Review Detail

I’ve been a big fan of both Craven and MacQueen for many years so when I heard they were collaborating on a book, I immediately requested an ARC.

Although THE F WORD tackles quite a few difficult topics—loss, grief, self-identity, young love, and bullying—I was so impressed that the authors were able to address each topic thoroughly without coming off as preachy. Told in rotating third person POV, I love how we had access to both Peyton and Cameron’s emotions as they struggled to make their way back to each other. The romantic tension between them was perfectly executed, and I found myself rooting for them from page one.

I also really enjoyed the authors’ discussion of body image and weight gain/loss, especially as it related to Peyton and her app development. She’s confident about who she is but her emotions about other people’s perceptions of her are so real and raw that I couldn’t help but relate, as I’m sure a lot of readers can. In the end, though, what I loved most was that this story left me feeling hopeful that we can all learn to be better to each other and ourselves.

Highly recommend to fans of issue-driven YA contemporaries.