REVIEW: That’s Not What I Heard

That's Not What I Heard by Stephanie Kate Strohm
Published by Scholastic Press on February 26, 2019
Pages: 368
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What did you hear?

Kimberly Landis-Lilley and Teddy Lin are over. Yes, the Kim and Teddy broke up.

At least that's what Phil Spooner thinks he overheard and then told Jess Howard, Kim's best friend. Something about Teddy not liking Kim's Instas? Or was it that Teddy is moving to Italy and didn't want to do long distance? Or that Kim slid into someone else's DMs?

Jess told her boyfriend, Elvis, that he needs to be on Kim's side. Especially if he wants to keep her as his girlfriend. But Elvis is also Teddy's best friend.

Now, Kim's run out of school for the day. Jess is furious. Elvis is confused. And half the lunch period won't talk to Teddy. Even the teachers have taken sides.

William Henry Harrison High will never be the same again!

I never really thought about how far-reaching stories and rumors could be until I read this book. Words and sometimes even the lack of them can be confused or twisted to mean something else entirely.

To the casual observer the break up of two high school seniors is not exactly headline news, but we forget (even us seasoned YA readers) that when your a teen the worlds smallest problems can seem like biggest issues. I tried to keep that thought in mind throughout the course of reading this novel. Though some of the situations may have been slightly exaggerated for effect I think that it helped illustrate just how much one breakup could effect one schools social atmosphere.

This novel is worth a read but be prepared even though it make seem somewhat flaky of a subject matter in beginning there is a point to that and by the end, you will understand the reasons behind it. Both Kim and Teddy are likable characters that truly cared for one another. Breakups are hard and honestly their breakup if you read was over a missunderstanding. Even though I am not going to spoil the ending but telling you what happened I think that like me you will read to the end just to see how things turned out.