What I Like About You By: Marisa Kanter

What I Like About You
Author: Marisa Kanter
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: April 2020
Format: ARC Paperback
Pages: 416
Rating: 4.5/5
Summary:
Can a love triangle have only two people in it? Online, it can... but in the real world, it's more complicated. In this debut novel Marisa Kanter explores what happens when internet friends turn into IRL crushes.

There are a million things that Halle Levitt likes about her online best friend, Nash.

He’s an incredibly talented graphic novelist. He loves books almost as much as she does. And she never has to deal with the awkwardness of seeing him in real life. They can talk about anything…

Except who she really is.

Because online, Halle isn’t Halle—she’s Kels, the enigmatically cool creator of One True Pastry, a YA book blog that pairs epic custom cupcakes with covers and reviews. Kels has everything Halle doesn’t: friends, a growing platform, tons of confidence, and Nash.

That is, until Halle arrives to spend senior year in Gramps’s small town and finds herself face-to-face with real, human, not-behind-a-screen Nash. Nash, who is somehow everywhere she goes—in her classes, at the bakery, even at synagogue.

Nash who has no idea she’s actually Kels.


If Halle tells him who she is, it will ruin the non-awkward magic of their digital friendship. Not telling him though, means it can never be anything more. Because while she starts to fall for Nash as Halle…he’s in love with Kels.



Review:
First, I would like to give a huge thanks to Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review and as part of the Canadian Bookstagram Tour! I absolutely loved being part of the tour and this book was even better!

So I will say that for myself, I found the first few chapters to be a bit of a slow start. Like waking up in the morning and getting yourself adjusted. You know what is happening, but you're trying to get your mind set right... does that make sense? After about 50 pages, I was all in and I couldn't put the book down!

This story is about Halle who is a bookstagrammer (like me!) who creates cupcakes that are like the covers of books (Definitely not like me, although I used to bake a lot when I was in high school) she also has made some amazing friends who she hasn't met face to face, scared of many things coming out... including her real name.

I really enjoyed reading a book that I could relate to. The witty banter about latkes with applesauce or sour cream to eat with, to discussion about going to camps for the summer (Which I totally did for like 5 years) and the reality of how many kids growing up don't necessarily get too invested, but both Halle and her brother begin to get into the culture more. Of course her entire social media book savy side to Halle was relatable to me. There were just so many moments that I stopped and thought about and was like, yeah this so happens! (like twitter mania)

Okay one thing though was that I felt like Halle was just way too much into her head and the book lagged in moments where I felt like reaching into the book and giving her a shake to say "Just tell him already!" She was so worried about what people would think that she just kept the secret inside. But we all know secrets are bound to come out one way or another.

Let me just take a second to talk about Halle's relationship with her brother and grandfather. From the beginning you can see that her gramps is not doing so well and seems to snap every time she does something that reminds him of his wife. It's definitely not easy, and there's plenty of tension between them, but as the book goes on, you see them all begin to heal their own scars and come together to celebrate rather than mourn. 

Not to mention the hilarious conversations that Halle and Oliver have together. I swear I don't know any younger brother who would stick up for their older sibling like that, nor be able to have regular conversations without getting into a fight!

I love how real Ollie gets with her, and even gramps! Like sometimes you just need a good whack in the head to tell you when you're doing something stupid... right? 🤣🤣

Honestly I could keep talking about this book, but I know I shouldn't otherwise you'd be here all day. The dynamic between Halle and her online friends, as well as Halle and her "IRL" friends as she likes to call it, was refreshing to see. And Nash?! Man oh man is he ever cute! Getting to read into his back story was nice, although I would've like to had read more about it rather than just toss a bit out to get the gist. But the connection with Halle/Kels is undeniable! I also loved the dynamic between Halle and "Le Crew" but I swear no spoilers on that!

Overall this was a great book! There were some moments that had me wish it had moved on faster or could've been shorter, but then there were other parts where I got so sucked in, I couldn't put the book down! I seriously could see this becoming a movie. It's like A Cinderella Story, but with way more book nerds and social media these days! All the bookish talk, as a blogger, I felt like I was really reading into the life a someone who I could know online!

That's all for my review today guys, thanks so much for hanging out and I hope you enjoyed it! This is definitely one of my fave YA novels of 2020 so far, so go check it out!

So until the next time, Keep Reading!

Your Graduated Bookworm!! :)