Call It What You Want is a moving and heartbreaking story that will resonate with anyone who has ever found themselves in a situationship or toxic relationship. Despite knowing from the outset that the story wouldn’t have a happy ending, the journey still wrecked me and broke my heart

2.5/5 ⭐️

This book follows Sloane and Ethan and their "situationship" throughout their last year of college and the following years in their post-grad lives. I'm a bit conflicted about this book. On one hand, I appreciate the raw portrayal of being in a situationship—loving and wanting someone more than they love you—which is relatable and can resonate with many who have experienced similar situations.

On the other hand, I honestly couldn't stand either of the main characters, they were seriosuly difficult to like. Sloane was incredibly frustrating; I wanted her to have more self-love and respect rather than continually going back to someone so clearly uninterested in a serious relationship. Ethan, meanwhile, was toxic and desperately needed therapy (I understand he had trauma, but enough is enough).

Regarding the writing, I understand this is a debut novel, but some of the dialogue felt a bit forced and didn't flow naturally for me.

Thank you, NetGalley & Sourcebooks Landmark, for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Alissa DeRogatis’s Call It What You Want explores the concept of “almost love” stories—those intense, label-less relationships that leave lasting marks. The narrative centers on Sloane Hart, a hopeless romantic who has sworn off dating after her parents’ divorce. Determined to focus on her studies and career, Sloane’s plans are disrupted when she meets Ethan Brady, a mysterious and guarded man who avoids deep connections.

Sloane and Ethan embark on a passionate, undefined relationship, fully aware that it can’t last forever. While Sloane envisions a future with Ethan, he’s unable to give her the commitment she desires. Their story is a bittersweet journey of love, self-discovery, and the painful realization that some things just aren’t meant to be.

The premise of exploring undefined relationships is intriguing, but the book struggles with its execution. The plot often feels repetitive, with Sloane and Ethan stuck in a cycle that lacks significant development. This repetition makes the story drag at times, losing the emotional impact it aims to deliver.

The characters, while relatable in their struggles, can be frustrating. Sloane’s persistent need for Ethan’s attention, despite numerous red flags, makes her hard to empathize with. Ethan’s aloof nature and commitment issues are well-depicted, but his character lacks depth, making it difficult to understand his true motivations.

The writing style is straightforward but occasionally falls flat. Dialogue between characters can feel awkward, and the narrative sometimes misses the emotional depth needed to fully engage readers. Additionally, the lack of backstory for both Sloane and Ethan leaves gaps that could have enriched the story.

Despite these shortcomings, Call It What You Want does capture the messy reality of undefined relationships and the heartache they bring. It’s a nostalgic ode to the almost-love stories that many people experience. However, the lack of character development and repetitive plot may leave readers wanting more substance and depth.

If you’ve ever been in a similar situation, you might find aspects of Sloane and Ethan’s story relatable. For those looking for a light read on complicated relationships, this book might be worth a try. However, it falls short of delivering a fully satisfying and impactful narrative.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. I read this quickly. It's definitely for NA than adult. Also, not sure if these notes are read, but there is a part where is says December 2018 and should be 2016 as a chapter title.

✨Book Review: Call It What You Want by Alissa Derogatis✨

I was lucky enough to receive this book as an arc reader through NetGalley. I went into this completely blind and I am so happy I did. This book follows our two characters Sloane Hart and Ethan Brady who meet in college and it follows them and their situation. This book perfectly captures how it feels when you love someone more than they love you and wanting something so badly and it just never working out. Anyone who has ever been in a situationship will absolutely love this book and make you feel so seen. Everything our main characters were going through felt so relatable and made me tear up at points. The messaging behind this book is so beautiful and shows that you don’t need to stay in the situation with someone just because you love them and how hard that is. 17 year old me felt extremely validated when reading this. I would 1000000% recommend getting your hands on this when it releases on June the 18th 🩷✨

Yikes this was just bad. Going into it blindly with just the book description, I had high hopes for a good read but was wrong so fast.
There’s literally no plot, the characters are pathetic if put nicely, absolutely no backstory for the characters relationship and also really lacking in the chemistry department.
The whiniest, more immature characters ever come across. If the author was going for a Magnolia Parks type book, this was definitely the wrong way to do it.

As a girl that's been through quite a few toxic relationships in her life, this book really hit home for me. Sloane absolutely broke my heart with her optimism and how much she loved Ethan. The want to believe she didn't deserve Ethan's love but also feeling like she deserved better than him broke my heart because I know so many people feel that way. I loved the college atmosphere and how the story was told over a span of timelines that showed how much she was trying to grow up and mature. I loved the close knit set of friends on both sides that never gave up on their friends even if they were doing something stupid. The author did a fantastic job of articulating everyone's feelings so well that as the reader I was feeling everything alongside them. I know others have said the writing is really clunky and disjointed but I disagree. I thought it was perfect to truly give voice to Sloane and Ethan.

Many thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for the review copy!

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this E-ARC!

rating: 3⭐️

This situation-ship was wild to say the least. I honestly didn’t love Ethan and Sloane together to begin with so I wasn’t rooting for them to much. But girl I was SCREAMING at Sloane every time she got back with Ethan. Like her and Reese were great, WHY DID YOU RUIN IT! They say you never forget your first love, and Sloane definitely couldn’t. The way she just kept running back to Ethan just for him to lead her on once again, I hated Ethan by the end. UGH. I still ate this book up in less than 24 hours though. Overall it was a very easy read but the story did get confusing at times with the time jumps forward. It felt like there was a little something missing but this was a strong debut novel!

