I have been putting this review off. I am not sure if I liked this book or not. I will say that I am much older than the target audience. What I did like is the realism of the story, it's awkward and makes you cringe, yet it keeps you reading. Grace falling for her teacher is nothing new in the world of teenagers, yet I found myself wincing at her behavior and I am going to guess that is due to having the hindsight of an adult. I found it a funny book, but also one of heartbreak. I did struggle with the age of the characters, they are supposed to be 15 but act and speak like they're older, something about this was off-putting.

In the end what drew me into the story was the book cover.

I adored this messy, voice-forward YA that had complex characters. I thought the writing was very sharp and compelling and while I didn’t always agree with the characters and their decisions I was hooked while reading it.

This was terrible. The romance was not done well. The plot was underdeveloped and there was a lot of pacing issues.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me a free copy of this advanced copy of the book to read and review.

Grace is a very emotional character. She feels everything very deeply, which you learn from page one when you find her in a bathroom crying her eyes out. This story really takes you into teenage emotions and lets you see how the world can be slightly tilted from that view at times. It was a good story.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

DNF
Yes everyone makes mistakes. Hannah Montana would never have made it without them. But why on god's green earth did this author have this FIFTEEN year old cuss out her teacher because she had a crush on him and he had the audacity to be engaged? Oof yall. I was a little wild at 15 but this author clearly doesn't know how 15 year olds work.

I'm caught between the things I liked and disliked about the book, so I am still feeling unsure about how to rate it. I think younger audiences will appreciate its poignant portrayal of a coming-of-age journey.

Slingshot is at times really humorous with witty dialogue and likable characters. Some of the storyline dragged at times, but over all the characters were just a little too dramatic for me.

This book starts out with a character that I just couldn't connect with from the jump. Gracie, the MC, I just found to be super shallow and honestly, just psycho. It never wavered throughout the book and I just couldn't believe that there was never a breakthrough. By the time I got to the end, just didn't like the character or character development at all. Wade was a pretty good character and that's the reason why this book got 2 stars from me. I was wondering how this would end.

Speaking of the ending, not a fan at all. Extremely underwhelming and gave me no sense of *ahhh there it is*. Overall, I'd skip this one.

I will not be giving feedback on this book as I couldn’t really get into it but I think others may enjoy it.

I don’t think being in a relationship is the only reason to give meaning to a person’s existence. The way that Grace made her relationship with Wade her entire personality and then WENT AND RUINED IT!!! did not sit right with me. It wasn’t the book for me but it would 100% appeal to a teen audience going through the same awkward predicaments as Grace.

Totally great! Such a dynamic YA novel that adults and teens will love. There's a lil something for everyone in this book. Plus, love the cover.

Mercedes Helnwein's new YA novel Slingshot, about first love at a Florida boarding school, has bombed with readers, and the reviews razzing this book unfortunately are well-justified.

Normally this type of novel would be right up my alley - coming-of-age stories about first love, especially those taking place at a boarding school, which should allow for all sorts of interesting plot lines, are books I like to read, but Slingshot failed to capture anything nostalgic or sentimental about falling in love as a teenager. Instead, its main character Grace Welles is trash, making this story come across as crude instead of endearing, employing a slew of curse words and overt sexual references at every turn and completely turning me off as a reader. Grace, a girl with obvious daddy issues, is a psychopath hiding in plain sight, in my opinion. She is so unpalatable that I couldn't wait to finish this book and forget it forever.

If I had one word to describe this book it would be "fine". I understand that I am not in the age demographic anymore for YA novels, but this one was just a bit lackluster, If you are a younger teen I think this would be good for you.

While I hate to think that 15 year-olds have to deal with some of the things in this story, I believe it's probably very realistic.

This cover eludes to a fun, cutesy, YA RomCom within the pages. It couldn't be more wrong on the imaging.

Slinghost is filled with teenage angst, rocky first love, casual sex, unlikable characters, horrible parents and probably some pretty realistic high school challenges. I was surprised by some of the turns in the storyline but completely engaged until the very last page.

The drama brought me back to some of my high school events, even though I didn't go to a fancy, private school.

I'm pretty sure that this will hit well with the YA crowd.

Grace is unlikable and rude, which makes this story hard to get through. While I liked the idea of this premise, unfortunately the characters and writing style weren’t for me.

A fun summer read! The characters in this book were juicy and complex, which I really enjoyed. I loved reading about teenagers getting into trouble (but didn't necessarily enjoy their wildly inappropriate conversations with one another). Although I didn't love all the characters, I absolutely loved Wade! There was a deepness to him that I found relatable and lovable. This one all in all was just okay for me, but I'd like to read more from this author in the future!

I've tried, but I cannot get into this book so it's an DNF for me. I love boarding school books as I went to boarding school. Even with that aspect I couldn't make myself finish this book.

This book wasn’t for me as I tried several attempts to finish. I had a 16yo read my arc and she couldn’t finish it either. According to her it was just boring.