Margot Harrison

A contemporary, high-stakes thriller about how reality becomes more twisted than the fantasy novel two friends are writing when the real-life subject of their fiction turns up dead and they're the suspects, for fans of Mare of Easttown and One of Us Is Lying. Celeste is the talk of the town when she moves to Montana from Montreal, but the only friend she makes is Vivvy, the heir to the town's name and a social pariah. Inspired by a passion-fueled school incident, they begin writing a love-story fan fic between the popular guy and the school stoner, one that gradually reveals Celeste's past. While their bond makes Celeste feel safe and alive again, Vivvy keeps prodding Celeste to turn fantasy into reality. When they finally try, one drunken night on a dark mountainside, Celeste is the one who ends up kissing golden boy Joss. And Joss ends up dead. Celeste doesn't remember the end of that night and can't be sure she didn't deliver the killing blow. Could she still be that scared of getting close to a boy? Secrets are hard to keep in a small town, and even Vivvy seems to suspect her. Exploring the winding passages of the cave where Joss died, Celeste learns he had his own dark secrets, as does Vivvy. The town isn't as innocent as it appears.

We Made It All Up

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc and arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Recommended For...: young adult readers, thriller, mystery, murder mystery

Age Relevance: 16+ (romance, cursing, abelism, underage alcohol consumption, sexual content, bullying, death, parental death, child abuse, child sexual abuse, gore, fetishization, homophobia, suicide, sexual assault)

Explanation of Above: There is some romance in the book. There is a lot of cursing and some mentions and showings of underage alcohol consumption. There is some slight abelism mentioned, child abuse mentioned vaguely, child sexual assault mentioned vaguely, slight homophobia, and one mention of suicide. There is a very brief scene of sexual assault mentioned. There is some bullying shown in the book and death and parental death are mentioned. There is some blood gore shown in the book. Finally, there is a LOT of fanfic about these two boys and it leans into fetishization of the characters as them being in a gay relationship with each other but with the MC and another girl constantly wanting them to get together/seeing them as a sexual object/using their stories about them to write about their own personal trauma and personifying it onto them.

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Synopsis: Celeste is the talk of the town when she moves to Montana from Montreal, but the only friend she makes is Vivvy, the heir to the town’s name and a social pariah. Inspired by a passion-fueled school incident, they begin writing a love-story fan fic between the popular guy and the school stoner, one that gradually reveals Celeste’s past. While their bond makes Celeste feel safe and alive again, Vivvy keeps prodding Celeste to turn fantasy into reality. When they finally try, one drunken night on a dark mountainside, Celeste is the one who ends up kissing golden boy Joss. And Joss ends up dead.

Celeste doesn’t remember the end of that night and can’t be sure she didn’t deliver the killing blow. Could she still be that scared of getting close to a boy? Secrets are hard to keep in a small town, and even Vivvy seems to suspect her. Exploring the winding passages of the cave where Joss died, Celeste learns he had his own dark secrets, as does Vivvy. The town isn’t as innocent as it appears.

Review: This was an ok but strange book. For the most part I thought the book had an ok plot line and the story would have been great if a few things had changed in my opinion. I liked the creepy atmosphere of the book and I thought that the book did well to show how obsession can lead to some bad things.

However, this book was an absolute train wreck. The book is told in this back and forth style and it gets so confusing so quickly. It would have been better if a few chapters were in the past then one or two in the future, but constantly switching was awful. The book is also really hard to get into, but it’s also really hard to get back into. I left the book for a couple of days and when I came back, I couldn’t figure out what was going on for the life of me. The story didn’t stick with me and even with all of my notes I was completely at a loss as to what was happening and who people were. It’s an easily forgettable book in that regard. The book also made me feel extremely uncomfortable. I didn’t like the fetishization culture that was happening in the book and the book didn’t really resolve that issue in my opinion. The way the MC was writing about these two boys and then fetishizing them in public was awful and for it to be unresolved really made me not like the author. There’s a huge problem with fetishization in the book community and I just think that it could have been better done as a cautionary tale.

Verdict: Overall, I didn’t like it. I think that there are some salvageable aspects and this book could be something great, but it was not put together in my arc so I don’t have hope for it in the final version. It’s definitely not for me, but it could be for you!

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc and arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

 

Book: We Made It All Up

 

Author: Margot Harrison

 

Book Series: Standalone

 

Rating: 3/5

 

Diversity: m/m romance… kinda?

 

Recommended For...: young adult readers, thriller, mystery, murder mystery

 

Publication Date: July 12, 2022

 

Genre: YA Thriller Mystery

 

Age Relevance: 16+ (romance, cursing, abelism, underage alcohol consumption, sexual content, bullying, death, parental death, child abuse, child sexual abuse, gore, fetishization, homophobia, suicide, sexual assault)

 

Explanation of Above: There is some romance in the book. There is a lot of cursing and some mentions and showings of underage alcohol consumption. There is some slight abelism mentioned, child abuse mentioned vaguely, child sexual assault mentioned vaguely, slight homophobia, and one mention of suicide. There is a very brief scene of sexual assault mentioned. There is some bullying shown in the book and death and parental death are mentioned. There is some blood gore shown in the book. Finally, there is a LOT of fanfic about these two boys and it leans into fetishization of the characters as them being in a gay relationship with each other but with the MC and another girl constantly wanting them to get together/seeing them as a sexual object/using their stories about them to write about their own personal trauma and personifying it onto them.

