Thanks for Listening
Ratings1
Average rating3
15
Ratings1
Average rating3
Perfect for fans of Loveless and You Should See Me in a Crown, this wry and insightful novel from the author of Epically Earnest features a swoony ace romance and a secret social media advice account that goes wonderfully, terribly astray. Mia knows what she's talking about. Class schedules, significant others, existential life crises--you name it, she's talked someone through it. The problem? No one actually takes her advice. So when her latest round of (very sensible!) guidance is ignored, resulting in a class flyer stapled to her best friend's arm and her brother dating a girl he doesn't have feelings for, Mia is done talking. Instead, she creates HereToHelp, an anonymous account to give advice. If her friends don't know it's her behind the account, maybe they'll finally listen for once. Throw in the girl of her dreams, a plethora of sound (and not-so-sound) advice, and a couple of best friends who seem to have a lot more to hide than Mia knows...and Mia could use some advice of her own to make it through this senior year. Hilarious and deeply insightful in turn, Thanks for Listening is a must-read for fans of Not My Problem and Eliza and Her Monsters--and any reader who has wanted to feel fully, truly, completely heard.
Reviews with the most likes.
I can't deny that it was Mia's ace rep that put Thanks for Listening on my radar. As a book club organizer, I'm always on the lookout for books that highlight all parts of the queer community, to give as recs to my members. The fact that this was a YA book made me especially happy, since it's nice to have a wide range of stories to share with different age groups. It's true that I also saw a little bit of myself in Mia. I too, was the friend who always wanted to fix her friends' problems and would often give us little bits of myself to avoid conflict. I was also the person who was always willing to give advice, but never willing to take it myself. I'm sure this book is going to resonate with a lot of readers out there for the same reason.
What I really liked though, was that Horan allows her characters to show some realistic growth within these pages. Mia finds a person who helps her blossom, and start to understand that her friendships may not be the healthiest. She learns to stand up for herself, and actually communicate her feelings. Younger me so needed a book like this, and so I see a lot of good here. Especially because Horan's solution isn't to cut Mia off from her issues, but instead to show how she can work on them.
Now I will say that even though the book is written from the POV of high school, this book is written in what felt like a younger voice. Which felt a little odd, since there are mentions of sex. It also bothered me a bit how oblivious Mia seemed to be about anything related to dating. I know Mia's character was ace, but I find it hard to believe that she wouldn't be able to spot a potential date when she was in high school and best friends with people in a relationship. Still, I can admit that it did make for some cute scenes so I was willing to keep reading on.
To wrap things up, this was a cute read but it just felt a little younger than I was expecting. I liked the messages about friendship and evolving, and really like Mia. The backdrop of high school theater was so well done. It made me smile more than once! For all those reasons, I'm happy to award this book a solid three star rating.
