Thursday, February 4, 2016

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum





Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum
  • ISBN-10: 0553535641 Hardcover $17.99
  • Publisher: Delacorte Press (April 5, 2016), 336 pages.
  • Review copy courtesy of the publisher and the Amazon Vine Reviewers Program.

The blurb:
 Everything about Jessie is wrong. At least, that’s what it feels like during her first week of junior year at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. Just when she’s thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from a person calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School. Is it an elaborate hoax? Or can she rely on SN for some much-needed help?

It’s been barely two years since her mother’s death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her stepmonster and her pretentious teenage son.

In a leap of faith—or an act of complete desperation—Jessie begins to rely on SN, and SN quickly becomes her lifeline and closest ally. Jessie can’t help wanting to meet SN in person. But are some mysteries better left unsolved?


Review:
Jessie's mother died of cancer recently, which changed everything.  But Jessie's life is uprooted when her father returns to Chicago with the announcement that he's eloped and that they're moving to Los Angeles.  Jessie is a junior in an expensive, competitive private school. The only other person she knows is her stepbrother who doesn't talk to her.  

Jesse somehow attracts the attention of two of the popular, bitchy girls in her class.  So, it seems as though the only people that do talk to her give her attitude and negativity.  Until she gets a message from Someone Nobody ("SN") that gives her advice on how to navigate the murky waters of Wood Valley High School and becomes the first real friend she has in Los Angeles.  But SN refuses to meet her and though she opens up to him/her, it could be a massive prank.

Jesse bounces back from the move, and using SN's advice does find friends to spend time with.  As Jesse makes her home in Wood Valley High School, things start to come together. She finds a job, stands up for herself, draws the attention of several guys that she could like.  Are any of these boys SN? How and when will she know?  And will meeting SN in person change things for the better?

Julie Buxbaum's writing takes a fun idea and turns Tell Me Three Things into a book that you'll want to read straight through and share with friends. It's honest, funny, and draws you in.  It reminds you of the good and bad bits of high school and the best parts of friendship.

About the Author:
1. Julie Buxbaum is the author of the critically acclaimed The Opposite of Love and After You, and the soon to be released YA novel Tell Me Three Things and her work has been translated into twenty-five languages.  
2. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two young children, and an immortal goldfish, and once received an anonymous email which inspired her YA debut.
3. You can visit Julie online at www.juliebuxbaum.com and follow @juliebux on Twitter where she doesn't list everything in groups of three.