This Might Get Awkward

"has anyone read this? any opinions? "

"oof this got maybe a bit tooo awkward for me. So much mortification constantly, and probably closer to home then usual because I just got done acting like a shy toddler who blushes when spoken to and communicates in single word answers and aborted sentences at my large family gatherings because it's the holidays, a time of self-loathing. Gemma gets herself into way more horrifying social situations than I can say I've ever really encountered though, like it is absurd, and I kind of love it actually.<br/><br/>When you decide to read a book with a premise as dramatic as this you are inherently accepting the gray morality of what you're about to get into to some degree, but I was disappointed that when Beau finally woke up <spoiler>and didn't remember her, she was just like hey I'm your girlfriend, we can break up if you want. Like no tell the whole truth!!! The way she was talking about it before, I was fully expecting her to come clean to him and see what happened but no, we're gonna lie to the boy with the brain injury. Apparently this is where I draw the line.</spoiler><br/><br/>Also this is a bit iffy for me but I don't really know where I fall on self-diagnosis and this protagonist tells people (specifically Sofia, I love Sofia btw) that she has social anxiety disorder without ever getting a diagnosis in the book and that feels slightly wrong but also as far as I can see, she always ended up qualifying it with "I think so anyway" and she is actively in the process of coming to terms with it and broaching the topic of getting therapy to her dad who is avoidant of hard conversations and slightly suspicious of modern medicine and that is something I can relate to. Just conjecture but I think a lot of us who are more on the anxious side have parents who kind of influenced us to be this way by their own worrying or avoidant tendencies. I think it's ultimately kind of nice to see a character in this stage of taking charge of their mental health and I don't know that I've seen that very much before.<br/><br/>Altogether, I was enjoying this until Beau woke up, but I don't know how I feel about the third act. Almost gave up reading. Don't know how I would rate it."

"okay, listen! i think this is more of a 3.5-4 stars, but the ending was so odd that i feel guilty giving it higher than a 3 star rating.<br/><br/>there were some good things about this book. as someone who struggles with social anxiety disorder myself, i related to almost all of gemma’s worries & habits. i also really liked how griff assisted her with her anxiety. the best parts of the book were when they were tackling her bucket list together!<br/><br/>however, the last 100 pages of this book felt weird. i don’t understand why there were such odd, semi-manipulative moments between gemma & griff. anyways, the writing was pretty good until that started to happen.<br/>"