of course the character would make “that choice” and then there would be fallout, but overall choices ultimately define characters and allow them to learn and grow, and this book is all about development and personal growth.

The side characters were all really interesting as well and had things going on that could definitely lead to companion novels which I will absolutely read if they come into existence. Brigid Kemmerer is a phenomenal writer and understands emotions and actions and choices and consequences so well, no matter what genre they take place in. I will forever read her work!

*Thank you to Bloomsbury YA and Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

This is a review of the e-ARC from NetGalley. I'm somewhere in between a 3.75 - 4 star rating for this one!

This one started off strong and had me attached to the characters almost immediately. It's not easy to read this book... the characters are going through some dark and scary things. Rob is trying to come to terms with a now handicapped father who survived a suicide attempt after an elaborate embezzling scheme. Maegan got caught cheating on an SAT, so she is dealing with the aftermath of that as well as trying to support her sister who has come home from college pregnant with a married man's baby. It is told in dual perspective, so we go through the emotional ups and downs of these two characters, and it truly is a roller coaster.

I like how this book explored right vs. wrong, intention vs. actual impact, and all the gray areas in between. There is no easy answer in this book. No obvious course the characters should take.

I love Brigid Kemmerer's writing. While this one started off strong, I think I got a bit lost in the middle. It seemed like a lot of back and forth, and that it could've been condensed a bit. I think I also would've liked a bit more romance between these two characters. It was too little too late, and I would've liked to see these characters falling in love a little more than what we got.

While I didn't connected with this one quite as much as Letters to the Lost (truly a gem of a book), this was another great, dual-perspective story from Brigid Kemmerer! She really knows how to get me invested in her characters and care about what they're going through.

Hello book friends! Back again with another eARC review 🙂 Special shoutout to Netgalley and Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books for sending me this galley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Guys, I am obsessed with this book, I quite literally read it all in one day. Once I started, I just couldn’t put it down. I would die for Rob and Maegan and will stand in the way of anyone hurting them!!

CIWYW was such a cute, contemporary novel. This is the first title I’ve read by Brigid Kemmerer (I do own A Curse So Dark and Lonely but have yet to pick it up) and I am impressed. She officially has a fan for life. I read so many YA Fantasy novels that I forget how much I enjoy a good, contemporary novel. This book is written from two perspectives – Rob and Maegan’s. This is nice because you get a slice of the story from both points of views and in their own voices.

So let’s start off with the characters. I am a sucker for some lonely, messed up characters!! Rob and Maegan are struggling with very real, and very personal problems while trying to survive their senior year of high school. They are learning to navigate life as social rejects. Rob’s dad embezzled many in the town out of a whopping 7 million buckos and Maegan cheated on the SAT’s, which ended up invalidating 100 students scores. Both of them are hurting and have resulting trust issues of others from the backlash of their peers. They are thrown together to do a math project and neither of them are happy about it, they both would prefer to be alone. Rob and Maegan quickly learn to lean on each other, and begin to explore the idea of having close friends again.

There is a love story between two characters, an LGBTQIA character (no love story for him womp womp), and some sneaky Robin Hood themes. It begs the question – is it wrong to steal if you are using the items for good and not evil? It is a theme that is highly explored, and is an interesting concept.

Frankly, I loved CIWYW and have preordered a copy as a result of reading this. The love story is SO well done – reading Rob’s point of view was so important. The topic of respecting woman is brought up at one point, and Brigid did such a good job of presenting a teenage, male character that was interested physically in the girl – but acted (and thought) with nothing but respect for her wishes and comfort levels in intimate situations. It was honestly a breath of fresh air in a time when this topic is difficult to navigate.

Upon finishing CIWYW I almost immediately went back to reread a few scenes that stood out of me (okay, the romantic scenes – I’m a sucker, alright?!) and this is a huge sign for me that it is a five star read. The fact that I wanted to go back to relive big moments doesn’t happen with every title I pick up. Frankly, my sole gripe about this book is that there isn’t a follow up book to go with it! I need more Rob and Maegan!

In conclusion, pick this one up if you like a good high school romance, Robin Hood, real teenage angst and issues, and some well built characters. This would be a great beach read for the summer!

Enjoy, book friends!

Contemporary YA is probably my favorite YA genre, and Call It What You Want was my favorite kind of contemporary – a story with some life issues, some family issues, a gripping plot, and just a touch of romance.

