how do i write a review for a book that i loved this much? (warning: it’s probably going to be a very chaotic review.) this book is easily one of the most unique books i’ve read. it’s a college YA with a bi main character, and endearing and hilarious narration!!! elliot mchugh, our narrator (who tends to leave us lots of footnotes (ninety of them!!!), breaks the fourth wall, and is so unforgettable), is a freshman in college, unsure what she wants to do with her life, and is such a realistic character, even with all of her loud and extroverted tendencies. fresh follows elliot throughout her first year of college, and between wonderful friendships, messy hook-ups, and an array of entertaining antics, it’s a book i won’t ever forget.

elliot is such an interesting character to me, because she feels so real and relatable, even if i share very few personality traits with her. it’s rare i form a connection with a character so extroverted and impulsive, and yet throughout the book, she was developed as so much more. the lessons she learned weren’t forced, rather, everything she did was so believable. the bi rep was absolutely amazing, and it was so casual, as it wasn’t any sort of conflict, rather, elliot was attracted to both men and women.

reading this book felt like talking to a friend. it wasn’t cheesy or predictable or over the top. elliot was the perfect narrator, and though her mistakes were many, it all felt honest. margot wood truly knew what she was doing and how she was writing this story. it’s authenticity and comfort really spoke to me.

it’s hard to capture the feeling of reading this book in a single review. i mean, i read it in under 24 hours. i laughed out loud, i felt emotional, i felt so immersed, i felt like elliot was my best friend. it felt like watching a really good sitcom, not necessarily driven by a central plot, but more the characters and their everyday experiences. from the first page, i was squealing with delight. it felt personal.

this book is going to live in my heart for a while. it’s a new favorite, it’s creative, it’s mind blowing, it’s honest. it’s out august 3rd, and i recommend it with my entire soul.

content warnings: sexual assault, underage drinking and drug usage

So I didn't really have the normal freshman experience so this was super interesting and what I assumed freshman year should be like. I laughed and sometimes I wanted to cry.

Ahhhh! I loved Fresh by Margot Wood! Elliot McHugh is a bi college freshman who thinks she has her 1st year figured out before she gets started, but she's in for one hell of a eye opening experience!

Fresh is funny, raunchy, and realistic!!

From working in Higher Ed for years, I have seen many, many things. Students come in thinking they are FINALLY adults and know what they are doing. They think they can do stuff and no one is pating attention. They are sleeping in, missing classes, and when final grades are posted, some students are scrambling to come up with that killer excuse to tell their parents on why they should continue to keep paying thousands of dollars why they should be able to return for the Spring semester.

Fortunately for students like Elliott, they can use these life lessons to turn things around at school, but that is what college is about-finding yourself!

I LOVED Elliott's character! She was raw and messy, but she had a heart and conscience.

There's more I can go on about Fresh. It's just that awesome and deserves to be read.

Margot Wood's FRESH was compulsively readable. I enjoyed reading a college-set book and specifically, the Emerson details. It made me want to go back to college and take classes and go to parties. Elliot was a charming narrator and I enjoyed watching her figure out how to get her shit together. I also loved figuring out which Emma characters each person was meant to be, and the queer romance.

This book was a delightfully "fresh" take on the coming-of-age college genre. Fresh was one of the first genuinely accurate descriptions of college life that I have read. Elliot, as a narrator, was riotously funny, heartbreakingly honest, and lovably earnest. As a character, she was messy, real, and easy to relate to.

Fresh's cast of characters were diverse and lovable. I mean, who doesn't love a friendly neighborhood himbo?! Watching Elliot navigate sexuality and romance in a positive, and often disastrous, way was refreshing. Elliot's story wasn't always pretty, and her problems were not always easy to solve. I saw a little bit of myself in Elliot, and I feel like other readers will as well.

YA Readers, this is a book you don’t want to miss!! Fresh is a story about a girl who enrols into college having no fixed idea for a major. The story moves along casually in a positive way about the first experiences as a young adult, taking risks and learning from missteps for that age - which is truly appreciable. I didn’t get sucked into the storyline like I thought I would, but I still enjoyed reading through. Overall a well done story, hilarious at parts, that sure will shine in the YA / coming-of-age hall of fame.

Thank you publisher via Netgalley for the arc.

Fresh is an excellent young/new adult story about a girl who starts college without a declared major but with a declaration to every man and woman she meets. It's a sex-positive coming-of-age story about finding out who you are and what you want. I was completely sucked into the story. The entire thing reads like a conversation, and the footnotes were a genius addition. If you like Sex in the City, choose-your-own-adventure stories, and books with plenty of LGBTQ+ characters loving who they are, absolutely pick this one up.

