Book Review: Thanks, Carissa, For Ruining My Life (arc)

Thanks, Carissa, For Ruining My Life (2022) by Dallas Woodburn

Fiction | YA | Contemporary Romance

Disclaimer: In every review that I complete, I try my best to avoid spoilers of any kind and include spoiler warnings when necessary.

About the book (from Goodreads)

The person who ruined their lives just might bring them together...

Brad is ready for a perfect senior year: he has a seat at the popular lunch table, a gig co-hosting the school's morning announcements, and a gorgeous girlfriend. But when Carissa breaks up with Brad, his carefully constructed life comes crashing down. Convinced everything would be perfect if only Carissa would take him back, Brad creates a "self-improvement plan" and vows to re-win her heart.

Rose wishes she were having a normal senior year like everyone else, but leave it to her twin sister Carissa to butt in and ruin her life. Carissa secretly nominated Rose for the reality TV show Help Me Lose Weight and Live Again—and now Rose is on her way to Texas for three months of calorie-counting, marathon-exercising hell. Rose already felt overshadowed by her "perfect" sister, and collapsing on a treadmill on national TV is not making things any better. Plus, Rose can't squash feelings for her sister's boyfriend Brad (even though she knows he would never see her as anything but a friend.)

For fans of friends-to-lovers romance comes a heartwarming novel about self-improvement, identity, and acceptance in our image-obsessed culture.

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Note: Thank you to Netgalley & the publishers for allowing me access to this arc!

My Review

The first thing that drew me to Thanks, Carissa, For Ruining My Life was the title, and the second was the cute cover. I knew right off the back that this w be a fun read, and for the most part, I was right! If you're looking for a YA (I'd say middle grade-high school is definitely the perfect audience), cute, quick read, this is your book!

The Good Things

1. Brad and Rose are fantastic main characters. Despite a large amount of miscommunication between characters (fitting, since they are teenagers), the two of them have chemistry.

2. The story, overall, was cute, making this a light read that would be enjoyable for teenagers.

3. The cover and title are both fitting for the book.

The Bad Things

1. The drama was a tad too much for my taste. However, this IS a YA book, so it fits the category and probably shouldn't be counted as a "bad" thing.

2. Some chapters were VERY dialogue-heavy, which in my opinion, takes away from the overall story.

3. Discussion Questions. In theory, these are a good idea, but not my favorite addition to YA fiction.

My Final Rating:

☆☆☆☆ (Goodreads)

☆☆☆☆ (Blog)

☆☆☆☆ (Amazon - will post as soon as the book is released)

Release Date: February 8, 2022. Pre-order this from Amazon by clicking here!

If you have access to this ARC, please feel free to leave comments concerning how you liked -or didn't like, no judgment here- it! If you don't have access, let me know if this is on your tbr! I would love to hear your thoughts!