Goodreads Monday | That’s Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger | Blogmas Day 3

Hey friends,

I hope you’re all having a great start to the week!

I unfortunately got some bad news today, so I’m not doing too hot. I’m letting myself sulk for the rest of the day because it was a pretty tough blow.

Here’s to hoping the rest of the week turns out better.

But enough of me whining about me day, let’s get into today’s post.

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As you’re all aware, today is Monday (at least it still is in the States) meaning it Goodreads Monday! For those of you not familiar with this meme, Goodreads Mondays originated on Lauren’s Page Turners’ blog. To participate, you just showcase a random book from your Goodreads page. The twist is that I’m only going to feature my TBR shelf (aka the “want to read “shelf)  like many other people do so I guess it’s not that much of a twist, BUUUUUT, I’m also going to predict my star rating of the book! I’ve seen both Regan (PeruseProject) and Sam (Thoughts on Tomes) do 5 Star TBR Prediction YouTube videos and have been inspired to do a video or post but was struggling to find some 5-Star predictions. This is kind of my middle ground where I can predict my star rating and why and then revisit this post after I read it to see how close I actually was.

To pick the books for this, I’m putting my Goodreads want to read shelf number in a random number generator and letting fate pick the number for me. The lucky number for this week was 748 and as you can see from the title, the lucky book was That’s Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger.

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Title: That’s Not What Happened
Author: Kody Keplinger
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: August 28, 2018
Genre(s): Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Source: N/A
Pages: 329

Synopsis

It’s been three years since the Virgil County High School Massacre. Three years since my best friend, Sarah, was killed in a bathroom stall during the mass shooting. Everyone knows Sarah’s story–that she died proclaiming her faith.

But it’s not true.

I know because I was with her when she died. I didn’t say anything then, and people got hurt because of it. Now Sarah’s parents are publishing a book about her, so this might be my last chance to set the record straight . . . but I’m not the only survivor with a story to tell about what did–and didn’t–happen that day.

Except Sarah’s martyrdom is important to a lot of people, people who don’t take kindly to what I’m trying to do. And the more I learn, the less certain I am about what’s right. I don’t know what will be worse: the guilt of staying silent or the consequences of speaking up . . .

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Star Rating Prediction:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 5/5

I don’t think any of my past Goodreads Monday posts have ever been a 5-star prediction, but I honestly this book sounds so good. One of my favorite books of all time is Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, and I feel like this could be the 2018 version of that book.

I feel like, if done well, this could be a raw and heartbreaking look at the moments leading up to a school shooting and the moments during. The fact there are six stories to share the truth of what happened, I think this one has a lot of potential to have a shocking truth, important message, and be a fantastic read.

This is currently sitting at a 3.77 rating, many of which are around a 4 star, but I still think this is one that I can really love.

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Have you read That’s Not What Happened?

Let me know below!