ALA Booklist

Shay Summers, 15, has been dealt a rough hand. She's still reeling from the sudden death of her father and struggling to cohabitate with the stepmother she barely knows. She has two terrific friends, but things are difficult there as well: Dash, who's gay, longs for the acceptance of his tough father, while Boots has a brain tumor that shows no signs of going away. Add to this mix Kelly, the girl who has tormented Shay for years for her weight. Then Shay strikes up an online flirtation with a boy in a local chat room. He wants to meet, but Shay's been bullied by the popular crowd her whole life and knows the chubby girl never gets the guy. Written in verse and interspersed with notes, texts, and chat-room transcripts, Shay's stream-of-consciousness recollections are occasionally difficult to follow, but her clever, matter-of-fact voice soars, and readers will find it impossible not to root for her as she learns to accept herself and believe that other people can do the same.

Horn Book

Shay is overweight, badgered at home, and bullied at school; it's online that she is able to be herself. Then she finds herself in an online relationship with the coolest boy in school--who has no idea who she is. Choppy verse, unclear perspective shifts, and a predictable fairy-tale ending outweigh the merits of the authentic portrayal of bullying.

Kirkus Reviews

With her father dead, her friends being yanked away, and fatphobia battering her, a teen finds affection and strength with a boy she meets online.Fifteen-year-old Shay lost Dad a year ago, and she's not close to her stepmother, who seems only to wish that Shay were thinner. At school, nemesis Kelly leaves oinking stuffed pigs on her chair and changes Shay's cell ringtone to pig sounds. Best friends Dash and Boots are being stolen: Boots by brain cancer, which is killing her, and Dash by his father, who sends him to military school for being gay. Shay connects with a boy online (screen name "Godotwait4me")-until their growing closeness infuriates Kelly so much she launches a website she calls Get the Pig Back in Its Pen, dedicated to breaking them up. StVil's verse prose is inventive and alive, sometimes cryptic, sometimes lurching, sometimes stunning; it rhymes only rarely yet with the effect of a gut punch ("Car. Speed. Head. / Docs. Tried. Dad. Dead"). Food-based figures of speech are gorgeous; unfortunately, they underscore the stereotype of Shay as a fat comfort-eater, but refreshingly, the plot has no weight-loss arc. Shay and Godot's text threads hum with mutual attraction, high wit, and each one's self-defeating fragilities. Shay's race is undesignated, although she looks white on the cover. A dynamic story of grief, loyalty, and, finally, some cheerworthy victories. (Verse fiction. 13-16)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Using verse and a series of text messages, StVil, author of the self-published Guardians and Noru series, tells the saga of a tormented teen who unexpectedly finds romance. High school junior Shay uses food to fill the hole left by her father-s death (-Finally alone, I call on my friends:/ Breakfast burrito. Banana cream pie. Butter-). She also uses it to absorb the painful taunts she receives at school for being fat and the constant nagging from her stepmother to eat more healthfully. Luckily, Shay has two terrific friends and fellow outcasts who make school almost bearable. Then Shay finds another source of comfort: chat-room conversations with an anonymous boy, who gets her sense of humor and thinks she-s pretty special. When Shay finds out her confidante is popular Blake Harrison from school, who is dating her nemesis, she panics. This funny, heart-wrenching novel celebrates those who don-t fit into society-s mold and the people who love them as they are. Even if the popular crowd at Shay-s school doesn-t appreciate her wit, compassion, and courage, readers will. Ages 12-up. Agent: Adrienne Rosado, Nancy Yost Literary. (Oct.)

Voice of Youth Advocates

Shay Summers is a fifteen-year-old poet living on the fringe. She harbors a healthy disdain for almost everyone but reserves the most ire for perfect but hateful Kelly Stokes, who is, according to Shay, "what happens when Beauty sleeps with Empty." The remainder of her anger is directed at Kara, the woman her much beloved father married shortly before his tragic death. Kara's mission to make Shay thin seems like the only thing left in the house, besides the grief that continues to swallow them a year later. Brighter spots in Shay's life include fellow fringe denizens Boots and Dash, her English class, and super-hot Blake Harrison. Shay's quick wit and sharp prose has happily entangled her in an ongoing exchange of pithy, anonymous text messages that ultimately turn romantic. When Shay discovers Blake is the mysterious texter, the decision to reveal her identity to him sets Shay in Kelly's line of fire and tests Blake's loyalty. Simultaneously, Boots's poor health deteriorates, Dash's father rejects his son's homosexuality, and tensions with Kara escalate.StVil's novel is told alternatively in poetry and text messages. Shay's voice is deeply intimate. The reader feels as if she's peering over Shay's shoulder as she scribbles emotions on notebook paper in a class she cannot help but ignore. It comes at an almost hypnotic clip that hooks the reader by the end of page two. The text exchanges with Blake and Shay's friends take on the attributes of the poetry in which they are embedded. StVil has created distinctive voices for even her minor characters. This is an excellent rendition of an old plot trope, and readers will find this fast read thoroughly authentic and enjoyable.Lauri J. Vaughan.Readers have seen all the characters that populate this novel's subplots before: the girl dying of cancer, the gay best friend, the seemingly unattainable love interest, the wicked stepmother. StVil injects a bit more life into these well-worn storylines with her reliable humor, but her decision to relay the entire novel in a series of short, poem-like bursts constricts the plot rather than frees it. In spite of occasional moments of endearing wit and genuineness, this novel is unlikely to lure many readers away from other books in the genre. 3Q, 2P.Andrew Rule, Teen Reviewer.