Book Review: The Black Notebook by Isabelle Snow

The Black Notebook 
by Isabelle Snow
Publication Date: January 1, 2018
Format: E-Book, 391 pages
Genres: Young Adult - Contemporary - Romance
Find it On: GoodReads - Amazon 
My Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis:

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. After all...where would the fun be in that?

About the Author:


Isabelle Snow is a 20-year-old artist residing in the Philippines. Through her love of art and telling stories, she became a writer and has been writing since 2012. She is also an artist who specializes in graphic design and illustration, occasionally dabbling in animation. 

My Review:

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Every so often, I'm pleasantly surprised by high-school romances. This is one of those rare books that melts my jaded, post-grad heart.

This book stood out to me because there was a plot behind the romantic tension. Seven has had a crush on Colin for ages without doing anything, but having her notebook of secrets stolen gives her a reason to essentially stalk him, daily chasing him down to get the precious book back. They start spending time together--a lot of time--so of course there's high school gossip and hi-jinks, not to mention their own sabotaging of each other that even drags their families into the mess.

But like I said, the why-don't-they-get-together-for-300-pages actually makes sense! They both doubt their own right to happiness and they spend so much time second guessing themselves and sacrificing for others. Yeah, it's a romance, but it's a coming of age story for both of them, too.

The book wasn't exactly deep, but it was fun, cute, and well-written. Seven was a great narrator while Colin was a dreamboat (a little *too* perfect to be real, but hey, an author can dream). All-in-all, a great novel for the author's debut!