Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Mysterious Ways follows teen Maya who has the power to read people's minds just by looking at them.

I tend to not mind a YA book that feels a like it was written by a grown up who's only ever met teenagers in passing, but with a seventeen year old narrator, I was a bit surprised at how out of touch this read felt. I was expecting something that felt a little more insightful, more self-aware, or at least that better carried the responsibility of a YA story about someone who knows everything about everyone. Instead, it was almost like the author was playing a game of How Many Gen-Z Tropes Can I Shove Into A Single Paragraph, and it all felt incredibly out of touch and honestly a little embarrassing.

This would have been redeemable, I think, if I'd felt like the book went somewhere that I liked. While Maya was set up as the perfectly flawed character, with plenty of room to grow, I was just a bit surprised that it didn't feel to me as if Maya actually grew meaningfully over the course of the book. I think that, in the end, there were some meaningful concepts pulled out of this plot, but it was really just bogged down by a whole lot of confusion and cringe.

This was a unique book. I really enjoyed the perspective of Maya and her ability to read others minds. Also, her believing she could be a God. Her trying to read the Bible in the mental hospital and trying to understand it. Plus, her doodles in the margins sound interesting. Sometimes I got the characters confused but overall really enjoyed the book.

I just thought there was too much going on. We have a main character (Maya) but we get chapters showing other characters related to the story and back to her, and them again. And also, the plot such as it is felt very thin to me. The whole book went to a very dark place (thankfully there was a trigger warning) but I just didn't understand what this book was trying to do. It just felt chaotic with no pay off. I stopped and started this one a few times because it did not grab me. I almost DNFed it at one point, but just pushed through.

"Mysterious Ways" follows Maya. Maya is a teen girl who is currently a patient at Whispering Pines Psychiatric Facility in Pennsylvania. Maya tells us that she can hear the thoughts of people around her and is also able to think things that can change people and therefore has her thinking she's in essence god. Maya meets Bobby (a fellow patient) and starts to think about leaving Whispering Pines. When she does though she uses her powers to influence her parents, fellow students, and a boy that she likes.

Maya reads....off the whole book. I don't know if it's intentional or not, but she does not read as a 17 year old girl. And you can't add the 'powers' for why she reads off. I don't know. I think that someone this age would have some concerns, but it just read like a mad-lib of reddit comments from people pretending to be teen girls after a while.

The other characters read hollow to me. Tyler. Sigh. I don't even know. Maya treats him like a prop (my opinion) and there's no there there after a while. Lucy. Same issue. She was just there to be Maya's friend and nothing else. Bobby and that whole reveal thing had me going what the world is happening. Maya's parents too felt really thin. And considering the subject matter after a while I wish there had been more something there. At one point they cut off power and heat to her room and I was like....um what is this? I think I kept comparing this to authors who have written YA that I liked in the past like Sarah Dessen and Rainbow Rowell and Wunder kept coming up short.

The writing was a bit hard to get into at first. We start off with Maya who reads the Bible and tells us it's full of lies, but she also starts after a while to have a god-complex and sees herself as one and I don't know if that was the author trying to prove something or not? I think that's my whole problem with this book in a nutshell. I didn't know if some of this was intentional writing to take away something from it or not. It just felt too mish-mash.

The setting takes place in a town in Pennsylvania that felt very non-descript.

I will note that some reviewers had issues with the "feminist agenda" of the author and I did not. I was a little baffled by those comments because what? But also, I never get people thinking that current politics that are shaping the lives of a ton of teenagers right now should not be discussed in a YA fiction book. But I do agree though no teenager is running talking about the patriarchy this and the patriarchy that all of the time. Also Maya calling her parents Boomers and the townspeople Gen X had me going good grief after a while. I don't know how old Wunder is, but it's felt very much she was putting her own older thoughts/feelings into a 17 year old fictional character and it read hollow.

🎧Mysterious Ways -a standalone

✍️ By: Wendy Wunder-new to me author

🗣️ Narrator: Georgina Sadler voices all characters. The narrator's voice fit the characters with standouts from Maya and Lucy. The reading style brought the text to life, and the author and narrator worked together perfectly. The pacing and flow allowed me to get lost in the story. The narrator paused and announced new chapters and there was a table of contents which helped me follow along with the E-book and audiobook.

📃 Page Count: 332

🏃🏾‍♀️Run Time: 8:45

🗓️ Publication Date: 8-27-24 | Read: 8-27-24

🙏🏾Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press| Wednesday Books, and Macmillan Audio for this ARC and ALC ❤️! I voluntarily give my honest review, and all opinions expressed are my own.

