I did read some of the reviews prior to submitting my request for this ARC copy of Slingshot hoping I would disagree with the negative commenter. I am sad to say I was just uncomfortable the whole time reading this book and I nearly DNF. Just inappropriate and squirmy. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this book for an honest review.

DNF 30%
I tried.
I really tried to finish the book, and I really tried to like it.
The blur is great and we are talking here about a debut author, So I wanted to support her, especially because one day I hope to publish my book and I'd love to have others' support but also I want honesty and here it's me being honest.
There are so many things wrong n the story and I just read 30% of the book, The protagonist is unlikable and as a reader, I need to root for the MC character, I want to be on a journey with her, and in this book, I just want to be away from her. ,
The first scene is shockingly cringed, and a little disturbing a reaction like that from our main character is meant serious problems at least to me.
And the narrative is not the best, there are so many repetitions, on one page I count more than 10 'was", awful choices of words and grammar mistakes.,
I didn't want to agree with other reviewers but I'm afraid they were right.
I'm totally disappointed.

The writing is not my favorite, but I enjoyed the plot. I also enjoyed the characters. They were lovable and I related to them quite a bit.

This book was... oof. I think my primary complaint is that absolutely no one acts their age, there is a whole lot of completely unacceptable sex between minors and non-minors. I am completely fine with adult themes (swearing, drinking, and sex among them) but it is a hard "yikes" in fifteen year olds. Grace is sort of terrible at best, the romance is awful and abusive, and the adult themes were a no. Do not recommend,

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my (very honest) review.

There’s a lot going on for this book.. and not in the best way. There are SO many reviews on this, some good mostly bad but I wanted to come at this with a clear and open mind.

Unfortunately, I agree with the majority. This book, the characters, the storyline, the humor just wasn’t for me.

Grace Wells, 15-year-old boarding school student, comes off as a bit disillusioned and prickly and most definitely a loner, which is why, when she rescues new kid Wade from some bullies with her scarily accurate slingshot skills, she says she wasn't doing it for him at all. But this unfailingly upbeat and friendly guy manages to bring her out of her shell, and they become inseparable. Their long, random conversations and their shenanigans lead to love - until Grace's self-sabotaging secret starts to bubble up, and she really has to come to terms with that lesson all teenagers eventually have to learn: the universe doesn't revolve around her. This isn't the sparkly rom-com type of YA, it's more of a grittier yet offbeat type where the character is a bit of an outsider or misfit but has this wry, self-deprecating humor along with a bit of a self-destructive 'tude (thus the tagline for this book: "two people finding each other and then screwing it all up"). Things might not turn out perfectly for them, but that makes the stories feel more real-world and satisfying in some ways - comparisons for me would be Permanent Record by Mary H.K. Choi or Frankly in Love by David Yoon. Also, interestingly, it made me think a lot about Curtis Sittenfeld's classic boarding school novel, Prep, which I read earlier this year. The main characters felt quite similar in a lot of ways in how they were these poorer-than-their-classmates loners who got involved with the most popular guy for some misguided reasons and sort of self-sabotaged because of it. This one, though, is the high schooler's perspective on the situation, whereas Prep is the adult looking back on her time in high school perspective.

3.5/5 stars

Slingshot is a hilarious and quirky read that will have you laugh out loud, The characters are strong and have hugely independent attributes which makes it interesting to watch their growth as the story progresses.

Grace is in trouble.
Grace is 15 and has fallen in love with an adult mentor, and she's fallen hard.
Grace is reactionary in ways that cause both her and her peers harm.
Grace is utterly unlikable.
Grace is also, in a powerful, base, honest way, completely relatable too.

I wonder how I would have responded to reading a story about a protagonist like Grace at 15. I remember being around kids who were distinctly like her, with a hard tough exterior, and a slightly mushier inside just waiting to be cracked. And honestly, waiting a week after finishing this book... I'm 33 now, and I still don't know what to think.
I only know that her characterization and her growth, which somehow to me felt simultaneously sloppy, messy, and honest, made me want to give her a home and a safe place.
To be clear, many of the things Grace does in this book are terrible and honestly, pretty unacceptable. The gaslighting. The lying by omission of truth. The abuse she dishes out to the people she loves. Grace is incredibly immature, and seems mostly unaware of said immaturity, but definitely knows she can do better, which gives me hope.
Adding to this, I'm not sure Grace is necessarily supposed to be likable. Helnwein does a fabulous job towing the line between relatable and abhorrent, and describes first love in a very real, not candy-coated kind of way. It feels fresh.
I really liked this one.

