User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
This is definitely a YA book meant for teens. I never rate a book low for the reason that, heaven forbid, a YA book be meant for YA readers.
I’ve always been an advocate that reading doesn’t have an age limit. A book may be marketed as YA, but that doesn’t mean
ONLY YA can read it. It just means that YA
CAN read it.
The reason why I would say adult YA readers may not want to pick this up, is the constant (and I mean constant), bashing of adult YA readers. It wasn’t necessary and it felt insulting. An author can target a teen audience and still be happy that adults get to enjoy their books too.
On a personal note, I am a woman in my thirties. I’ve been a reader since childhood, and one of the greatest joys in my life has been buddy reading books with my mom. Or just having us recommend books to each other. So if I was a teen while reading this, I would be heartbroken if I had chosen this to be a buddy read with my mom. She should never have to read a story that is full on insulting her because the author decided to push that only teens should read and review YA. So as an adult myself now, this really didn’t sit well with me. Every time it was mentioned it was a slap in the face.
It’s not a good thing to teach YA readers either. Basically it’s saying, “you have a small window in your life where you’re allowed to enjoy my books”, and then “see ya! Never read my books again.” It’s like because you’re not on the lowest side of the age spectrum of readers, your opinions are no longer valid.
Anyway. Moving on to the actual story. If that whole rant had been my only issue with this book, I wouldn’t have rated it this low. Because as I said, I’m not going to fault a YA book for being written for YA readers.
This just got so repetitive. The kind of identity crisis she was having “am I Halle, am I Kels?” it got exhausting. There were a lot of other repetitive points as well. I just think they could have been handled better.
The main character was also not enjoyable. The whole story felt a bit superficial, and Halle just wasn’t a likeable narrator and a fair bit selfish.
If you are a teen reader who wants a book with Jewish rep, you might enjoy this.
Rating: really liked it
I know a lot of you out there, including myself, loved Eliza and Her Monsters, and this book is perfect for you guys. Following a similar route as Eliza and Her Monsters, What I Like About You follows the journey of a blogger rather than a creator, making it easily relatable. The book follows Halle Levitt, aka Kels Roth, who runs a blog about books and cupcakes called ‘One True Cupcake’, and her journey as she meets an online friend in real life and doesn’t know what to do about it, worse, she might be falling in love with him.
The first thing that caught my attention about this book was that Anne was portrayed very realistically. From her dreams of being selected for the BookCon Panel and to being accepted to NYU all while stress baking her way through life, Anne represents book lovers around the world very well. Her anxiety regarding the panel and her enthusiasm about her blog are palpable and are easily replicated in the reader as we all know we would feel the same way were we in her place.
While her blog life may take up a lot of her time it is certainly not her only stressor. Her family life is not so great and her gramps is not who he was and Anne is unsure of her identity, whether she is really Kels or just Anne. When Anne started her blog she used a pseudonym to hide her identity as the granddaughter of a well-known publicist in the book world but now she struggles to figure out who she is when faced with her online world colliding with her real one.
This book was written very well and maintained a great pace. We see progress in both Anne’s online life and her real one as she finally comes close to making real friends in the new town she just moved to. Her relationship with Nash in the first half of the book is unstable and very very awkward, once again portrayed very realistically. Had she revealed her identity to him in the beginning of the book their relationship would be so much better but, just as in Eliza and Her Monster, I don’t love this book for the relationship but rather for the protagonist and how the book lovers and the community were represented in this book more than anything.
I can’t believe that this book only has 480 ratings, it definitely deserves more reads and I recommend it to all contemporary lovers and fans of Eliza and Monsters, just give it a shot and you might find that you like it more than you anticipated.
Rating: really liked it
— read this review and others on my blog
What I Like About You follows Halle, who runs a book blog called One True Pastry using the alias Kels. She loves everything about her online life: a platform to talk about YA books and also bake cupcakes, the ability to work with publishers, and her friend Nash. But everything changes when she meets Nash in real life—who doesn’t know that Halle is actually Kels.
