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janagaton's review against another edition
5.0
This was the best book I've picked up in a while. I read it in 2 days, and it always took everything in me to put down when I had to. I typically love books about books, and this was no exception. However, The Undoing of Thistle Tate is also about love, loss, and coming of age. It's about learning to sacrifice for loved ones, despite what your conscience tells you, but also figuring out when to draw the line. Thistle Tate is forced to juggle several circumstances that are beyond her control, and Katelyn Detweiler gives us the privilege to see how Thistle chooses to handle the few things she IS able to control. I smiled and teared up and felt a lot of sympathy for multiple characters. I would definitely recommend, especially if you're looking for something to get you out of a reading slump.
paddyo1993's review against another edition
4.0
Actually a really sweet and endearing story! Great emphasis on the struggles and moral dilemmas Thistle faces - though my only critique is that I would like more differentiation between her two love interests and supporting characters!
chuskeyreads's review against another edition
3.0
The synopsis of the book and the MC's name are what initially drew me in. I was expecting a bittersweet Rom-Com that gives you all the feels. But, no.
Thistle Tate is a seventeen-year-old bestselling author with fans and book tours and monetary success. She is also a fraud.
She also has a crush on Liam - wait for it - the actual boy next door. Liam is her only friend and soon becomes her boyfriend. She doesn't attend public school (or school of any kind), and has no other friends or typical high school experiences.
I expected Thistle to constantly be surrounded by glittering stardom - paparazzi, screaming fans, TV interviews, book signings, and everything else that comes with fame. Meh. Not really. There's one scene at the beginning, but it's mostly to set up the meeting between her and Oliver, the third in the love triangle. Yay. For someone who's just finalized the boyfriend thing with Liam, it's odd to me that such a famously popular teen would become interested in another boy based on this description:
“Shaggy bright red hair down to his shoulders, hundreds— thousands, maybe— of freckles scattered across his pale face, his neck, his arms. He’s wearing a black T-shirt with the name of what’s probably an obscure band I’m not nearly cool enough to have ever heard of, tight black jeans, black boots.”
The first 200 pages we see Thistle repeatedly begging her father for information about her mother and juggling two boyfriends. Fluff. Then... WHAM! The story takes a complete 180 and detours to a much darker place.
The story is more about Thistle learning about her mother's mental illness and coming to terms with her true identity - much deeper concepts than simply lying about authoring a few books.While I get the message and the whole coming-of-age thing, the first three-fourths of the book don't match the last quarter.
Thistle Tate is a seventeen-year-old bestselling author with fans and book tours and monetary success. She is also a fraud.
She also has a crush on Liam - wait for it - the actual boy next door. Liam is her only friend and soon becomes her boyfriend. She doesn't attend public school (or school of any kind), and has no other friends or typical high school experiences.
I expected Thistle to constantly be surrounded by glittering stardom - paparazzi, screaming fans, TV interviews, book signings, and everything else that comes with fame. Meh. Not really. There's one scene at the beginning, but it's mostly to set up the meeting between her and Oliver, the third in the love triangle. Yay. For someone who's just finalized the boyfriend thing with Liam, it's odd to me that such a famously popular teen would become interested in another boy based on this description:
“Shaggy bright red hair down to his shoulders, hundreds— thousands, maybe— of freckles scattered across his pale face, his neck, his arms. He’s wearing a black T-shirt with the name of what’s probably an obscure band I’m not nearly cool enough to have ever heard of, tight black jeans, black boots.”
The first 200 pages we see Thistle repeatedly begging her father for information about her mother and juggling two boyfriends. Fluff. Then... WHAM! The story takes a complete 180 and detours to a much darker place.
Spoiler
We learn about her mother's depression, Thistle becomes a writer, and the boyfriend thing works out.The story is more about Thistle learning about her mother's mental illness and coming to terms with her true identity - much deeper concepts than simply lying about authoring a few books.
slicciardi's review against another edition
4.0
A short but sweet book. It was a cute YA novel that was just what I needed. Id love to actually read the series the main character wrote haha
zoe_rod's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
girlinthepages's review against another edition
3.0
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.*Thank you so much to Holiday House Publicity and the Publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!*
I've been a fan of Katelyn Detweiler's since I read her debut novel, Immaculate, which explored themes of faith, religion, and miracles in modern society. I found it incredibly well written and thoughtful in its approach to question the inexpiable. So when I was offered the opportunity to read her newest novel that provided an inside look into the publishing world, I quickly accepted.
The Undoing of Thistle Tate follows Thistle, a prolific teen author who has penned a famous YA series, Lemonade Skies. As a book blogger, the plot rang true from reading about Thistle's promotional tours to her worry and anxiety about reviews rolling in. It's a YA book about the YA book community in a lot of ways which was fascinating and fun to read about. The story also included excerpts from the fictitious Lemonade Skies series which was a fun touch that paralleled what was going on in Thistle's life.
However, as mentioned in the synopsis, Thistle has a secret- she's not actually the author of the bestselling series, and it's actually being ghost written by somebody else. Thistle's "fame" has alienated her from most of the outside world and coupled with her mom's death at a young age, she pretty much only has one friend (her next door neighbor and inevitable love interest, Liam).
