Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry audiobook

4.5⭐️Excuse me while I gush about how much I love this book. Also, the covers for this book are absolutely gorgeous. Talking about book covers has apparently become my thing now. This book likes to explain things in lists and wow, I loved every single time Goffrey did this. In fact, I was tempted to write this review as a list and start with “Reasons why I love this book,” but I am too unorganized with my thoughts to do that. Note, this was intended to be a spoiler free review so if there’s anything you feel is a spoiler please let me know and I’ll take it out right away. Thank you so much!Quinn is a great character, not because she is the brightest (she really isn’t), but because of her realisticness and her growth by the end of the book. Carter (her friend or maybe more? read the book to find out), was a really cool character as well. Their conversations about race was what really stood out to me. They both struggled with a concept that is not really talked about as much: being an exception to a stereotype. But seriously, why don’t we really talk about it as much as we should? Black people are usually expected to look, talk or act a certain way, and Quinn and Carter show the struggles that can come with being, well, different. I’m glad it's something I’m more conscious of, and it’s even something that we see Quinn’s father struggle with as well. How will these characters overcome these struggles? Read to find out.There were also many side characters, good and bad, that contributed to Quinn’s growth. We had some flat out racist characters and some characters who were not so obviously racist but made some questionable decisions. Some other friends, are actually really good to her, but are they who they seem? How is Quinn going to realize who her real friends are and will she be able to stand up for herself and call out terrible behavior when she notices them? Read to find out.Quinn’s relationship with her parents was definitely a great part in the book but she struggles with being open to her parents about a lot of things. How is this family’s relationship going to grow and what will be each person’s role in doing just that? Read to find out.Yes there is romance in this book and it was so cuutttte. It personally didn’t feel like instant love, which is so important for me because that kind of romance tends to be so unrealistic and a major turn off for me. I wouldn’t consider this a slow burn romance either. Of course, the mystery part of this book: who is the blackmailer? The answer to that personally didn’t blow my mind, but it didn’t disappoint me because oddly enough, I wasn’t expecting a mind blower. I thought it was fairly obvious and I would love to see if you guys agree. Overall: This was definitely worth my time!