Rob was once a popular kid, but now he’s got some tough things to deal with – a father in disgrace who is now unable to care for himself. Overachiever Maegan made a big mistake and is keeping a big secret. When these two get paired on a school project, they don’t want anything to do with each other.

Secrets, angst, hate-to-love and some really tough family problems had me gripped throughout. I was especially moved by Rob’s situation, and I really enjoyed the family dynamics of Maegan’s. Often I complain when YA books throw in too many issues, and this one did have a lot: academic cheating, teen pregnancy, suicide, student-teacher romance, class differences and poverty – there may be even more that I’m not thinking of. But I felt that it all worked – all these issues were woven into the story in a way that worked for me and I felt they were all dealt with sensitively and sufficiently.

I’ve been a fan of Brigid Kemmerer since her paranormal Elementals books, and I remain a fan. Definitely try this book and her other contemporary fiction if you have a chance!

Thank you, Bloomsbury, for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

WE WERE FROM TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS ONCE: POPULAR BOY AND NERDY GIRL. WE’RE STILL FROM TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS: COP’S DAUGHTER AND CRIMINAL’S SON.

Brigid Kemmerer has officially become one of my beloved authors. I’ve read three of her books (A Curse So Dark and Lonely is my favorite so far), and none of them received less than four stars. Strangely, even though her contemporary novels have serious or melancholic themes, I find them easy to read. I didn’t expect that I would be a fan of sad love stories with very flawed characters.

Call It What You Want follows the same formula, but the plot also goes in unpredictable directions. The protagonists, Rob and Maegan, are infamous in school. The former’s father attempted to commit suicide after being involved in a phishing scheme, while the latter was caught cheating during the SAT. Both characters are at the bottom of the social ladder, but they still belong to different circles. Worlds collide when Rob and Meagan are forced to complete a math project together. A hesitant friendship ensues, and the possibility of Something More becomes hard to disregard.

Since their scandalous backstories were given from the very beginning, I was immediately invested in Rob and Maegan. I didn’t necessarily like them, but I looked forward to seeing them grow as characters. Between the two, Rob was more “innocent.” After all, he had nothing to do with his dad’s crime. On the other hand, Maegan had no one to blame but herself for her bad reputation. She confessed that she cheated in hopes of outshining Samantha, her lacrosse scholar of a sister. Little did Maegan know that her sister also had a scandal to deal with. This one-sided sibling rivalry really wasn’t my cup of tea.

Halfway through the book, Rob began to live up to his peers’ negative expectations, making it hard for Meagan to be with him. The plot became philosophical in that it evoked questions such as “Is it bad to steal things from corrupt people who don’t really need them?” and “Should you tell the truth if it means hurting or breaking your family?” I already knew the answers to these ethical queries because of my Christian upbringing. Still, it was nice to take comfort in my beliefs and witness the characters’ journey to enlightenment. I heartily agree with their realization that one mistake doesn’t define you. Also, our shortcomings are there for a reason: to encourage us to become better people.

Ultimately, Call It What You Want is a profound commentary on morality. Rest assured, it’s anything but boring. Rob and Meagan might be unlikable at first, but their humility and perseverance will grow on you. If you’re looking for something that will warm your heart and stimulate your mind, I encourage you to check out this book and Brigid’s other works.

When it comes to Brigid Kemmerer books there are two things I’ve come to expect: Male characters I will love and lots of Angst. Call it What You Want delivered on both fronts and I was here for it.

This book had angst for days! I’m not always into that, but it worked for me here. Maegan, who has always been the good girl, is dealing with the fallout from getting caught cheating on the SATs. On top of that, her sister comes home one weekend from college and doesn’t go back – she’s pregnant and refuses to name the father or discuss what she plans to do about it. Rob’s father got caught stealing from his clients and is left as basically a vegetable after a failed suicide attempt. Rob and his mother are left with pretty much nothing but the house and take care of him there.

Both Rob and Maegan are left as social outcasts and end up getting teamed up on a class project. As you might guess, they get to know and then start to fall for each other. I really loved watching their relationship develop. Maegan was really judgey at first, but as she gets to know Rob she realizes how wrong she has been about him. Rob was wonderful. I mean, he was depressed and struggling with a lot, but Kemmerer knows how to write sensitive, sweet, lovable, tortured guys that I will love. I just wanted to reach into the pages and hug him. His emotion was just so real and relatable and while I did like Maegan, Rob is what made this book so special.

