Trigger warnings: sexual assault

When Viv ends up in a coma after overdosing at a party Davida, her friend, sets out to find out the truth about what really happened that night.

We follow the perspectives of Davida and Tim after the party and Viv on the lead up to it. I enjoyed the timeline shifts and that there was police interviews mixed in too.

This book deals with alcohol addiction and the effects it has on a person as well as sexual assault and date rape drugs. It deals with people of authority hiding the fact these things are happening.

I liked the fact Davida wasn't giving up and that she needed to know the truth even if it was for selfish reasons to begin with. I felt bad for Viv and everything she was going through that lead her to drink and how she felt she had no one to turn too. It makes you realise that it doesn't matter how strong someone may seem everyone always needs someone to be there for them.

I enjoyed this but due to the eBook version jumping around a lot and pages not being in the correct order it made it harder to read.

ARC provided by NetGalley and Penguin Teen for an honest review.

Book trigger warnings: sexually assault, grooming, underage drinking, drug use.

The premise of this book, students participating in a medical school course work as simulated patients but something goes wrong and Viv is in a coma, was very interesting but it had a slow start and was very detailed. The book does a good job of identifying the different POVs and the time shifts, with lots of small chapters that read quickly. But, there was a lot of excess story that didn’t advance the plot, provide important details or fully relate at all.

It had the potential to be so good but didn’t quite get there,

Tell Me When You Feel Something by Vicki Grant was. . something. The book's premise is that a teen is in a coma, and the mystery is in figuring out why and how this happened. Part of this is connected to the part-time gig she and some others have found being simulated patients for the local medical school. The story then flashes between the past and the present as people try to figure out what happened. The twist at the end honestly requires a content warning because it was heavy and a lot to process. Overall, this was one where I never quite connected with the story/drama, and the pace was a little slow, and then the reveal just kind of shook me.

3.5 stars

Tell Me When You Feel Something hit all of the notes you’d expect of a YA mystery.

At a high school party, popular Viv unexpectedly took an unmarked pill and was hospitalized due to an overdose. It was later determined that Viv had taken OxyContin and everything Viv’s friends thought they knew about her was challenged. Through past and present perspectives from varying viewpoints, Vicki Grant explored Viv’s state of mind and what led to her overdose.

Tell Me When You Feel Something’s formula worked well from what it was trying to accomplish. I enjoyed hearing how Viv was viewed by her two closest friends and then having those assumptions challenged by Viv’s perspective in the past. I was drawn to the multiple faces of Viv and thought the red herrings were thoroughly convincing. Tell Me When You Feel Something didn’t bring anything new to the genre, but Grant managed to evoke emotion which is always important.

I recommend the audiobook to all potential readers as it was made up of a full cast. Jamie Bloch, Hailey Gillis, Eamon Stocks, and M. John Kennedy all breathed life into their characters, especially Eamon Stocks who expertly captured Tim’s nerdy and naive persona.

Tell Me When You Feel Something will appeal to anyone looking for a quick mystery that will keep you guessing.

This book definitely need to come with a serious trigger warning for sexual assault. I read an electronic arc of this book from netgalley and that may have made some of the formatting weird (does the print book have large sections of red font int he middle of sections randomly?), but give that it was an ARC that didn’t change my writing. The book changes point of view pretty quickly and it can be a little hard to track at times, but in general I liked the story being told from multiple perspectives. Time is pretty shifty too and each section is labeled with either a time before or after the big high school party of the summer. The party where Viv overdoses and ends up in the hospital in a coma. Her friend Davida is determined to figure out what happened, but she discovers a lot about her friend that makes her realize she didn’t really know her at all. The drama levels were beyond over the top and detracted from the story. I will say I loved that a lot of the story took place at a medical school where Viv, Davida, and their friend Tim work as actors portraying various ailments for student doctors to practice on.

