Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry (edition 2022)

by Joya Goffney (Author)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
300	7	88,863	(3.91)	1
Romance. Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML: Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by debut author Joya Goffney is a story of an overly enthusiastic list maker who is blackmailed into completing a to-do list of all her worst fears. It's a heartfelt, tortured, contemporary YA high school romance. Fans of Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before and Kristina Forest's I Wanna Be Where You Are will love the juicy secrets and leap-off-the-page sexual tension. "A hilarious and swoonworthy story." �??Kristina Forest, author of Now That I've Found You "A fun, emotionally rich romance with a sweet, imperfect character who will win your heart." �??Liara Tamani, author of All the Things We Never Knew Quinn keeps lists of everything�??from the days she's ugly cried, to "Things That I Would Never Admit Out Loud" and all the boys she'd like to kiss. Her lists keep her sane. By writing her fears on paper, she never has to face them in real life. That is, until her journal goes missing . . . Then an anonymous account posts one of her lists on Instagram for the whole school to see and blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears, or else her entire journal will go public. Quinn doesn't know who to trust. Desperate, she teams up with Carter Bennett�??the last known person to have her journal�??in a race against time to track down the blackmailer. Together, they journey through everything Quinn's been too afraid to face, and along the way, Quinn finds the courage to be honest, to live in the moment, and to fall in love. A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection Epic Reads Recommended Pick at Target A Kirkus Children's Best Book of 202… (more)

▾Book information

Member:	madisonlawson
Title:	Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry
Authors:	Joya Goffney (Author)
Info:	HarperTeen (2022), Edition: Reprint, 384 pages
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
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Work Information

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney

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VBL YA (41)

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Showing 1-5 of 7 (next | show all)

I honestly enjoyed this one a lot! Quinn is lovely with a tendency for list-making to soothe anxiety, remember memories, or spew out her innermost thoughts, sexual fantasies included. I love making lists and being super organized, so we were on the same wavelength there. The cast of characters are great, and the Texan setting is nice. This book is in the running for one of the best “MC’s best friend” characters too. Dialogue was fun and felt natural.

This story touches on self-imposing limitations on yourself, making unhealthy coping methods, experiences with questioning of Blackness (being the stereotype, defying the stereotype, just being yourself), and acknowledging assumptions are the lowest form of knowledge.

I also love the romance in here isn’t predictable and the importance of boundaries. I don’t know how I feel about the Destany redemption. Eh, that’s a “to each their own” type of thing. Some Black people are patient enough to walk nonblack people through microaggressions and racism, but not I said the cat. I personally don't have time for that, but, in the context of the story, I'm glad Quinn was able to make her own decision for closure.

Ending spoiler:Oh my gosh, her parents’ marriage got better! ;__; I was just waiting for their divorce and Quinn coming to accept it. BUT NAH! Again, this story wasn’t super predictable. I love that her parents put forth effort to make things work.

I’m excited to read more from this author. (

)

DestDest | Nov 26, 2023 |

i really enjoyed this book, the themes it has and all the characters!!! it was well written, funny and cute. it got a bit too cheesy for my liking by the end and i dont really feel Carter that much, hence the 4 stars but everything else was great :) also im in love with Olivia and i wish i had a friend like her, shes def my fav character

oh also the whole plot with her grandma made me tear up and i could understand how she felt with everything, so it was a bit hard to read at times, but i appreciate it alot. (

)

chardenlover | Jun 10, 2023 |

Fieldnotes:
Austin, TX, Contemporary (p.2021)

1 Main Character Prone to "Ostriching"
1 Notebook Full of Secrets
1 To-Do List Before Graduation
Blackmail

3 Awesome New Friends
Important Conversations about Identity & Race
7 Tasks
2 College Visits
1 Trip to a Childhood Happy Place

1 Excellent Grandmother

The Short Version
I didn't think I'd like this in the early chapters. Quinn was a privileged, self-centred, judgmental mess who made very bad decisions. The enmity with Carter was rough - to the point where I didn't know if their relationship could be turned around.

But I persevered and as Quinn started being honest with herself and the reader and tried to deal with her messes, I became a ton more invested. The romantic stuff with Carter is fun and bantery, but I particularly loved her relationship with Livvy (as there is more to this book than just romance). And her inspiration from her grandmother Hattie is wonderful as well.

There are a lot of stressful things that Quinn was trying to bury rather than cope with, but as she comes out of her shell - thanks in part to the blackmailer threatening to reveal her secrets to the whole school - she grows up a lot. Plus we got to see a great scene when she does go to her parents for help and her lawyer Mom is a real badass.

I'd happily read more of Goffney's YA stories. (

)

Caramellunacy | Nov 24, 2022 |

this book was so close to being perfect. it was a solid 4.5 star read until about the last fifteen pages.
the last thing on the to do list was lame and anticlimactic.
also, people in books need to stop going back to their friends after they break up for valid reasons. maybe i just dont like my friends as much as i think i do, but if any of them did anything half as bad as the things people do in these types of books i wouldnt think twice about dropping them.
anyway, good book. is there a sequel? i hope so. if not, there should be. (

)

chlsvnr | Jun 13, 2022 |

Loved this book. I think the romance was well balanced with a look into racism. I enjoyed the balance between the character building and romance. (

)

natmo | Jun 1, 2022 |

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▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Spirit of Texas (SPOT) Reading List (2022)

Thumbs Up! Award (Top Ten – 2022)

Notable Lists

Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year (Teen – 2021)

Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection – 2022)

Capitol Choices Noteworthy Book for Children and Teens (2022)

New York Public Library Best Books: For Teens (Fiction – 2021)

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Canonical title

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Quinn Jackson

Carter Bennett [Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry]

Olivia Thomas

Auden Reynolds

Important places

Austin, Texas, USA

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

"Frank Sinatra"

Quotations

Last words

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Day, Alyson

Blurbers

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

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Wikipedia in English

None

▾Book descriptions

Romance. Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML:

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by debut author Joya Goffney is a story of an overly enthusiastic list maker who is blackmailed into completing a to-do list of all her worst fears. It's a heartfelt, tortured, contemporary YA high school romance. Fans of Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before and Kristina Forest's I Wanna Be Where You Are will love the juicy secrets and leap-off-the-page sexual tension.

"A hilarious and swoonworthy story." �??Kristina Forest, author of Now That I've Found You

"A fun, emotionally rich romance with a sweet, imperfect character who will win your heart." �??Liara Tamani, author of All the Things We Never Knew

Quinn keeps lists of everything�??from the days she's ugly cried, to "Things That I Would Never Admit Out Loud" and all the boys she'd like to kiss. Her lists keep her sane. By writing her fears on paper, she never has to face them in real life. That is, until her journal goes missing . . .

Then an anonymous account posts one of her lists on Instagram for the whole school to see and blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears, or else her entire journal will go public. Quinn doesn't know who to trust. Desperate, she teams up with Carter Bennett�??the last known person to have her journal�??in a race against time to track down the blackmailer.

Together, they journey through everything Quinn's been too afraid to face, and along the way, Quinn finds the courage to be honest, to live in the moment, and to fall in love.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Epic Reads Recommended Pick at Target

A Kirkus Children's Best Book of 202

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