Genre: YA, Romance

Tropes:
❤️Mental Health/Illness
❤️coming of age
❤️friendship
❤️mental health
❤️LGBTQIA+ rep
❤️magical realism
❤️Gen Z culture

⚠️ TW: h is a virgin, bullying, suicide-just mentioned

POV: multiple characters, 3rd person

💭 Summary 💭: Maya Storm-16 has a gift to read everyone's thoughts and know their darkest secrets. She has been in the psychiatric facility Whispering Pines for 6 weeks along with Bobby trying to help him. When she comes home, she starts a new school, tries to make friends, understand her gift, and get rid it. She also experiences a crush and intimacy for the first time.

Side cast: Stacy and Glenn-Maya's parents; Lucy-Maya's project partner turned friend; Bobby-goes to Maya's school and was in the mental hospital with her; Scott-Maya's old man friend, a recluse in town; Tyler-Maya's 1st crush


My Thoughts: This was a rollercoaster ride with Maya. She was smart girl who analyzed everything (sometimes ad nauseam) and tried to help people when she could. This was a lot of responsibility for her, but Maya had a good heart and didn't let the darkness take her. I worried for her attempting to help Bobby would bring her down, but that fall at the end became a catalyst for both of them to come out into the light.

Range of emotions: 😬🤔🙄
🌶️: Spice 1/5
🎧: Narration 3/5
😭: Emotion 4/5
❤️: Couple 3/5
⭐️: Rating 3.5/5

I think that this book is very powerful. I think it has beautiful representation for teens struggling with mental health, or coming to terms with things that make them different. I feel like this book is going to resonate with a lot of readers. Thank you for taking on such an important conversation and bringing it to the forefront for readers to find representation.
Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read and advance copy of this title.

Seventeen-year-old Maya knows everything about the people that she sees, from their private history to their thoughts and failures. Because this was so overwhelming, she was sent to the Whispering Pines Psychiatric Facility. Now she is starting at a new school, and Maya meets a guy she actually likes. Is there such a thing as knowing too much?

Maya is a self-aware Gen Z teen who can hear others' thoughts, and with eye contact can zoom in and hear the more internalized thoughts and memories. She can even rearrange them, which she does to help fellow patients at Whispering Pines. She isn't sure there's much to learn from others or schools at the beginning of the book because of this ability. I'm not sure if I even liked her at that stage. As she stops taking herself quite so seriously, she begins to reach out at school to make friends, take up a cause, have a real relationship, and figure out what her telepathy actually means.

There are flashes not only of her own thoughts but that of others around her, and they're deeper than she assumes them to be. Reaching out and making connections is what was relentlessly drilled into her at the hospital and with her therapist. When she actually puts genuine effort into it, she helps effect change in their lives. It's not just rearranging thoughts, but being a presence and sounding board, being someone that others can rely on, and becoming part of something bigger than herself. The surface thoughts she hears are just parts of people, and while it can give her knowledge she doesn't want or shouldn't have, it's her own heart that helps give her purpose. That's true no matter the age of the protagonist, and hopefully, this reaches the teens who will read this book.

I liked the premise of this book, I feel like we all know someone that has skills in one area of life, but not in other parts. I admit fault in this book that I didn't realize it was YA, and the main character did come across very young. Some of her choices frustrated me and I just wasn't in the best spot to connect to those choices. This book has lots of positives to it and I loved the humor. I know this book will be well received by many and I will look for future books from this author!

Mysterious Ways by Wendy Wunder is a fun and engaging coming-of-age novel.
I found this to be so entertaining I was intrigued from the very beginning.
I literally could not put this book down.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

I was super excited to read this book but unfortunately, this was a letdown for me. Perhaps I am too old to read YA (I'm 26), perhaps I just read this when I had a bad day. Hypothetically, I liked the idea of this book that is a coming-of-age story about a teenager in a mental hospital because she can know everything about a person the second she looks at them. I also thought this book had too many cliches about Gen X and Gen Z, (and while I do agree that Gen X and Gen Z may meet some of the stereotypes, I thought the book focused too much on them which made the book slightly annoying).

I also read the audiobook by Georgina Sadler and while I thought she was a great narrator, I was still bored by this story unfortunately.


I may try this book again at a later date and see if I have a new opinion but for now, this was a huge disappointment for me.

Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

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This was engaging enough, but I'm not sure I was the right audience for this book. Even though it didn't fall into the formula of other YA books, still fit firmly there and didn't reach the depth I hoped it would
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I enjoyed this YA book about a girl who can hear other people’s thoughts. It was a unique story and I liked the main character, Maya. Maya used her “power” to help people, which not many people her age (or any age) would do. Some talk of mental illness & suicide. Yes, there were some political conversations, but I didn’t feel like it was too much. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader’s copy.

What a great read! I really enjoyed Mysterious Ways and the main character Maya, who is a teenage girl navigating mental health and being at a new school. along with the fact she can read minds. I am looking forward to reading more books by Wendy Wunder in the future.

A moving YA coming of age story with great mental health rep that has a young teen girl able to hear other people's thoughts and suffering from her own form of depression and anxiety. This was good on audio and very relatable but didn't have as much depth as I hoped for. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest thoughts. Recommended for fans of authors like Rebekah Crane.

I loved this book from start to finish! This was a really fun and emotional story that was a joy to read. It was interesting to explore the complexity of Maya's psyche. Impossible to put down and one you won't want to miss.

Wendy Wunder’s Mysterious Ways is an intriguing exploration of the burden of knowledge and the complexities of teenage life, yet it falls short of fully realizing its potential. The story follows seventeen-year-old Maya, who possesses an extraordinary and overwhelming ability to know everything about a person simply by looking at them. This unique gift, or curse, has led her to the Whispering Pines Psychiatric Facility and now to a new school where she struggles to find her place. Maya's internal conflict—wanting to connect with others but fearing the weight of their secrets—creates an interesting premise that invites readers to ponder the consequences of such a power.

However, while the concept is compelling, the execution sometimes feels lacking. The pacing can be uneven, with some parts dragging while others rush through key moments that could have been more deeply explored. Maya’s relationships, particularly with the new guy she meets, feel underdeveloped, leaving the reader wanting more depth and emotional resonance. Despite these flaws, Mysterious Ways does offer thought-provoking moments and an original perspective on the challenges of empathy and connection. It's a solid three-star read that may appeal to those interested in the intersection of supernatural abilities and teenage angst, but it leaves some narrative threads frustratingly unresolved.

This was a miss for me. Maya seemed really inauthentic. Her personality was grating, and her point of view was contrived. The book was confusing and the plot was not as fascinating as the blurb made it out to be. I think the author had a good idea that she just wasn't able to execute.

Language: R (33+ swears, 10+ "f"); Mature Content: PG13+; Violence: PG+
In the first quarter of the book, Maya has started a new school. That's it. I stopped because I can only read about nothing going on for so long.
The mature content rating is for drug and alcohol use; partial nudity; mentions of strippers, prostitution, pornography, condoms, masturbation, rape, sexting, and sex; innuendo; kissing; and groping. The violence rating is for mentions of illegal activity, assault, guns, animal cruelty, self harm, child abuse, cannibalism, and suicide.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio and Wednesday Books for the review copies of Mysterious Ways by Wendy Wunder. The cover immediately brought me back to a childhood favorite, Harriet the Spy, and I did appreciate the voice acting and production of the audiobook.

Unfortunately, the book didn't quite click for me early on. I’m not a fan of stories that mock or alienate other generations, leaning heavily into broad stereotypes—even if the intention is to provide insight into the mindset of the 17-year-old protagonist. As a disgruntled GenXer, I found the narrative more annoying and alienating than engaging. It’s rare for me to encounter a young person who makes such broad and pervasive statements, and I felt that this book didn’t provide a fair insight into GenZ either. The first third of the book was particularly cumbersome, and I found myself skipping to the middle to see if the story would pick up. While it did to some extent, the writing continued to alienate me as a reader, and I ultimately lost interest in seeing how the story progressed.

I teach GenZ students and classes on individual and family development, where I emphasize the importance of breaking free from generalized stereotypes—a concept wonderfully addressed in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk on “The Danger of a Single Story.” I felt that Maya, the protagonist, really needed someone to guide her away from this tendency. While I hoped that her ability to read minds would lead to self-growth, I was too disconnected from the plot to appreciate any notable character development.

I had a very hard time getting into this book and could not connect with the characters. I forced myself to finish this book and honestly if it wasn’t a netgalley arc I wouldn’t have finished it.

The pacing was strange and the characters were lackluster and not well developed.

loved this mystery and keeping secrets and the different point of views. Also loved trying to figure out who did it . I enjoyed the mystery behind it.