RATING: 4.5 out 5 stars

SLINGSHOT by Mercedes Helnwein is a firecracker of a debut. This YA contemporary is set inside a shoddy boarding school in Florida, where Gracie is a committed loner, avoiding any kind of social activity other than talking to her biology professor. She surprises herself when she saves a new student from being attacked by the popular boys, but it’s not some altruistic act. Gracie hates the popular boys. Wade, the transfer, is now determined to be Gracie’s friend, and their relationship begins to evolve until they’re hopelessly, irrevocably in love with one another, the kind of love where all that’s left is to lose.

This book has a fresh perspective and voice that readers are either going to love or hate. Gracie is tough. She’s terrible at apologizing, has a massive chip on her shoulder, and is generally mean. In fact, she’s probably her own worst enemy. That being said, her attitude is a means to cope with life and to protect herself from it. For some, this could make her difficult to read, but for me, it made her utterly human, even when her behavior was frustrating. I would’ve liked to see her undergo a bigger change in the end, but in real life, most of us don’t wake up one day monumentally different. It happens slowly, over time.

Besides that, the ending in general left a bit to be desired. Not a single plotline was tied up nicely with a bow, except for maybe the one with Mr. Sorrentino. At minimum, we do know the characters are going to be okay, and in a way, this outcome is poetic as it matches Gracie’s own journey and again, real life. However, I was so emotionally invested in the novel that I needed a bit more to feel fully satisfied. There seems to be so much story left to be told, and I want to know more about where all the characters land, particularly Wade, Derek, Gracie, and her mom. I’d love to read a sequel.

That being said, if you’re looking for a contemporary romance that will make you ache for days with surprising plot twists and complex characters, you should definitely read SLINGSHOT. I couldn’t put this book down, so much so that I stayed up all night reading it. I had to find out what was going to happen, and days later, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

Some of the content is mature, so I’d recommend it for an older YA group.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC

This was quite an interesting read! Although I wasn't really a fan of Grace Welles... she needed greater character development for me to like her. Also, this book had way too much swearing to my liking. But, I thought Wade was a person who was trying to break his horrible past and figure himself out, and I enjoyed reading that. This book really does represent a typical high school scenario, and I respect it for that.

This book was not for me. I can see the appeal for YA readers but I could not connect with the main character- I found her highly melodramatic and unlikeable. I didn’t find the opening scenes relatable or believeable and just couldn’t get into this one.

I appreciate the opportunity to have read it, but did not enjoy it.

Loneliness and a lack of stability, from having no friends and no reliable parental figure to rely on, has made 15-year-old Grace Welles into a cynic. This foul-mouthed self-proclaimed ‘jerk’ knows she’s prickly and alone, and seems to prefer it that way. While she can clearly identify and blame her largely absentee father and delusional mother, she is not self-aware enough to realize that she suffers from some delusions, herself. All in all, this made for very difficult reading, as a grumpy teenager with an amazing vocabulary for her age, complains about everything and everyone around her.

I am going to have to dnf this one.

[From the beginning we find out that Gracie is in love with her teacher and she thinks he is in love with her. I'm glad that the teacher wasn't but how Gracie feels about him is a sub plot that just makes me quite uncomfortable.

I get it, this book is realistic. It shows that teens make poor choices etc. but I think you can show their poor choices without that sub plot. (hide spoiler)]

Reading other reviews has definitely solidified this decision.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh, huh, well... Slingshot was definitely a frustrating read for me. In it, you will meet Gracie and Wade. In the beginning, I loved Wade because he was completely and utterly adorable. Yet, there was so much about him we didn't know because Gracie was self-centered and shallow. She was completely horrible to anyone and everyone. Plus, I also got crazy psycho vibes from her throughout the book.

Wade was no different once we got to see little bits and pieces. Or maybe it's just me and I wouldn't trust anyone if they said they really really liked or loved me after knowing me for an hour. Or a day. Seems oddly suspicious.

Other than that, the romance was okay and all the secrets at the end were okay. BUT, and this is a huge but guys, the ending was all sorts of underwhelming. Why the letter? Why not respond? Why ghost to begin with? Nothing was making sense and I was just so done with Gracie and Wade. I hope they find happiness with someone or something else.

I thought this was gonna be a cute quick read, but unfortunately I hated this book so much. Gracie is insufferable and has zero character development. Wade though was a freaking saint and put up with way too much of Gracie's crap.

