Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Rating: 5 Stars ☆

Pub Date: 04 June 2024

“Charlie Thorne, always fine.”

Trying to find the words to write this review is difficult. To once again quote this book, “I needed this, it’s been a shitty few years.”

I so myself so much in Charlotte Thorne it was like looking into a mirror; the way Ella Dawson so perfectly captures the impossible yearning for a return to college days is astounding. The need to return to community, to being wanted, to belonging, was just so strong.

Charlotte’s fawn response and subsequent consequences are written just so realistically, and getting to both see her support system right in front of her when she can’t while at the same time being so in her hear that even we as the reader are blinded to the outside support, barraged by empty questions of “are you okay?” that can only be answered with an “I’m fine,” when the question we need to be asked is the titular But How Are You, Really-- it’s just beautiful writing is what it is. 

“Enough of anything before today,” is a quote that will stick with me, and so will Dawson’s beautiful, witty, raw story. Everyone needs a Reece Krueger in their lives, someone who’ll show them the unconditional love they deserve, and this book is a light in the darkness for anyone going through a similar situation.

To end this review in the most honest way I know: this book made me cry. A lot. And that’s how you know it’s a damn good book.