First of all, the most heartwarming thing about this book, to me, is how it portrays the book community. I’ve never seen it written about in books before, and to see it displayed here, and in a way that isn’t making fun of it but uplifting it, is
really nice to read as a book blogger. Though there were some things that seemed sadly idealistic (such as people actually caring about book bloggers but shh you didn’t hear that), I still liked to read about it!
I also
enjoyed the character relationships in this book, first being the family’s. Halle is living with her grandpa and brother for the year, and I loved seeing how close they were. They also had to deal with grief, since her grandma had died some time before. The friendship dynamics were also really lovely, especially since Halle was new in town and we get to see her make new friends!
Friendship is messy. Hard. Infuriating. Awesome. Fragile. Durable. Impossible. Worth it.
Always worth it.
Surprisingly,
I also really loved the Jewish rep! I knew about it before reading, but I didn’t expect to also relate to what Halle experienced, since I’m not Jewish. But like Halle, I don’t have much connection to my religion and pretty much only go to temple when I’m in Thailand. It made me happy to see Halle not considered any less Jewish for not doing many religious things, but also still want to try to be more involved!
Unfortunately, I did have a problem with this book, and it was the
poor execution of the premise. I love this trope of knowing each other online and offline but not realizing it and then falling in love, but the way it was written here irritated me! I was constantly frustrated whenever Halle had the opportunity to tell Nash who she was and never took it, then kept angsting over it. That’s a ridiculously big issue in any relationship, romantic or platonic, and it felt like Halle wasn’t taking the initiative she should have.
However, I do know that this is a YA book, and so I have to consider that this is a teenager making mistakes, like any other teenager. But the issue got to the point that it 1) felt way too dragged out, and 2)
felt like Halle wasn’t actually growing—writing about teens making mistakes is important, but so is writing about them learning from them and developing to become better.
The first few questions, I ask myself, What would Kels say?
But honestly? I don’t have to try so hard.
I am the Kels that everyone expects me to be, and she doesn’t feel like a persona anymore.
But! I also am just a hater of all lying/communication issues in books in general, and I do feel like this was mainly a me thing! I enjoyed everything else besides this, and it was a fun book to read. Though I did have my issues, and it also got a little too cheesy for me at times, I did actually like the romance in certain aspects:
It was cute and well-developed, and both of the characters were (mostly) sweet to each other!
If you’re a fan of YA contemporary romances, you’re going to love this one, especially if you love the YA book community! It’s quick and enjoyable to read, and, if you can get past some issues with communication, you’ll certainly be whisked away by the romance.
:: rep :: several Jewish main characters, part-Korean love interest
:: content warnings :: death of family members (off-page), depictions of griefThank you to Simon & Schuster for a copy of this book in exchange for a spot on the blog tour! This did not my affect my opinion in any way.
All quotes are from an advance copy and may differ in final publication.
Rating: really liked it
Big thanks to Netgalley for approving me for this title!! 🥰
while my rating seems like i didn't particularly enjoy reading this book, that is NOT entirely the case
The Goods See, this was really cute and wholesome at moments. I loved how it centered on a teen blogger and the book community. The main character is really involved in books and baking (two of like, my favourite things EVER) and i found so many aspects relatable and a proper, genuine representation of the online book world
The relationship between Halle and her brother Ollie was SO FREAKING PRECIOUS!!!! they're best friends and get along so well and trust each other and stand by each other and keep each other in line and I just love it so much!!!! beautiful sibling representation is one thing but beautiful little brother representation is even more 🥺🥺🥺
Halle's a really relatable main character. She's awkward but smart. She loves books and baking and spending time with her family and friends. She's really sweet and has a good heart but doesn't like making big decisions or taking chances (meeeeeeeeee) and of course, she spends her entirely life online!!!!!
Nash!!! He's such a soft, adorable boy. He's a graphic artist and makes his own comics and he's really sweet and caring and a whole marshmallow.