Who gave you the right to attack me this way? Seriously, who?I am a proud fictional dater.Stop making me feel like that isn't by choice.Rating: 🤤🤤🤤🤤 4.4I've come to realize, that the more unrealistic, over the top, and basically all over the place a rom com is, the better chance there is  of me loving it. See, when you first start a book such as this one you already know what's gonna happen. The plot is obvious, the romance is slightly predictable, you basically guess every twist. Overall you're not expecting much. However, you probably end up reading said book, and falling endlessly in love with it. Why? Well, because to be honest, we are all trash for romance. And that comes from a girl who abhors useless romance where it's not needed, or tolerable.And this brings me to the first subject I shall fangirl over. Because yes, this is going to be one of those reviews where I fangirl excessively and scream more than most. Although, that's what I always do, so maybe I should just shut up and start this review. Yep, let's do that.Starting with the things I liked and then bombarding everyone with unwanted opinions of things I didn't in fact appreciate.I need to state that even though the plot was ultimately expected and foreseeable, I would be the filthiest liar if I said that I didn't sip the tea of drama more than once. Helloooo, my life doesn't have drama (thank the moon goddess), I need to leech it out of wherever I can get it. And that includes this book. The pacing was quick and kept me amused and squealing at 2 am, whilst inadvertently forgetting my parents snores in the other room... yeah, it was not nice, but I shall make some sacrifices for the sake of reading. Apart from the non-existent money I keep spending. On books. I even had the urge to buy this after finishing it, because I'm a girl that is scared to death of buying a book and hating it. Then I promised myself (after a thorough investigation of 5 minutes) to read a page and see if I liked it enough to donate some moolah to over powerful people who I wish would somehow send me an inheritance, and I was drooling after page one of this bootiful story so... I ended up reading it in one seating. And forgot to scream at Amazon for a while. Yeah, super smart, I know. There were some parts that frustrated the crap out of me, which I'll mention briefly. That being the fact that the author forgot a certain character for half of the story. A very important character. And yes, my loves, I'll rant about that in the following sections. (seriously? Forgetting the guy? Really?) The writing was adorable, witty and just plain entertaining. Overall, this book was extremely fun to binge and if I had thought of being swallowed by blankets and with a cup of tea beforehand, it would've been the perfect setting to read this in and experience the sweet nothings of the romance and friendship included within it.I'll still rant of course. It's a rom com, guys. It is not supposed to have that much substance. *snort* And no, I wasn't being sarcastic. That's literally the recipe for making a YA Rom-Com. (And I stan it so hard. There are many exceptions, but I'll just stick to the first things that came to mind)~Make both love interests meet.~Make the protagonist have a reason to not have anything with the love interest.~Put a lot of obstacles that are semi destructive to their potential relationship.~Create the MC with slight 'my heart was beating so quickly' problems. I would have them too, to be honest.~Make YA love interest amazing and with just a tad of flaws.~Happily ever after.And not to be repetitive or anything... but I am so here for that. (please forget all those times I wished for one of them to die. It isn't included into this one.) Did I talk about the characters? Let's talk about the characters. We shall talk about the characters now. Let me just finish trying to remember them.They are totally not forgettable, my brain is just out for the weekends and I somehow thought writing this review would be a good idea.Forget about the MC for now, I'll get to her later. I just need to push the love interest off of the metaphorical throne he has taken and shoved its spikes into my heart. Holy water on a pike, Carter. What is wrong with you? Why did you make me like you so incredibly much? Your way of speaking, the form of expression, your brain, sassy alter ego... ways of saying the word 'baby'. Hold up, I need a few therapy sessions to be able to cope. "What's up, baby?"I- no. You have no right to do this to me. No right at all. I liked how he had these flaws that almost broke the romance, especially making him realistic (not, I have never met someone like him. But to be honest, I go out once every two months) I wanted to shake him so badly because some things he did were close to unforgivable, and THEN he would proceed to insert his gorgeous face into the argument and say a few words and bam, Booksy forgives. I'm seriously not this forgivable in real life. He is making me soft, and I hate it. The rough yet gentle tone of his voice, combined with descriptions of his ethereal being- okay, I'll stop. Too many compliments, he already has a big enough head without my wonderful input.he'ssobeautifulthoughIn short, he was outrageously charismatic, indecently smexy and dosed with 'I wish I could have you, you moronic donut'. And yes, I meant that with affection. He needed a certain slap, is all.The dynamic and conversation between the friend group were at both insightful and dramatic. I felt that.(as of now I'm working through people's reviews of this book to see if they mention the names of the squad and I am finding none. Darn it. I'll create new names, fine)Olivia (I remember her)~ Sarcastic extraordinaire. incredible friend, amazing human. I loved her and I loved how she interacted with the MC. Her friendship with Carter. The budding romance of her own... this is what I live for, guys. Background characters who have lives, inspirations, motivations, families of their own, and problems! People have problems, I like seeing that represented.~ He was the epitome of sweet and caring. Again, his mother and home life were mentioned and even slightly dived into. Brief moments in which his personality had a shine, and I liked that a lot. It's great having an inside scoop into different society issues and knowing, in fact, that the secondary cast are human. Or even living and not rocks.The MC, oh girl, ahahahahaha, you ain't getting away from me. Firstly, yes, it is really smart to write your personal fantasies about your best friend in a notebook that has no lock in the front, whatsoever, isn't buried beneath 98 feet of soil and that doesn't have a password containing one thousand and five hundred numbers which will be then be coded and made as an input for previously said lock.No yeah, go ahead. What could go wrong?Said no sane human eveeerrrrrr.Seriously, how could you not see a scenario where your notebook would get stolen and thrust into the world's womb without knowing? Alas, burning its fragile self with the lava of the pits of hell. I honestly *slides out machine gun* want to have a small talk with you. You were resilient, a tad bit idiotic and just a small pinch of stupidity was added to your whole persona. Yeah, I liked your existence. One thing that I liked was her strength and compassion, obviously hated the latter in most instances, but I could see the potential. All in all, if you were on a cliff and I had the option to save you, I would throw you a shoelace and if it snapped, oh well. Not that big of a loss.Hattie, dear Hattie, you made me cry. That's all, I felt everything you said, even though you were only mentioned two or three times. Me? I love you.Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuun, onto THE thing I despised with every single ounce of life source swimming within me.Matt.No, not him, the ABSENCE of him. So, he was the MC's best friend, right? And he literally was one of the best characters in this book. If he had been mentioned more than five times. And then the author forgot about him from page 5 till the end. Yes, that happened. I'm still confusion.Excuse me, what?? Did he suddenly disappear into the void? Got eaten and regenerated by carnivorous butterflies?? What. Happened. To. Him. My skin tingled on his appearances. The guy was totes cute, smart, understanding, did I mention cute? And simply deserved better. So yes, I will diminish my rating because of that.He deserved better, gosh darn it. And his role was literally really important! HE WAS THERE. Oh wait, was he? Or was he a ghost? Hmm? I won't continue on with him because 1.) it's a spoiler and 2.) I'm still writing fanfiction about his life in my head. Because I'm the only one in this book who actually cared even a smidgen for him.Uh huh, I'm still going to act like this. On a closing note, since I want to do something other than stay in bed (nope, I tried, didn't work. Positive thinking is not for me) I shall say that this read tackled a lot of deep topics like racism and such, which surprised me to a degree but was an entertaining addition and invigorating to see them handled as they were. I laughed, cried, swooned and felt myself falling more than once. This story gave me 'binging' vibes and frankly, I felt as if I was on a pillow fort for most of it.Comfortable and just where I was meant to be.Oh. my. Goodness. I sounded like the end for a every basic YA book.Someone throw a piano at my head or something, I cannot go down history like this................................................Oh. Em. to the ever loving, hormone wrecking, induced fangirling coma, Gee.Excuse me while I wipe up drool.