Vivi is a smart, charming and gorgeous high schooler. She gets a part time job as a made up (simulated) patient for medical students to practice on.. it’s an after school job that is easy and fun to do. Her best friend Tim does it as well as another student Davida are also working at the same hospital. When Vivi’s parents go through the throes of going to tending up divorcing, Vivi can’t deal without a little help from her “friend “ vodka. As the divorce process gets her mother upset, Vivi drinks more even filling her water bottle she takes to school with vodka. It’s the only way she can stop feeling all the hurt caused by her parents. When her dad is going to marry a younger woman then her mom, Vivi hates it. Vivi has a boyfriend Jack who doesn’t know the stuff her mom is going through causing upset in Vivi’s life. When Davida, Tim and Vivi sit at lunch, Vivi decides she should help Tim to act on his feelings and ask her for a date. Vivi is happy that they are dating. She wants the best for them. Vivi becomes so upset at one point that she decides to see the doctor who has been trying to help but he is at a conference. The nurse tries to help Vivi. How? Will it work? She goes to a party that Vivi and Davida agreed to go to if she was there too. She does but Vivi ends up passing out at the party. What happened? Why did.she pass out? What will happen to her?

The author has written a novel that not only includes family dysfunctional relationships, teenage love, alcohol abuse and sexual abuse. It’s for the most part touches the sexual abuse lightly in comparison to Vivi’s alcohol drinking and her relationships. The story is told through the eyes of Vivi, then Tim and Davida. It is also told through the police interviews with all the people involved with Vivi. The character are all troubled people. It made it impossible to know who was to be trusted at times. It’s not a simple novel to read. It’s fast paced in that I wanted to know what was next in this mystery-thriller story. It’s ending surprised me. I liked reading about the characters in the book even though it made me sad at times. I think this book could be a warning on how not to act and forget tat teenagers need love and support.

Thank you to a Penguin Teen Canada for an ARC via netgalley in exchange for an honest review
3/5 stars
CW: drug use, teenage alcoholism, sexual assault, fake injuries described.
This was not the thriller that I was expecting. I didn’t really find that there were many thriller moments, and it didn’t feel like much of a mystery either. It’s told from different perspectives and timelines, but the only one that I was really engaged with was Viv’s as we learned about her character, life, and what happened to her in the days leading up to the party where she took an unidentified pill and ended up in a coma. I couldn’t connect to either Davida or Tim’s characters, and their perspectives just felt kind of pointless. I did feel for Viv and her situation, but some of the “mystery” was really obvious. I wish that it had just been from Viv’s perspective, although I liked the inclusion of the police interviews. The switching between the three perspectives felt a bit clunky to me.
I liked the setting of the medical school and the Simulated Patient program. I thought it was a cool concept, but I wish that we’d been able to explore it even more.
Overall it was an okay read, but it didn’t live up to what I was expecting.

Content warnings: mental illness, sexual assault, and alcohol abuse.

I really enjoyed the multiple POVs and short chapters as it pulled the story along rather quickly. That said, I felt the ending was a bit rushed. Overall, it was much darker that I expected but had a unique storyline with an interesting cast of characters.

Thank you to Penguin Teen Canada and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a honest review.

Thank you Net Galley, author Vicki Grant, and Penguin Teen publishing for giving me a free arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
3 stars
TRIGGER WARNINGS: sexual assault and grooming
What really happened to Vivis?
This book is told from the perspectives of the various characters as well as the police interviews of the friends and witnesses. The writing style, short chapters, and time jumps made this book a very easy read, which I was able to finish in a day. The mystery surrounding the events that led up to the party held my interest. I was really invested in finding out what happed to Vivis at the party as well as trying to decide what everyone was trying to hide. The big reveal of the mystery was a little disappointing and anti-climatic. I would recommend this book for those who are looking for a thriller that is a bit on the darker side.