I also really enjoyed Rob’s new friend, Owen. He was exactly the friend Rob needed. I liked watching their friendship develop and seeing them both grow as people as they learned things from each other. I also loved the school librarian and how he became such an important person in Rob’s life. One character I didn’t like in the book, though, was Samantha, Maegan’s sister. She was so selfish and acted so immature and she just drove me crazy. She did redeem herself a bit by the end, but it was a bit too little, too late for me.

Overall, I really enjoyed Call it What You Want. I loved, loved, loved Rob. I also enjoyed the romance and the lessons the characters learned along the way. I definitely recommend this one to fans of YA Contemporary.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 4 Stars

I loved the characters in this book, but I felt that the overall story was dragged out and too long. If the story was 100 pages shorter, and things were more condensed I probably would'e enjoyed it more. Another issue that I had with the story was that, at times, there were more things happening with Rob's character then with Meagan's character. This caused the story to feel unbalanced at times. What I did like was the climax. It was well done, but the twist before that was underwhelming as I had predicted it from the beginning.

I really enjoyed this book, I read it in basically two night. I’ll be honest I didn’t feel like there was much in the way of plot which is the only reason this isn’t a full 5 star read for me. However, in the character development department this book shines!

Rob and Meagan are two outcasts who f=get paired together on a project. The story is told from each ot their perspectives, which I really enjoyed. I loved these characters, both of them almost equally. Though of the two Rob really pulled at my heart strings. I also felt like this book was more his story than Meagans so that might explain why I felt more connected to him.

I also really enjoyed the side characters, Owen and Sam were often times some much needed comic relief, while also being important pats to the story. As I mentioned this book was more character development than story, and I would have liked to know a little more about Meagan’s story.

Overall, I love this book and would highly recommend it!

4.5

Rob's life has been falling apart ever since his dad was caught embezzling from people in the town. Maegan is an overachiever but has her own secret of dealing with pressure, and her sister has just returned pregnant from university. Rob and Maegan are paired up for a calculus project, and don't want anything to do with each other, but slowly break down the walls they have put up.

As someone who doesn't typically read contemporaries, I did enjoy this one. It was fast-paced and compelling to read - I tore through most of it on my commute to school and back.

All the characters are deeply flawed but have their redeeming moments. There are a lot of friendships that begin between unlikely people, and existing relationships that get tested as characters grow. I particularly liked Rob's friendship with Owen and Connor, and Maegan's relationship with her sister.

I really do like the questions the story asks throughout, about doing something illegal or wrong for the right reasons, and about who gets to decides what people deserve. There were also great discussions on people who are poor or don't have a lot of money, and what happens when they try to have a luxury.

I do wish there had been more to the story. I think the struggles facing Rob and Maegan were greatly disproportional, which made Rob a lot more compelling as a main character. His life is such a mess with his father and how everyone has turned on him; Maegan's own "mistake" is quite insignificant in comparison, and she never really gets punished or makes up for what she did. The majority of her POV is dealing instead with her sister's own problems. I also saw the final twist coming at the end of the story, but I do think it was still good for the sake of resolution.

Overall, I think it was a well-written, compelling contemporary novel about characters figuring out their ideas of right and wrong, and the consequences of their actions on others.

I am so impressed with Brigid Kemmerer. There has been a ton of buzz about Call It What You Want which seemed a bit odd because it's a contemporary, and as much as I love that genre unless it's a Dessen or West novel I never hear too much on new releases in that genre. I had no idea that Kemmerer had also written and just released A Curse So Dark and Lonely earlier this year! So two books in one year and in completely different genres was super impressive so I had to check it out. No regrets. I was all in my feels.

This novel was a total gut punch in the best way. It tugged at my heartstrings and even had me in tears a few times. While it was not an easy read because of the tough issues ot tackled, it was fast-faced and kept me engaged the whole time. Rob and Maegan are social outcasts at school for different reasons. Robs' father embezzled money from the parents of his classmates, rich or poor, and even some of his teachers.
Maegan cheated on the SAT causing about a hundred of her classmates to get their classes dismissed meaning they have to all take it again. The hate is real.

