Wow!! This book was an eye-opening read.. The bullied, end up being the bullies in this dark novel. My emotions were all over the place, hating the bullies, there was every kind of bullying, it was a dark, very disturbing, but educational book.
This book should be read by Young Adults and their parents, it's realistic, harsh, gut-wrenching painful, but I feel like this book needs to be read even in high schools English classes. My daughter was bullied in elementary school, we pulled her from the school and home-schooled her for 3 years. So reading this book had my emotions all over the place.
We need to learn how to not pass judgment on our peers, but yet be there for them, as we don't know what someone might be dealing with at home.
Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this book..

I read this one as an e-book on my phone. Thank you to netgalley for giving me a copy of this. This was definitely a great book as well as very strong and powerful.
There are lots of trigger warnings in this book such as bullying, cyberbullying, rape, emotional abuse, mental health. It also does contain LGBTQ with a very interesting spin that is different from anything I have personally seen so far.
Stevie is in high school and lives with her mom. She is very close to her best friend and life is just plain good until it isn’t. Life takes a turn for the worst when her best friend since childhood turns on her and leaves her to face bullying from the kids at school. I’m not going to sugar coat this so I will tell you that it was some of the worst bullying I have ever read about in a book. In the beginning we get a mean girls vibe and as the story progresses it turns sinister and dark. I was bullied when I was younger so this brought up a lot of memories and feelings for me. The writing is done so beautifully in this novel that you can really feel what the character is feeling which is why I loved it so much. It is so raw and beautifully done.
Back to the summary… Stevie faces bullying at school, online and at work. There is really no safe place for her and she begins to feel very alone. Then Dee walks in to the story and she is a new girl at school who doesn’t take anyone’s bullshit. Stevie is hesitant at first but then eventually a friendship is formed and the two girls take a stand against bullying using some tools right from the movie The Heathers. I loved this because I love that movie! Stevie is a big movie buff so I loved all the pop culture references as well.
Once the two girls have acted some revenge on the students at school it quickly becomes clear that they have lost control of the situation. One of the girls plans one last final act of revenge that is so terrifying it literally blew my mind.
I highly recommend this to anyone who is not worried about the trigger warnings I mentioned earlier.
The last thing I want to share is a quote which I think describes this story so well, “…Monsters aren’t born, they’re made…” -C.J. Roberts

An intriguing book that will be a hit with many different types of readers: drama lovers, mystery/suspense, and revenge story readers will all find this "un-put-down-able". As a fan of the movie "Heathers", I enjoyed this book! As someone who works in a school and is a parent, I worried about what message it might end up setting. As a reader, I didn't care for the narrator. It all works together though and creates a book I was invested in.

I just couldn't get into this book. I was hoping for darkness in the style of Courtney Summers but it's actually a pretty juvenile story. The characters are a lot younger than I originally believed and their voices definitely reflect that, making it all a bit too childish for my taste.

First up a big thank you to Netgalley/publisher for allowing me to try this one.

However I am at 24% and so far no revenge has been done. In fact we are just at the beginning of the shit storm of bullying to happen. Which probably has to do because our MC made the mistake to compliment Paige on her weight, and then get roasted because apparently Paige has an eating disorder. Did our MC know about it? No, what do people expect her to be? Telepathic? What the fuck people. She made an honest mistake and she is trying to fix it.

Given that Lottie's and her relationship is already falling apart at the beginning I couldn't really feel much for that falling apart. I was instantly not a fan of Lottie. However Stevie and her overgrown jealousy didn't help either. Yes, girl it fucking sucks that your best friend has another friend, but no need to go bonkers jealous on it.

I did like that we have a trans character in this book, however I felt the plotline didn't really fit in with the story. I did like how Stevie reacted to the news and how accepting she was.

So yeah, I am sorry but I am kind of bored, Stevie is annoying, there is NO revenge and I am not going to wait any longer.

Wow. I had to sit down and process my feelings after finishing this book. Love, Heather follows Stevie, a Canadian high school student who loves movies from the 80s and has her own Youtube channel where she talks about them. When she becomes the victim of some pretty serious bullying, she turns to Dee, a new friend who emboldens her to fight back, but everything has consequences, and she gets swept up in the current of high school vigilantism and a culture of getting even.

This book does an incredible job capturing the reality of how it feels to be bullied, and at parts I actually had to set the book down because it was so visceral and real. It tackles important issues like toxic friendships, mental health, and rape culture. It is written in such a thought-provoking way, and really plunges you deep into the lives of the characters.