How refreshing to read a YA novel in which the teen characters actually speak and act like real teenagers, albeit in dramatically heightened situations.
This story opens on a teenage girl, in a coma from an opioid overdose. The rest of the book switches between the month leading up to the event and the present time, trying to piece together what happened.
This is a quick, engaging read, and even though it wasn’t tough to figure out the “what happened” part of it, it didn’t detract from the pleasure of reading.
Thanks to #netgalley and #penguinteenhardcover for this ARC of #tellmewhenyoufeelsomething in exchange for an honest review.

honestly, i wanted to like this book, since i really love Karen McManus and Holly Jackson. but, it was honestly so terrible and i literally could not get into this book. and, i honestly love mystery books, and i don't really care if it is a YA or an adult, but i still really like it. but, this book was just a mess. and i'm not sure if it is because the format was so messed up, and i honestly think it took away from the story so much.

but, i do feel like it was so cool that this had shorter chapters and that it wasn't just one POV, and we got the POV of the friend and the girl that was missing and then some random man. i did think it was cool and i honestly really liked that we got to see the mystery unravel in multiple different ways. and i do feel like it was cool. but, then again, nothing happened in this book. like, i feel like there was zero twists or anything like that, which i hated. and this was such a slow story i did expect for this book to almost make you think that it was so slow, and then have it pick up towards the end and give you whiplash, and i honestly am a sucker for that,.

i also feel like nothing in this book was handled correctly. like, i feel like Grant should have talked to professionals and people that know about the topics at hand. but, i feel like the content of this book was just not handled well at all. like, there were moments that this story felt real, and that this could be happening somewhere. but, i still feel like the topics at hand weren't handled correctly.

trigger warning- rape, sexual violence, sexual assault, pedophilia, alcoholism

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

Now this YA novel had an interesting premise- teen girl lies in a coma while we are treated to flashbacks of the days leading up to the accident as well as multiple character perspectives and police interviews. It was a little slow and drawn out in getting to the climax of the story, however, I just kept turning the pages.

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Publication Date 15/06/21
Goodreads review published 16/06/21

"Tell Me When You Feel Something" is great for readers who enjoy unreliable narrators. After meeting some characters in brief chapters, we get to read the police report about interviews with these characters. I liked reading the police reports the best.
Basically, the plot about some of the characters is intriguing ... people work as "simulated patients" at a local med school. It was difficult for me to like the characters ... who is lying, what's the deal with this person?
Many thanks to Penguin Random House and Netgalley for this read.

I've never read something quite like this book and I really liked it! The storyline was very unique and kept me guessing for a long time, similar to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson.

CW: suicide, sexual assault, death of parent

Thank you to penguin teen for the ARC!

TW: sexual assault
Would have appreciated a TW on the book itself..

While this book was entertaining it wasn’t overly clever and the characters felt a little flat.

Before you dive into this book please be aware that there is content that some readers might find triggering such as substance abuse and sexual assault.

I really like when a book has the perspectives of multiple characters because I get to know each one on a more intimate level but with this one I felt like I didn’t get to know any of the characters whatsoever. My favourite character was Tim because he was so kind and absolutely loyal no matter what.

There were a lot of twists and secrets that kept the story interesting. I sort of picked up on what was happening before it was revealed but it was still shocking.

3.5 stars, rounded up.
Thanks to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
It's rare that I read YA anymore, simply because it's hard for me to find a book where I can get into the drama and excitement of teenage characters. Tell Me When You Feel Something was a breath of fresh air. It had the right amount of suspense, shock value, and heart for the teenager inside this 26 year old body. I had an idea about the twist after a particular scene, but even though I was right, I thought it was still a great twist. There were a couple scenes that felt a bit cheesy, but for the most part, I enjoyed it.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions expressed herein are mine alone and may not reflect the views of the author, publisher, or distributor.

Content Warnings:
Suicide, alcoholism, rape, mental illness

The structure of this book does it no favors. TELL ME WHEN YOU FEEL SOMETHING works on three timelines: before Vivienne takes an oxy, after Viv takes it, and during the police interviews. Before, she works with two of her best friends as a simulated patient at a med school, otherwise known as SPs. She's trying to get a podcast script together for an internship/fellowship/scholarship, and her parents are having a massively messy divorce. After, Davida, the shy new girl, is angry with her ex-boyfriend Tim for not telling her what happened to Vivienne to push her to the brink of taking such a strong oxy. And for maybe maybe-not cheating on her with Viv.

