Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Delacorte Press, May 2014

Whoa. I had a hard time getting into the book at first - I didn't really enjoy the narrator, Cadence. But I stuck through the story and I'm glad I did. I didn't read any of the reviews beforehand I guess,(I simply saw that it was a new book by E. Lockhart and grabbed), because I wasn't aware of the the whole ..."shhh - don't talk about the book, just get people to read it!" factor. So I'm sorry to add to that cliché mass response, but seriously. Don't read ABOUT the book, just .... read the whole book. Until the very end. Well done, Lockhart! I was definitely crying once I realized ... I completely didn't see it coming (ugh, I hate saying that though, because I don't want future readers to be suspicious of anything, haaha - I wasn't and I think that made for a better read).

I will also say that although I did see somewhere that this was more of a deeper, solemn, read, since it was an E. Lockhart book, I expected it at least to have some funny bits of dialogue (Frankie Landau Banks and The Ruby Oliver Series were often hilarious and amazing). It was a different kind of Lockhart book, but I liked it alot, none the less.

Oh yes - I always love that final click, when you really discover what the cover represents in a book - and (minor spoiler alert), I do remember wondering at one point why there were only three people on the cover. I had one of those moments here, too.

I'm going to go for a different sort of YA read-alikes for this one - I'll go for two books that I found boring at the start, but once I stuck through them and finished the story, ended up loving them: The Thief by Megan Whelan Turner and Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.  Likewise, for a book with a twist-that-I-didn't-expect-a-twist-from, (although me telling you this completely defeats the purpose, sorry!): Looking For Alaska by John Green.

Review: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

HarperCollins, April 2014

I loved the idea of this book – it sounded really different. Kind of scary, too, which I don’t often find in YA books I choose to read. Like a lot of kids from my generation, I grew up watching The Wizard of Oz over and over and over again. We even watched the second film a lot, too – the one with the pumpkin head, Mombi and a young Fairuza Balk.

Amy – a young girl from Kansas – lands in Oz only to find out that Dorothy did come back – and afterwards, became a terrifying dictator, stealing of Oz’s magic for herself. It will be up to Amy to take down each of Dorothy’s  henchmen (Tin Woodman, Scarecrow, Lion) before killing Dorothy herself.

When I got a copy to take home from work, I quickly read the first page, and the writing definitely had me hooked, I liked Amy’s voice – it felt natural (and similar, I suppose, to a lot of the other contemporary YA narrators that I’ve read and liked). Before I had a chance to officially start the book, however, I came across this article from someone’s Goodreads’ review. I hadn’t heard of Full Fathom Five until then, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t want to support it – I  consoled myself that it was at least a library copy, not something I personally had chosen to spend money on.

The beginning of the book was great – I was really into it when Amy’s trailer lands in Oz due to a tornado (she is not oblivious to this irony or coincidence, either, which is good). I liked meeting the green-eyed boy, as well as Indigo the goth munchkin and Ollie the wingless-winged monkey. It was exciting to see Oz again, reimagined and darker – the corruption was frightening. The Tin Woodman leads the Tin Soldiers – Oz’s new found pseudo police force enforcing Dorothy’s rule, physically. They were terrifying (frightening humans melded with machinery – there is, I kid you not, a bicycle with a human head attached it – creeeepy).

I started to get bored during Amy’s training scenes on the mountain – I am occasionally annoyed at the single montage leading towards superhero-like powers as anyone else, but  there were chapters in the middle of the book where Amy meets the Order of the Wicked, and then is trained on how to fight, use magic, and be a lady so that she can infiltrate the Emerald Palace in order to get close to Dorothy for her assassination. Okay – I’ll give you, that last sentence sounded pretty bad ass. But I just didn’t believe it or feel it, and therefore it felt like these scenes went on too long.

Not to mention – there was her blossoming relationship with Nox. I had read in a Goodreads review that it was refreshing not to have any love-triangles – to which I agreed. But the whole book – I kept thinking – okay – so she met the beautiful green eyed boy first …. So if there isn’t a love triangle – what is all this Nox junk? I just couldn’t get into him. I was thinking maybe he’d die … lol. I was hoping for it at one scene. Spoiler alert – it doesn’t happen (well, in this book anyway). But the un-love-triangle is resolved, and the end will explain all. I sort of laughed at myself for not guessing it sooner.

