Audiobook Review: Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney

Author:  Joya Goffney

Narrator:  n/a

Title: Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry

Genre: YA, Romance, Fiction, Contemporary

Format: Audiobook

Pages: 368

Expected publication: May 4th 2021

Where I got It: Netgalley

Summary: 

Quinn keeps lists of everything—from the days she’s ugly cried, to “Things That I Would Never Admit Out Loud,” to all the boys she’d like to kiss. Her lists keep her sane. By writing her fears on paper, she never has to face them in real life. That is, until her journal goes missing…

An anonymous account posts one of her lists on Instagram for the whole school to see and blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears, or else her entire journal will go public. Quinn doesn’t know who to trust. Desperate, she teams up with Carter Bennett—the last known person to have her journal—in a race against time to track down the blackmailer.

Together, they journey through everything Quinn’s been too afraid to face, and along the way, Quinn finds the courage to be honest, to live in the moment, and to fall in love.

Review:

I was given this to listen to from Netgalley. The actual version with the narrator has not been released yet so I had to take this with a grain of salt while listening. 

The story follows Quinn who has always kept a journal with a list of everything in her life. From the days she has ugly cried...to the boys she would want to kiss....to the things she needs to do.....things she needs to fix....and so forth. The day her journal goes missing her life will be forever changed. An anonymous account posts one of her lists for the whole school to see, she finds her self at the mercy of this mystery person who blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears or they will post the rest of her journal. In desperation, she teams up with Carter who was the last known person to have her journal. Together they journey through everything Quinn has been too afraid to face. 

I really, really, realllllllllly liked this!! Even with the auto voice I was hooked. It bugged me at first, but I got used to it and I really had to know what was going to happen next. 

It did take me a while to like Carter....I guess I was like Quinn and didn't trust him because he was the last one who had seen the journal and plus he was really mean to Quinn at the beginning. He was a jerk-face...but once he started opening up and seemed to care for Quinn then I began to trust and like him. 

Even though the blackmailer is a jerkface...I am glad it happened. Quinn really needed a huge force to face her fears. Sure it sucked and it was uncool, but she needed that push. She was scared of her own shadow. I felt so bad for her. She had crappy friends who walked all over her. Her parents are always at each other's throats. And her poor granny. UGH. Broke my heart. 

Someday I want to re-listen to this with the actual narrator. I think this would be amazing and great with the right voice. I have someone in mind that did Alyssa Cole's book. Oooooo or they should get Gabrielle Union as a cute nod to the 'Bring It On' references. How fun!

I liked the way the author dealt with the racism and racist issues here. It felt organic and natural and not forced or overdone. It brought a couple tears to my eye at one point. Gah! I wanted to shake some people!!!!! Can't name names in fear of spoilers but UGH!!! 

Anywayyyyyyyyyss. Yes. This was good. I recommend it for sure. It had a lot of good life messages that everyone should heed. A great set of characters! This really was a good one that I would love to re-listen to or read one day. 

5 stars. 

Challenge(s):
- #22 for Audiobook challenge