Spoilers: he didn't.

Listen. The plot is timely. The issues are real. There are a lot of issues within the teenagers' lives that are rare to see in YA: mixed families who get along...wait, I guess that's the only rare thing. The way the narrative is set up smashes the story into an endless loop of misery. Not just for the characters, but for the readers too. Viv's sections are in 3rd person past-tense, Davida and Tim have 1st person present, and then there are transcripts of police reports scattered throughout. None of these elements work well together. The overdose has already happened, but we're thrown way, WAY back in time to a month before the party where Viv takes the oxy.

"But, Caitlin! That's not long at all!"

When you get nearly every day written down in detail and then peppered with pointless musings from a boy who reads like a John Green reject, and a mopey girl who openly blames her mom for the untreated mental illness that caused her to abandon her family--when you have narratives that are supposed to be closely linked and only barely touch in their content, the book is a mess. It's like someone threw Mindy McGinnis, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Joshilyn Jackson into a blender, hit pulse a few times, and let it drip onto the countertop in blobs. It doesn't work.

The whole structure needs to be reworked, because this book is supposed to be about what happens to Vivienne. Instead, it's only a third about her, a third about her trying to set up Davida and Tim, and a third about meandering drama which adds exactly nothing to the real plot. I can't believe Davida spent her entire narrative whining about Tim and how hard her life is. She gets two pages of caring about Viv right at the end, and that's it.

Ever have a book make you tired? This book makes me tired. I wish it had been structured way differently, and you could have even cut out Tim altogether, made it about Viv and Davida and powerful female friendship. Instead, we got this. Can't say I didn't try.

Tell Me When You Feel Something is a YA thriller narrated in two timelines. In the present, Viv is in a coma after an overdose. Davida, her best friend, believes that the circumstances are suspicious and that Viv didn’t take the drugs of her own free will. In the past, we see how Viv got into the situation she is now, and what actually happened at the simulated patient program for med school students where she worked.

There are different points of view and at first we don’t know if we can trust them. The POVs are sometimes very short and change rapidly, but it works well with this kind of story. There are also police interviews that don’t add much to the book. They don’t reveal new or shocking information and they could have been omitted.

Viv is a very well-developed character. We get sucked into her complicated family life and I was able to empathize with her even though she takes terrible decisions. Viv has an alcohol addiction that is getting worse and worse, and seeing that is devastating. Furthermore, the side characters are interesting and well-fleshed out, yet not exactly memorable. You get to know them just enough to understand their motivations.

The story gets off to a slow start, but after 20% things got interesting and it hooked me. I was so invested that I actually finished the rest of the book in one sitting, even though I knew what the plot twist would be.

And that is my main critic of Tell Me When You Feel Something: it is completely predictable. I knew what was happening and whom was responsible from the halfway point, maybe even after. After a particular scene, everything was crystal clear to me and it felt like re-reading a book when you already know the plot twist and you are looking for the clues that the author left along the way. I didn’t exactly know how a few things would be resolved, but I was not surprised by anything either.

To sum up, Tell Me When You Feel Something explores dark topics in a sensitive way and has well-fleshed out characters, but it was way too predictable for me, so I can’t give it more than 3 stars.

There’s a lot going on here. First off, this format for the eARC was very confusing. Maybe if it were a physical copy, it would read better.

I felt like it was trying to be too “woke” to the point it almost seemed like it was making fun of people trying to correct the injustices minorities can face. It almost seemed satire how it would be thrown in there, and the comments were really unnecessary. There’s a way to execute social injustices with respect and give light to it. I felt like reading these, as a minority, hurt, more than felt like someone was on my side.

There is a lot of back and forth. I felt like I wasn’t fully understanding of what was happening, kind of like when you walk up to a conversation already happening and no one will fill you in. Once I was able to get some context, it would change to another area. I just got my foothold! Don’t change it on me now. I felt like it could have flowed better or led on better.

Overall, it was okay. The premise was solid but just not executed to live up to it. Thank you Penguin Teen for the gifted copy.