Hard-to-deal-with content packed in a YA book with a fast pace. The content is presented in an accessible way - doesn't dwell too long in the negative and the characters are just regular kids in high school. It also poses the interesting question of how much information is too much when sharing about your family on social media.

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I did want more of Jules' turmoil. I know she was dealing with this overexposure for her whole life, but I guess I just needed to read more, understand more, feel more to really connect with Jules. But perhaps that wasn't the point. Sometimes people just leave and it's not about us.

I did like reading from Natalie's perspective though because I thought it was a good representation of the jumble of emotions that may come with dealing with a friend's suicide - grief, guilt, remorse, a daily struggle to keep her memory alive. I also liked Nat because she was always up front about Britt being a terrible mom.

So although this was a book with thought-provoking things, I can't ignore that the pacing threw me off. I understand it's a YA book and needs to appeal to the audience it's written for, but it seemed overly rushed so it lost some of the impact of could have had on me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

Okay, I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to clearly convey this at all, but I don’t think I really liked this book at all — and not necessarily just on a personal-taste level. This book deals with very intense and difficult subject matter (death, grief, suicide, toxic relationships, etc.) and I feel like it does it in a somewhat eloquent manner, but I don’t think it works effectively.

Yes, I felt real emotions in some of the descriptions related to Jules’s death, but most of it was shock/awe for what Britt (her mom) would say about her publicly (online) or to her face. I know that there are bad/toxic people in the world, but I find it hard to believe that someone who, allegedly, at the end of the day loves her daughter, would not empathize with her at all. Britt has not an inkling of feeling for her daughter when she’s around, but instead goes through some profound learning experience literally at the expense of her daughter’s life and we (the reader) are supposed to feel for her and “see things from her perspective” and forgive her actions? I am honestly surprised that there was no mention of any sort of legal action against the mother, the way there would be for teens cyberbullying other teens. Just because it’s the mother doesn’t mean that it is potentially excusable, or that we’re supposed to respect her ability to learn from the experience like it’s some sort of benign accident or something.

I don’t know. Tangentially pivoting, I think the manner in which Nat ended up coping with Jules’s suicide is not really a great message to relay to teen readers, or at least it seems extremely uncritical of a major role in her (Jules’s) depressive cycle that ultimately led to her suicide. She starts a podcast talking about Jules. I don’t understand why the answer as posting about my friend who killed herself because of someone posting about her is productive or “right” or meaningful at all — I take it to be a bout of severe un-self-awareness.

As related to this seeming unawareness, the author’s note at the beginning irked me as the novel continued. I understand that this book was a difficult project for the author to work on, but that she felt that it was necessary to do in order to help deal with the grief of losing her husband, but at the end of the day, as someone who knows literally nothing about the author or her relationships with people or her personality or personal life, the novel seems to act as a cognitive disconnect from her experience. I know I am assuming a lot and that it is not necessarily my place to project into this stranger’s thought-space, but I think that the emotions she worked with here are tangible and real, and fully realized, but not necessarily connected to what her experience seems to be. Again, I know nothing about her situation, but on the surface it seems like a stretch to connect this book to her own lived experience.

And final note that didn’t sit right with me, as is the case (in my opinion) with a lot of other works that deal with grief or “difficult subject matter,” is that the cast was extremely whitewashed and the perspective was completely singular for a white teenager living in a suburb of DC. The one character of color (Adrianna) is tokenized through her mother’s overt relation of culture to amount/quality of food served while at her house. Grief is a universal concept and feeling, but I couldn’t help but intuit the complete lack of context to a macro-scale sociopolitical environment attempted to be masked by these “difficult subject matter.” I know it is tough to write about intense personal experiences, but as a professional/published writer, I don’t think it excuses a lack of cultural awareness or perspective.

TLDR: the portrayals of grief were visceral but ultimately the novel lacks self-awareness enough to make it not necessarily a “good book” in my opinion.

This one was so so good but there were parts that weren’t my favorite. Overall it was still good and the story flowed great. Just some parts fell flat

Both heartbreaking and heartwarming, this book is a thoughtful, caring examination of the nature of grief and how friends and families find their way through it after the suicide of a loved one. I loved this book but was not prepared for the first person narration of Jules at the beginning of the book.

I have known Lizzy Mason for almost as long as I have been blogging so I have been super excited to follow along on her author journey. Since her debut in 2019 I have eagerly awaited every book and Remind Me to Hate You Later was no different. I know this book was pushed back from the original release date but after having read it I also know that it was worth the wait. It was by far the best book Lizzy Mason has ever written.

Remind Me to Hate You Later is the story of Jules, the daughter of a parenting influencer, and Natalie, her best friend. Jules has grown up in the social media spotlight her whole life thanks to her mother. Literally nothing has happened in Jules’ life without the internet knowing. Eventually Jules reaches her breaking point and can no longer do it anymore. Left alone without Jules Natalie has to try and grieve the loss of her best friend. And then Britt, Jules’ mother, announces that she is going to write a book about the life and death of her daughter. As Nat leans on Jules’ boyfriend Carter she decides she will not let Jules die in vein. She is going expose Britt and make sure the world knows exactly how Jules felt and how social media can destroy someone’s life.

