Not only was the main character so insufferable but so were the side characters.

I identify as a liberal woman. But even I have to say that all the stereotypes and political talk was absolutely too much. This is YA. Why is this even being talked about? For absolutely no reason might I add.

I don’t recommend this.

As a high school librarian I bounce back and forth from channeling my 14-19 year old lens to my adult/educator lens. This book had me bouncing back and forth like crazy. Here's my basic YA readability assessment -
Teenagers like to be seen, but you can't be too obvious. There was A LOT of preaching going on here. Teens love that "A-HA" moment when they realize something that we, as adults, have already realized (hopefully) - those 'the world is bigger than just me' moments. I think Wunder was trying to showcase so many of those 'I know it all and you do not' moments and framing the structure of the plot and characters to explore this. It's more than most of my students will wade through.
thanks so much for the ARC!

Mysterious Ways is a YA/coming-of-age novel by Wendy Wunder (yes, that is apparently her real name). Released 27th Aug 2024 by Macmillan on their Wednesday Books imprint, it's 336 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is aimed at the younger end of YA (circa 13-18 years), although there's some relatively explicit (consensual) sexual content, frank discussion on mental health and healthcare, and suicide and self harm ideation which might not be appropriate for some readers. There's also a strong element of magical realism (MC Maya is more or less perfectly telepathic and has other supernatural abilities (thought control, healing, etc)). It seemed to be along the lines of "whatever the author needed to advance the scene at the time".

The pacing is quite choppy and hops around a lot and the secondary characters are mostly sketched in and then dropped. Ostensibly set in Pennsylvania, the scenery is 100% generic "American" and could have just as easily been set in Colorado, Maine, or Maryland.

Three stars. Oddly written, with glimmers of charm/whimsy which never fully materialize.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I confess that I wasn’t getting so trapped in the story at the beginning and almost dnf, but I got this as an ARC long time ago and because of my not good personal life back then I wanted to read it and give an honest opinion, so here we are. As I said before, not trapped at the beginning and most parts of the story but I like the las part. Maya, our female protagonist can hear the thoughts of everyone and honestly I think that is more a Curse than a gift. The ending was good and I’m happy I ended up reading it. This is for those who like teen romance with a little bit of paranormal sparks.

No... just no.

I don't think I could have handled reading this when it was coming out, and I definitely cannot handle reading it right now. Maybe I'm overwhelmed with the political atmosphere, but this is too much. I dnf'd it and never want to think about it again.

I did not know this book had a stream of consciousness writing style. Although I was intrigued at the start, the jumping thoughts and reading of the minds was just not for me. I felt like I was always a bit confused on whose perspective I was viewing the world from. Sadly, I had to DNF this one as I was just completely confused by the story and all the jumping thoughts.

This book was a pleasant surprise.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, as it was a quick read and a good time.

Overall, I enjoyed this book.
It was a relatively quick, YA read.
I really liked the characters except for Mayas mom. I felt she gave up on her daughter too quickly.
I felt like there was a lot going on in the book.
There were a lot of different storylines and issues going on.
She would give each new character a page, and then they didn't get mentioned again until the end.
This book also seemed very religious based, which i wasn't expecting. There was a lot of talk of good vs. evil and how it related to God.
I liked how, in the end, Maya realized that she couldn't save everyone, only they could do that, and they did end up doing good things.
I liked the references to Mr. Rogers.
It was just okay for me but I'm sure others might like it!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of Mysterious Ways by Wendy Wunder!

This was a very fun read. An adventure with coming of age for Maya, while she goes through life hearing the thoughts of those around her. We experience a variety of emotions and experiences with Maya along the way. Lots of fun and entertaining. Highly recommended!

There is a sort of emotional distance in this narrative that normally would be a negative but which works surprisingly well in this case. It parallels the overall unreality of the narrative and keeps the tone fairly light. But don't take that to mean that this is a silly story. The light tone keeps it from becoming maudlin but allows it to address serious issues. Through her efforts to save people and the world, Maya explores ideas of responsibility. Reading this once is surprisingly fun. Reading it a second time is more reflective and digs deep into the ideas. A strong novel well worth your time.

3.5 Stars

Maya is 17 and has the ability to see everything about a person - their life story, what they are thinking and feeling in the present...everything. Understandably there is great trauma and pressure that results from this and Maya ends up in a psychiatric facility feeling alone and unable to share her experiences with anyone else without judgement. After Maya's release, she starts at a new school and the story goes from there - making new friends, maintaining a relationship with someone she met at the facility, her developing political activism, and a potential love interest.

The premise of the book - a young girl who could hear everyone's thoughts - is what intrigued me most about this book and that is the part I liked best. I appreciated Maya's struggles with this power and how she dealt with the people around her who didn't know what was truly going on with her. Unfortunately that wasn't enough to overcome some of the things about the book that didn't work for me. I thought the pacing was uneven, and that the author attempted to tackle too many issues. I also thought the messaging was a bit heavy-handed in its delivery.

This was an interesting read! I struggled a lot with connection to the character in this book and I found myself annoyed at times with the main character Maya. I also found there to be to many things going on at the same time through the story which made it hard to really get immersed in the plot of the book. Overall this one missed the mark a bit for me personally. Definitely still recommend giving this one a try!

This was a fun, fresh YA contemporary, and I liked seeing how Wunder's voice translated into this new space. A sweet, quick read!

This seemed like a really good book about a girl who could read peoples minds and thoughts. But somehow she was in and out of mental facilities.

I don’t know. I just really couldn’t get into this one, got lost several times throughout, and still am not sure what happened. I really wanted to like it, but it just seemed to fall flat for me.

Mysterious Ways by Wendy Wunder has our protagonist Maya sent away to Whispering Pines Psychiatric Facility because of her clairvoyance. While the synopsis captivated me, the execution did not deliver, in my estimation.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

First of all! Love the cover a lot. Would buy for my bookshelf. This was intriguing in the best way. I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for the copy of Mysterious Ways by Wendy Wunder. This was a YA book with an endearing MC. I love how Maya is able to read minds and know about people,but is still learning to know herself. I loved how 70s and 80s music was woven into the narrative, and music lovers of all ages sil enjoy the threads of music throughout the story. It was a surprisingly dark book with flashes of humor and it dealt with serious issues that many young people face. If you want a quick read that is quirky and a little s=dark, you will love this book. I know I did. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Thank you MacMillan Audio for the ALC!

What an interesting read! I feel like I would go crazy if I could hear everything everyone was thinking all the time. I mean Maya did begin the novel in a psych unit, but only because she had a public freakout.
She struggles with her self identity and what she’s supposed to do with this gift. Is she a superhero? Supposed to have a God complex? She can hear all thoughts and read who a person is just by staring into their eyes.
After she gets out from the unit, she has a second chance at high school and tries to live it as normally as possible. She uses her gift to help her fellow bobcats— as well as legitimate bobcats (those college resumes right).
While a fun story, I got from this a girl who cares deeply and knows too much about the world at such a young age. But she tries to use all the resources available to make it a better places for her community and her loved ones. Sure they may think her weird, and she is, but she has a gift she can use for good.
Her tactics are very endearing, just as her thought process on how she could get rid of said gift. I thought that was very funny and very of her age.

This was a dnf for me. The writing did not work for me and the more I read the more confused I felt. The blurb sounded interesting but the execution just didn’t do it for me.