Millie is a college senior. While everyone around her seems to know what they want to do with their lives, Millie is consumed by fear and anxiety. She harbors a secret desire to be a science fiction author and even has a blog devoted to the genre, but she's too scared to do anything about it. Her only female friends are her mother and her roommate Fran, who has just abandoned her to move in with her sister. But Millie does have a lot of guys in her life: her friend Mike; Sam, the set designer who seems to have designs on her; Trent, an English exchange student she meets via a dating app but hasn't actually met yet; the mysterious danish_cupcake who always comments on her blog posts; hot Professor Rodney; Dustin, who asks her for help with a writing assignment; her favorite sci-fi author, Luke Danielson; her Grandpa, who is more like a father to her; and last, but not least, Walter, her estranged father, who is trying to reconnect with her after abandoning her when she was two.

I really wanted to like this book, but I never quite connected with Millie. She has absolutely no self-confidence, even though she has so many guys interested in her. I also found it a bit hard to reconcile her shyness and anxiety with her willingness to perform onstage in a musical theater production. Her own mother is a nurse and can't even spot Millie's anxiety. It also feels like things become too normal too quickly after Millie is put on medication. As for the writing, there is too much telling, not enough showing, and constant over-explaining. There are also numerous editing and formatting errors in the version I read. Finally, Sam is such a sweetheart, but I don't understand why he wouldn't kiss Millie, even given his explanation. If you can overlook these faults, this is a quick, fun read - even given the serious issues of mental health and parental abandonment.

Warning: coarse language. Even though this book is technically in the new adult genre, there is no sex.

I received this book in return for an honest review.

Full blog post (18 March): https://booksdirectonline.blogspot.com/2017/03/a-fantastic-mess-of-everything-by-beck-medina.html