So disappointed

Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me. I found the main character unlikeable and I thought Wade was too good for her. Gracie is fifteen, so she's going through puberty, emotional, and lashes out at others. To an extent, I can deal with that but Gracie was over the top mean. She said horrible things to people, even telling them she hopes they die. She hurt two boys who liked her and was consistently awful to her roommate.

I didn't feel like Gracie made much progress during the story. A couple times she showed a bit of maturity but not enough for me to change my mind about her. I also thought the ending seemed unresolved and abrupt, almost a cliffhanger but not quite. Maybe an epilogue several years in the future would have shown more growth and a happier ending.

The one character I really liked was Wade. He was going through some rough things, but was pretty happy and cared about Gracie, even when she was terrible to him. He stood up for others and tried to comfort them when they needed it. His story was a bit open, but I liked how it worked out and I think they way he and Gracie left it was good.

I hope others will see the good in Gracie where I couldn't and enjoy this more.

I received this advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have really mixed about this book. At times I enjoyed it, but at times I was just waiting for it to be over. I really tried to give this a shot, but the first chapter just really left a bad taste in my mouth.

This book immediately starts off with Grace going on and on about how her and her teacher, who was at least twenty years older, were soulmates. If that hadn’t been included, I might’ve enjoyed this a bit more, but her feelings towards him are constantly mentioned. On top of that, she has the gall to scream and curse at him for having a wife, because she honestly thought they were meant to be together. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t get behind her feelings and so called love.

That event is one of the most indicative of Grace’s personality. She was constantly whining, being rude, and was definitely one of the most judgemental characters I have ever read. Seriously, she was an embodiment of the “not like other girls” stereotype. Unlike the rest of her school, she isn’t rich, and doesn’t need a boyfriend. In fact, she isn’t even interested in guys, and thinks romance is fake. All of that combined together to make her extremely unlikeable, which is never something you want in a main character.

I also felt like this was super tropey, and chose to involve some of my least favorites tropes. Of course, we got the girl who thinks she’s super ugly, but she’s actually super pretty, and multiple guys like her. To go along with that, she also villainizes the pretty girls. I’m so tired of reading about characters like this. Can’t we ever get a character who’s confident in her own looks, and doesn’t judge others for their looks?

As for the plot, it felt pretty circular. Like most romance novels, we had the inevitable breakup, which felt like it was added solely to move the plot along. I could pretty much predict how things would play out as soon as I started the book, which was pretty disappointing.

My last problem with this book was the amount of cursing. Most of the characters in this are supposed to be around high school age, and as a high schooler, nobody I know curses that much. By the end, all of the arguments had lost any weight they had, because curses were used to describe everything.

Although this book really didn’t work for me, I can definitely see why some people would love it. Between the instant romance, cursing, and circular plot, I couldn’t wait for this to be over.

Thanks to Mercedes Helnwein and Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review

Hilarious, touching, and over the top, this coming-of-age story set at a boarding school is filled with believable teen heartbreak, great music, and a marbling of serious and light moments. Highly recommended.

This book was a rollercoaster for me. There were parts I truly loved where the writing was incredible, there were parts that felt a little out of place. Overall though, I have to say this was a great read. The ending was so poetic.

I was drawn to this story because the praise for it started off
“An exciting debut contemporary young adult novel perfect for fan of Rainbow Rowell”
Well I didn’t read anymore as I had read 5 of RR novels and really liked all but one.

The novel gets its name when teenager Grace sees that the new guy Wade is getting beat up. She comes to his rescue by the single aim of a slingshot.
Story is about two teens finding each other.
Describes by one reader as a “hilarious coming of age story”

I have read many YA novels. As a High Guidance Counselor I liked knowing what my students were reading and also make suggestions etc. I know teens use profanity but they also know when to use a filter ~ well many of them know how and when to use a filter obviously some don’t know.
I have backed off reading so many YA novels, I was finding more are formula driven, sex, foul language, abuse, drugs, bulling, and suicide. I know teens are going through a lot and many are unhinged. When I read these types of stories, I am totally expecting the author to do some research and provide recommendations ~ a glossary of Helpful Resources in the back of the novel.

I did read more about Mercedes Helnwein, she certainly is a very talented person: an artist, film maker. She has a love of music & literature. I believe we will be hearing more from and about her

Unfortunately this story didn’t work for me, however, I have no doubt this novel will find its readers.

Want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press ~ Wednesday Books for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for professional review purposes only.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for April 27, 2021