What happens when a teenage girl’s journal that includes all of her most personal thoughts goes missing? Lots of heartbreak, a side of humor, and a whole lot of love. Quinn is a High School Senior, filled with a little hope and a whole lot of fear. All of which she pours into a journal filled with lists. Lists containing her hopes, her dreams, her fears, and even her deepest darkest secrets. Unfortunately, Quinn’s journal is a spiral bound notebook that looks just like any old notebook and it gets swiped (by mistake) during a study session, by Carter, one of her classmates. The next day at school, Carter inadvertently loses it and all hell breaks loose. Thereafter, one of Quinn’s lists gets posted to Insta and some of her secrets get out. To make matters worse, whoever stole her journal starts blackmailing Quinn into facing her greatest fears or else. Not knowing where to turn, Quinn decides to trust the last person who had her journal in the first place: Carter. In doing so, Quinn finds herself, becomes more accepting of others, and owns up to her mistakes.“Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry” is a thought-provoking, heart-wrenching, and seriously sweet novel that deals with some very serious issues and was definitely more than I bargained for. The issues of blackmail, cyberbullying, dementia, gender, marriage, and racism (among others) are prevalent. A character-driven, contemporary novel, that stole my heart and reminded me of days gone by.“Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry” reminded me of my High School days as I did in fact write in a journal. A “Five Star” Spiral Bound Notebook (preferably with a blue or teal cover). I carried it with me everywhere (in school and/or out of school) and I wrote in it all day long. While my classmates noticed and commented on it, no one tried to steal it (thank goodness, lol). I hadn’t thought of it in decades until reading this book and I no longer have them, but reading this brought back the memories and made me laugh. For what it’s worth, I no longer write in journals, I book write reviews instead. :)Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for the digital review copy. As a note, this audio was a synthetic voice and was actually quite good! After the first few minutes, for the most part, I forgot that I was listening to a synthetic voice altogether and was wholly impressed with the quality and would definitely recommend this digital review copy to those who are interested. Published on Goodreads on 1.25.21.

YA romcom that thoughtfully tackles relevant issues and experiences (CW: racism, cyber bullying) while also celebrating love and authenticity.

this book was everything I needed and more. I’m absolutely obsessed with the storytelling and the characters. Quinn is a little too relatable than me, she had very close to home and I absolutely adore her. A lot of the things she’s experienced, I have experiences well. We have pretty similar childhoods in the terms of growing up in predominantly white areas. I love how that was incorporated in the story and her conflicting feelings throughout at all, it just felt very real and raw me. I love Carter so so much he is everything. He is amazing hero and I just love how he atributes his story and livvy was a very enjoyable character for me as well. Olivia was someone I did not expect and I think that her presence in the book really brought aspect to the book that cannot be replaced. Love the romance I love how he grows in blossoms I love how both characters come in terms of their feelings and the scenes that we get like this scene with quinncarter singing Tyrese in the car and he was cradling her jaw with his finger and holding her hand I just love that seems so so much. Overall I am obsessed with this book and I think everyone should read it. It.

cried real tears reading this one and felt way too damn much! it’s so so so good🥹

Have you ever lied about something and hope to God no one ever found out, but you wrote it down in a journal thinking your secret’s safe? That was Quinn’s cooked up recipe for powder keg. Her world was turned upside down when her list journal went missing and fell into the wrong hand. The perpetrator told Quinn to complete a set of tasks and threatened to expose her secrets if she fails. When she protested, the blackmail began, and some of the secrets got leaked in her school.This book covered quite a bit of grounds, racism, high school drama, rich people problems, blackmail, secrets, cyberbullying, facing fears, trust, loyalty, etc. In the end, It all tied together neatly. I like the storyline/idea and the awareness of how some of the things we are less conscious about could affect people around us negatively, and regardless of our differences, race, gender, status, etc. We are first and foremost human beings and should treat each other well. 🌟Four stars.🌟Thanks to the author and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of the audiobook for an unbiased review.

