DISCLAIMER: Thank you so much to Bloomsbury Children’s Books, especially Grace, for sending me this advanced reading copy and giving me the opportunity to read this book before it is released.

“One choice doesn’t determine your whole future”

I knew from the moment I read A Curse So Dark and Lonely that Brigid Kemmerer was one of my new favourite authors. Call It What You Want definitely confirmed this for me. Brigid you are amazing! I am always baffled when a writer can dip in and out of different genres, for me that makes an amazing author.

Firstly, I have been in a reading slump for the last 2 months. THE MOTHER OF ALL READING SLUMPS. I have read a few chapters of SO MANY different books in this time and got bored, put them down and not returned to them. Call It What You Want has got me out of this slump for sure. I devoured this book in two sittings, in less than 24 hours and I am now cured. Brigid Kemmerer is my medicine.

This was such an easy and light hearted read. I absolutely love Brigid’s writing style, I find it instantly draws me in and keeps me wanting to read more and more. Whilst easy and light hearted some imperative subjects and themes are explored. Teenage pregnancy, suicide, young carers, consent and safe sex to name a few. I find that a lot of YA contemporary authors are timid when it comes to exploring important yet sensitive subjects. Brigid is not one of these authors. She dives full force into these, does not cast shadows or hide away and she does this so well. As an older reader, looking in the eyes of somebody slightly younger I really do believe that the way Brigid has approached these subjects is perfect. It acknowledges that not everybody’s life is perfect, people struggle and that those that do are not alone.

I knew before I started reading this book that I would love the characters. Why? Because Brigid has a way of making you fall in love with her characters. I absolutely love her attention to detail and I find it difficult not to love every single one of her characters. Apart from a select few. A Curse So Dark and Lonely **ahem**. Individually I loved Rob and Maegan but as a pair I loved them even more. I am openly not a romance loving person, but this just drew me in. It wasn’t the normal YA “love at first sight” trope, ew. Or love to hate trope, bigger ew. It just worked an it was beautiful.

I did guess what would happen in the end to a certain extent. But that didn’t phase me. I still thoroughly enjoyed the book and I enjoyed the ending. I feel like it was steady, not rushed and definitely not over the top just for suspense. I hate those kind of endings. However, Call It What You Want really did satisfy me and I really do not think I would have wanted more from it.

What I did notice which I have NEVER noticed in a book that I have read before, is that in the acknowledgements of the book Brigid shouts out to bookstagrammers and bloggers. What a hero. It is so nice to know that she appreciates her audience and to what extent she does. This just made me love Brigid even more than I already do.

Brigid could write a manual on the best way to watch paint dry and I would buy it. I can’t wait to read more of her work.