Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry — Teen Book Review

Excuse me while I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney was incredible. In it, Quinn, a high school teenage girl who has a creepy yet cute obsession with making lists about everything, has her whole life turned upside down. After Quinn’s crush, Carter accidentally swaps his journal with Quinn’s,  she falls apart as that journal contained all her lists. Carter loses the journal during his “Bus ride to school” and her journal ends up in the wrong hands as they start to anonymously blackmail Quinn. Quinn must now complete 1 item from her 1st list each week before her upcoming high school graduation which would result in her having to face all the lies she has told to her friends. Else, all her lists would be posted online resulting in her lies being exposed.

While the book did not have the best plot, it was unique none the less which is something that is rare nowadays. The pace of the book was okay. My main issue was how it would at times introduce characters important to the story without giving them a proper introduction at first. The character development, however, was great as I could really connect with Quinn’s journey from a spoiled girl that had all her feelings bottled to a somewhat more independent girl who no longer had to rely on lists to express her feelings. The book was a page-turner as I wanted to find out who had her journal. If it were not for my need of sleep I would have finished the whole book in one night.

The quote on the back of the book reads, “A fun, emotionally rich romance with a sweet, imperfect character who will win your heart.” On many levels, this quote is true. The character of Quinn is shown as honestly a bad person at the beginning of the book. As the book progresses, however, she becomes a better person. Quinn’s whole character arc is based on how she discovers that no one is perfect, not even herself, and coming to terms with her flaws. Overall, I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in romcom novels but especially to all the hopeless romantics out there who need a good book to kill time during this summer.

4 stars.