¾ of the way through it grows darker, and even the prose changes in tone and voice. Stylistically, it was a very cool choice on the part of the author, and just made it that much more visceral. The twists and turns this book took makes me want to go back and reread it with the knowledge I now have, which I think mirrors an important issue in the book.

Overall this book is a 5 star read- I recommend it to both teens and adults alike.

Trigger warnings for this book include some transphobia (that I think is incredibly well handled on the part of the author) and sexual assault, as well as violence in schools.

Petrou Did a wonderful job of capturing a teen girls inner turmoil. Being a girl and being a girl friend is hard. We are definitely able to see that through the characters that she has developed. We really get a feel for what the narrator is thinking and feeling, and I felt just as hurt and confusion as she did.

There were a few moments when it seemed to trudge along; but they were typically part of progressing the storyline.

I think a lot of kids can learn from this and many others can relate.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book. I felt like it tried to deal with too many issues at once. I was also not a fan of the writing style. There were also some topics dealt with that were just too intense for me. I think this is the kind of book that could have a big impact on some people, however, I was not one of them.

Ms. Petrou had created a really intriguing and full of all kind of emotions story in her new YA book.
Stive has it all - good school life, great best friend, her friends family consider her as their own. Yet one bad move makes it all disappear, gone. Now everyone is against her - bullies arise from the shadows.
Love, Heather has brought me into a subspace where I felt so much that I wanted to cry and scream at everyone!
I loved reading this book, as it shows that always there is something that needs to be done before someone will take action that would not be reversed
This book touches topics that are really hard - rape culture, shootings, transition and psychological problems.

I was really excited to read this story as it sounded intriguing and one I would really like. However, I did not enjoy it as much as I would have liked. It was a bit slow moving at first for me and while I know it is fiction, parts of the story were a bit much or not believable. While this book may have not been for me I do recommend others give it a shot because they may love it.

I was fortunate enough to receive a Netgalley ARC of Love, Heather by Laurie Petrou. While I will admit that I sometimes found this book a little tough to read, it was the good kind of uncomfortable, similar to my feelings when reading Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak or Thalia Chaltas’ I Am Furniture. Stevie is a freshman who finds herself losing a grip on all of her relationships; her mother is busy with a new boyfriend, her father has started a new life, and her best friend has fallen in with a new set of friends. When the popular crowd start targeting Stevie in a systematic bullying campaign, Stevie finds that she has no one to turn to besides her love of cult classic 80’s movies and a new girl, Dee, who has a vendetta against the status quo. Dee hatches a plan to get even in the form of the movie Heathers, and Stevie jumps on board without realizing how far things will go.

The piece that made this book shine was the clear tone of anxiety that pervades the plot and reflects life in our digital age. Petrou reminds readers that social media allows 24/7 access, and that’s not always a good thing. In the midst of her bullying, Stevie’s anxiety never abates, leading her to call her cell phone “that tiny little pocket bomb that has haunted me for so long...Shiny pink case glinting in the moonlight. I can almost see its beating heart...Pulsing, throbbing. Trying, dying to draw me in. I know who’s in there, who’s out there.” As an adult reader, this was a stark reminder of what my students have going on below the surface, and teen readers are likely to feel a sense of connection to Stevie and the trials she endures. An additional sense of anxiety is brought to the forefront by the feeling that readers can’t completely trust Stevie as the narrator. Things occasionally don’t add up, especially considering the immense amount of stress the protagonist is facing, leading readers to the uneasy realization that they may not be getting the whole story.

I left this novel feeling that it would find a special readership; not only will teen readers identify with Stevie’s struggle, but educators would benefit from the reminder of what their students are contending with outside of the classroom. Love, Heather is a strong choice for any school library.

Stevie never meant for things to go this far. When she and Dee--defiant, bold, indestructible Dee--started all this, there was a purpose to their acts of vengeance: to put the bullies of Woepine High School back in their place. And three months ago, Stevie believed they deserved it. Once her best friend turned on her, the rest of the school followed. Stevie was alone and unprotected with a target on her back. Online, it was worse.

this revenge of the nerds meets mean girls, meets Carrie was an amazing read.

The important topics of bullying, gun violence, violence against women, sexual harassment, toxic masculinity, transphobia, and mental health were all discussed and highlighted in a way were you didn't know what was the right or wrong way.

Love, Heather by Laurie Petrou is a young adult thriller. Stevie was trying to get back at all her fellow students, including her best friend, who turned on her. She just wanted to put them in there place, and stop the bullying. Dee on the other hand planned some pranks and signed them Love, Heather, after the 80's movie, Heathers. But did the revenge go to far? I found this book to be unique, and I enjoyed it. Highly recommend for both young and old.

