Call It What You Want Book Review

Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer

TRIGGER WARNING: Book includes mentions and gives description of attempted suicide.

From Goodreads: When his dad is caught embezzling funds from half the town, Rob goes from popular lacrosse player to social pariah. Even worse, his father’s failed suicide attempt leaves Rob and his mother responsible for his care.

Everyone thinks of Maegan as a typical overachiever, but she has a secret of her own after the pressure got to her last year. And when her sister comes home from college pregnant, keeping it from her parents might be more than she can handle.

When Rob and Maegan are paired together for a calculus project, they’re both reluctant to let anyone through the walls they’ve built. But when Maegan learns of Rob’s plan to fix the damage caused by his father, it could ruin more than their fragile new friendship…

Thank you so much to Bloomsbury for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, I think I need to admit something here: Brigid Kemmerer is fast becoming one of my all-time favourite authors. After the amazing A Curse So Dark and Lonely, I wanted to try one of her contemporary novels and see if it matched up.

And boy, did it.

First of all, I loved the characters in Call It What You Want, so so much. They were detailed and intricate and flawed, and I could quite easily imagine them as real people. Rob is probably my favourite of the two, possibly because I could relate to his position as a carer a little more, and sympathise with that. He went through A LOT in this book, and it was honestly just great to see his name at the top of a new chapter each and every time. I found it a touch harder to get into Maegan’s head, although I still loved her as a protagonist. She’s a little more black and white than Rob is, but I liked her sense of humour and getting her thoughts on things.

The plot sounded pretty simplistic at first, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn’t really all that much of a romance book. The romance is there, obviously (it is a YA book) but it’s more sub-plot than I expected. Which suited me just fine. The main plot was delightfully complex and nuanced, and I found myself desperate to get back to it every time I had to put the book down to do something else. It says a lot that I have slowed down a lot with reading lately, owing to other time pressures, but I got through this one very quickly.

Kemmerer does an excellent job of showing a diverse cast of characters and their complicated lives without ever coming across as preachy or heavy-handed. I enjoyed the debates the book raises about morality, and the issues surrounding various crimes and who suffers for them. It is a book that has some pretty big and rather dark themes, and I would recommend anyone who might not be into that to tread lightly (I imagine there will be a trigger warning in the FC).

The ending was incredibly tense, and I think I got through it only with copious amounts of coffee the next day, since I was kept hooked into the early hours. I’m not sure if I’ve quite forgiven Kemmerer for putting me through all that just yet, but I am absolutely sold on this novel. It was perfect and dark and eloquent and I will happily recommend it to anyone who likes a gritty contemporary YA.

Overall, I’m giving Call It What You Want:

 

 

 

 

 

Why? Because it was fricking fantastic and I demand that everyone stops what they’re doing right now, and goes to buy a copy the instant it is released (25th June in the UK).

Has anyone else read this book already or plans to? What do you all think of it? Let me know in the comment section down below ❤