3 stars — 1 star for the first half, 3.5 for the second, and then rounded up. it got so much better once elliot realized how much she had hurt people

overall: good grief my freshman year of college was nothing like elliot's

things I liked:
- the format was fun and fresh! I loved elliott's footnotes and commentary
- this was hilarious. I really was laughing the entire time
- BRAD
- elliot’s growth!!!

things I didn't like:
- this was over the top and ridiculous. the first half was all about getting laid. it was a hot mess filled with messy characters with pretty much zero redeeming qualities
- it was almost … too contemporary. like I felt like a millennial because I didn’t get some of the pop culture references. for reference here: I am 22 and not even old and somehow I felt old while reading this

There were parts of this that I enjoyed a lot. It takes place in Boston and I am usually very hard on books that do that so that was part of what I didn't love. It was a fast read and will probably make people very nostalgic for college. In the end I liked it but didn't love it.

Fresh by Margot Wood follows Elliott. She is a freshman at Emerson college who is adjusting to being away from home for the first time. Elliott has yet to declare a major, and is unsure what she wants from life. She decides the best way to get through her first year of college is to figure herself out, academically and personally.

I really liked this book’s narration. Elliott is funny and often speaks to the reader. It added an extra element of fun to the book to have footnotes at the end of each chapter. I also really enjoyed Elliott’s friendships and the way she changed the way she thinks about certain people. I hope to read more from Margot Wood!

Wasn’t for me, I read it as a middle grade rather than a YA. Might be more suited for someone of that demographic. It was a good read but just wasn’t my cup of tea

I ADORED THIS BOOK OMG. i adored everything about it. the characters, how it was written, the story. every single thing. i could relate to Elliot a lot and enjoyed the ADHD representation! yes! we love when a character’s neurodiversity isn’t the main part of the story! also a bunch of queer representation. i didn’t understand the concept of a ‘comfort read’ until i read this book. i need a physical copy asap. i’m gonna reread it a million times.

I really didn’t like how this book started, it was very cringe to me. When books start with the character introducing themselves to the reader it reminds me of stories I wrote in elementary school. For a book marketed as YA and about a girl going into college it felt strangely middle grade. Besides this factor the books was okay for me. Seeing as I was very recently a freshman in college it fell flat for me, but there was good representation for adult problems and LGBTQ+ characters.

I knew this was going to be a new favorite from page one, and I was completely correct. Between the humor, the footnotes, and the what-fourth-wall narration, Fresh immediately stole my heart, and I flew through the whole thing in one evening.

Elliot is an unforgettable narrator. She's funny, she's relatable, she's a little bit of a mess (okay, a lot sometimes), and she's wonderful. You want to root for her the whole time, even when she's making mistakes, and her incredible growth throughout the story is so satisfying.

And while Elliot is undoubtedly the star of the show, the supporting cast is excellent as well. Elliot's friends and family all bring so much to the story, and they're each so distinct and well-written that you feel like you know them after only a few pages.

I don't think I've done this book justice in my review, and I don't think I ever could. Just read it and thank me later.

CW: sexual assault, underage alcohol and marijuana use

I LOVED this book. Elliot is an excellent and hilarious narrator; she was such a disaster but I loved every minute of reading. Her voice was refreshing and honest. This book was effortless reading for me. I felt like I was just jumping into the story and vicariously living through Elliot and Lucy as they figure out college life. I also really enjoyed the different graphic elements that were added, like the footnotes, headings, emotions as different fonts, etc.

Fresh is just as hysterical, endearing, and fun as the talented author who wrote it. This is the perfect queer retelling of Jane Austen's Emma with a 21st century update. Ideal for college incoming college freshmen!

This was a fun read. I know I am no longer the target demographic of this book because I am a ways out of college but it is still nice to see more New Adult/College age protagonists in novels. I thought the writing was fresh and the footnotes were a fun touch. I wasn't blown away with the story, nothing really crazy or surprising happened, but I think everyday stories are important and need to be told. This is a great book to recommend for high school graduates/college bound individuals.

This was a funny, smart, sexy, fantastic retelling of Emma. It's the first new adult book I have read that truly captured that feeling of being young and free and terrified. I loved the characters and their hearts and screw-ups. Such a wonderful read

This book just wasn’t for me. Margot Wood’s humor is great but the format/POV was kinda funky, although creative. I couldn’t relate to Elliot and it felt unrealistic. Also, I think the content of the story fits better with New Adult fiction instead of YA. I have to say this is one of the coolest book covers I have ever seen.

What a rowdy, unforgettable book! I've always been disappointed by the lack of accessible fiction about college students, and Margot Wood's novel Fresh fills that void perfectly. Elliot stumbles through her first year at Emerson with relatable chaos, exploring hookup culture, predatory dudes, and roommate drama. She's a charming, if occasionally annoying, bisexual heroine who teenagers can relate to. I wish this book had existed when I was in high school and I didn't know what to expect of my freshman year of college.

My only criticisms are with style and format—the footnotes were hard to keep up with while reading a digital ARC, and Elliot's chatty voice could get distracting and make the action drag. The constant fourth-wall breaking felt unnecessary. I'll chalk that up to being an older reader than the target audience of the book.