When I say that Remind Me to Hate You Later is Lizzy’s best book, I don’t say that lightly. I have loved everything she has written but there was something about this one that felt extra special. It’s a story about grief and mental health and self harm. It was an emotional journey for Jules and Natalie and Britt and Lizzy handled it all with respect and grace. My heart hurt reading this book but it was also healing too. Grief is not an easy emotion to explain or to understand and all of these characters were grieving in fact grieving. In some cases it was for the loss of life and in another it was for the life they next got to have.

The description of Remind Me to Hate You Later says it “is a moving account of grief, depression, complex relationships, love, and the search for truth” and that description is spot on. That statement nailed everything that is in the book and how you will feel reading it. This is an emotional story but it is one that you don’t want to miss as Lizzy wrote her heart out with this one. Go and buy a copy today!

A beautifully heart-wrenching portrait of grief and the first blooms of healing that had me crying like a baby by the end. Could viscerally feel the guilt, the rage, the need to blame/have concrete answers. Also loved how it explored the intricacies of a friendship throughout the novel -- the beauty of their friendship and the shortcomings. Loved the exploration of social media and how the mom's obsession with it all impacted her daughter (though I found myself feeling like the included snippets of the alleged blog felt like more the journal style people wrote like 10+ years ago and they annoyed me but that's just a weird nitpick I had).

Jules, the daughter of a blogger and influencer struggles with mental health issues. After her suicide the narrative switches to her best friend Natalie and we see first had the fall out of Jules’ death. A heartbreakingly honest look at family relationships, high school friendship, mental health and grief.

This book was a tear jerker. Such an intense ride starting from the suicide victims POV to the POV of those left behind. You FELT with these characters and cried with them, and laughter. Truly an amazing piece.

This book will appeal to teens, as it seems to be hitting some of the weirder cultural moments of the day. (True crime podcasts? They're having a moment). The blog posts written by the mom did not ring true to me; surely a self-absorbed character like Britt would have had more histrionics. It's a small criticism, as the plot is really focused on the teens.

It's no secret that Lizzy Mason writes great novels about mental health, and does it well. This one however didn't strike a chord with me for whatever reason.

A story about the daughter of an influencer whose whole life is exposed to the public committing suicide, the story explores the lives of Jules and Natalie. We meet Jules before she takes her life, and Mason does a great job of not being needlessly triggering by never mentioning Jules's method of suicide (as this is a YA novel, as a suicide survivor, this really impressed me). We spend the first quarter or more of the book learning about Jules's struggles with her abusive mother, her self-esteem issues, her self-harm and her deep depression. When Jules passes away, the narrative switches to be from the point-of-view of her best friend Natalie, who blames herself (second to Jules's mother) for the death of her best friend. The rest of the book is about how Nat continues her life without Jules, and about healing in the aftermath of a suicide.

I did enjoy this book, and I do think it is going to hit home for a lot of teens. I think that the depictions of grief were accurate and real, and enjoyed that the characters were imperfect. I wasn't sure I liked what seemed to be an almost-redemption arc for Jules's clearly abusive mother, and I didn't feel any particular attachment to Jules's and Nat's relationship that would make me ache for Nat the way I wanted to. An important book, and a solid three-star rating from me.

Before I start my review, it is vitally important that anyone considering reading this book check the listed content warnings. Remind Me to Hate You Later is a highly emotional read that explores topics that could be triggering if you or someone close to you has experienced depression, self-harm, suicidal ideation, emotional abuse, or the loss of a loved one. Please read with care. It is okay if this isn’t the book for you.

This was an emotional rollercoaster. I knew what I was getting into based on the description, but I didn’t expect it to be as intense as it was. My heart broke over and over again for the main characters. They were both fully developed. Jules’ and Natalie’s friendship felt so real because of the little details Mason wove through the text. The writing style was emotional without ever feeling melodramatic. After reading the author’s note, I’d like to say how proud I am of the author for portraying grief so authentically and for being vulnerable.

This book covers a lot of ground, but the aspect that intrigued me the most was the critique of “mommy blogging” and toxic influencer culture. I’ve always felt uncomfortable when parents overshare and post embarrassing photos of their young children on social media, and now I know why. It was refreshing to see a book tackle the damaging and downright despicable aspects of social media.

This one made me cry so many times! was tearing up through out the book. Remind Me to Hate You Later is told in two povs. First is Jules, who's mother is a famous blogger. After Jules' death, the story is told in Jules' best friend pov, Natalie, as she deals with the fallout and pain of losing her best friend. This book dealt with some really important topics and I think it did a really good job of being a sensitive and realistic portrayal of suicide and self-harm.