This was an entertaining read but felt predictable. As soon as a certain beverage was introduced into the story, it pretty much gave the rest all away.
Solid 2.5/5
Thanks to Netgalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

The idea of simulated patients in the blurb completely intrigued me, so of course I picked up this book. Even if you’re not the type to usually read content warnings, I’d note that the blurb mentions the #MeTwo movement for a reason. There’s also lots of talk about other possible content warnings due to the simulated patient program.

Viv, Davida and Tim are all part of a “simulated patients” program at a local medical school. Basically, they’re given dossiers and made up to look like they’re suffering from various illnesses and injuries, and then the medical students have to diagnose them. Viv is beautiful and popular, and while she vaguely remembers Davida from summer camp a few years ago, she’s surprised to realize they go to the same school. Davida describes herself as extremely shy (felt more like social anxiety to me) and basically has no friends, so she’s thrilled that Viv is paying attention to her, and even more thrilled when she introduces her to Tim, who obviously has a huge crush on Davida. Things are going great, in fact, until Viv supposedly overdoses and ends up in a coma. Videos from the party show her taking a pill, but Davida is left reeling from that and another possible betrayal. Were Viv and Tim lying to her the whole time? Who gave Viv the pill?

“I just want to forget about the whole thing. Go back to my boring old life. Before Tim, before Viv, even before happiness. I was better off when I didn’t know what I was missing.”


The book shifts POVs frequently between Viv, Davida and Tim, Davida’s sort-of boyfriend. Viv’s sections occur before the party and are told in third person, while Davida’s and Tim’s are in first person and set after the party. It’s all over the course of about six weeks. Some sections are interspersed with police interviews, usually a rehashing of the sections that just occurred. Viv and Davida are the most prominent, and both women have issues aplenty. While Davida’s is more obvious – her “shyness” – Viv’s perfect life is not what it seems. Stuck between two feuding parents, Viv’s only way to get through the day is alcohol. The cycle she was stuck in was absolutely heartbreaking, where she’d swear to never drink until a new thing happened with her mother, father or soon-to-be stepmom and she’d be reaching for the bottle again. To be honest, I didn’t like Tim at all and thought his POV was more distracting than anything. I know he was supposed to be super weird and everything, but I found his motives confusing and honestly pretty cringeworthy.

Besides Tim, I liked how well-fleshed out all the characters were, from the main characters to Viv’s boyfriend Jack and even Stu, the taxi driver. The simulated patient program, from the medical makeup to the patient bios, was fascinating, and one of my favorite parts was reading the mini bios and how Viv was supposed to act. I also liked the frequent POV switches, as I thought it was an interesting way to get multiple points of view (some more reliable than others), though it was confusing at first. While it initially seemed like the book would be about Davida investigating what happened with Viv, it actually focused more on Viv and the events leading up to the party. Within a few chapters, however, I’d pretty much pegged the direction the storyline was going in and the big twist, so for me the book was more watching a train wreck happen than truly wondering what was going on. What really disappointed me, though, was that after pages and pages of getting me to care about Viv, the book felt like it ended abruptly with many plot lines still unresolved. I thought it could’ve used at least another chapter to wrap up those pieces.

Overall, while I enjoyed this book, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting and the ending left me unsatisfied.

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Such a good and interesting read. I liked the way the story was told and the set up for the twists. I would definitely read more from Vicki Grant.

I have been really into young adult thriller type books and I loved the cover of this one. My hopes were high! It was really just okay for me. It was predictable, which is always disappoint for me when I read a thriller.
You know from the beginning of the book that Viv has taken a pill at a party. It jumps back and forth between Viv’s story before the party and her friends stories after the party. I didn’t particularly enjoy the way the story was told and had a hard time connecting to the characters.

DNF -- More like I wasn't able to start. I was so excited to read this one. A mystery surrounding standardized patient work sounded super intriguing, but the formatting of the eARC made it really difficult to read much at all no matter what platform I tried. I'm sure the book is lovely, but I have to blame this one on my Kindle.

First of all, thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for this eARC in exchange for a honest review.
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.


First of all, I have to say that this story has within it several trigger warnings that should be reported ... but on the other hand I also understand that not disclosing them exacerbates the shock of when we actually find ourselves before the knowledge of what happened.

This story inspired me from the start - the medical setting has something vaguely sinister if you can develop it well. However...


This story is told from three points of view: those of Tim and Davida in the first person in the days following the party during which Viv collapsed and went into a coma after taking a pill and that of Viv herself, in the third person and in the past tense, in a countdown that starts a little less than two months earlier from that fateful evening.
All then interspersed with police interrogations of the various people involved.

At first everything is very confusing, especially the points of view of Davida and Tim - they are well aware of facts that bind them to Viv that are completely unknown to us. They take a while to be revealed, thus always leaving a wall between the reader and them.
The points of view of Davida and Tim are very short, they really end in an instant - they have always left me with the feeling of not knowing anything about them. We discover something about Davida, but very little about Tim.

