I really enjoyed this book! This is my second Courtney Summers book and I have really enjoyed her writing. She definitely keeps my attention and makes me feel like I cant put the book down or I am going to miss something. I really felt that I connected with Parker and could really feel what she was going through. Huge thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this opportunity!!!

I’m a fan of Courtney Summers’ writing and the often heartbreaking stories she boldly tells of girls who are angry and sad and recovering from trauma.

It’s interesting to me that there’s so much emphasis on the characters as unlikeable. I totally see why people classify them that way. And there’s one of her books where I really struggled with liking the main character, but it’s definitely not this one.

Parker’s clearly a mess and in the midst of a pretty sharp downward spiral. There’s a constant tug of war in her over punishing herself for her past mistakes and yet still wanting to be loved despite them, even though she doesn’t feel like she deserves it.

I’m often really moved by the community element in the stories I read, and the community around Parker in CRACKED UP TO BE definitely moved me. Her friends and teachers aren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But they care about Parker, and in their sometimes weird, sometimes broken, sometimes imperfect ways, they continue to reach out to her and try to help her in her recovery. That really got to me. And in a way I thought it showed other sides of Parker than she wanted to show us in her version of her story.

I saw other readers comment that they were driven to know what had happened to Parker. It remains a mystery through most of the book, but it drove me forward. Her behavior convinced me that something terrible had happened, and I knew that either she would have to face it or be destroyed by it.

CRACKED UP TO BE is, at times, a difficult/dark read, but I spent every page rooting for Parker, hoping for her to find a breakthrough and be able to start healing. It’s a great book for fans of angsty stories like WE WERE LIARS by E. Lockhart and YOU’LL MISS ME WHEN I’M GONE by Rachel Lynn Solomon.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Wow. ALL THE FEELS. I read this book until after two in the morning at which point my husband woke up to me crying over it. I LOVED Sadie and had intended to purchase more of Courtney's books and jumped at the chance to read this. The very next day I went to work and ordered the rest of her books for my library. This book is hard, the characters complex and damaged, and ready yourself for heartbreak. I laughed, I cried, I am invested in Parker! Well done again, Ms. Summers.

Cracked Up to Be is another strong novel from the author of Sadie and Some Girls Are. Courtney Summers once again proves she is an author not to be missed. Her writing is engrossing and truly captures her characters. The way Summers writes a teenage girl going through things is authentic. I cannot recommend this novel enough. Be sure to check out Cracked Up to Be today!

This story was tough to read at times, but because it was so compelling and made the reader identify so strongly with the main character. I had previously only read Sadie, but now I want to read more by this author. She does an excellent job of getting you inside of the teen's head and how they're processing friendships, relationships, and trauma. I think this is an important book for readers of all ages and gives a voice to those struggling to find their own

I loved this book! Courtney Summers has a way of drawing you in and liking a character I would never have chosen as a friend. I am so glad that this is being re-released. Courtney has a way of writing that snarky, sarcastic angry teenager perfectly! Happy reading!

Courtney Summer's is a perpetual first purchase for all YA and HS collections. The recent success of SADIE will have fans searching for backlist titles.

I recently read Sadie and I think I was hoping for this to grab me as much as it did...but it didn't. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a bad book. I will be recommending that we purchase it and it is still one I will recommend to others.

This caught my eye because I had read Sadie by Courtney Summers and loved it, so when I saw it on NetGalley, I requested it asap! I don't want to recap the blurb of the book, so I'll just dive into what I thought!
Parker, LOVED the name and even though she tried so hard to come across as unlikeable, I couldn't help but like her. She was so flawed in every way! She was the IT girl of her school. Perfect grades, Cheerleading Captain, Football Player boyfriend....and then she decided she was done with it. She began showing up to school drunk and all. She just wants to be alone! I spent almost the entire book desperate to find out what happened to her to make her feel the way she did.

I also loved Chris. I really did, because he was written real and honestly, I was sort of rooting for him and Parker for the entire book. He never fully got "over" her and I don't think she got over him. I think he was just too much of a reminder of what her life was like before and what she lost. I loved how he never gave up on her and he watched out for her and protected her as much as he could. Chris was a good guy, he truly was just a good guy.

I liked Jake, and felt that he was a good distraction from everything going on with Parker. He knew nothing about the person she was except for what he heard from Chris and Becky (Parker's former friend current cheerleader captain). Parker was a beast to him, but in a funny way. I had to hand it to Parker, she really had the whole "I don't give a fuck" attitude down perfectly and for a while, I really thought she didn't. I really didn't think she cared about anyone.