The Not So Goods The whole plot of the book kind of hinges on the fact that Halle (though she uses an alias online) knows Nash's identity from the online world but he doesn't know hers. and so, there's a TON of miscommunication
and usually these "You've Got Mail" type of retellings are my favourite thing ever. But the fact that Halle
KNEW about Nash right from the moment she met him and didn't say ANYTHING for the majority of the book made me feel v uncomfortable.
I totally understand wanting to stay safe online, especially for teenagers, but the way in which their friendship grew in real life and she kept finding excuses not to come clean made it feel sooooooo
catfish-yand the problem was, the book felt really repetitive. it was like a cycle of nash and halle hang out and become close friends, they do something fun, nash is torn bc he has feelings for kels (halle's online persona), halle feels guilty.
and repeat.
for the majority of the book.
if the plot progressed a little more or something more developed, i might have been easier on it. but i just felt everything was hinged on this plot line ONLY and it was quiet predictable and drawn out.
anywhos
i liked the cupcake part :D
“I don’t know what to say.
That’s the problem with words. In my head, words are magic. My thoughts are eloquent and fierce. On the page, words are music. In the clicks of my keyboard, in the scratches of pencil meeting paper. In the beauty of the eraser, of the backspace key. On the page, the words in my head sing and dance with the precision of diction and the intricacies of rhythm.
Out loud? Words are the worst.”
Rating: really liked it
DNF.
The main character is a YA blogger. Great. But wait, this one is a teenager who finds adult bloggers annoying. Uh, awkward! She thinks that interacting with them is way too "exhausting." Reading this I felt like that character in a movie who is listening in the bathroom stall while the mean girls gossip about her as they are putting on lip gloss.
In addition, a lot of the plot the book is devoted to very petty online (and offline) drama (some of it over a YA author who doesn't mind having adult fans, which annoys her teen fans.)
Right now it feels like the world is falling apart and I'm exhausted for real. I just don't think this book is meant for me. This character's blog is "by teens, for teens." Maybe teen readers will relate to this character more than I did? At this moment in time, this book has way too much pointless drama for me.
TL; DR: This main character finds me exhausting and I feel the same about her.
Read more of my reviews on JenRyland.com! Let's be friends on Bookstagram!
Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review!
Rating: really liked it
I really hope this doesn't do to book bloggers what FANGIRL did to fangirls because... I would be really, really sad if that happened.
Crossing my fingers that this is good.
Rating: really liked it
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU is a YA gem and one of my all-time favorite books. Marisa Kanter has such an authentic teen voice, and I fell head over heels for her characters.
The Jewish rep in this book is the closest to my own upbringing, which was so wonderful to see. I also love the way Marisa treats online friendships as the valid, important relationships they are. It's a lovely, special book that made me smile, laugh, cry, and hug it tightly to my chest.
Rating: really liked it
3.5 stars
I actually had picked up this book about a month ago and read 20 or so pages and decided to stop and read something else. Sometimes a book might not be working for you in the moment and it's okay to try again at a later date. I'm glad I gave this one a second chance because I did end up enjoying it. Definitely recommend reading especially if you have a book blog or post about books on social media.
Teenager Halle Levitt has a popular YA book blog but she posts under the name Kels. Her alter ego Kels is basically everything Halle wishes she could be all the time. "Kels" is super confident, fun, and has quite a few online friends, including her best friend, Nash. Halle has moved around so much due to her parents' jobs she isn't used to hanging out with peers in real life. She's never even met the people she chats with online. Now that she is staying with her grandfather for the school year in Connecticut, she feels awkward socializing with kids at school. Guess who happens to be a student at her new high school? Nash. Halle is afraid Nash only likes the cool Kels persona she has created and would never go for the real Halle. So she keeps quiet and doesn't tell him she is actually the girl he has been chatting with for years online. Soon she realizes Nash is in love with Kels but how is it going to go over if she comes clean and tells him the truth?