Viv is the one who has more space, the girl who should have the perfect life and who instead hides an addiction to alcohol and a broken family. Viv feels like she's failing under the weight of the expectations about her life and her future, but above all she is the pawn of two parents who are at war and want to destroy each other.
Viv finds solace in alcohol, which she hides in her water bottle , and it also helps that she often has to play teenagers with the same addiction to her in medical school - so she doesn't need much to disguise herself.

And now Viv is in a coma and Davida is really mad at her and Tim for something she saw - something Tim can't really deny while explaining what happened or he would break his promise to Viv. Davida feels betrayed by Viv for the second time and, as far as she knew, Viv didn't even drink - let alone she can't believe Viv took drugs of her own free will.


Viv is the one who has the most space, but it's a space that is about her relationship with her parents, with her boyfriend Jack and her addiction to alcohol. The moments when we see her in Davida and Tim's company are very rare, so it's hard to believe in this great friendship that binds them - I was as perplexed as the detective who questioned Davida: how can you say you know a person so well and you're great friends with them if you have been hanging out with them for about fifty days, more or less?

Even the medical school - although it plays a fundamental role as the setting for several scenes - is less present than it seems from the plot. I was expecting something much more macabre and sinister and it's true that monsters are not lacking here, but it's also true that perhaps I was expecting something ... different. I mean, I was expecting to see gruesome things in almost every room - no matter how horrifying what happens to Viv is in itself and a complete break in a relationship of trust that you should always be able to rely on.
The shots of the cell phone to which the plot then refers are those at a party, not those of a simulation inside the school.

Undoubtedly this book has really, really heavy themes within it - not only for the act itself, but also for the implications that this act carries with it. In my opinion then the monster is not only one, namely the person who materially committed the act, but there's also a sort of network of complicity and deliberate ignorance that helps this person in the continuation of their crimes - I don't know who made me more afraid or transmitted more disgust.

Its execution, however, fails to make us fond of the characters - they all remain beyond a wall, their points of view too fragmented and not very generous in detail with the reader to make us really understand the progress of their bond. They seem like friendships and love stories spanned a little on nothing, which always remain superficial from beginning to end.

And although I initially couldn't get an idea of ​​who or what might be behind Viv's coma, when I began to suspect someone, then it was impossible not to see everything pointing in that direction - and to have figured it out before all the characters involved in the story made it even more distressing.

Too bad - the issues addressed are remarkable, distressing, frightening, necessary.
However, the rest remains somewhat superficial and underdeveloped.

When a friend overdoses on oxycontin, a teen "simulated medical patient" uncovers terrifying secrets about her friend's life and the hospital where they both volunteered.

This one is a page-turner! A self-professed #MeToo book, TELL ME WHEN YOU FEEL SOMETHING needs a trigger warning for scenes of sexual assault. Though the rape survivor spends the book in a coma and is unable to pursue justice for herself, the heroine is also a young woman whom the sexual predator has been grooming. There's plenty of misdirection and suspense that make the book difficult to put down, but I missed a certain amount of character depth found in other #MeToo books--even thrillers (think: GROWN)--possibly due to the split of narration between the survivor, her friend, a boyfriend, and police interrogation transcripts. But as a thriller, it delivered, and I'd recommend it to mature fans of the genre.

This book had a lot of potential - it really did. A quick read of the summary was enough to draw me in. A mystery about a girl in a coma? Multiple POVs? Sign me up.

Sadly, this book fell flat for me for several reasons. The first being the way the story was written. Like I mentioned previously, I tend to absolutely love books that are told from multiple points of view. However, this book went a step further - it jumped around in time. These time jumps both backward and forward left me confused and unable to fit all the pieces of the story together very well.

The entire point of the story is to figure out what landed the main character, Viv, in a coma. I feel confident in saying that any competent reader would be able to figure out the supposed reason pretty early on in the story.

Also, I'm not doctor nor am I in any way associated with the field of medicine, but I can say that it seems HIGHLY unlikely for a single Oxycodone mixed with alcohol to land you in a coma. Is is possible? Yes, just very unlikely in my experience.

Thank you to the author, Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Where were the trigger warnings for this? Yes, they would give away quite a lot of the story, but springing this cold on readers is not okay.

Intriguing premise, I liked the way the story was told from various POVs, interspersed with police interviews, but unfortunately the ending was extremely foreseeable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for a gifted ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this book was middle of the road. I thought the story had potential and the setting at Simulated Patients was interesting. However, the format of the book made it hard to follow and skipped details I was interested in. The formatting also made it really hard to root for anyone in the book. Also, I completely guessed the ending about 50% into the book which made the rest a bit boring.

I didn’t really like this book. I was tempted to dnf but stuck through it. It really bored me and I wish that I had DNF’d it. It wasted my time.

