ARC Review: We Made It All Up by Margot Harrison

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

We Made It All Up by Margot Harrison
on July 12, 2022
Genres: YA Contemporary Thriller
Pages: 384
Source: the publisher
Format: ARC
My Rating:
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Blurb:

Celeste is the talk of the town when she moves to Montana from Montreal, but the only friend she makes is Vivvy, the heir to the town’s name and a social pariah. Inspired by a passion-fueled school incident, they begin writing a love-story fan fic between the popular guy and the school stoner, one that gradually reveals Celeste’s past. While their bond makes Celeste feel safe and alive again, Vivvy keeps prodding Celeste to turn fantasy into reality. When they finally try, one drunken night on a dark mountainside, Celeste is the one who ends up kissing golden boy Joss. And Joss ends up dead.

Celeste doesn’t remember the end of that night and can’t be sure she didn’t deliver the killing blow. Could she still be that scared of getting close to a boy? Secrets are hard to keep in a small town, and even Vivvy seems to suspect her. Exploring the winding passages of the cave where Joss died, Celeste learns he had his own dark secrets, as does Vivvy. The town isn’t as innocent as it appears. 

My Review

It took me a minute or two to get into the groove of the story because it kind of jumps from the past when everything started, to now, and then back, almost between three different time periods at times. However once I got into that groove, I devoured this book. There were twists and turns and all kinds of side stories that turned out to be either red herrings, or something that really was an important clue.

The stories that Celeste and Vivvy wrote together are pretty much all included I think. Which I liked that as well. The fact that we really kind of learned a lot more about the people writing them than the people they were supposed to be about was a great way to keep the story moving and our characters interesting as well. It made when we got the parts of the actual events showing the characters from their story really something I had to read to catch little details.

This town was just one of those small towns too that is done a lot in stories, but I really like the way this author created this one. The ending was very satisfying and made the whole book perfect for me. I can’t wait to share this book with the students in my library!