They both just want to do the right thing but struggled with what actually made something right or wrong and just how big was the grey area between them was. There is a bit of a Robin Hood aspect going on while trying to find the answers to the whole right/wrong question.

Money was a huge part of this book and was a surprising subject. By that I mean it's a huge topic in the real world and not one you encounter too much in novels I think. After everything goes down, Rob is left with little to no money. Maegan is from a middle class family. There is also a side character, Owen, introduced who is so poor he lives off of free cheese sandwiches provided by the school. Owen really showed what it's like to struggle financially and common misconceptions people have. It was heartbreaking to read about some of the things he'd been through just because he and his mom were financially challenged. It was a nice perspective to have included in the storyline.

It was so refreshing to have a male MC that showed real emotion. He was depressed, emotional and just straight real. He became the best version of himself in this situation and found true friends. The relationship between him and Maegan was sweet. He kept asking for CONSENT. I loved that because it's not seen very often. It was also nice to read about the re-development of the sister relationship between Maegan and Samantha. I think most of Maegans' own character growth stems from the mending of that relationship.

Overall I really enjoyed Call It What You Want and will be picking up a signed copy to add to my collection! It really engaged me and made me think. If you want a novel that tackles the heavy issues of sex, consent, teen pregnancy and money in all the right ways I highly suggest picking this one up!

Posted to Goodreads: 4.5 Rating: Rob's life changed when his father was caught embezzling and tried to kill himself. Rob's father is no severely impaired and Rob's family is broke. Meagan was the perfect straight-A student until he tried to cheat on the SATs. Meagan got caught and now everyone thinks she is cheater. When Rob and Meagan are paired up on a project they soon find a kindred spirit that may be the person they need to get through the hard parts of their lives.

Kemmerer hooked me on the first page and never let go. Rob and Meagan were wonderfully well written characters and their experiences felt perfectly realistic. My only issue with the book was that the final resolution felt a little overly dramatic.

3.5 stars
Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Letters to the Lost and More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer, so when I saw she had a new YA book coming out, I jumped at the chance to read it.
I read the first half yesterday and the second half today. When I read Letters to the Lost, I could not put the book down. I started it, went to sleep, and woke up to finish it. However, I didn't feel that same lust for Call It What You Want.

This book is based around Robin Hood and the morally gray area of if your stealing for the good of others, does it make it wrong?
Rob is an outcast because of something his father did. Maegan is an outcast because of something she did. Rob and Maegan get assigned to do a project together and quickly form a bond. While trying to escape their lives, Rob and Maegan start to develop feelings for each other.
This book kept me interested, the climax of a mystery getting solved definitely helped me make it to the end of this book. The one and biggest problem with this book is I felt like I've read it before.

This book correlates so much with Letters to the Lost that I think it held me from fully immersing myself in this book and loving it as much as I wanted it too. The plots of both books are essentially the same. The two main characters both have a "dark past" they want to run away from and they come together to form a romantic bond. The male main character has an unlikely friendship with another outcast and the girl character had a loving family at home.
It all just felt too familiar.

I wanted to be in love with Rob. He was sweet, respectful, and stayed up all night reading fantasy. I mean, hello? Need I say more? However, his character just didn't quite do it for me. I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe I just like more of a sarcastic a-hole. Ok, not maybe, I do. SUE ME. I want a sarcastic a-hole that also reads fantasy. ANYWAYS. Rob didn't want to be anything like his dad, but I feel like as a way to deal with what happened in his life, he started turning into his dad. It was sad to see, but I'm glad he finally came around to his senses.
Maegan was ok. Again, didn't love her didn't hate her. I'm glad she grew a backbone and started standing up for herself. Overall though, she was a pretty boring character. Extremely close with her parents and tells them everything, has one friend (who sucks btw), no hobbies... nothing.
I loved Maegan's sister, Samantha, and her story line, as well as Rob's friend Owen. They were both sarcastic and funny, adding a fun dimension to the story line. Literally the only sarcasm we got was from these two and I lived for their scenes in the book.
I feel like the book was a climax of multiple story lines making a decision about an end result. However, all of the characters resolutions happened at the very end of the book and all of the sudden it was over. No thought processes on why they were choosing that route or what would happen after. This is a big peeve of mine. I don't like when a book is leading up to an end goal and then skimps on the facts. I've read this book for hours to find out what this is! I need more details!!

