★★★☆☆

Georgia is a high school senior, just trying to make it through her last year before the big adventure of college. She’s dealing with a lot of things — most notably that her mom passed away earlier this year after a long battle with many health problems. She also thinks she’s unattractive (a sentiment many high schoolers and older can relate to), so she is very shy and not confident.

But before her mom died, she wrote Georgia a note that told her to be brave, to try everything, to live her life. So Georgia and her best friend, Liss, make a bucket list. Some of the items are daring, like skydiving, and others are things she’s been meaning to do for a while: tribal dancing, for instance, or asking out her crush, Daniel.

How to Be Brave is a YA novel that depicts high school life perfectly: nervousness, stupidity, crushes, stress, insecurity, new experiences, and so much more. If you were anything like Georgia (or any typical high school girl), you will see yourself in parts of this story. Readers follow Georgia as she crosses items off her list — they root for her, they cry for her, they scold her for some poor decisions.

Purchase the book here.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest review.