Review: Every Ugly Word by Aimee L. Salter

Book Title: Every Ugly Word

Author: Aimee L. Salter

Published Date: July 29th, 2014

Publisher: Alloy Entertainment

Genre: YA Contemporary

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Link: Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads:

 When seventeen-year-old Ashley Watson walks through the halls of her high school bullies taunt and shove her. She can’t go a day without fighting with her mother. And no matter how hard she tries, she can’t make her best friend, Matt, fall in love with her. But Ashley also has something no one else does: a literal glimpse into the future. When Ashley looks into the mirror, she can see her twenty-three-year-old self.

Her older self has been through it all already—she endured the bullying, survived the heartbreak, and heard every ugly word her classmates threw at her. But her older self is also keeping a dark secret: Something terrible is about to happen to Ashley. Something that will change her life forever. Something even her older self is powerless to stop.

Disclaimer: I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

I'm not even sure how I feel about this book. Was I enjoying it and was I excited to pick it back up whenever I could? Yes. Did it confuse me and frustrate me to the point of wanting to yell at the book? Again, that's a yes. 

This book massively confused me. The timeline would jump from present to past and then back to the present again. I was never sure if Older Me was something Ashley really saw or was she exhibiting symptoms of psychosis that no one caught. I was never really sure if the way her mother treated her was really what happened or if it was just Ashley's perception. 

I was never really sure about Matt either. He was inconsistent, not swoon-worthy and I never felt romantic sparks between him and Ashley. I actually felt them more with Dex, even though Dex turned out to be a ginormous creep. I didn't like how Matt continually tried to force Ashley to hang out with his friends, the very friends who tormented Ashley every single day. He didn't seem to care much about her feelings. He was being selfish and aggravating.

The ending was also confusing. I didn't know what was happening. I still didn't know if Older Me was real or a figment of Ashley's imagination. I didn't doubt that she went through the incident as she did have the scars to show for it. I really did wish the epilogue was longer as I don't feel like I got any of my questions answered at all. I'm going to go against my initial instinct and give the book 3 stars. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. As I reflect on this book, I realize that I was really confused by this entire book.