The Robin Hood concept of this book is an interesting way of looking at stealing. What if you were stealing to help others who needed it more? Is it still wrong? What if you felt it was what was owed to you? I'm happy that Owen's mom finally addressed that it isn't up to you to decide who owes you what, that it is still wrong.
The book was good and had a thought provoking story line in a lot of different aspects. It shows that no matter how people act on the outside, you have no idea what's going on in their life. If you like YA contemporary romance and are a fan on Letters to the Lost, then you will really enjoy this new novel by Brigid Kemmerer.

I have found all of Kemmerer’s contemporary novels to be page turners, and her latest is no exception. Both Maegan and Rob are dealing with issues, both personal and familial. When the pair are forced to work together on a math project, it becomes necessary for them to confront these issues.

Maegan and Rob are both flawed characters, and at times this makes the story hard to read. Indeed, when I tried to summarize the book after finishing it, I was a bit taken aback when I found myself listing the number of issues/challenges faced by each of the characters. I think that the main reason for the ultimate success of the novel was the use of first person/alternating POV chapters. Each character’s voice is strong, easily drawing readers into the plot.

There are a lot of questions raised through this book, and it would likely lend itself well to book discussions.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Both Maegan and Rob were social outcasts. Rob, because his father stole from members of their community, and Maegan, because she cheated on the SAT. The two were paired together for a calculus project, and this led to friendship and more, as they sound solace and support from one another amid their family drama.

I am just so in love with Kemmerer's contemporary novels. Once again, she has gifted me with a story packed with great characters and feels. There are way too many things I loved about this book, so I am going to talk about five things I loved in Call It What You Want.

1. The characters in this book were all so wonderfully complicated and flawed. I found myself simultaneously frustrated and proud of them. Regardless of the highs and lows I experienced with them, I always cared, and I was amazed by their resilience and personal growth.

2. Rob, my dear heart, Rob. Both characters were dealing with some major fallout, but Rob's story was much more painful for me than Maegan's. He lost everything. He was paying for crimes he didn't commit, AND he had to care for the person, who caused all these problems. My heart broke over and over again for him.

3. I love a good unlikely friendship and was treated to several in this book. Rob and Maegan were an odd enough pairing, but the friendship between Rob and Owen, one of his dad's victims, was a favorite of mine, and it fit really well with some of the other themes featured in the book. I also adored the bond that formed and grew between Meagan and her sister. It was wonderful seeing them be there for one another, and they made quite a formidable team.

4. From super complex family dynamics to the exploration of morally grey areas, Kemmerer dug in, and really did a fantastic job conveying her characters' struggles with various issues and situations. All the topics were approached thoughtfully, and I have to admit, her treatment of the various issues packed quite an emotional punch.

5. I am known for being super greedy and super needy when it comes to endings. That said, I have nothing, but high praise for the ending of this book. It was amazing, how well Kemmerer tied up those loose ends. Some parts were sad, while others were wonderful, and ALL were resolved to some extent.

I adore reading Kemmerer's books and getting to write fangirl reviews, because she consistently produces stories that are heartbreaking and thought provoking, while also be heartwarming, sweet, and endearing. Here, she gave us a wonderful story packed with friendship, family, romance, atonement, and forgiveness.

Kemmerer won me over years ago with her Elemental series and with each new book, regardless of the genre, she continues to wow me. With her fleshed out characters, stand out story lines and heartfelt messages, she is an author I count on to give me a good story that is every bit as irresistible as it is hard to put down once started.

I adored this book. So different from what I was expecting. So much more heart. So many emotions that so many people, regardless of being in the same shoes as the characters or not, can some how relate to and I think it is also, one of the reasons, Kemmerer is so good at what she does. You can relate to every aspect of the story without actually having been through any of it. Because regardless of the situation, we've all experienced the emotions. The feelings behind the actions and that is what makes this story, these characters so fabulous and so relatable.

What I loved most of all about this story was that it was so darn believable. Not just the storyline but the way the characters dealt with (or not dealing with) the things that were thrown at them. The way it ended. It was realistic without being overly so.

I love the way Kemmerer made me care for them, feel for them, and want to reach through the very pages and give them all a great big hug. I laughed, I frowned, I got teary eyed. I really truly experienced this story, not just read it. Another stand out and hit it out of the park novel for Kemmerer.

