Amber and Dean are students at an elite but conservative high school. They both love hacking and became friends due to that shared interest, but their friendship never really extended outside of school until an incident at the school's annual "abstinence is best" presentation prompts the principal to order Dean to start "Code Club." Amber ends up being the only person to join, and they spend most meetings practicing their hacking skills with friendly competitions. Then they make a bet that leads to Amber secretly creating an anonymous website called "Ask Me Anything" - she'll thumb her nose at the principal while answering all the sexual health-related student questions that the school refuses to recognize even exist.

This is one of the books I bought at a past Book Bonanza.

The Q&A posts reminded me a lot of a YA book I read back in 2020, L.C. Rosen's Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts), although that one was a bit more explicit, and Jack was more sexually experienced than Amber. I did think that the explanation for how Amber wrote all her posts was more believable, though - she drew a lot on her parents' work-related knowledge (her dad was a teen psychologist and her mom was an erotica author), letting them think she was asking questions because she was considering doing work similar to theirs.

I don't recall Jack's posts inspiring quite as much panic as a few of Amber's, though. One of them eventually blew up in a way that was addressed in the text. There was another, however, that Amber took as a question about cheating and that, to me, sounded like a potential statutory rape situation - the question asker, almost certainly a minor, was in a relationship with a married woman who was 6 years older than them.

Anyway, I liked this book reasonably well at first, but unfortunately it vastly outstayed its welcome. It should have been at least 100 pages shorter. It took Dean way too long to realize who was behind the blog, considering the hints Amber let slip in her entries. Also, it was pretty obvious what must have happened between Amber and Brandon, her ex-boyfriend, but it took ages for everything to finally be laid out on-page.

Amber and Dean read like the main characters in a New Adult romance, to the point that the occasional reminders that they were, in fact, high schoolers felt almost weird. Neither of them were all that interesting, and Amber, in particular, came across like a pile of "cool girl" stereotypes.

The ending was a group hug's worth of gooiness, complete with just about everyone apologizing to each other. Except for the principal - he was just 100% horrible, and pretty stupid to boot.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

**I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. This is a voluntary review; all opinions are my own and not influenced by my source.**

I'm not usually one for YA contemporaries but Molly E Lee is a notable exception. And the premise of the novel? FANTASTIC!

After reading the synopsis, I definitely thought the flow of the plot would be different. I thought we'd have more of a cat and mouse game with Amber and Dean but that isn't the case. It's more like her keeping something from him while they evolve their own personal relationship. So once I got over that, I could appreciate the plot here.

I do think the first half was slower. The last quarter was great, lots of development. And we got more into the blog (and what it is trying to accomplish) than the coming of age aspect. (Which is great, don't get me wrong!). Sexual education in the school curriculum is a hot topic where I live and I liked the real world conflict the blog highlighted.

It would have been great if the novel focused more on what the blog was about but I don't think that was this story's intended purpose. It's more a coming of age story in modern times (ie the internet and social media) emphasizing the disconnect between generations when it comes to sexuality and sexual education.

I liked our leads a lot. Amber is a great heroine. I loved her vulnerability as that allowed for some fabulous character growth. Dean's a sweetie who says some charming things. His growth wasn't as strong but he is a solid character. At times, I thought his storyline was a little melodramatic but it grounds itself near the end.

If you're looking for a YA novel that has drama, a dose of reality, a charming romance and intriguing characters, look no further!

Check out more spoiler-free book and series reviews on my blog SERIESousBookReviews.com as well as read book series recaps!

Full Review: https://wp.me/p7hLUw-2WG
Actual Rating: 3.5/5 ( )