Publisher: Inkitt
Publishing Date: January 3, 2018
Page Count: 364
Source: Sent to me for Review
Format: E-Book
Description from Goodreads.com:
Fans of Becky Albertalli and Rainbow Rowell are lining up to get The Black Notebook!
Trust is a funny thing isn’t it? It’s great to be trusted by your friends, but when practically the entire school - even the popular kids - are sharing their deepest, darkest secrets with you...that’s when things get messy.
Seven Warrilow has been keeping everybody’s secrets for as long as she can remember. She knows who likes who, who hates who, and all the hot gossip. But you know what? She’s sick of it! With all that classified info jumbling around in her head it’s hard to think straight, so Seven decides to write down every secret she’s ever been told into a small black notebook that she carries around for safekeeping. There, now she can breath a little.
OR NOT!? Things take a turn to Disasterville when her notebook goes missing, and when it finds it’s way into the hands of notorious prankster, Colin Stillman, the trouble really begins. Seven’s going to have to use everything she’s got to keep her classmates secrets safe, but Colin isn’t going to make that easy. Afterall...where would the fun be in that?
Review:
I am such a sucker for the bad boy, flirty, hard-to-get romances, and even though Colin isn’t necessarily any of those things, he is older and unobtainable to Seven so he still fits in that category. There are so many things I enjoyed about this book that I don’t know where to start. So, I guess let’s start with the character development. Seven sticks to herself. She is the one that everyone goes to with their secrets and she has no one to go to with hers. Thankfully Colin steals her notebook of secrets causing her to open up and be vulnerable. Colin is the popular class clown. Every girl at Sevens school pines for him, including Seven, but she also knows that he can’t be taken seriously. He is a constant jokester. We learn, though, that Colin has a lot going on at home and he’s not the same guy there. Seven helps him learn to show this more serious side of himself to others, and also helps him get rid of a huge emotional weight. They both really learned a lot by being around each other, and I loved seeing all the sides of their true personalities. I really liked Seven’s character in the beginning, but I loved who she turned into by the end. I do hope there is more from these characters.
Since we are already on the subject of the characters, let me tell you why I loved Seven so much. Colin steals Sevens black notebook containing all the secrets everyone has ever told her and now she must try to get it back. I absolutely loved all the crazy schemes she tried. All of them took some serious guts and some even broke the law. They were truly crazy, but they brought her way out of her comfort zone. I also loved that she got her inspiration for those schemes from books, and how much of a bookworm she is. I have read a lot of books where the main character is a bookworm, but it still warms my heart everytime. This is kind of a side note, because it’s a reason I loved Seven, but also a reason I loved the book as a whole. I loved all of Seven’s family relationships. Some books where romance in the main focus, they only focus on those characters, but I learned a lot about both Seven and Colins family members. We didn’t see too much of how Colin interacts with his family, since most of the book is from Sevens point of view, so I really loved the relationships Seven had with hers. Especially her older cousins.
For the romance, I couldn’t have asked for a better one. It was such a fun one to watch play out. We all know Sevens feelings for Colin, but you don’t know his feelings for her until she finds out. Colin does a lot of things that hint he may really like her, but you can never take him seriously. He even tells her he likes her, but he is joking. Which by the way that not only broke Seven’s heart and spirit, but also mine. I was just as crushed as she was when he said, “Just Kidding!”. I think I enjoyed it so much because usually authors will do alternating POV when the boys feelings are this unknown to the MC, but Snow didn’t. She kept us in the dark with Seven and I really liked that. I think it really added to the story, because you never really knew if this was all just a fun prank for Colin.
There was only one scene that I had an issue with in the book. It was the slap. Now, I truly believe neither party should ever put their hands on each other, but I also know a girl slapping a boy is common in books and movies. I just didn’t feel like it was truly warranted. What he did (or supposedly did) wasn’t bad enough to me to warrant her slapping him, and it came out that he didn’t even do it. I slightly understand the girl slapping the guy when he cheats, says something awful, etc., but to just walk up angrily, accuse him and then slap? I felt very off about it. It just left a bad taste in my mouth. Other than that one, small incident I loved the book.
Overall:
This is my first book by Isabelle Snow and I absolutely loved it. I loved the growth of the characters and how multi-dimensional they were, and I LOVED the romance. I had such a good time reading it and I really loved Seven’s character. I really hope there is more in store for these characters, but if not I will definitely read more by Isabelle Snow.
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 5/5
**The books cover, description, and info was all found on Goodreads. A link back has been provided. All other work and ideas are of my own creation. This book was sent to me by Inkitt in exchange for an honest review.**
