| Title | : | Four-Letter Word |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1481497375 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781481497374 |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 416 |
| Publication | : | First published May 15, 2018 |
Chloe Sanders has wasted the better part of her junior year watching her best friend Eve turn away from her for the more interesting and popular Holly Reed. Living with her grandparents because her parents are currently serving as overseas volunteers, Chloe spends her days crushing on a dark-haired guy named Mateo, being mostly ignored by Eve and Holly, and wishing the cornfields of Iowa didn’t feel so incredibly lonely.
But shortly after spring break, a new girl transfers to her high school—Chloe Donnelly. This Chloe is bold and arty and instantly placed on a pedestal by Eve and Holly. Now suddenly everyone is referring to Chloe Sanders as “Other Chloe” and her social status plummets even more.
Until Chloe Donnelly introduces all her friends to a dangerous game: a girls vs. guys challenge that only has one rule—obtain information by any means necessary. All the warning bells are going off in Other Chloe’s head about the game, but she’s not about to commit social suicide by saying no to playing.
Turns out the game is more complicated than Other Chloe thinks. Chloe Donnelly hates to lose. She's got power over everyone—secrets she’s exploiting—and she likes to yank their strings. Only soft-spoken Mateo is sick of it, and when the game turns nasty, he chooses Other Chloe to help him expose everything Chloe Donnelly has done. But neither realize just how much the truth could cost them in the end.
Four-Letter Word Reviews
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3.5 Stars
Four-Letter Word tells the alarming story of Chloe Sanders and her sort-of friends as they give in to the whim of the new girl, the seemingly larger than life Chloe Donnelly that gives narrator Chloe a new nickname, Other Chloe. New Chloe comes from Chicago, seems to know about everything, and uses a game to control the 7 friends. What seems to be a simple game becomes something much scarier when the truth is revealed, people will do anything they need to in order to protect their secrets. When the game turns nasty and the friends are turned against each other a plan is formed to shut Chloe Donnelly down, but the truth could cost them more than their secrets.
While I can't imagine myself ever giving in to a game like this, Christa Desir brings the game and the characters to life in Four-Letter Word. I ached for Other Chloe as she dealt with typical and non-typical teenage drama, I wouldn't know what to do in her shoes. Though the believability of the novel is a bit far-fetched, the way the friends treated each other was very accurate. I actually liked the dramatization of the game, this idea that people, especially teenagers, would do nearly anything to both keep secrets and to uncover them. Chloe is the sort of girl who hasn't figured it all out yet, unaware that her naivety is actually a good thing in many ways. She's both independent and codependent, her role created by her so-called friends and the lack of parental supervision. The secondary characters include her previous best friend Eve, Eve's present bestie Hollie, Other Chloe's crush, three other boys, and of course, New Chloe. Each is very well developed and had distinct voices and characteristics even when only being described by Other Chloe. The interactions Other Chloe has with her friends are impactful and very true to reality, at least from what I can remember of high school.
As for the game, it's twisted and not something I would've come up with or been willing to play at that age. It reveals a lot about the characters and about teenagers in general. The ending was lackluster for me and for me, I think a novel of this style should leave a lasting impression and Four-Letter Word just didn't for me. I think Christa Desir did a stunning job portraying the age group and the secrets they feel are most important. The things the teens were willing to do though, it's a bit harsh and a little sad too, as they came across as trying so hard to be adult at an age where they shouldn't have to worry about these things. The teens had a proclivity to make things sexual and that added an even more adult feel to the novel. Ultimately, I would have to categorize this as New Adult or even Adult.
I enjoyed the mystery and thriller aspect of Four-Letter Word, as well as the bits of coming-of-age tale that we got from Chloe. The characters and their secrets were interesting and allowed for a complex novel that kept me fairly engaged.
ARC provided via Netgalley. -
3.5 STARS
Security and a sense of belonging aren’t Chloe’s strongpoints. When new girl named Chloe arrives in school and dubs her “OtherChloe”, Chloe feels even more left out. New Chloe proposes a game girls against boys with the prize being Platinum Favors, Chloe becomes even more alienated. And the stakes are too high. Too high for some.