Once Amy gets to the castle to start her undercover work as a part of Dorothy’s plethora of maids, things get interesting again. All I have to say is – that last Jellia scene? Gave me goosebumps. Very powerful (oh, but that last-last Jellia scene was just scary and terrifying … talk to me after you read the book).

There was a significant amount of action at the end of the book to keep me going. I think I’ll try to read the second one in the series once it comes out (library copy again, though, I wouldn’t spend money on it even if it hadn’t been Fathom Five). I am definitely intrigued to see how it all plays out.

Overall, I think the story was stronger in concept than it actually was on page. A lot of ideas felt surface level or superficial. There were powerful moments, but there was also a decent amount of fluff.  Overall, I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads, because it did surprise me at the end – and that Jellia scene was awesome – if a book gives me goosebumps, I have to give it a little more credit.  I will also casually try and check out the second book in the series – which is more than I can say for some of the other YA trilogies I’ve started.

I’m trying to think of read-alikes for this book, but I’m coming up blank. I’d love to say something fantastical yet scary, like, the Hunger Games, but it was nowhere near as terrifying, exciting, or deep, so I don’t want to even put them in the same sentence. I’m going to go with Cinder by Marissa Meyer – another fractured fairy tale (Oz, was, I believe, considered to be the first American fairy tale). I’d also recommend reading this book if you’ve read or watched The Wizard of Oz, likewise if you’ve read Wicked by Gregory Maguire.

Review: Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Simon & Schuster, May 2014

I’ve wanted to read Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson since I saw the gorgeous cover photo and 4+ star rating on Goodreads a few months ago.  The blurb sounded exciting too, of course (I guess I’m not that superficial).

Sloane and Emily are best friends, joined at the hip – but when Sloane disappears just before the start of their would-be epic summer before senior year, Emily feels lost. Sloane had always been the more adventurous one, trying to get Emily to come out of her shell, so when Emily finds the list of “brave things to do” Sloane has left behind, she tentatively starts thinking of ways to accomplish them – with the unexpected help of the outwardly perfect class president, Frank Porter (swoon!).

Alright. Let’s do this. I was hooked on the writing style from the first page. I sat down last night and thought I’d start reading it – I think it was around 9 PM (on a Saturday no less, yes, I have a wild social life!). I could not put the book down.  There was a point at around 5AM in the morning that my eyes were getting heavy and I was just pushing myself to finish because I didn’t want to pause the magic. I also didn’t want it to be over, but I hate being caught up in a good magical book groove, only to pause – come back to it later, and it doesn’t feel as exciting. I did sleep for about four hours when there were about 3 chapters left, though. This didn’t spoil my excitement for the book when I woke up, though, so, no harm done!

Something really hit me in the beginning when Emily goes to the party in the orchard and has no one to talk to – as an adult reader of YA, I feel like a lot of us in our post-university days know that feeling of what it’s like to go from having a great best friend by your side (or multiple), to having people grow up and move across the country, suddenly out of reach. Matson did a great job at expressing Emily’s feelings about this without coming off as too angsty.

It was certainly painful to watch her first dealings with Frank – Emily is terribly shy and simply confused by his open and gentlemanly behavior. As they become friends, you can see her crush coming from a mile away. The fact the Frank has a girlfriend makes him just ever more unreachable in that way, though, so their friendship continues along platonically for the first half of the book. While the romance was well written and really exciting, it’s not the only plot line of the book.

It’s a story of best friends; reading the flashbacks of Sloane and Emily’s friendship were always fun  - although I kept wondering how Sloane would ever redeem herself of just up and leaving the way she did. I kept thinking that the book would end in some sort of tragic revelation (sent away with child? Rehab? Hospital? On the run from the law for their house shenanigans?) but without spoiling it, the reason turned out to be a lot simpler and more realistic than any of those things. I think I could have forgiven Sloane too, had she been my best friend like that for the two years prior, too.

Matson did a great job at fleshing out her characters – I loved reading about Emily’s new friendships with Dawn and Collins (although, again, having read a million and one Sarah Dessen novels, I saw these friendships coming from a mile away – but it was a good, comforting expectation). Since You’ve Been Gone isn’t only about the Frank friendship/romance or the Sloane debacle, but it’s also a story about Emily growing up and becoming her own person now that she’s free from Sloane’s shadow (as much as she may have loved it). With her new-found free time she spends her summer working on bravely accomplishing the list, making new friends, and spending more time with family (well, her brother, certainly not her messed up theatre parents, yikes!). It was heartwarming to see her become her own person – it was nice to finally see her stand up for herself in front of Sloane near the end, too.

