I try to find redeeming qualities in all of the books I read, but unfortunately there is little to like about Abby Sher's novel Miss You Love You Hate You Bye. If the title, with its lack of punctuation, feels like one long run-on sentence to you, then be prepared because his book reads much the same way. Focusing on the friendship between two high school girls amidst the separation of one of the girl's parents and the way this traumatic news manifests in her life, Miss You Love You Hate You Bye has a lot of potential. Sadly, its execution is downright awful. The characters are shallow and unlikeable, and Sher writes as if she is on speed, rushing readers from one topic to the next without developing any of the plot points. And speaking of the plot, it is outlandish and ridiculous. This book touches on some rather serious topics, but does not give any of them the gravity that they are due. Not only can this have grave consequences for the book's intended young consumers, but it also makes for an unenjoyable reading experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Books for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I had already purchased this title for my library's YA collection before I got a chance to read it because it seemed like such a strong title! Cats, mental health, friendship! All things I love...but it kind of fell short for me. I think maybe there was something lacking in the character development. I'm not sure, but this one missed the mark, at least for me. I usually love YA novels dealing with mental health issues, as it is something I feel strongly about. It's not that this one inaccurately portrayed mental illness, but I wanted more I guess. I did like the focus on Hank and how it is like being the friend of someone who is sick. This is something I haven't seen as much in YA lit.

This was a gut wrenching look at a friendship that slowly unravels as one friend becomes more manic and anorexic. Told mainly from one point of view with some letters at the end of each chapter, it gave a lot of insight into a difficult friendship. It didn't wrap up neatly, which served the story well.

Miss You Love You Hate You Bye by Abby Sher is a challenging read, wrought with the coming-of-age complex emotions and co-dependencies of two teenage best friends. The novel chronicles the bestie relationship of Zoe and Hank.  Each teenage girl is struggling with her own issues of identity. Hank has lost herself in Zoe so much that she tries to be like her and struggles to balance her love and envy for her. Zoe is codependent on Hank and needs Hank’s friendship for validation, so she manipulates Hank to that end.  

As a coming-of-age story, Zoe and Hank are both struggling with a family crisis. Hank has recently lost her father, who suddenly died of a heart attack and she struggles to embrace her mother’s newfound happiness with her boyfriend, a good man with well-meaning intentions.  Zoe is dealing with the anger and betrayal of her parents’ divorce. She blames her dad for leaving her mom for another woman. Zoe has developed an eating disorder to cope and control her life and Hank sits silently on the sidelines watching her best friend shrink to a size double 0. Hank and Zoe’s mom are enablers. Hank struggles with finding her voice and courage to speak up and call out Zoe’s eating disorder. Zoe’s mom struggles with her own body dysmorphia, transferring her body issues onto her daughter and fueling their obsession with working out.

This is a story about the potency of teenage female friendships, their ability to shape the women we become.  It chronicles the painful fact that we outgrow some friendships while others we chose to keep as we age and evolve. Making that decision to end a friendship is often difficult as we struggle with conflicting emotions of love and hate. The ability to reconcile those two emotions and find acceptance and peace is the message I take away from Abby Sher’s novel, Miss You, Love You, Hate You, Bye. 

My only constructive comment on the novel regards its narrative style. Sher sprinkles her prose with letters Zoe writes from rehab to Hank as the story of their relationship unfolds. As a writer, I appreciate and applaud Sher’s creative stylistic choice for its originality. As a reader, I found the narrative disorienting and discombobulated at times to follow for its lack of transitions from Hanks's voice to Zoe’s letters.  I like being challenged and I enjoyed reading Miss You, Love You, Hate You, Bye.  It is a fresh, relatable and emotionally resonant read.

It's so refreshing to find a YA book that focuses on a strong female friendship verse a relationship. Miss You Love You Hate You has a great base friendship at the heart of the story. Hannah (Hank) and Zoe have been friends for as along as they can remember but one summer changes everything. Zoe's life is turned upside down and Hank is along for the ride. Together they test the limits of their friendship and how far you''ll go to help a friend. It's a beautiful story that deals with really tough topics. My biggest complaint is this story is told almost entirely from Hanks POV, I would've love to read more from Zoe's POV. She was pretty unlikeable at times and I think it would have helped to know what she was thinking. Overall, I really enjoyed it!

I love books that center around female friendships. There's something that hits so close to home for me when it comes to these kinds of books, so of course I enjoyed this. This was very hard hitting, as well, watching as one of our main characters developed and struggled with her eating disorder. It was tough to read at times, but the heart of the book was lovely,

There was a LOT going on in this book. The female friendship is complicated and I think teens might be able to relate to the complexities; and the reader knows Zoe is going through something hard. But Hank feels so bland and her inability to take action in the beginning of the novel is frustrating. I liked the redemption when she finally gets help- but there seems to be a lot that's never addressed (the kiss? The drugs? The manic episodes? The music video/ music career? A fun read but a little complicated.