Q: Do you have any bookish pet peeves/ habits?
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Big Boned
Jo Watson
Pub Date: 9/21/21
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OMG I used to have that inner voice that Lori has, that inner bully!  She would pick apart the way I looked. She only tells me that I’m not the best employee or mother every once in a while but then I tell her to go clean something and she shuts up.

Why do we have to judge friend worthiness and popularity on how skinny people are, their clothes, complexion, thigh gap etc?

Lori has just moved to a new school in Cape Town so that her brother can go to a school that will be better for him and his needs. Her mother is going through lots of changes as a new divorced, single mom and has not been around and giving a lot of her motherly duties to Lori.

Joining a new school when you already feel like you won’t belong is rough especially going into senior year ugh. Lori is a very talented artist and she is trying to find her voice artistically and in her life. At her school the hottest guy Jake on the water polo team is just a dream and he happens to volunteer at the school her brother goes to. They start taking her brother and his sister on playdates which kind of turn into dates, maybe it’s a gray area lol. 

Oh My! I loved Thembi, the super gorgeous popular girl who wanted to help Lori with designing a dress for her. That friendship, and Jake’s attention and her therapist finally make her see that those a-holes at her last school that almost killed her and psychologically damaged her (TW) were wrong and she is worthy of everything everyone has!

I just loved the end with all the heart to hearts, last straw speeches and grand reveals. It is so hard when you can’t escape the worst bully because it’s in your head. If anyone ever needs to talk about anything, please dm me. Life is hard, some people are Amber’s and feel good making others feel bad about themselves but don’t take them seriously especially if people say stuff with a sneer. Sneers are red flags. Up

Thank you @wattpad and @netgalley for the e-ARC for honest and voluntary review.

Synopsis:

Can she be herself in a one-size-fits-all world?

Lori Palmer is the new girl at Bay Water High, where students prize glossy hair, beach bodies, and school spirit above all else. She misses her old school―where her talent as an artist carried more weight than she does―and longs for her old family life, before her parents got divorced and her mom reinvented herself.

So Lori decides that the only way to survive the rest of the year is to blend into the background, but her plans go awry when she discovers that the most popular (and hottest) guy at Bay Water High, Jake, is a volunteer at her brother’s school. When her brother befriends Jake’s sister, Lori is suddenly thrust into his unfamiliar and exhilarating world of water polo, parties, and stargazing.

But with her relationship with her mother deteriorating, old anxieties resurface and Lori finds a new artistic release that unknowingly ignites a powerful movement. When the authorities start asking questions, Lori realizes that finding her voice might have gotten her into a world of trouble…but sometimes standing up for what you believe in is as important as standing up for yourself.