Reviews

Just Do This One Thing for Me by Laura Zimmermann

nostoat's review against another edition

funny fast-paced

4.5

This is a snappy, fast read, peppered with dark humor and a great understand of fucked up family dynamics. Drew is 17-almost-18 and basically the parent of her two younger siblings. Things get very complicated for her through this book and she juggles it all with a cool head and a dry awareness that she shouldn't have to that's refreshing after so many books of teens who seem to be completely unaware being parentified is damaging and awful. The author writes almost like poetry, with an amazing grasp on how to end paragraphs and chapters with sentences that feel like gut punches or perfect punchlines, or both. I flew through this book. A great read.

allgloss's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

literacyedprof's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

_sentranced's review

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

midnightbooklover's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

If Shameless and Finlay Donovan had a YA baby, this would be it. 

Let me just start by saying if you don’t like dark humor then this is not the book for you. 
It’s hard for me to review this without spoilers. So I won’t tell you much. 

I went into this book completely blind and boy was I in for a surprise. This book really surprised me in the best way.
I laughed, cried and got angry with the characters many times. 
This story is heavy. Yet somehow it was still beautiful. Beautifully broken. 

I really loved this one and I can’t recommend it enough. 

courtsbooknook's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.5

I don't know what I was expecting going into this book and I'm not sure how I feel about now that I've finished it. I liked it, but also didn't fully connect to it, yet couldn't stop reading regardless. There was a humorous tone at points, especially when it came to all the product reviews. It has a Finlay Donovan type of campiness, but make it YA. I also really enjoyed the banding together of the siblings. Overall, it was a pretty quick read, just not sure it was a favorite of mine. Thank you to Penguin Teen for sending me an e-ARC to read and review!

heykellyjensen's review

Drew's mother is the queen of asking her to do just one thing for her. So when the thing is watching her younger brother and sister while she flies to Mexico to see Justin Timberlake, Drew is not happy. And yet she knows she doesn't have a choice, either. What unravels over the course of the week, though, is nothing Drew nor her siblings could have ever expected. Their lives begin to fall apart thanks to a social security scam, a college rejection, and perhaps the worst thing of all: learning that mom never made it to Mexico at all.

This is by turns heartbreaking and hilarious, at times laugh-out-loud. The book is set in rural Wisconsin and perfectly captures the setting while rendering multidimensional and extremely complex characters. Recommended for readers who like contemporary realistic YA; voice-y, character driven stories; and stories of lower class families working hard to make it while relying on one another in good and not-so-good ways. 

the_literarylinguist's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5