I received an arc from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read Love, Heather in one sitting because it was simply so captivating and believable. The premise is a coming-off-age story inspired by classic teenage flicks from the 80's and 90's, and the execution is just so well done. The characters are believable in every way, the dialogue and lingo never feels forced and they come off as nuanced and well thought out all of them.
The very beginning of the novel had a couple of huge info dumps, but for me, that was fine. It set the premise and backdrop of the story in a believable fashion. The only thing to pick at is that the characters felt a bit older than they were. I'm not well-versed in American/Canadian school systems, and I honestly believed they were 17 until halfway through the novel, when they are revealed to be 14.
This novel is contemporary in every sense of the word, talking about issues such as bullying, rape culture and mental illness.

I wouldn't say you necessarily have to watch Heathers to read this, but seeing as Heathers is an excellent movie, I would highly recommend it. There are a lot of characters throughout the novel that are clearly inspired by the film, and small details come through and connects the movie in more subtle ways.

I highly recommend this, it is a must-read for 2019!

“What’s your damage?”

Ok, full disclosure, Heathers is one of my all time favourite films. The first time I saw it, I was way too young to be watching it and found myself misunderstanding a lot of what was going on. I revisited it as an older teenager and saw my friends, my enemies and my school is this film. It was funny, raw, honest and brutal. Just like high school.

Love, Heather is not a retelling of those awesome cult film, but there are references throughout, some clear and obvious, others hidden to only true Heathers fans. Or obsessives!

The main character, Stevie, finds herself ostracised in school, kicked out of the popular gang by her best friend and soon buddies up with Dee, a new girl at school who recruits her and other bullied teens to take action against those that hurt them.

I do not condone what Stevie does in this book, but it’s interested to see from the perspective of someone pushed into that position. Damn, kids can be mean. And adults can be blind.

The twist was clear, if I’m honest, but it didn’t detract from the importance or the truthfulness of this book. I loved reading it and would recommend it to all YA readers who want to read something realistic.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. This in no way influenced my review or my opinions of this book.

From the moment I started Love, Heather, I was gripped. Petrou captures the politics of teenage friendship perfectly, and the voices of her young characters felt truly authentic. The frequent references to teen revenge flicks were a really brilliant way of framing the story and foreshadowing the final act, which was heartbreaking and beautifully written. Reminiscent of Megan Abbott's Dare Me and Louise O'Neill's Asking For It, this is a powerful book.

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me an Arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was a really good read.
It was so fast paced I felt like I was constantly on the edge of my seat!
I loved the wrong style and the plot was beyond amazing!
Some of the characters annoyed me but overall a really awesome book!
I gave it 4 stars.

To start, I love the author’s prose and the pacing, and was really looking forward to reading this. I am, however, not a fan of the use of a trans character’s journey as a supporting arc for the main protagonist’s journey. Trans people deserve to tell their own stories and to not be limited to serving as vehicles for the growth or change of other characters. Additionally, the end of the book seems to justify school violence and glorify the perpetrator’s perspective under a hastily thrown together #metoo piece of the plot.

This book is the definition of teens. From bullying, to LGBT, to social media, to fake friends, trust, drinking, and really deep psychological problems..
I've never watched any of the old movies mentioned in the book, not even Heathers. It mostly goes downhill when Stevie's best friend's mother comes out of the closet. Nothing feels the same anymore, and when you try to support something that other people don't understand, you get attacked. Then you become the outsider. I think the bullying/attacks were a little...too much? I would think at a school that they would be found out and get severe discipline...seems like no one cares. My biggest question? Dee. I feel like she was a figment of Stevie's imagination. It was a bit scary, the end, because it's real.

Very well written novel about bullying, but so much more than that, very disturbing content. Be prepared to be frightened,, horrified and stunned, but definitely worth reading.

Absolutely brilliant! A powerful storyline with some brilliant twists to keep readers of most ages hooked; I found it incredibly difficult to put this book down once I'd started! Great characterisation with loads of clever inter textual references to films from the 1970s up to the modern day. The story follows the challenges that most of us face when in high school: the omnipresent hierarchy of popularity and its abuse of power but with dramatic consequences! Highly recommended!!!!

Wow. That's the best word to describe this book.

It was so dark, it almost feels wrong to say that I loved it, but I did. The title comes from the move Heathers - essentially a story about bullying that escalates. It's also about power, alienation and mental illness.

One thing that I loved was that in class, they were told to re-imagine a movie and update it for current times. That's what this book was.

I thought I knew where this book was going, but I was wrong. It was more twisted and yet more hopeful than I expected.

It is marketed as young adult, but I think it's for everyone - especially those who remember their high school days. If you were bullied in any way, you can relate to this book. If you remember the peer pressure and the desire to fit in, you will relate to this book.

This stood out, and I will remember it for a while.

I've read a few reviews of this book and have noticed that this has references from the movie "Heathers", a movie that I have not seen so I was unable to pick up on them, but I'm sure those who are might enjoy them. Aside from this, I must say this book took a much different turn of events!

At first, the plot seemed pretty straight forward, with former best friends "breaking up" over petty drama, which followed with bullying because the high school social hierarchy is that messed up of a concept. Then comes Dee, Stevie's "savior" of sorts. She is what causes Stevie to get back on her feet and where the whole revenge "Love, Heather" comes about. I absolutely despise bullying, but seeing some justice being served gave me some satisfaction, but at times when the line is crossed, I no longer feel that. This is also around the time when Stevie's character began to change, though it's introduced subtly. The parallel of Stevie's character to the pranks was evident, as when the "revenge pranks" began to lose control and became rampant at school, so did Stevie with her sanity. Sure, Stevie's worrisome nature can be grating on people's nerves (it did to me at times), but it stems from good intentions. As people began to leave her, you can sense Stevie is losing a sense of herself and is reaching a point of dangerous desperation. This becomes more obvious once you learn the true nature of Dee. I think the build-up to the conclusive ending was brilliant because you no longer knew how to point out the enemy. Is it the extensive list of bullies at school? Lottie, her former best friend who left her? Rhonda/Pete, who is clueless to the drama around him and is seemingly about to leave? Her mother, who seems to have all the time in the world for her boyfriend but not her? Or it is Stevie herself?

Although I despised many characters (because Stevie's school just so happened to be a breeding ground for one-dimensional bullies), I feel like the development of Stevie made up for that. She is a very flawed complex character, but people can be flawed in different ways. Do I agree with her actions at the end of the novel? ABSOLUTELY NOT, but through the events of the story, I can see how she got to where she ended up. With such an unexpected perspective, it sheds light to many dark aspects of a teen, such as bullying (in person and on social media), the stupid social hierarchy, and the many clueless adults that surround them. Overall, it had a mediocre start that fell a bit flat in the middle, but it does eventually pick up once things begin to click into place. Despite this I still recommend it.

Surprise ending! This book references the Winona Ryder/Christian Slater movie "Heathers." For a long while, that is all that I thought it was, and in the middle, I got a little bored with all the bad behavior. But the end brings it all together. I wish that there had been more "showing" of the story throughout the middle when I felt the story was getting a little repetitive. This book would actually make a good play or perhaps movie for teenagers and the clueless adults who love them but have no idea of the effects of social media.

Love Heather was an exceptional read I honestly felt so sorry for Stevie I think Laurie Petrou has made a book that can connect to all of us no matter the age. If you haven’t read Love Heather yet I definitely recommend you give it a try when it comes out! Also thank you @netgalley @lauriepetrou @crookedlanebooks for the opportunity of getting to read this book!