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 Published by Little Brown Books for Young Readers on July 12 2022
Genres: Thriller, Young adult
Pages: 384
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A cleverly constructed thriller with plenty of high school drama makes this a perfect summer read for teens.
Despite my reluctance to read YA these days, I have to admit I had a blast with We Made It All Up. And yes, the book has the usual YA shenanigans like relationship drama, bullying, and toxic friendships, but the story’s unique fan fiction element adds a nice twist. I enjoyed the darker themes that Margot Harrison introduces into the story as well, and the small town atmosphere ties it all together.
The story revolves around a small fictional town in Montana called Kray’s Defile. Celeste has just moved to town with her father from Montreal, and she’s dealing with not only being the “new girl” in high school, but the “French girl.” After witnessing a steamy exchange between two boys in her English class, Celeste ends up bonding with the quirky Vivvy Kray, who is convinced that hockey jock Joss Thorssen (straight) and stoner Seth (gay) are perfect for each other. Celeste and Vivvy decide to write a story about the two hooking up, fueled by their shared fantasy, and they begin taking turns writing chapters and sharing them with each other.
But at the same time, Celeste is falling for Joss herself, and when Celeste and Vivvy convince the boys to meet them at a secluded cave one night, hoping to turn fiction into reality, it’s Celeste who ends up kissing Joss after a drunken round of spin the bottle. And that’s where Celeste’s memories stop. She can’t remember anything that happened after that kiss, which is a problem because Joss is found dead the next day, killed by a blow to the head.
In alternating chapters, the author shows the immediate aftermath of Joss’s murder (“Now”) and the events leading up to that fateful night (“Then”). As the two timelines get closer and closer together, the mystery of what happened to Joss slowly unfolds. Is Celeste the murderer? Or was it someone else? And how are the awful events that took place in the local cave tied to Joss and his friends?
Harrison tackles several dark sexual themes in her story, and I think she did a very good job with it. We know early on that something happened to Celeste back in Montreal—it’s the reason she and her dad left—and we know it involves someone named Frank. But we don’t get the whole story until later in the book. The author uses Celeste’s fan fiction to tell the story of what happened to her, cleverly revealing the events under the guise of Joss’s and Seth’s blossoming, fictional relationship. This also serves as a way for Celeste and Vivvy to communicate something that’s extremely difficult to talk about. I think the author was trying to express that writing fiction or journaling can be an effective way to heal from trauma, and I’m wondering if the story has some autobiographical aspects to it.
And for pure thrills, I loved the scenes that take place in the cave. Caves are already scary places, and when you add in illicit teen hijinks and misbehavior, you have the perfect setting for this story. There are a few scenes where the characters have to squeeze through some very tight spaces, and I experienced serious claustrophobia while reading them! Add in the fact that the cave is off limits because of its endangered bat population, and the stakes get even higher.
You will probably need to suspend your disbelief while reading We Made It All Up, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But there were a few things that didn’t make sense, and in typical YA fashion, the story barely has any adult presence at all. The kids run the show, investigate the murder and basically do everything the adults should be doing. The police who are supposedly working on the investigation clearly don’t have anyone on their team who understands forensics. A murder weapon is identified pretty early on, yet no one bothers to check for DNA? I guess that would have cleared things up way too fast and we wouldn’t have a novel-sized story, lol.
There’s also some dark stuff going on at Kray’s Defile High, and it seems unlikely that the secret events that took place in the cave weren’t discovered by at least one adult. But again, we wouldn’t have this story if they were, would we? Just saying, adult readers should just enjoy the ride and not analyze it too closely.
And even though I’m a big fan of alternate timelines, I have to admit I was sometimes confused by the constant back and forth between “Now” and “Then.” Because they were only months apart, I often forgot which timeline we were in. But I loved the way the tension increased as the two timelines got closer and closer together, like a rubber band that’s about to snap. The short chapters kept the pace from dragging, and Harrison did a great job of drawing out the mystery and casting doubt on so many different characters. The final reveal surprised me, and the ending was unexpectedly emotional and sweet.
We Made It All Up was a great mix of thrills and teen drama, with some serious themes added to balance it all out.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
Like you, I tend to be wary of YA narrative, but We Made It All Up sounds intriguing enough for me to break my self-imposed “law” of avoiding anything YA. And that despite your mention of claustrophobic caves and (YIKES!) bats… 😉
Thanks for sharing!
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…THE BOOK OF COLD CASES, by Simone St.James
Bats aren’t actually in the story, but that would have made the caves even creepier!
I don’t read a whole lot of YA these days but I must admit that this one does sound really great!
It’s definitely worth checking out!
It’s an interesting premise. I think I might get lost in the alternating timelines, too, but I do love a good mystery.
Priscilla Bettis recently posted…Author Scott J. Couturier, The Box
Just about every book I’ve read lately has had alternating timelines. I guess it’s very popular right now, lol.
I don’t read a lot of YA these days, either, but I do agree this one sounds like a fun thriller. Great review!
I think I’m more likely to pick up a YA thriller than other genres, and this worked:-)
Glad to hear this was an entertaining read. I haven’t been reading much YA these days either but this one definitely tempts me.
If you can get past the high school drama, the story is really very good.
I hadn’t heard of this before, but it sounds great! Off to see if my library has it in yet…
It was a lot of fun!
I don’t tend to read much YA these days either but this does sound interesting 🙂
Pages and Tea recently posted…Monthly Summary: July 2022
It was fun, and I loved the pacing:-)
If there was a real town here named Kray’s Defile I’d totally move there! Unfortunately, if it’s a good horror setting that means it’d probably be out in the flat, boring east… oh well, such is the price for adventure;)
Ha ha it’s weird to read stories set in your state, right? At least with a fictional town readers can’t dissect all the details:-)
Yes, I read little YA these days as I end up with a long list of questions that seem to remain unanswered or difficult to understand, but, every now and again I can’t resist and I do like the idea of the cave setting.
Lynn 😀
The cave setting was really well done. It’s almost like the author’s been to a cave herself to do research:-)
Despite requiring some suspension of disbelief, this does sound like a solid thriller for teens! Great review, Tammy! 😀
Lashaan Balasingam recently posted…My Monthly Anticipation | August 2022
It was very good, and I’m glad I read it. Thanks Lashaan!
I heard about this one, I’m glad it was enjoyable! I think I’m over the typical YA shenanigans like relationship drama and angst though, I definitely prefer mature thrillers now.
Me too, it’s very hard as an adult to relate to all that nonsense, lol.
Like you, YA can be hit or miss for me, but it’s nice when you find one that, despite any of the typical tropes or topics, still manages to entertain. Glad to see you enjoyed this one.
I agree with your review for sure. I enjoyed this one and the fan fiction, but also had to suspend belief about several parts. Great review!
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