I reviewed a digital arc provided by NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books. Thank you.

Love, Heather caught my eye from the second I saw it pop up on my computer screen. A story of revenge in high school? Sounds intriguing? Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out as good as I had hoped.

The story mainly follows Stevie as she is shunned from her friends group and the entire school and makes a new friend, Dee, who then leads her in to an act of revenge on all those who have hurt or put down others around them. Now this sounds like it could be good, but the first problem I had was that the story really didn’t get to any acts of revenge until 40% into the story. Almost halfway and the only thing I’d really read was how Stevie got dumped by her friends and most of the kids at school. It seemed to have been very drawn out where a lot of that first portion could have been condensed into a more quick paced, yet still fulfilling story of bullying.

Then, once the revenge acts started, most of them were anticlimactic at best, and we didn’t hear about most of them. Most of this story was hearing about how Stevie went back and forth on if she was doing the right thing and being convinced by her friend Dee. Which, in turn I think was another issue I had. Was Dee real? I am fairly certain Dee was imaginary and made up in Stevie’s mind, but that was never really said distinctly. She kind of just… went away. No explanation to that.

Last issue I had was the ending. There is no way that ending is believable to anyone. A teenage student takes an entire room hostage with a manufactured firecracker gun and ends up blowing up herself and the teacher, but basically gets NO punishment except therapy and a very short juvenile stint? How? Absolutely not. It was so unbelievable that I instantly disliked everything happening. Not in this day and age with gun violence.

The one part I liked was the home life issues. I felt like some of these were very normal for kids these days and those issues at home effect their social life and how the interact with others. I felt Petrou wrote that well. I did feel the whole transgender story line was kind of out of place, though. I have read some really great books about transgender people and their struggles and how it effects those around them, but this kind of felt forced. It really didn’t have a huge impact on the story and was just this random side story that could have made a fantastic book on its own, but was dropped into the middle of this other story to diversify it somehow. Felt a bit out of place. Wished it was more the focal point of the story.

I really wanted to like this book, but I just could not with all the questions left and unrealistic aspects that ended up playing out. I will definitely try out another book by Laurie Petrou, because I’d be curious to see if it was just me and this book. I do encourage everyone to check it out and make up their own mind though.

I rarely read YA thrillers. This one was different. If you never picked up anything in this emerging genre, check it out.

This was a difficult one for me. I felt like I was almost halfway through before the book got started. Towards the end, I felt like it rushed to finish after dragging for so long. While I find that it covered topics that are so critical to today’s society, especially young people, this book fell short for me. There was a small twist towards the end that added a bit of intrigue, but otherwise the book left me wanting more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for a review.

I really liked this book! It was fast paced and I such an eye opening book on bullying and what the outcomes of bulling can be. I really liked our main character and her personality.

Thank you for sending an ARC of this my way, it is very much appreciated!

Unfortunately, though, I'm calling it quits 42% in. It's just not for me and it's making me a bit uncomfortable. I guess I had different expectations that haven't been met yet. I thought this was going to be about a girl teaming up with other girls to get revenge on the bullies. And perhaps this is what it's about and I just didn't give it enough time. But, I will not be continuing this as the whole thing in itself doesn't sit well with me.

The writing is fine, but I did notice that sometimes the author used conjunctions and sometimes they didn't, which was a bit jarring to me. Reading this almost felt like going on one of those bumper car rides, where they throw you around everywhere. The characters to me didn't feel like they had any kind of personality, they were just your typical high school bitches who think they're better than everyone.

I also didn't like the sentence about 37% in where it said something about the sun shining like an attention whore? It was a bit, idk, unnecessary.

Overall, I feel like this book is one big potential trigger for a lot of people. I feel like instead of channeling the bullying into a positive way with the girls standing up for themselves, it's just toxic. I am 23 years old, so perhaps this story just isn't my thing because it's targeted towards a younger audience.

I will say that I appreciate the trans rep in this, but sadly that's the only good thing going for this story.

2 stars. One for the beautiful cover, one for the trans rep.

I was drawn to this book immediately because of the title. I thought it has 90s movie vibes written all over it and I was right! This book was a perfect throwback to all of my favorite 90s movies while still being so relevant to today's world! It was thought provoking, gut wrenching, and relatable! A definite 5 star must read with a twist!!

A fantastic story for teens and young adults. A very gripping and heart wrenching story but beautifully written xx