I think I read Fresh in under 10 hours. Talk about a book I was completely immersed in. I think I read the whole last half in one sitting. Can you tell I’m obsessed? Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
Some students enter their freshman year of college knowing exactly what they want to do with their lives. Elliot McHugh is not one of those people. But picking a major is the last thing on Elliot’s mind when she’s too busy experiencing all that college has to offer—from dancing all night at off-campus parties, to testing her RA Rose’s patience, to making new friends, to having the best sex one can have on a twin-sized dorm room bed. But she may not be ready for the fallout when reality hits. When the sex she’s having isn’t that great. When finals creep up and smack her right in the face. Or when her roommate’s boyfriend turns out to be the biggest a-hole. Elliot may make epic mistakes, but if she’s honest with herself (and with you, dear reader), she may just find the person she wants to be. And maybe even fall in love in the process . . . Well, maybe.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
TW: sexual assault, slut-shaming, sexism
Fresh immediately hooked me with such a unique narrative voice. With plenty of footnotes, Fresh feels interactive and almost self-reflective. It feels like your best friend is confiding directly to you, like a lovely story time. Because of this persuasive, charming, and vulnerable voice I was immediately hooked. Fresh is dynamic and fast paced, with new, but striking, faces amongst the pages. It’s the perfect book to close out your summer and for all college anticipating teens.
While Fresh feels almost like an adrenaline fueled sugar high, at the same time Wood delivers a story about sexual assault, forgiveness, and vulnerability. There’s humor, family scenes that had me tearing up, and emotional heart break. Wood is able to encompass the full spectrum of emotions within these pages. Because we’ve fallen in love with the complex and detailed characters in Fresh and Wood is unafraid to show us their messy, complicated, and flawed sides. All the mistakes, fears we try to hide, and doubts we can’t help but fixate on.
Fresh is a story about decisions and friendship, love and connection, family and failure. It’s about those choices that sweep us up in the ‘newness’ only for us to be dropped down in the ‘after’. In the aftermath of the storm and how we fix our mistakes on the otherside of afterwards. I loved so many elements of Fresh like the core friendships, the sister relationships, and the sex positivity. All around a major win, Fresh is my current summer favorite!
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Find Fresh on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org & The Book Depository.