It's lonely being an outcast. Brigid Kemmerer explores that feeling of loneliness in her new book, Call It What You Want. Main characters Rob and Maegan both know what it's like to have everything and lose it - Rob because his father embezzled money from half the town, and Maegan because she cheated on the SAT and caused one hundred of her classmates' scores to be invalidated.

Kemmerer throws these two together for a paired project in Calculus class, and though they start out on opposite ends of animosity, the plot arc eventually develops their relationship into a sweet, but Romeo-and-Julietesque romance. Maegan's father is a police officer, and he (and half the town) believes that Rob was in on his father's crime.

Though Rob is innocent, no one cares, and he not only has to deal with the ostracism of his friends, but also being a caretaker of his father, whose attempt at suicide failed and left him dependent and only half-present in the world.

Maegan is also dealing with an issue not her own - her golden girl older sister has returned home from college pregnant, and Maegan has to suffer through the family fallout.

Kemmerer weaves their story in alternating viewpoints, letting the reader jump into the heads of both main characters. The characters - even the support - are well-rounded and believable.

A worthy summer read.

Like many other fellow bloggers are saying, Brigid Kemmerer is quickly becoming an auto buy author for me. A Curse So Dark and Lonely was the first book I ever read by her and now I need to read Letters to the Lost or whatever that first one is. I just found out my Nook has that e-book!! :D
Anyway, for some reason I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this book because some authors can't write different genres, buuuuuuuut Bridgid Kemmerer definitely can! I was just as captivated with this book as I was with ACSDAL.

I loved all of the characters, though Rob was the one who sucked me in the most. I just really felt for his character and there were definitely soooooooooo many emotions with this book. I still didn't cry, I did react to different parts. I kept saying, oh no! No, don't do that!! And I just wanted to hug the characters, but I could only hug my e-reader and since I was reading during breaks most of the time, that would have looked quite weird if my co-workers saw me hugging my e-reader.

They just went through so much and I loved the character development in this book. I loved how the sisters stuck together.

This was a five star read and I will definitely be looking forward to anything Brigid Kemmerer writes. She's the queen of writing. I will never again question that. I whole heartedly recommend this book. It's definitely good for any time of the year.

I received this book from Netgalley and the publishers. This has no impact on my thoughts. My thoughts are my own. Thank you for giving me the chance to read this book, it is one of my favorites for this year.

This will be posted to my blog on Tuesday, June 11.

Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer is a story about two teenagers who find themselves on the outskirts of high school’s social circles. In their loneliness, they find each other.

Maegan is a good girl–a smart girl–an overachiever who made a bad decision and continues to pay the price. When Maegan was caught cheating on her college entrance exams last year, everyone’s scores were tossed out. Her classmates didn’t take too kindly to having their exam scores wiped out, and now Maegan exists on the periphery of high school society.

Amidst the chaos of navigating high school, Maegan’s sister comes home from college for a visit. Except she has a secret of her own that she shares with Maegan. Maegan struggles with secrets, but commits to keeping her sister’s secret safe.

When Maegan is paired with Rob, former popular boy turned societal black sheep, she isn’t expecting to like him. In fact, she’s annoyed with him from the very beginning. Soon, however, they realize that they have a lot in common. And they both have secrets that they’re hiding.

I really enjoyed Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer. Kemmerer’s writing sucks you in and instantly hooks you. I found myself connecting with both Maegan and Rob early on in the book. I was invested in their wellbeing and couldn’t wait to follow the lives of these two social pariahs. I enjoyed watching their characters grow and change throughout the book.

Maegan and Rob’s stories are very different from one another. Maegan is an outcast because of a single bad decision on her part. Rob is an outcast because of his dad’s decisions. Both of them are a little bitter, a little jaded, and a little lonely. Until they have each other, they don’t realize how lonely they are.

The romance between Maegan and Rob was sweet. Who doesn’t love a good hate to love story? I appreciated the slow build up as they became friends first and more than friends later.

The ending was great! Both Maegan and Rob’s stories end with a fair amount of drama and excitement. The way Rob’s story ended–wow! I didn’t see that one coming.

If you enjoy contemporary young adult fiction, check out Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer. You won’t regret it!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing the Kindle version of this book in exchange for an honest review.