Thank you to Caroline Huntoon and NetGalley for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review! This book comes out on May 7, 2024.
Etta is Doolittle Middle School’s resident anti-everything girl—fiery, cynical, and green-haired, she’s far more likely to be watching her favorite horror movies or working on her application for Nova, the alternative high school she’s determined to get into next year, than reaching out to the new kid. Plus, after her longtime best friend, Marigold, stopped hanging out with her over the summer, Etta’s plan for eighth grade is basically to keep to herself.
But that’s before she meets Linus, who’s new to Doolittle after coming out as trans last year. He doesn’t want to stand out. Running for student council? That’s out of the question, particularly while Linus is trying to deal with his grandmother, who constantly messes up his name and pronouns.
Then Marigold makes a secret bet with Etta. To prove that Marigold isn’t as great as everyone thinks she is—and to improve her Nova application—Etta will get Linus elected to student council president. Sure, Etta has no campaigning experience, and Linus doesn’t know about the bet. But what could go wrong?
As Etta and Linus’s friendship develops and the bet’s stakes get even higher, Etta has to decide if beating Marigold is worth manipulating her new best friend—and if their friendship will survive the strain if she tells the truth.
I truly loved Linus and Etta Could Use a Win. Fast-paced, quirky, and unique, I will hands-down be rereading and recommending this book widely. Linus, Etta, and even Marigold could all easily have fallen into stereotypical, tropey characters, but instead they all quite literally shine; I particularly love Linus, whose relationships and struggles gave the story such dimensionality. The tension within his family over his grandmother rang so true, and the development of that plotline was one of my favorite parts of this book! I couldn’t stop reading this book, and I certainly didn’t want to—when it ended, I truly wished there were another hundred pages to go. I highly recommend Linus and Etta Could Use a Win to readers ages nine and up, particularly those who love queer middle grade books, friendship stories, and incredibly relatable characters.
Etta is Doolittle Middle School’s resident anti-everything girl—fiery, cynical, and green-haired, she’s far more likely to be watching her favorite horror movies or working on her application for Nova, the alternative high school she’s determined to get into next year, than reaching out to the new kid. Plus, after her longtime best friend, Marigold, stopped hanging out with her over the summer, Etta’s plan for eighth grade is basically to keep to herself.
But that’s before she meets Linus, who’s new to Doolittle after coming out as trans last year. He doesn’t want to stand out. Running for student council? That’s out of the question, particularly while Linus is trying to deal with his grandmother, who constantly messes up his name and pronouns.
Then Marigold makes a secret bet with Etta. To prove that Marigold isn’t as great as everyone thinks she is—and to improve her Nova application—Etta will get Linus elected to student council president. Sure, Etta has no campaigning experience, and Linus doesn’t know about the bet. But what could go wrong?
As Etta and Linus’s friendship develops and the bet’s stakes get even higher, Etta has to decide if beating Marigold is worth manipulating her new best friend—and if their friendship will survive the strain if she tells the truth.
I truly loved Linus and Etta Could Use a Win. Fast-paced, quirky, and unique, I will hands-down be rereading and recommending this book widely. Linus, Etta, and even Marigold could all easily have fallen into stereotypical, tropey characters, but instead they all quite literally shine; I particularly love Linus, whose relationships and struggles gave the story such dimensionality. The tension within his family over his grandmother rang so true, and the development of that plotline was one of my favorite parts of this book! I couldn’t stop reading this book, and I certainly didn’t want to—when it ended, I truly wished there were another hundred pages to go. I highly recommend Linus and Etta Could Use a Win to readers ages nine and up, particularly those who love queer middle grade books, friendship stories, and incredibly relatable characters.
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