Disclaimer: I received this e-arc and physical finished copy from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Take-Over Friend

Author: Carol Dines

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 4.5/5

Diversity: Jewish descent MC, Jewish descent character, Bipolar character

Recommended For...: young adult readers, younger YA readers, contemporary, friendship, emotional manipulation, growing up

Publication Date: September 27, 2022

Genre: YA Contemporary

Age Relevance: 15+ (depression, cheating, death, sexual content, drugs, emotional abuse, emotional manipulation, mania, underage alcohol consumption, attempted suicide, self harm, eating disorder, animal harm).

Explanation of Above: Depression is mentioned in the book and there are scenes of mania shown in the book. Cheating is mentioned in the book. There is death mentioned, an attempted suicide is vaguely mentioned, an eating disorder is vaguely mentioned, and the after effects of self-harm are shown. There are a couple of scenes where there is a joke that has sexual organs mentioned in it. Drugs are mentioned in the book. There are scenes of emotional abuse and manipulation, as well as stalking, bullying, and harassment shown. Underage alcohol consumption is shown and mentioned. There is one scene where animals, dogs, are harmed but they are ok!

Publisher: Fitzroy Books

Pages: 205

Synopsis: On the second day of ninth grade, introverted Frances meets Sonja, a wildly funny newcomer from France, and the girls form a fast friendship. Frances adores Sonja’s worldliness, and Sonja adores Frances’s family, especially her older brother, Will. Frances and Sonja immediately declare themselves “The Poets” and rally their homeroom to enter the homecoming parade with a poetry-mobile built from Frances’s father’s old band bus. But respective family crises begin to escalate, and tensions come to a head when Sonja temporarily moves in with Frances's family—forcing each friend to decide how close is too close. Alternatingly funny and poignant, The Take-Over Friend is a smart page-turner that focuses on the importance of finding your own voice in relationships.

Review: This was not what I was expecting the book to be. I thought the book was going to detail friends drifting apart or not being as close as they were, but the book is actually a cautionary tale on emotional abuse and manipulation, with a bit of stalking thrown in there for flavor. The book was very well written and I loved how well it explained emotional abuse and manipulation that you might receive from friends. The character development was well done as was the world building. I also want to empathize that this book would be good for younger YA readers. The contents of it aren’t that mature and it’s a great conversation to have early on so that children are aware that some friends aren’t true friends.

However, I did think that the book was a bit too fast paced and the time skips weren’t well defined. I was also thought that the book didn’t have a great resolution and I would have liked to see something more empowering for a character who had been continually torn down.

Verdict: It was great! Highly recommend!