Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf hosted by TBR and Beyond Tours! My post will include a review, favorite quotes, an about the author section, and a giveaway. Make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom and enter the giveaway for this fantastic book!
You can find the rest of the tour schedule here!
Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf by Hayley Krischer
Ali Greenleaf and Blythe Jensen couldn’t be more different. Ali is sweet, bitingly funny, and just a little naive. Blythe is beautiful, terrifying, and the most popular girl in school. They’ve never even talked to each other, until a party when Ali decides she’ll finally make her move on Sean Nessel, her longtime crush, and the soccer team’s superstar. But Sean pushes Ali farther than she wants to go. When she resists–he rapes her.Blythe sees Ali when she runs from the party, everyone sees her. And Blythe knows something happened with Sean, she knows how he treats girls. Even so, she’s his best friend, his confidant. When he begs her to help him, she can’t resist.So Blythe befriends Ali in her attempt to make things right with Sean, bringing Ali into a circle of ruthless popular girls, and sharing her own dark secrets. Despite the betrayal at the heart of their relationship, they see each other, in a way no one ever has before.In her searing, empowering debut novel, Hayley Krischer tells the story of what happened that night, and how it shaped Ali and Blythe forever. Both girls are survivors in their own ways, and while their experiences are different, and their friendship might not be built to last, it’s one that helps each of them find a way forward on their own terms.
My Rating: Four Stars ★★★★
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Content Warning: Intense scenes depicting sexual assault and drug abuse, Reference to an eating disorder, Mental illness, Trauma, PTSD, Bullying, Victim blaming
Review:
Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf is a powerful read. I was incredibly impressed by the author’s ability to masterfully write about difficult topics while keeping the writing style light and accessible. The short chapters and the frequent mid-chapter switching between Ali’s and Blythe’s perspectives when they are in scenes together kept the pace fast. This easy-to-read style effectively balanced the heaviness of the book’s content.
I absolutely loved how Krischer included Blythe’s perspective as well as Ali’s. It would have been all too easy to only give us Ali’s story, but Krischer chose to add much more complexity and depth by adding Blythe. The parallels between Ali and Blythe really made their characters compelling. While I empathized with Ali and rooted for her the entire book, Blythe took me on an emotional roller coaster. At times, I thought she was shallow. Other times, my heart broke for her. And sometimes, I hated her. But through it all, I thoroughly understood her motivations.
All of the topics – sexual assault, bullying, complex family dynamics, and victim-blaming, were so well executed within the story. Even with the definite feminist lens, nothing about the writing comes off as preachy or heavy-handed. It reflects real life in such a way that makes it feel so genuine and raw.
Another aspect of this book I personally enjoyed was the inclusion of a school social worker. She was not an idiot adult who ignored the girls’ problems, but someone who treats them like human beings. As an aspiring social worker who has interned with school social workers, I know how much work they do to help students that often gets unnoticed. I loved the addition of her.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone. But, please be sure to check out the trigger warnings above my review before you read.
Favorite Quotes:
“I want to get a big giant marker and scribble all over the locker so that everyone can see.
Something happened to me.
No on would know what it means. But I would know it was there.”
“I have a voice. And I have a pen. So I write. I write and write until the pen indents my thumb.”
“I know this was my idea. But I didn’t know how I would I feel after. To be so vulnerable. To feel pulled in two directions like this. So ashamed and also so proud.”
“It hurts to hug her, because no one wants to be the girl who changed everyone. It’s too much weight. I would have liked to be the girl who did nothing all year.”
About the Author:
Hayley Krischer has been an award-winning journalist for over 20+ years. She is a contributing writer for the New York Times, where she has covered feminist roller skaters, Instagram obsessed moms, profiled Gabrielle Union, Tatum O’Neal, and S.E. Hinton. She has also written for many publications about women and teenage girls including Marie Claire, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Lenny Letter, and the Hairpin. Her YA debut, SOMETHING HAPPENED TO ALI GREENLEAF will be released in fall 2020 from Razorbill. Hayley received her MFA in creative writing from Lesley University. Her first newspaper job was as an editorial assistant at the Boston Globe. She reads tarot cards.
Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
Giveaway:
Enter the giveaway for a copy of Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf by following the link below!
Mad's Books 
Thank you for being part of the tour. I’m glad you enjoyed the book and you’ve picked some great quotes.
Heather, TBR and Beyond Tours Team
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Absolutely! Thank you for including me!
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