Chloe and the other teens’ biggest mistake is that they all have, but don’t listen to, the voice inside their heads that says ‘Stop. Proceed with caution.’ She doesn’t have friends, but frenemies that treat her poorly including her former best friend. Chloe wants too much not to lose the girls she considers friends that she overlooks the signs of her unhappiness with these girls. Her progressive parents are away saving the world so Chloe lives with her genteel but Fox News loving grandparents. Though her mom gave her sex-positive education, sometimes before she was ready, Chloe is a virgin and in no way ready to have sex. She’s strong in her convictions not to do anything before she’s comfortable. Her character was so complex, somethings maddening, often huggable and occasionally lovable. I had a great deal of empathy for her even at her most unlikable moments.
I didn’t buy into the game 4 Letter Word. Two teams of four boys or girls each get one letter of a word and the object is to get letters from the other teams by any means possible, the subtext is that the means are sexual. I loved word games as a kid, but didn’t know any other of my peers who played Scrabble for fun. I can’t picture teens being gung-ho excited about a word game even if the “any means necessary” was the real plot. I also didn’t buy into NewChloe having such social power so quickly (even though readers later learn why she wields the power). All eight kids have secrets, mostly tropes.
I enjoyed Christa Desir’s writing and struggled between 3 and 4 stars. The number of times I couldn’t imagine most teens acting as they did in the book kept my rating at 3. I do think teens will enjoy FOUR-LETTER WORD and recommend it. -
Yikes. To be fair to myself, this is the year of shelf shopping.
The description of this book was good, which is why I bought it... but yikes. This whole thing missed the mark. The book itself was probably ~200 pages too long, there was no character development, and nothing about the plot held my interest. None of the characters were likable and all of their "secrets" were really nothing worth doing all of this over. The first 100 pages were good enough to keep my attention, but then it was just 300 pages of repetition. It just came off as very juvenile. I should have DNF'd this one.
Shop Your Shelves 2021 Challenge -
When Chloe Donnelly becomes the new kid of the high school and infiltrates her group of friends, Chloe Sanders’ life makes a drastic turn. Her parents have been living in Africa doing volunteer work for a few years so Chloe lives with her Fox News obsessed grandparents. Her best friend Eve is pulling away from Chloe and focusing more on Holly, a newbie to their group of about a year. Chloe Donnelly becomes part of this skewed group, and soon these four girls along with four guys are roped into playing a game called Gestapo, a game that is more menacing than fun.
This started off strong and I was interested until the 25% mark and then things grew repetitious and languid. Chloe suffered from severe anxiety where she continuously chewed off her fingernails and blurted things out. There wasn’t a filter between her thoughts and mouth, so she would spout out inappropriate things multiple times a day. She also went off on unnecessary tangents that had nothing to do with the story line as she gnawed off her nails that somehow managed to grow back by the next day. Her so called best friend Eve was manipulative and attention-seeking while Holly was arrogant and callous. Eve, Holly, and Chloe Donnelly regularly referred to Chloe Sanders as “Other Chloe”, proving that she was insignificant. And instead of walking away from this toxic group of friends, Chloe put up with all the drama and manipulation since she was desperate for their approval.
Her love interest Mateo was an absurd backstory. Up until the involvement in Gestapo, Chloe attempted to engage in conversations with him, but Mateo always shut her down and avoided her. Out of nowhere they profess their interest in each other under the night sky in the middle of Gestapo and despite not interacting at all for a few days, the next time they meet they proclaim their love for one another.
The big reveal was predicted at the beginning. There wasn’t any suspense. Chloe spent much of the time chewing her fingernails, complaining about her parents living in Africa and the way Eve treated her, and then pining over Mateo. The game was even more of a back story than the Mateo instant love, and ending was rushed with multiple questions unanswered.
This was a tremendously long read that left me thankful when I finished.
I received an ARC of Four-Letter Word from Edelweiss. -
3.5⭐️ it was okay. kind of juvenile. reminded me of why i began to stray away from young adult books.
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good but not as good as i remember
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It’s been a long time since I sat down and read a book in one sitting. But this one had me up until 1 am because I couldn’t stop reading. It was so good!!! I remember hearing about it years ago and couldn’t wait to jump in. Well worth the wait. It’s also been a long time since I met a main character who was so painfully awkward, but in a good, realistic way.