Every time I casually start reading this book, I get sucked back in. I never realize how much I miss the world and the characters and the love until I experience them again :) This book is like my first child, and I'm so, so proud of it :)

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I read this one, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself and Goffney does a wonderful job introducing some complex themes and character development.Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry is so much more than the average YA romance/contemporary. It's centered around heroine Quinn who journals in the form of lists. These lists range from her favorites to the boys that she would like to kiss. During a class project with Carter, Quinn realizes that they switch notebooks. Determined to get it back, she tracks down Carter only to realize someone has stolen it from him. Then pictures of her journal end up on an anonymous account on Instagram forcing Quinn to deal with the repercussions of things that she's written. What's most intriguing about this book is that I feel like it's more about the character development than the plot development. Sure, the characters work together to complete the tasks that this anonymous account is forcing Quinn to do; however, the things that Quinn learns about herself, Carter, and her other friends is more important. Quinn struggles with her Blackness, but not in relation to White people. It's more about what it means to be Black within the confines of the Black community. She feels too Black for White people and too White for Black people. As a result, she doesn't necessarily feel like she fits in anywhere. She struggles with wanting to know or understand what characteristics make someone Black. She also finds it relatively interesting how these characteristics would apply to someone who is biracial. This is evident in her friendship with another character Olivia. I think that Goffney makes it clear that there are no clear parameters and that the Black community is beyond a monolith. Quinn learns to give herself grace and as an adult reader I was proud of this sentiment because no one truly knows who they are as teens. I remember struggling with my Blackness as a teen especially because I was surrounded by mainly White students. Who I was then and how I viewed my Blackness is not how I view my Blackness as an adult. Another beautiful aspect of this book was the positive representation of Black love. I yell and scream about the importance of Black love in a lot of the adult romances that I read; however, I think that it's important to see this representation in materials targeted at younger audiences. It is clear (and there has been quite a few discussions about this) that a lot of YA books with Black protagonists do not have Black love interests. There is a constant shying away from showing two Black teens in love which should not be a trend in publishing. Black teens deserve to see healthy Black love just as much as adult romance readers like myself. The romance that develops between Quinn and Carter isn't perfect. They both have baggage and they both have walls built up due to assumptions they've made about each other; however, with time things change. One thing that I loved about their relationship is the fact that Quinn doesn't instantly forgive Carter when he makes a mistake. She doesn't make him grovel per say; however, she makes it clear that she knows and understands her self worth; therefore, Carter should always treat her with the same level of respect. It was both beautiful and important to see. Overall, this was a great book. I'm excited to see what other books Goffney will write in the future.

I enjoyed Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry. The story is interesting, and I liked how race was discussed in this book. Quinn starts the story without any black friends. Throughout the book she makes some black friends and talks about how nice it is to have friends that understand what you are going through. Quinn has made a lot of mistakes and all of them are written in her notebook. However, I still really liked Quinn. She is trying to do her best and make everyone happy. I liked reading about her trying to get her notebook back before all her secrets are revealed. She turned to some unlikely allies and developed new friendships.Thank you Harper Teen, Harper Collins, NetGalley and Edelweiss for Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry.

I was lucky enough to listen to an audiobook arc in exchange for review courtesy of Harper Audio and made a list in honor of the list format of this book on why you should read it.Reasons You Should Read Excuse Me While I Ugly CryBlack Girl Lead navigating a predominant white schoolBlack Teen Enemies to Lovers Romance Black Girl FriendshipsComplicated parent relationshipsJournal WritingSee full review herehttps://womenofcolorreadtoo.blogspot....

Summary; cute I listened to the audiobook on Scribd (highly recommended) and then read an e copy briefly I liked everything about this Relatable struggles teenagers might have with friends especially with different races No smut just so much cuteness It was great I liked the topics of race, cyber bullying, parental struggles and how they were all handled I also liked how the writing of lists was incorporated into the story . Neatly blended Yes I recommend this for anyone looking for a fun read that’s not too heavy despite the topics in the storyline

I first wanted to say thank you to the author for giving me an arc of this book on NetGalley! I didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did since the description sounds a bit cheesy, but it was anything but. It had great characters, and believable hardships they had to go through. I wasn't expecting the book to delve as deeply as it did into racism and how difficult and confusing it is to be a Black person around mostly white people and how it feels to be an outsider. I found myself actually relating to some of the instances Quinn went through. I also loved the character growth of Quinn. It was very visible and I feel like instead of just being told that she was changing we could actually observe that on our own.