4 stars / This review will be posted at BookwormishMe.com today.


Davida recently started a job as a simulated patient at a med school. Seemed like a great way to get her parents off her back for being an introvert. When the most popular girl around, Viv befriends her, it makes the job even better. Then Viv decides that Davida needs to be with Tim, another fake patient, Davida’s life seems to be perfect.

But then Viv suddenly dies at a summer party. Davida doesn’t believe that Viv’s death was an accident. She starts prodding for the truth, but the truth is hard to find when everyone has a secret.

Flew through this book. Told from multiple points of view and through police interviews, this YA novel is the perfect blend of teen life and crime thriller. No one knows what really goes on behind the scenes of these teen “model” citizens. Vicki Grant exposes the pressures teens can be under and how they cope with them.

Definitely recommend this one.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The synopsis of this book sounded intriguing to me so I requested a copy to read.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during this 2nd attempt, I have
decided to stop reading this book
and state that this book just wasn't for me.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

Wow! Very good start! I was literally hooked from the first line or two 😂♥️ can't wait to finish it soon ✌🏼

I'm not so sure if this can be called a YA mystery book.

Tell Me When You Feel Something follows 3 POVs, Viv, Davida, and Tim. The timeline jumps back and forth between past and present and includes excerpts from police interviews.

At first, I was excited to read this and figure out who done it. But as the story progresses, I wondered what direction this book would take because no mystery until like 80% of the story but yes this book deals with a lot of dark elements.

The book is more focused on Viv's POV 37 days before the event. Her story is more like a narrative of her life that eventually made her ended up in a coma. But during that time, us readers didn't get any hint about what would happen.

I think the other two characters, Davida and Tim POVs are not interesting. Their POVs exist because by the start of the book Viv is in a coma, and instead of Davida figuring out what actually happened, she just being super angsty toward Tim who seemed to know what happened yet he didn't tell anything to the police because he said he swore an oath to Viv. Which I think it's super dumb, if they think there is some foul play of why Viv could end up like that, they better spill it to the police. His whole POV is just dealing with how to get Davida back to be his girlfriend.

Also at the beginning, the police were sure that Viv took oxycodone willingly, so I don't get why they open an investigation for it. It supposed to have something suspicious that made them make a move and interrogate everyone who knows Viv.

Honestly, I like the premise but the execution isn't that good.

Trigger warnings: alcohol addiction, sexual assault, pedophilia, drug abuse, cheating parents.

Thanks to Penguin Teen for giving me an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Viv has the perfect part-time job. She is an SP (simulated patient) for a medical school. She is really good at it because she is always faking how she feels. When Viv ends up in a coma and there is video evidence of her taking drugs, the questions pile on top of each other. What really happened to Viv?



Tell Me When You Feel Something is a stand-alone mystery told from many points of view. The narrators don’t always agree on what they saw or felt and the reader must untangle the stories as they unfold. Grant did a wonderful job giving various viewpoints, but that same variety was the book’s downfall. There were just too many changes in timeframe and person that the overall story was pushed to the side in order to follow and determine where the mystery was going. I enjoyed the beginning and the ending, but the middle was hard to get through.

DNF at 20% - for me, this is a jumbled mess. The narrative jumps between multiple POV's (in first and third person), back and forth in time, with rough transitions, info dump and no flow to the storytelling. All my brainpower was used up trying (unsuccessfully) to interpret what is happening, draining my will to continue. I literally was falling asleep reading it. Don't even get me started on the awful ARC formatting, which didn't help its cause.

Tell Me When You Feel Something by Vicki Grant, 336 pages. Penguin Teen (Penguin Random House), 2021. $18.
Language: R (148 swears, 23 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
When Davida (17yo) realizes that Viv and Tim were only part of her life for a month and that she doesn’t really know them, she wants to walk away and go back to life before knowing them. But Viv’s in a coma and Tim is lying about something. Despite wanting no part of it, Davida is in the middle of it -- but no one can tell her what “it” is.
Through multiple points of view in the past and present as well as police interviews, Grant skillfully directs readers through stages of understanding. First is disorientation as readers get used to pivoting through time and points of view, second is deceit by giving just enough information to make unconscious assumptions, and third is the lightbulb where all the clues and overlooked details fall into place. The initial confusion was hard to accept, and it took me several tries of picking up and putting down the book to acclimate to how Grant chose to tell the story. Grant addresses serious topics, including feeling responsible for our dysfunctional families and the importance of support systems and values. The mature content rating is for drug use, underage drinking, innuendo, mention of genitalia, nudity, and sexual assault. The violence rating is for mention of suicide.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Tell Me When You Feel Something has so many things happening, and though its message is timely it did feel rather lost in amongst the mystery of our main character trying to work out what was going on.

Full review on mygoodreads.co.uk

This one is a heavy read. Definitely not a mystery, more of an exploration of some tragic and traumatic events. Read with that in mind.