Thank you so much for the review copy, I appreciate it so much. I did enjoy this book to an extent but it would have to be a DNF at 30 percent for me. While I appreciate that this is women’s fiction, it was so difficult for me to understand how the plot played with what happened in the book while I read it and I do appreciate why people will like it and still recommend this book to a lot of people but it was just not me sadly.

I absolutely loved this book! Even though I finished it in a couple of days, I felt like I had been reading it forever, but in a good way - by the end of the novel, I felt so connected to the characters and felt like I had been through a rollercoaster with them.

I should start by saying this book is not what you think it’s going to be. About 75% of the way through, it flips itself on its head in a wonderfully surprising way. One of my notes before 75% was ‘why are both women on the cover blonde?!’ - post 75%, it’s clear why, and it absolutely delighted me that I could look at this note again and laugh. What a genius move!

Although Helen is a deeply unlikeable character in many ways, I also couldn’t help but relate to her. I felt like she reflected the worst parts of myself back to me, in a way that was almost uncomfortable to read. I think many readers will relate to this and see themselves in Helen. Cherry was a delight - her backstory and her character arc were lovely to read and were an excellent balance to Helen’s more difficult story. That said, I also really liked Helen’s character arc, and I think the novel ended perfectly.

I really loved this book, far more than I thought I would which is always a lovely surprise. I think there are some loose comparisons to Yellow Face, but it is also so different. This has definitely showed me that I love a book set in a literary/publishing world - who knew there was so much drama!

I was thrilled with a chance to read and review “Young Fools” by Liza Palmer. Like the two main characters, Helen and Cherry, I’m a novelist, and so, a lot of this story I immediately related to.

Helen, a daughter of two professors, attends a writer’s conference, desperate to obtain a fellowship so she doesn’t have to follow in her parents’ footsteps and teach. There, she meets Cherry who, though lacks Helen’s pedigree, can still tell a story. The friendship turns rivalry takes the twosome through the next few decades. Both become published writers, but at what costs?

I found Helen utterly obnoxious but in a delightful way. She walks in to the conference knowing she is going to secure the fellowship and it doesn’t matter who she hurts in the process. It is laughable that the one item she publishes in the ten years that follow is a (most likely) pretentious short story. However, when Cherry finishes her novel (and finds both an agent and publisher), Helen continues to find ways to cut her friend down. Yet, you don’t have to like Helen to enjoy this story. I went through fiction workshops as both an undergrad and graduate and Palmer’s scenes of writers interacting rings true in a way that surprised me. I read this novel in a handful of days because I enjoyed it so much. Palmer also provides a couple of unexpected twists. (Remember the unreliable narrator).

Four and a half out of five stars.

Thanks to Liza Palmer, the publisher, and Net Galley for a chance to read and review this novel.

Thank you netgalley for this E-Arc

This was such an entertaining read with moments that had me laughing. Seeing the complexities within the friendships and betrayal were wrote beautifully and truly had me hating Helen the majority of the time. The twists were surprising and I found myself feeling so shocked. Such a heartfelt and enjoyable read.

Young Fools

Starting off strong- the format of this book is absolutely terrible. It’s dual perspective, kind-of. Except not. It’s primarily Helen’s perspective, except then it randomly switches to Cherry’s near the end of the book, then goes back and forth randomly without much rhyme or reason. Definitely not back and forth with each chapter.

It’s also broken down into ten year blocks of time- 1995, 2005, 2015, and a few pages in 2025. This could be a big formatting focus, but it took me until the third “block” to click that there wasn’t a random jump of time. The pacing just didnt feel natural.

Finally, without spoiling it too much, the first half of the book is later revealed as actually being a book itself. But this doesn’t flow well either.

The writing in the first part, perhaps because it’s a book inside a book, was very elementary. Frequently I caught myself asking how a book about writing and how to become a good author was so poorly written. The character development was incredibly slow. Everyone was described at the surface level.

The little plot twist at the end was the only good part. It was the hero arc we needed to save us from such a terrible story line.

CAWPILE score: 31
2/5 stars

C 4/10
A 5/10
W 3/10
P 5/10
I 5/10
L 5/10
E 4/10
Total: 31/70

DNF.
Couldn't get into the story. The writing is too dense unnecessarily. The blurb sounded so cool and promising but the execution was so inefficiently done.

Helen Hicks is one of the mfc. The book starts off with readers learning more about Helen. Her small town, where she grew up in thought her whole family was weird, and she was labelled an outcast. Her bad attitude didn't help. She tried to think of herself as s character in a book, but nothing she did seemed to fix the loneliness she felt. Helen decides to sign up for a contest where the winner wins the Gelding Fellowship. Helen really, really wants to win because she wants her parents to be proud of her and see that she can be a successful writer.

Helen soon meets Cherry after she pointed out how Helen's hair dye stained the back of her shirt (I laughed so hard picturing this.) Helen believes that Cherry could be a literary genius after she spoke out in class. From there, their friendship blooms as they write notes back and forth to each other in class. As the story continues, Helen begins to get praised for her writing, even being told that one of her pieces was the most promising. Things happen that create a wedge between the two girls, and soon they start having a feud that lasts YEARS. Towards the end of the book, it just reminded me of how fast time flies and how much you can miss in someone else's life when you let something simmer negatively in your friendship.

This book was one that I enjoyed. Female friendships are one of my favourite types of fiction books to read about. I loved seeing each of the characters' growth in this book. 3rd person is not always my favourite writing style to read about, but it quickly grew on me in this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union for the opportunity to read Young Fools by Liza Palmer. I loved his book. Liza Palmer deftly and with great sensitivity peels back layers of a friendship to get to the very tender heart. How many of us have pushed back against thoughts and feelings about best friends because they felt disloyal - and because we were unable to face the root of those feelings? Bravo for Liza Palmer, Helen, and Cherry.