The characters in this story are so real, so raw and so damage that I couldn't help but love everyone of them. This was such a heartbreaking story when you finally discover what Parker actually witnessed and how much it affected her. It brought tears to my eyes.

Parker was practically perfect in every way. Straight As, top of her class, cheer captain, and dating the most popular boy in school - she appeared to have it all. But, that was before the party, before what happened.

I put this book on my TBR, because I was so impressed with Sadie, and vowed to read Summers' backlist. Not only did I like this book, I LOVED this book.

Summers wrote a foreword about how Parker was this unlikable character, but I didn't find her unlikable. Yes, she did many things I did not like, but it was easy to see that this was a young woman having some sort of crisis. She was intentionally alienating any and all people, who cared for her, and she was sabotaging herself, left and right. The whole time I kept wondering WHY? Why was pushing people away? Why did she break up with a boy, who obviously still loved her? Why wouldn't she let herself enjoy anything? Why was she setting fire to her life?

Well, that answer was slowly revealed to me, and it was heartbreaking. I knew she was dealing with an immense amount of guilt about what happened, because I did get to spend time in her head. That time was well used by Summers, because it was one of the main reasons why I didn't hate Parker. Those glimpses into her thoughts showed me that she still wanted to live and succeed, and she still cared about things, even if her outward actions didn't reflect those choices. I also saw flashes of her good nature and humor, and though brief, they made me care for her.

I cared and ached for Parker. Her pain was palpable, and it was easy to see through the mask of indifference she wore. But, she was fortunate to be surrounded by some people, who didn't give up on her. The most surprising of her supporters was her ex-boyfriend, Chris, who she had abruptly broke up with. She pushed him away, time and time again, and he kept coming back for more. Even when she sent another girl to fill the void she left, he still was there for her. I found their relationship odd, but comforting.

I lost myself in Parker's problems, and was fully invested in her working through them. This book was emotional, but had many beautiful moments, and I was glad that it ended on a hopeful note. I enjoyed these characters so much, and would love a follow up with them. It would be a treat to see how things worked out for Parker, but until then, I can rest easy with the ending Summers gave her.

I was super pleased to be offered this as an ARC--I loved Courtney Summers' Sadie and Some Girls Are. I definitely wanted to work my way through the rest of her backlist, so her debut seemed like a perfect place to start.

I think reading a debut--especially more than 10 years after it's been published and you have already since read the author's more recent work--is a tricky thing to do. I couldn't help but bring my expectations from Sadie, a wonderfully heartbreaking novel that wasn't afraid to be dark and ruthless, into my reading of this debut. I could definitely see themes and character types that Summers excels at writing, and notice how she has deepened them and given them more complexity now as a seasoned writer.

Although I didn't enjoy this novel as much as I hoped I would, I loved seeing where Summers began and look forward to reading what she'll publish next.

It's fair to note that I'm an adult, and therefore NOT the target audience for this book, but I whole-heartedly believe that Cracked Up to Be is the book I needed as a teen. Also noting that this is a re-release of a novel first published in 2008, I found it incredible in the sense that it's thematic issues transferred over to the present time flawlessly, although this partially could be due to some updates in the content to bring the story into the current decade's level of technology. All that to say, I'm not a young adult anymore, but as a mother of two young girls, YA contemporaries featuring the struggles my daughters might encounter one day interest me. My oldest will be a teenager in just 6 short years, and while that seems like an eternity on glance, I'm pretty other parents here will understand just how fleeting each precious second is with our children.

Parker Fadley is an intentionally unlikeable character. That's not a cheap shot at the story, as the author herself states this fact in the introduction to the book. Parker tries incredibly hard to distance herself from everyone she knows and cares for, due to a careless mistake she committed in her junior year of high school. Most of the story is told in the present, after the event, but the suspense builds throughout as we slowly get flashback glances into how the night in question unfolded. Part of what makes this book so powerful is not that the author pulls every outrageous twist in her arsenal, or makes every single teenage issue happen to Parker herself, but she does touch on a lot of the tough content inserted into teen fiction these days, such as rape, suicide, and a brief mention of abortions that are not part of the narrative.