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Gillian Flynn meets Judy Blume in Christa Desir's latest YA work. An intriguing new girl shows up at high school and inserts herself into the lives of a group of friends. She introduces them to a new game and before they know it, secrets are being revealed, friendships are being torn apart, and lives are being turned upside down. Christa Desir once again gives us frank talk, real-world scenarios, and no apologies for telling it like it is. This is the book I wish I could have given to my daughter when she turned 12.
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The blurb from the cover is a pretty accurate description of the book...the plot centers around this group of eight students playing multiple games of Gestapo, things progressively getting more tense until everything blows up, Chloe Donnelly ends up missing, and the other seven teens are implicated in her disappearance..dun dun dun!
Obviously I did not enjoy this book, but good lord, where do I even begin?
Main character Chloe is boring, sanctimonious, and incredibly judgmental. Even more irritatingly, most of her judgement is sandwiched in her self-pity over how everyone else is sooooo mean to her. Basically the entire book is her keeping up a running mental commentary of how useless and beneath her the people around her are, interspersed with self-satisfied reminders of how patient and tolerant she is. I don't understand if Desir wrote her as an unsympathetic character on purpose, but I couldn't stand her. Some particularly cringe examples of her awfulness:
As if her preachy, hypocritical, self-satisfied judgement toward everyone else weren't enough, pretty early on in the book Jesus H Christ, really? Are we supposed to like her?!
Moving past Chloe being the worst, this whole story was stuck in her head, and I feel like nothing got developed properly. It would be better, and maybe Chloe would even have seemed more likable, if more character and plot development had been described rather than narrated in Chloe's stream-of-consciousness litany of the faults of others and why nothing was her fault. I'm not averse to first person point of view, but this whole book was Chloe's self-narration, and not only did her mental voice get old fast, the limited description available meant that none of the other characters got any real development. Why should I care about Mateo when all I'm given about him is what benefits Chloe? What's the point of showing the soft side of douchebag Cam when it goes nowhere and leaves us picturing him as an irredeemable asshole? And finally, we spend the entire book on these games and trying to figure out what is going on with Chloe Donnelly, and then all that mystery is revealed in an epilogue? Really?
I read this book because the description and title were intriguing, but it was like reading the diary of a selfish, spoiled, overly-critical asshole, with absolutely no payoff at the end. -
Chloe Sanders has moved back to her hometown of Grinnell, Iowa, after spending a period of time in Burkina Faso, Africa, with her parents, who joined the Spirit Corps in order to do humanitarian service abroad. Since moving back to Grinnell and living with her grandparents, Chloe has had a relatively mundane life --- that is until Chloe Donnelly comes to town. She encourages the now dubbed “Other Chloe” and her friends to play a word game called Gestapo. When the stakes rise and the player’s secrets are on the line, Chloe Sanders and her crush, Mateo, team up to expose Chloe Donnelly.
The premise of FOUR-LETTER WORD sounds very intriguing at its surface, but ultimately it fell flat for me. Throughout playing the game Gestapo, all of the central characters’ secrets are revealed in one way or another. Desir notes the nagging fear all the characters have of being discovered and the serious ramifications they would have to face if their private lives were to become public. Despite this intense build up, the resolution of the story is relatively anticlimactic. There were some twists or turns around the way that I was initially intrigued by that kept me reading, but I don’t think they fit the suspenseful narrative that the author wanted to craft with this story. It feels like there is this disconnect between the intention and the outcome of the plot.
As a reader, I wanted to understand why Desir made the decisions she did in concluding her novel, but it felt like I was grasping at straws to find an answer. Logically, I would like to believe that Desir is trying to make the commentary that high schoolers tend to blow everything out of proportion. High school feels monumental. It’s a time to discover your identity, form relationships and make decisions. At the time, any worse case situation feels like the end of the world. It’s looking back on those moments that creates the realization of how small a fragment high school is in anybody’s lifespan. As someone who has plenty of experience in this area, I think the message could have been better delivered.