This is one of those stories in which from the get go as the reader you know it's a bad idea for the main character to hide her true identity from her potential love interest but you just have to roll with it and hope things will work out in the end. It helps that the story involves teenagers as it's easier to buy into the fact their judgment can be questionable at times. For those of us who survived the teen years, I think it's pretty easy to identify with Halle's lack of confidence.
The book is around 400 pages and in my opinion it could have been trimmed a bit in length. Halle's female online friends didn't enhance the plot all that much so their text and chat conversations weren't really necessary to me. That's just a slight nit pick thing as the overall pace of the book was pretty good.
I loved the social media aspect of the story as it really showed how much fun it is to run a book blog or post book photos on Twitter or Instagram. I highly encourage the book community to read this one.
I won a free advance copy of this book in a giveaway but was under no obligation to post a review. All views expressed are my honest opinion.
Rating: really liked it
*pounds fist, clamoring for more fluff* this was super cute and perfectly angsty. if you want a book that captures that "teen book blogger feeling" (to an almost scarily accurate effect), definitely check out WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU & Kels/Halle's books & baking prowess!
Rating: really liked it
edit #2: i was right. i AM prophetic (see the bottom for context). as in, i hate this book.
Amy digs a carrot in hummus. "I wish you'd talked to us."
"We could've shut this shit down so fast," Elle says.
I wish you did. I really wish you did.
edit: i am actually going to un-dnf this real quick and try to finish it bc i feel slightly bad for rating it and i also am still interested in the concept...
guys, as an #ownvoices reader... this has some really terrible book blogger representation 🙅♀️
i'm joking, but seriously it would be cool if more ya contemporary novels portrayed the internet more accurately. i feel like numbers are constantly inflated past realism, and it's like ??? what is the point? even if someone has only 20 twitter followers, that doesn't necessarily mean their experience is less meaningful! anyways that's how you can TELL this author was not a book blogger-turned-author bc i can guarantee you that no one's book reviews are receiving 1.7k comments
i would like to point out that there are some novels that exaggerate internet fame which i actually do enjoy! BUT there was nothing in this book that was saving this. the overall voice within this novel veered towards pretentious, and honestly it felt more suited to a middle-grade representation of high schoolers rather than an actual young adult novel.
also read a couple of text exchanges between the main character and the male lead, as well as the main character & her friends, and BOY are they boring
dnf @ 10%
(yes i am rating it... don't worry, i can foresee that if i were to finish this novel, it would undoubtedly receive one star)
an installment in the series: spontaneous buddy reads with sugar baby-----
mc of the novel, a book blogger: has 20k followers on twitter & gets over 1k comments on a blog post... and she has only written 50 total reviews so far
me: 👁️👄👁️
(drop the damn social media strat!)
Rating: really liked it
Despite the frankly awful cover (a major publishing house okayed this?), I wanted to read it anyway, because it's about a YA Book Blogger. However I was annoyed by the book barely two chapters in I thought it would be best if I just stopped reading it.
I found Halle/Kels to be quite annoying, and maybe it's mentioned later but I didn't understand her choice to be a catfish. I felt after reading her most famous review that if she was a real book blogger, I would honestly find her insufferable. I found myself wishing for the cover reveal deal she wanted to be rejected, just to take her down a peg or two. I'm sorry but her ego was way too big for this book.
Terms like YA, ARC, and many others made sense to me, but I found myself wondering if a reader outside of this little clique we'd built online would really have a damn clue what was going on.
"Because engaging with adults who think YA is for them? Exhausting." Cam across as the author suggesting that adults shouldn't be book bloggers and to that I suggest that perhaps the author, an adult, shouldn't be writing books for teenagers.
Rating: really liked it
This was so bad. SO BAD.
Literally the only good thing about it was the jewish rep and everything else was just. bad.