I’m a bit conflicted on how I feel about this book just because I found it too fast-paced for my liking to the point where I didn’t really connect with the characters.

Sloane and Ethan are in an on-and-off situationship however while Sloane would like to make their relationship more official, Ethan is not so keen. The only character I really liked was Lauren as she was supportive of Sloane even though Sloane kept going back to Ethan and spoke her mind about the situation. I could relate to how Sloane was feeling as I myself have been in a couple of situationships unfortunately.

I didn’t feel any sympathy for Ethan at all because even though he suffered a childhood trauma, that doesn’t really excuse his behaviour.

3 stars for relatability as it really captures the emotions of being in your 20s and thinking you’ve met the love of your life only to get repeatedly heartbroken.

This just wasn't it for me. I don't even begin to know how to address this is a positive way. I get that the "relationship" is suppose to be toxic but this was just so toxic and off putting.

This book felt like 500 Days of Summer. When someone tells you the truth you should probably believe them the first time. It wasn’t a bad read, of course it was relatable but the yo-yo back and forth between the characters became exhausting, especially when there were so many opportunities to move on. I can understand why the writer wanted to put this type of book out there, but I find it hard to call something love when you give someone everything and they give you half of themselves. One line that really peeved me was when it was from Ethan’s point of view and he mentioned two years, three break ups and one broken heart. Only one broken heart after all that time?! It is a young coming of age book which lends it self to the struggles of finding yourself and knowing your worth. It can be seen as a cautionary tale!

1 ⭐️ What initially interested me about this book were the promised Taylor Swift references. Unfortunately everything else about the book, did not hold up. Ethan was actually a terrible human being, and Sloane was mainly just annoying and knew no self worth whatsoever. Everything felt very surface level and at no point did I ever enjoy their relationship or this story. I understand that this book is portraying an unhealthy relationship but it did so in a way that was not engaging or worth reading.

Thank you NetGalley & Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

OMG!!!!
This book was like a huge for me <3
My bf left me in November and I was kinda mess and found a quote from this book on booktok and was like "why not...add to tbr" then I found it while I was searching for my next read this year...
This book was like the last few months of my life even the healing phase and I owe the author for writing such an inspiring book like that for lost girls like me.♡

The character development of Solan was great and Ethan character reminded me of my ex so I can relate.
Lauren was so lovable friend and like a big sister.

Totally recommend and it's also a clean romance.

desperate fmc who's "in love" with walking red flag "emotionally unavailable" mmc. that's it. that's the book.

this book had so much potential. it was similar to Normal People, but lacked the chemistry and emotional depth that Normal People had. the writing focused too much on conversations with side characters and less on the actual emotion the characters were feeling. we were told that Sloane was soooo in love with Ethan about 200 times but we were never shown it? it was so painfully obvious how uninterested Ethan was in an actual relationship (because of his past but we never really get into that) and i cringed at how delusional Sloane was and how she kept circling back to their situationship. i do like books about messy, complex characters and their relationships, but the execution lacked any emotion and chemistry to get me to care.

I could not with this book. All this is in the first 10% is college kids going to the bar and drinking. I've been to college, I know the party scene, I don't need a play by play of consuming alcohol and playing drinking games.
Honestly it turned me off. Sloane and Ethan aren't even interesting, they're lacking depth. Everything every character says sounds so scripted. Albeit it's a book, but the dialogue doesn't flow naturally.

2🌟. Honestly just couldn’t stand this book. The only positives were the Taylor Swift references, the setting being partly in New York, and Lauren. Ethan was just a coward and toxic and the most boring man alive. Sloane was downright whiny and annoying. The characters got drunk like almost every single chapter like is that all you do in your free time? The writing felt extremely surface level and there was no depth. Their “relationship” was just so toxic and not enjoyable to read about. I really wanted to like this but sadly it just fell completely flat for me. Thank you to Netgalley, SOURCEBOOKS Landmark, and Alissa Derogatis for this ARC.

⭐️ go girl, give us nothing.

but in all seriousness, how did this book get published?! it was a <i> hot hot hot </i> mess. the writing was some of the worst I've read -- the writing was <b> bad </b> and the plot wouldn't even get picked up by freeform or the cw. in this story, we are following the ultimate pick-me girl and f*ck boy as they drink excessively, hook-up and do the "will-they, won't-they" dance a million times. there was VERY concerning scenes in here that were borderline sexual assault (i.e. getting so drunk that things get "fuzzy" and still continuing to hook-up with someone). the story is set in NYC, but is is clear that the author has never lived in a city, let alone NYC based off of all of the cliches and stereotypes that we included about city life.

ty to Netgalley & Sourcebooks Landmark for an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

WELL. 1) please hire an editor, this ain't wattpad. 2) Sloane was the dumbest, most idiotic character I've ever read about, like girl bffr, learn of something? 3) Ethan makes me want to commit crimes, and not in a good way. 4) The idea was good, the execution was NOT. A hard pass, sorry.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc of this book in exchange of an honest review.
I understand many of the criticisms thrown at this book are actually the point of it. It tells you from the preview that this is going to be about untrustworthy characters and that the relationship probably won’t be a healthy one. But I just couldn’t relate at all.
I knew from the start this book just wasn’t for me, so I kind of dnf it. I couldn’t push myself to keep reading.

This was not as bad as people were making it out to be! A little young-sounding for me, not the best dialogue either but I have read worse.