Truly, this is a story about Perfect Parker and what happens to her when this facade is forcibly removed. While I do think that all the adults are portrayed as complete idiots in this book, I think it's fair to assume that the book is written in an accurate way due to the fact that the author was only 22 when the book was published. I appreciate that, while all adults are not completely tuned out to when a kid is in trouble, this story does a great job of showing what it might feel like through the eyes of a teenager in that moment, and also how, while we want to help every kid that we see struggling, we might have no idea as adults in the best way to reach them. Mental health is really the theme that this story circles around, and I truly appreciate how the book ends on a messy, but hopeful note. Nothing is tied up in a pretty little bow, and this felt so authentic and real that I wanted to give Parker a standing ovation. If you're looking for a lightning fast read where the suspense of "what happened" will keep you turning the pages, please give Cracked Up to Be a try.

An interesting look into the mind of a troubled young girl. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either. If you enjoy books with broken characters, this one is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars.
Dang, this book was HEAVY. It's basically the main character, Parker, dealing with the guilt of something happening to someone that she blamed herself for. She deals with the guilt by drinking and going to school drunk, among other things. She is constantly pushing everyone away because she thinks she deserves to be alone. Parker is mean. She is rude. She used to be perfect and now is trying to become a perfect mess.
I think my favorite thing about all of this is how people didn't want to give up on Parker. Her parents, guidance counselor, ex-boyfriend. No matter how horrible she was, people didn't give up on her. She didn't want people to have hope in her, but they refused to stop caring. And when people are in situations like that, they need more than anything for people to not give up on them even if they want everyone to give up on them.
I loved Parker. She's messed up and mean and rude, but she's so sarcastic and I found her sarcasm pretty funny and witty at times. I know she's not the typical character you find yourself rooting for, but I couldn't help rooting for her no matter how awful she was. I also loved Jake and even Chris. Even through all the rumors, Jake (the new kid) wants to know Parker. He doesn't want to give up from the very first minute. And Chris was still in love with her even though she broke up with him. It was so nice to see the support system Parker had even if she didn't want it.
This book touches on things hard to read about, but it doesn't throw everything in your face right away. It gradually tells the story of Parker's worst night so you are left wondering what exactly happens until almost the very end. I felt for Parker. Someone very close to me has had to deal with guilt very similar to Parker's and it just sucks. But this book taught me just don't give up no matter what.
There was a point in this book where I just sobbed. I had to stop reading and just cry. It had nothing to do with Parker and her guilt, but ugh, if you've read this I'm sure you know what part I'm talking about.
Overall, very heavy topics dealt with very well. Great characters and suspense and all the feels.

#Crackeduptobe
Courtney Summers once again shows why she's a dynamic storyteller with Cracked Up to Be. It is a great read! The book is wonderfully plotted and the characters are well developed.

I absolutely loved Sadie and was excited to see this rerelease that matches the cover I have. I really enjoyed the story of this book. Courtney Summers' writing is fantastic and engaging and I was drawn into this story easily.

Cracked Up to Be is a riveting read! After I read Sadie I knew I would be a fan of the authors work and I wasn't wrong! I enjoyed this one immensely. There were a few things that got on my nerves (mostly the fact that I both loved and loathed the MC), but as a whole, it's a very good read! I can't wait for me!

A reissue of Courtney Summers’ 2008 young adult novel, “Cracked Up to Be” follows good-girl gone bad, Parker, as she navigates her way through her senior year. Parker is obviously holding in repressed feelings from a dark event in the past, and throughout the novel we are introduced to small portions of the story of the night that changed her life. This trauma in her life has affected her, and unfortunately you do not see much effort on her part to get better. I felt it was hard to sympathize with Parker, because even despite her issues, I still found her to be selfish and extremely unlikable.

I had read and enjoyed Summers’ novel ”Sadie“ last year, so I chose to give this book a shot. While this novel is a pretty quick read, it’s definitely reads as a debut novel. The books jumps right in without much introduction or foundation, and I found the storyline to be a bit choppy. Overall, I just did not get into the story or connect with the characters, and it was not the book for me. The novel does address some very serious content, but it just did not hit the mark for me and will not be one that will stick with me.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

First let me say I enjoyed this book. Well as much as you can enjoy something of the subject matter, and with something so hard hitting, I almost feel guilty for not liking it more. My main problem was that we were given absolutely no context for Parker's attitude until 80% of the way through the book. We know something happened, but not a clue as to what. I feel like I could have understood and connected with Parker better if the author had put more of the flashback snippets at the beginning of the book. Not to say she needed to reveal all of it, but you are basically dropped into the middle of the story where everyone knows more of what's going on than you do. That works in some books, but not this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for the ARC of this book that I was given in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Unpopular opinion: this was better than Sadie. This was, in fact, the first book I have read this year that I didn't want to put down because it was just so good. It was one of the most authentic books about a troubled teenage girl I think I have ever read. I really loved it.