This book also contains lots of sexual content. In high school, many teenagers are going through their first relationships. This obviously means a decent amount of exploration about sex and masturbation. As someone who gets really uncomfortable really quickly reading about these types of topics, I was cringing throughout much of the novel. I will say that I should have done more research before diving into a book that dealt with content that I do not enjoy reading. Regardless of the fact that this particular area of the novel was not my favorite, Desir does a masterful job of crafting an honest character arc that delves into this realm. According to her bio, Desir has been a rape victim activist for over 20 years. She has worked to provide advocacy services in hospital ERs and she has met and spoken with high school and college students about sexual violence, some of whom were even incarcerated survivors. All of this experience is naturally going to lend well in crafting a YA novel that speaks to these topics. The journey that Chloe goes through in being comfortable having sex for the first time feels real to the encounters that all teens have in going through this same struggle.
While I do not believe this book was perfect for me, I know that there is an audience out there that could really enjoy FOUR-LETTER WORD. This book tackles topics such as friendship, sexuality, relationships and fitting into social circles. I definitely got Mean Girls vibes from this read, which could make it worth picking up for those that are a fan of the movie or the Broadway show.
Reviewed by Gabby B., Teen Board Member -
So that blurb overhypes what this game is and what’s at stake and as a result the book felt like a let-down. On top of that Other Chloe is self aware to a fault, to the point where things start to feel unrealistic, especially toward the end where Other Chloe makes all sorts of assertions and realizations that fit so neatly into the plot. Then the book over-explained everything into deflation. Like a balloon losing all its air. It just was an all around let-down.
This was a book listed on Riveted as an extended excerpt that I liked enough to want to keep reading. But my library didn’t have it so I had to buy a copy. Not my most favorite thing to do but I was able to get a relatively cheap copy so no love lost there. Considering I didn’t much like the book in the end, that’s still a book I bought that now I’m going to turn around and trade. Annoying, but at least I can get a book I do want for it.
The blurb really hypes up this game as something eerie and dangerous and it can be depending on what secret a person has (in this case only Mateo had something actually serious on the line). I figured it was going to go down the rape lane and it did a little with some forced touching but that eventually just gets brushed under the rug and I’m left here like okay, we’re not talking about that anymore? There was no real point to the game other than people getting screwed with on a mostly superficial level. And I guess when you’re in high school that’s a big deal, but it felt like such a tease. I was expecting something more from it.
None of the characters are all that likable, Other Chloe included. Mateo and Josh were really the only characters that were moderately decent, but everyone else was trying to overcompensate for something or using someone for something and it just didn’t beg much sympathy. As far as Other Chloe being self-aware, she ended up having this uber-progressive upbringing that had her exposed to things a lot of other kids aren’t and having perspectives other kids didn’t. It really got loaded on at the end when everything came to a head and it just didn’t seem authentic. While I felt like Other Chloe certainly reacted to some situations like I feel like a teenager would, how she rationalized things definitely felt like regurgitated adult speak that almost felt preachy. I just wasn’t into it.
And then the ending that wouldn’t end. It just kept going and going and going. And while the wrap-up was being dragged out, that’s when everything got over-explained to death. I don’t know whether the ending stretch was meant for the climax or for the author to get all that explanation in. Maybe a little bit of both. Plus there’s no real resolution to everything. It’s not that things are left hanging, but most of it is left deflated. Like it ran out of energy. Meh.
Not my kind of tense thriller. I could definitely see how it might mean more to an actual teenager reading this book, but I felt it was lacking all around.
2.5 -
Okay, to be honest, I don't really know how to feel about this book. Let's say it had potential, but a number of factors just made it sort of an awkward and confusing read.
First of all, I hated the writing style. Hated it. For me, it's really important for dialogue to be natural and the writing impactful, almost poetic, when it comes to a book. In contrast, the way this book was written was very one-dimensional and juvenile. Not one sentence stuck with me after the last page. One thing that was annoying was how the reader did so much thinking to herself, if that makes sense? So much time was divested into dissecting every single exchanged glance, word, and gesture, which was probably the reason why this was such a long read.
Now, the reason why I say the story had potential is because I could see what message the author was trying to deliver. The underlying themes of the book revolve around peer pressure, the dynamics of high school hierarchy, and social cues. However, a lot of factors prevented the message from being delivered effectively. For example, the blossoming romance between Mateo and our main character, Chloe. She went from basically being ignored by him to the two suddenly exchanging smiles, meaningful glances, and professions of love. And then having sex. In a church. What??? Her infatuation with Mateo is frankly a little embarrassing (I mean, she memorized his schedule), which discourages the reader from cheering the couple on. I didn't really see the point of their romance.
