I love contemporary YA and have been loving Brigid Kemmerer’s contemporary books lately. Check out my review of Call It What You Want!
Call it What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer
To be published on June 25, 2019 by Bloomsbury
Synopsis 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…
Review of Call It What You Want
Contemporary YA is probably my favorite YA genre, and Call It What You Want was my favorite kind of contemporary – a story with some life issues, some family issues, a gripping plot, and just a touch of romance.
Rob was once a popular kid, but now he’s got some tough things to deal with – a father in disgrace who is now unable to care for himself. Overachiever Maegan made a big mistake and is keeping a big secret. When these two get paired on a school project, they don’t want anything to do with each other.
Secrets, angst, hate-to-love and some really tough family problems had me gripped throughout. I was especially moved by Rob’s situation, and I really enjoyed the family dynamics of Maegan’s. Often I complain when YA books throw in too many issues, and this one did have a lot: academic cheating, teen pregnancy, suicide, student-teacher romance, class differences and poverty – there may be even more that I’m not thinking of. But I felt that it all worked – all these issues were woven into the story in a way that worked for me and I felt they were all dealt with sensitively and sufficiently.
I’ve been a fan of Brigid Kemmerer since her paranormal Elementals books, and I remain a fan. Definitely try this book and her other contemporary fiction if you have a chance!
Have you read this? Talk to me in comments!
I really love Kemmerer’s contemporary novels and Rev (from Letters to the Lost and More Than We Can Tell) is one of my favorite fictional characters ever. I’m excited to pick this one up. It does sound like it touches on a lot of topics, but still manages to do it well.
YES – I’m always going “uh-oh” when a contemporary author tackles too many issues. I usually find that in a 300 page book, it’s hard to do justice to more than a few. And my I don’t like it when issues are used as plot devices. I thought this book showed that, yes, you can juggle multiple issues and do it well!
Rob’s story definitely impacted me more than Maegan’s. There was sort of no comparison, though I enjoyed the way Maegan’s sister storyline helped them reconnect as sisters. Kemmerer is so good at messy stories, and she did a fantastic job with all the issues in this book. I love that she wrapped it up neatly too.
Agree with you – Rob’s story was so emotional. But I was really interested in Maegan and her sister – that definitely made her storyline a lot better.
The only Brigid Kemmerer I’m familiar with is A Curse So Dark and Lonely but that’s probably because I lean towards fantasy when it comes to YA reading.
Glad you enjoyed this!
We are totally opposite readers then lol, because lately I lean away from fantasy! I did enjoy ACSDaL but this one was more my lane!
We might kind of disagree on this one. I felt like Kemmerer dealt with most of the issues well, but not thoroughly enough. It just felt like it was all over the place, and the ending felt way too abrupt for me. I needed a lot more resolution for everyone – particularly Owen and his mom, and Maegan and her family. I just feel like this book didn’t know what it really wanted to say, so it ended up saying…everything. It’s still Brigid, so it was still good, but argh, I needed more. Discuss on Twitter?
Ooh, I love it when we disagree! (Since we rarely do…)