So I am an adult in my late twenties who reads alot of YA. I love the language that YA authors use, its simple, easy to access, evocative, dramatic and funny. I think some of the most creative, most intelligent pieces of written media is done in the form of a YA book. I love how YA approach the most difficult of topics (racism, genocide, homophobia, misogyny, etc.) with relative ease and almost always without being pretentious. Basically, its one of my fav demographics.
Now imagine reading a book that is constantly bashing adults who are into YA for not being...teens. I legit had no idea that this was a problem. Because I have been a teen myself (I swear I am not lying) and while I do remember hating adults who made fun of teen-things, I don't remember hating adults who.... enjoyed them. In fact, I remember being extremely happy when my parents would engage in things that I liked. I have a very distinct memory of feeling immeasurably happy when my mom saw and liked the Philosopher's stone. More recently I was through the roof because my dad (who generally avoids anything cartoon-y) read one of my graphic novels and went as far as to rate it on Goodreads with 4 stars. So I don't know what kind of teens the author was trying to represent in her story when she created the protagonist who CONSTANTLY bashed adults who liked YA. Like, if you are a teen let me know if this a thing because I'm curious now.
This line of thinking is amusing to me. But mostly it is annoying. Why would you want to tell teens to believe that they have a limited window to read YA? Also, does this apply to authors as well? Like if adults aren't allowed to read YA how the fuck, pray tell, will they write it? Its like saying that men aren't allowed to read chick-lit or women aren't supposed to enjoy Shounen/Seinen manga which is of course, bullshit. Read whatever the hell you want people. Don't listen to this author.
The 1-star rating is not because of this... thing though. The tension of the story hinges on the protagonist not telling the male-lead her identity as his very close internet friend. The author tried to play it off as something related to anxiety and not related to the protagonist being just an idiot. Not enjoyable, not funny, bad plotting, zero chemistry. But like I said, there was genuinely good Jewish representation so go give it a read if that's something you are looking for - whatever the hell your age is.
Rating: really liked it
[Dealing with the death of a loved one, mental health - anxiety, confusion over sexuality. (hide spoiler)]
Rating: really liked it
Genuinely one of the worst books I’ve read in a long time. Will give a more detailed review on my vlog channel. Surprised I even finished this one
Rating: really liked it
I received an ARC from Simon Schuster Canada in exchange for an honest review.
I'm going to be honest and let you know that this book was not on top of my priority list. I thought the synopsis sounded like bait to book bloggers out there and the author would do some *cringe worthy* "relatable" stuff that would make me want to claw my eyes out. But guess who was severely wrong? Me! This book was relatable in every sense but realistic. Marisa Kanter works in the publishing industry. She knows the effort reviewers put in their reviews, posts, and social media to promote a book. She gets us. And guess what? The slang she puts in the book? It's the right amount without making it really annoying and it's exactly the slang we all use on a daily basis.
This book was the fluffiest YA read this year. It's about a girl named Halle who has an online identity as Kel. She's the owner of a super popular instagram/book blog page where she writes reviews and bakes cupcakes that look like the cover of the books. She has a tight-knit group of book blogger friends but she has never once shown her face. So what happens when she moves to the middle of nowhere and the first person she sees just so happens to be her best online friend?? She keeps it a secret, falls in love with her best friend, and ghosts all her online friends, hurting everyone around her.
I loved this book. The writing was simple enough to grip me from the very start and I wanted to read on for the grief Halle and her grandpa both shared for her grandma's passing. I thought Halle's grandpa was realistic but often cruel for the way he treated his grandchildren after the death of his wife. What I really wanted was more of them discussing this topic and him explaining his actions. While Halle was a relatable character, I also thought she was selfish at times. She claims she wanted to be there for her grandpa but she ends up ignoring him and going online to promote her blog. And of course, the whole lying thing was hard to digest. She had better options than to drop everyone and ghost people! It was her simply not thinking of others and thinking her actions didn't impact others.
Even though the characters were flawed, I still really enjoyed this book. I highly recommend you to check it out!!