The irony is, it was clear that the author was trying to present the dichotomy of the various characters, and how everyone had their secrets. Aiden and Josh were gay, Mateo was undocumented, Holly was insecure, and Cam was a broken boy with the voice of an angel. But the glimpses into these characters were too brief, which actually made them more one-dimensional than anything.
A good book is supposed to make you think, but this one was just..meh. -
WAS IT GOOD? YEAH. WAS IT CHARACTER DRIVEN? NOPE.
I won't deny the story's greatnes when it came to its plot, but when it came to characters I still remain doubtful. I know this are supposed to be emotionally driven, inmature and cray cray teenagers, but I didn't believe some of their choices and too fucking absurd moves, like c'mon. I guess it wasn't supposed to be realistic? Whatever, I somehow found myself hating yet somehow looking forward to shelter our Chloe, she needed advices and some selfconfidence, I mean those girls were never, not even in the ignorant past, ever her friends; fuck Eve and her shitty life. And omg our Chloe's grandparents were satan, they were Sean Hannity in disguise, no joke! I was like this poor girl is going through all of this because of her shitty friends, absent parents, Republican town and grandparents. But then all of a sudden, the author threw a church sex scene and I was like c'mon, this isn't just nasty but ridiculous. So I enjoyed her growth (when she faced Holly and Eve), and then was like wtf did I just read?! (sex scene, awareness of her low selfconfidence, the whole they were still considered her friends, ignoring Melissa). The book was wellwritten, however, the characters' lack of more than two dimentional personalities, which were so so chessy and hard to buy. Good one, though. -
I received a temporary digital copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.
This was one of the most frustrating books I have ever read. The writing was good and the plot was original, until the end, but I pretty much hated every...single...character...
Chloe, the main character was probably the worst. She was so judgmental of everyone, when she, herself couldn't do anything wrong. She is supposed to be 17 years old, practically an adult but her character reads like a whiny 12 year old. I guess I could contribute that to her parents, who are the most selfish people ever, putting their own agenda ahead of their only child and practically bullying her into doing what they want.
The only redeemable character is Melissa, who Chloe treats like dirt and then uses her when she is feeling lonely. Not to mention the ending is really unsatisfying and seems like a huge let down after reading 400+ pages. -
* I received an e-galley from Netgalley in return for an honest review.*
4.5
Wow, so I read this in one day. And I'd kind of be surprised if you could do it any other way because it just keeps going. You are always wondering what is really going on and what is going to happen next. Wasn't as thrilled with the ending, kind of a let down, so that's why it is only a 4.5.
Chloe is having friend issues with Eve (her former bestie) and Holly when the new Chloe shows up after Spring Break. This new Chloe introduces their friends to a game that will turn all their worlds upside down. -
All this lead up and mystery for a climax and “solution” in the last 20 pages? No actual wrapping up of any story lines, character arcs, anything? I can’t imagine being the editor of this book and thinking that didn’t need to be fixed.
A 400 page book with 380 pages of lead up and the last 20 pages felt like the author went “oh crap I forgot to write an ending and it’s due in two hours”. Big yikes. -
Meh.
The description of this book definitely had me hooked and that’s why I bought it. However, when I started reading I was quite disappointed.
There is no character development, and it was incredibly predictable. For a 400+ page book I was expecting so much more.
The ending also seemed rushed. It missed a lot of details explaining the whole situation and why this and that happened.
Would I recommend? Not really. -
10/20. The writing style and tension of this felt immediate in a way that distinguished it from other YA thrillers, but the plot and characters felt mostly very typical teen drama-y. Also, this generally went in a direction I didn't expect it to with regards to some of the topics it explored, and that was just not to my taste.
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I hated this book. The only redeeming character was a secondary. Melissa. The game was stupid. The new Chloe was off her rocker from the get go. All the primary characters were just nasty. I wasted time and money on this book.
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This might be an ok read for an older teen, but I wouldn’t recommend for younger ones. I was a little scandalized.
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The beginning was good and some of the characters were well developed, but it became a bit repetitive and then the ending was very abrupt, with a lot of unanswered questions.
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Need to read this
