Name: Tell Me My Name
ISBN: 9780593109724

Amy Reed

Eighteen-year-old Fern's life spirals out of control after troubled former child star Ivy Avila arrives on Commodore Island, ultimately forcing Fern to take agency over her own existence.

Tell Me My Name

Samantha Bass

You can read my full review on my blog, We Write at Dawn

DNFed at 42%

I was so excited for this book solely based off the tag line: a gender-flipped YA Great Gatsby.

Yeah, this was nothing like that. Now, I know taglines are used for a comparison and not indicative of what actually happens in the book, but this feels so off the mark. 

I read to almost 50% of this book and I feel like the most I got out of it is that rich people are sad and not stable with any part of their life. Oh and drugs are bad. Our main character, Fern, has the personality of playdough, which means she's great with molding into the person people want her to be, but she provides no other substance. Then we have Tami who is a stereotypical "bad bitch" rich girl who only cares about sex and drugs. Oh and Ivy, a TV star with a substance abuse problem looking to break free and get clean, but is also obsessed with a guy she barely knows and thinks its love.

This book is a disaster. I was waiting for the psychological thriller aspect of this book to start and nothing. At almost 50% through the book, it was basically a high schoolers fad dream: be rich, have sex, and do copious amounts of drugs at endless parties. The only sane characters were Fern's dads who couldn't decide between themselves whether they were comfortable with their only daughter partying into the night or not, and generally went with not. 

The whole catalyst of this book is Ivy moving to their town, stirring up gossip and turning heads. Tami, who hated Fern and wanted nothing to do with her, suddenly becomes her friend after Ivy shows an interest towards Fern. Tami, who is genuinely a horrible person, is also dating Fern's childhood best friend and secret love interest. How cliche. 

Honestly, I wasn't sure what the plot of this book was. It didn't seem to be going anywhere except trying to be edgy as everyone does what they hate then complains about it. This clearly wasn't a good book for me.