 

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

 

Pages: 370

 

Synopsis: Celeste is the talk of the town when she moves to Montana from Montreal, but the only friend she makes is Vivvy, the heir to the town’s name and a social pariah. Inspired by a passion-fueled school incident, they begin writing a love-story fan fic between the popular guy and the school stoner, one that gradually reveals Celeste’s past. While their bond makes Celeste feel safe and alive again, Vivvy keeps prodding Celeste to turn fantasy into reality. When they finally try, one drunken night on a dark mountainside, Celeste is the one who ends up kissing golden boy Joss. And Joss ends up dead.

Celeste doesn’t remember the end of that night and can’t be sure she didn’t deliver the killing blow. Could she still be that scared of getting close to a boy? Secrets are hard to keep in a small town, and even Vivvy seems to suspect her. Exploring the winding passages of the cave where Joss died, Celeste learns he had his own dark secrets, as does Vivvy. The town isn’t as innocent as it appears.

 

Review: This was an ok but strange book. For the most part I thought the book had an ok plot line and the story would have been great if a few things had changed in my opinion. I liked the creepy atmosphere of the book and I thought that the book did well to show how obsession can lead to some bad things.

 

However, this book was an absolute train wreck. The book is told in this back and forth style and it gets so confusing so quickly. It would have been better if a few chapters were in the past then one or two in the future, but constantly switching was awful. The book is also really hard to get into, but it’s also really hard to get back into. I left the book for a couple of days and when I came back, I couldn’t figure out what was going on for the life of me. The story didn’t stick with me and even with all of my notes I was completely at a loss as to what was happening and who people were. It’s an easily forgettable book in that regard. The book also made me feel extremely uncomfortable. I didn’t like the fetishization culture that was happening in the book and the book didn’t really resolve that issue in my opinion. The way the MC was writing about these two boys and then fetishizing them in public was awful and for it to be unresolved really made me not like the author. There’s a huge problem with fetishization in the book community and I just think that it could have been better done as a cautionary tale.

 

Verdict: Overall, I didn’t like it. I think that there are some salvageable aspects and this book could be something great, but it was not put together in my arc so I don’t have hope for it in the final version. It’s definitely not for me, but it could be for you!

“All things are possible,” Vivvy said. “But you don’t know small towns, Celeste. You don’t understand what the sheer depth of boredom will drive people to.”

Thank you TBR and Beyond Tours for the chance to read and review We made it all up by Margot Harrison.

We Made it All Up is a YA thriller that was published by Little, Brown and Company on the 12th of July, 2022. It’s 343 pages long and already in the top 100 in two different Teen and YA fiction categories on amazon.

As Celeste moves to a small town in the US from Canada, she tries to just blend in. That’s really hard when no one new seems to have moved there for a hundred years (a girl is cheating on her boyfriend with her cousin of all things). She makes a friend in Vivvy, and the two of them write a fan fiction of two dudes in their grade, who seem to hate each other. As Celeste learns more about small town secrets and Joss ends up dead, she has to find out what’s really been going on or she might be in jail next.

As a whole, We Made it all Up is a good addition to the YA thriller/mystery genre. The way Celeste took the characters (in her story), Joss and Seth and spoke about her own trauma through those was really interesting. I loved Vivvy; she was my favourite. I totally called who the killer was 20% in. I felt so annoyed at Celeste’s parents, and in general, most adults in the town for just turning a blind eye to things for so long. The book was a little slow at the start, but when it picked up, it picked up. 

I do wonder though, if had the genders of all the characters been changed, would the story have gone down as well? Two girls writing fanfiction about their male classmates is less sinister than two boys writing it about their female classmates.

Seher Mohsin

“All things are possible,” Vivvy said. “But you don’t know small towns, Celeste. You don’t understand what the sheer depth of boredom will drive people to.”

Thank you TBR and Beyond Tours for the chance to read and review We made it all up by Margot Harrison.

We Made it All Up is a YA thriller that was published by Little, Brown and Company on the 12th of July, 2022. It’s 343 pages long and already in the top 100 in two different Teen and YA fiction categories on amazon.

As Celeste moves to a small town in the US from Canada, she tries to just blend in. That’s really hard when no one new seems to have moved there for a hundred years (a girl is cheating on her boyfriend with her cousin of all things). She makes a friend in Vivvy, and the two of them write a fan fiction of two dudes in their grade, who seem to hate each other. As Celeste learns more about small town secrets and Joss ends up dead, she has to find out what’s really been going on or she might be in jail next.

As a whole, We Made it all Up is a good addition to the YA thriller/mystery genre. The way Celeste took the characters (in her story), Joss and Seth and spoke about her own trauma through those was really interesting. I loved Vivvy; she was my favourite. I totally called who the killer was 20% in. I felt so annoyed at Celeste’s parents, and in general, most adults in the town for just turning a blind eye to things for so long. The book was a little slow at the start, but when it picked up, it picked up. 

I do wonder though, if had the genders of all the characters been changed, would the story have gone down as well? Two girls writing fanfiction about their male classmates is less sinister than two boys writing it about their female classmates.

We Made It All Up

Reviews