This book felt like a warm hug. I honestly don’t have a single bad thing to say about it. I literally couldn’t put it down and managed to read it in just two sittings – I was that obsessed. This just exceeded all of my expectations and then some. A beautiful reminder of why I love YA contemporary so much.This whole book felt so relatable and I’m obsessed. The plot managed to be simultaneously fast paced and engaging, while still maintaining depth and feeling well developed. It was a really fun read and I think the formatting was done perfectly, it wasn’t too journal heavy, but the lists still played a significant role, and they were perfectly executed. I also liked the little hint of mystery in here, I genuinely couldn’t actually predict what was coming next which made it all the more enjoyable for me.The characters in here were so loveable. I’m literally obsessed with the friendship group in here. It was full of such wholesome interactions and I really just enjoyed how their different personalities bounced off one another so well. I loved seeing genuine female friendships and people being forced to apologise for their wrongdoings, moving forward in a positive and healthy way. These girls have my entire heart. The romance as well was just absolutely beautiful. The tension, the build-up, the chemistry… it just worked. There were so many moments of pure joy in here it melted my heart. Have I expressed how much I loved it enough yet?I really appreciated the openness of the conversations in this book and how much character development our protagonist had gone through by the end. There were really important conversations around identity, class, racism and internalised racism that were so genuine and really helped the reader connect and understand the characters better. It was really well done, and I think a lot of people are going to read this and see themselves in it.Read this book right now, or else.

4.5 stars!WOW. I think everyone should read this book. The plot was very interesting, but I wasn’t solely focused on it. I was more focused on the important topics this book touched on and the friendship between Quinn, Olivia, Carter and Auden. The writing was so good, I pictured some scenes in this book clearly. The plot: Quinn writes her deepest secrets in her journal and one day, her journal is missing. The person who has her journal is now threatening to expose all of her secrets, unless she follows their rules. Since Carter is the last person to have her journal, he decides to help Quinn. During this, Quinn comes to terms with adversities in her life she needs to face. But she also finds love. What I loved: Quinn was very uncomfortable around her white friends, Gia and Destany because they labeled her as an “ Oreo”. They said this because they don’t see her as a black woman, so they make racist jokes around her because of this. Excessive use of the derogatory terms that are used against Black people, completely dismissing that she is still BLACK. It doesn’t matter if she has a bunch of white friends, she is still BLACK. I always thought that if I have friends who are not people of color, it’s so important that they acknowledge our differences, not dismiss them. That we will be treated differently because of our race. This book sheds light on that and that was so great to read. When Quinn finally explained to one of her old friends that, that is NOT okay, it seemed like she didn’t understand at first. But I’m reading it like.. Quinn, I UNDERSTAND. I loved Quinn’s and Olivia’s friendship. How Quinn felt so confident after Olivia straightened her hair. Just watching how comfortable she felt around Olivia after feeling misplaced in her old friend group was good for my soul. 🫶🏾 In her list of reasons why she wished her and Olivia would’ve been friends sooner, two stuck out to me. She said that she felt more welcomed in Black spaces being around her. That Olivia makes her feel okay to show parts of her that are rooted in her Blackness, and it truly did show! Romance: The romance was very cute, I was blushing so much. The scene where Quinn was super drunk and asked Carter if she’s sexy… ”Quinn, you’ve always been beautiful. You know that.” THIS WILL LIVE IN MY MIND RENT FREE.Even though this book covered some sensitive topics, it was still so funny. I could not stop laughing at some parts. This is one of those books where you WISH you could read it for the first time again.

Okay so not only was the title the best thing to ever exist but the plot was so good.Quinn’s character development as well as confidence growth were amazing. Her relationship with Carter was adorable. It came just at the right time and wasn’t out of the blue. Olivia was my favorite. She was kind and forgave Quinn for her mistakes without holding a grudge. She helped Quinn so much throughout the book to accept herself.Quinn’s relationship with her parents wasn’t very good in the beginning but you could tell that they were trying to work together and heal, especially when her grandma was involved. Racism was also a big part of the plot and I really liked how Quinn stood up for herself against her old friends and left them behind. Yes I loved this book.