In a turn of events that will probably surprise no one, Thistle's ghost writer is unable to meet her final deadline and it's pretty much all downhill from there. She frantically tries to extend deadlines and put out fires, hoping no one asks too many questions while secretly penning her own ending to the trilogy. Meanwhile, she's juggling a love triangle with Liam and the older brother of one of her super fans, and making mistakes and generally just trying to be a teen who is in WAY over her head. It was actually refreshing to see a teen protagonist who was allowed to make mistakes but wasn't completely vilified either- I found Thistle to be a mostly neutral character with both positive and negative attributes that didn't make me love her nor hate her. She's just a person in a really bizarre situation that escalated WAY TOO FAR and is trying to do damage control when she should really just be hanging out with friends and doing homework like any other 17 year old.
A huge theme of The Undoing of Thistle Tate that I as a reader found to be most important was the manipulation and exploitation of a teen by adults. Though Thistle's arrangement may seem glamorous at first (she gets to reap the rewards of being a teen author prodigy, is semi famous, will probably get into any college of her choice etc) it becomes clearer and clearer throughout the book how insidious and uncomfortable the arrangement is and how there's likely no end in sight to the charade. As the synopsis states, readers have to reconcile whether Thistle is a fraud, a victim, or perhaps a little bit of both. The narrative also brings up a dialogue about exploitation by family members, how guilt and grief can live in such a similar space, and how suffering loss does not make one immune to being hurtful or cruel to others.
Overall: The Undoing of Thistle Tate was an interesting look at the behind the scenes processes of the YA book publishing world. While the love triangle felt like it weighed down the story a bit for me, it overall had a unique premise that I enjoyed, especially as a book blogger.This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages
I've been a fan of Katelyn Detweiler's since I read her debut novel, Immaculate, which explored themes of faith, religion, and miracles in modern society. I found it incredibly well written and thoughtful in its approach to question the inexpiable. So when I was offered the opportunity to read her newest novel that provided an inside look into the publishing world, I quickly accepted.
The Undoing of Thistle Tate follows Thistle, a prolific teen author who has penned a famous YA series, Lemonade Skies. As a book blogger, the plot rang true from reading about Thistle's promotional tours to her worry and anxiety about reviews rolling in. It's a YA book about the YA book community in a lot of ways which was fascinating and fun to read about. The story also included excerpts from the fictitious Lemonade Skies series which was a fun touch that paralleled what was going on in Thistle's life.
However, as mentioned in the synopsis, Thistle has a secret- she's not actually the author of the bestselling series, and it's actually being ghost written by somebody else. Thistle's "fame" has alienated her from most of the outside world and coupled with her mom's death at a young age, she pretty much only has one friend (her next door neighbor and inevitable love interest, Liam).
In a turn of events that will probably surprise no one, Thistle's ghost writer is unable to meet her final deadline and it's pretty much all downhill from there. She frantically tries to extend deadlines and put out fires, hoping no one asks too many questions while secretly penning her own ending to the trilogy. Meanwhile, she's juggling a love triangle with Liam and the older brother of one of her super fans, and making mistakes and generally just trying to be a teen who is in WAY over her head. It was actually refreshing to see a teen protagonist who was allowed to make mistakes but wasn't completely vilified either- I found Thistle to be a mostly neutral character with both positive and negative attributes that didn't make me love her nor hate her. She's just a person in a really bizarre situation that escalated WAY TOO FAR and is trying to do damage control when she should really just be hanging out with friends and doing homework like any other 17 year old.
A huge theme of The Undoing of Thistle Tate that I as a reader found to be most important was the manipulation and exploitation of a teen by adults. Though Thistle's arrangement may seem glamorous at first (she gets to reap the rewards of being a teen author prodigy, is semi famous, will probably get into any college of her choice etc) it becomes clearer and clearer throughout the book how insidious and uncomfortable the arrangement is and how there's likely no end in sight to the charade. As the synopsis states, readers have to reconcile whether Thistle is a fraud, a victim, or perhaps a little bit of both. The narrative also brings up a dialogue about exploitation by family members, how guilt and grief can live in such a similar space, and how suffering loss does not make one immune to being hurtful or cruel to others.
Overall: The Undoing of Thistle Tate was an interesting look at the behind the scenes processes of the YA book publishing world. While the love triangle felt like it weighed down the story a bit for me, it overall had a unique premise that I enjoyed, especially as a book blogger.This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages
jlbailey831's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this, but I wish Thistle and Liam’s brief romance had had a little more build up to make it more believable. It was also one of those stories where you just want to yell at the characters for being so stupid for so long. But overall, enjoyable.
libraryofaa57's review against another edition
4.0
Very very good story. The characters actions and how the lying started just seemed unnecessary to me but it still made for some important comments on how much children want their parents love and support. Has anyone ever reacted this intensely to an author before? Unsure but its a story it can be made up.
jessloveslit's review against another edition
5.0
I am so glad I finished out my summer with this book.
I loved this book. The storyline was so compelling, I couldn't tear myself away once Thistle's unravelling began. Katelyn gave Thistle the same kind of voice and rationale and coping mechanisms that I could imagine myself doing at seventeen. She and her friends and family were so real.
I also love the light it shed on mental illness, it's ripple effect, and how treating and talking about it is important. And I couldn't help but smile at the small cameo of Green Hill, the place that Immaculate took place that is based on our hometown.
Fantastic read.
I loved this book. The storyline was so compelling, I couldn't tear myself away once Thistle's unravelling began. Katelyn gave Thistle the same kind of voice and rationale and coping mechanisms that I could imagine myself doing at seventeen. She and her friends and family were so real.
I also love the light it shed on mental illness, it's ripple effect, and how treating and talking about it is important. And I couldn't help but smile at the small cameo of Green Hill, the place that Immaculate took place that is based on our hometown.
Fantastic read.