I’m giving this book 5 stars on Goodreads – it had me laughing and giggling and squeeing like a school girl. I may have also cried a couple times, which, come to think of it, might just mean I’m an emotional person – there weren’t really any terribly sad-sad parts.

All in all, I’d definitely recommend this to any lovers of contemporary YA novels. If you liked Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen, or even HowTo Love by Kaite Cotungo I think you’ll like this book. I’ve heard great things about Amy and Roger's Epic Detour, too (Matson’s debut novel from 2010), which I’ve definitely added to by TBR list.  

…

I’m still sad that no one (minor spoiler) ever managed to steal the “Sloane Loves Ferris” sign from the drive in, though. What’s up with that? 

Review: Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

Random House, 2011

I love Lisa See!  I originally discovered her after first reading Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of Geisha -  one of my all-time favorite books.  I was looking for more Asian historical-fiction, and happened upon See’s SnowFlower and the Secret Fan. While I will admit it didn't really touch me in the same way Memoirs did, I still found it beautiful, informative, and haunting. I can still hear the crack of the foot bones as the foot binding scenes played out from the page into my mind (shudder).

I love it when historical fiction spurs further research. I remember reading Snow Flower and simultaneously scouring the internet for information and pictures about foot binding in feudal China (how did I not know about this before this book?!).  Naturally, when See’s Shanghai Girls came out, I immediately bought and read it (it didn't hurt that the cover was also gorgeous):

I was taken on an amazing but heartbreaking journey of two sisters (Pearl and May), and their travels from rich, excessive 1920’s Shanghai to poverty, internment, and racism encountered in the American LA Chinatown.  [Spoiler] The ending involves Joy – May’s biological (and Pearl’s adopted) daughter finding out the family secret and running away to China (during its early Communist Period).

I knew very little about Chinese history before reading Lisa See’s historical fiction novels, and it’s safe to say I knew even less in particular about 1950’s Communist China. Dreams of Joy (the sequel to Shanghai) follows both Joy and Pearl’s journey back to China– Joy is running away from her mothers and towards her biological father, while Pearl is trying to stop her.

In between reading Shanghai Girls and Dreams of Joy (years). I discovered Under the Hawthorn Tree  by Ai Mi and the movie Mao’s Last Dancer (2009). I therefore had a little more information on Communist China (Ai Mi’s novel in particular deals with the repercussions of the late Maoist phase, and was fantastic), but Dreams really showed the disastrous details of peasant life during “The Great Leap Forward” – a movement that I can assure you I had no knowledge of until this book. Over the past few weeks I lost a fair bit of sleep – after reading several chapters before bed, I would always get lost in Wikipedia afterwards – researching Mao in general, the history of Communist China, and then the details in particular of “The Great Leap Forward”. There’s just something about a fictional narrative that makes research so much more interesting. What an intense story – and it was based off of real events.

Speaking of which – during the last few chapters (which I couldn't put down), Joy sends her mother and father a picture of herself in an attempt to show how emaciated she’s become out in the countryside. This strangely reminded me of Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild  - I remember reading about the last pictures Christopher McCandless took of himself – his body having become almost skeletal due to starvation. Since this was a biography/memoir of his life, I could actually go find these pictures after reading the books - and the image still haunts me. Just the passage about Joy’s picture haunts me in the same way – I almost wish I could have seen the photo, but I would imagine some historical photographs exist of people in similar situation if I really tried looking.

I also appreciated Joy’s musing on oppression and uprising – in the book, she mentions how, back in America, she used to wonder why the  Jewish in WWII didn't just stand up and fight back – how could Nazi's keep concentration camps full of so many people and keep them down? Hunger, weakness. Her realization of the similarities between her situation during The Great Leap Forward and the Holocaust was eye opening, and reminded me that her prior assumptions were sadly ones that many people probably have to this day. Also – how do more people not know about things like The Great Leap Forward? I could blame my age or ignorance, but I have a Master’s degree (albeit in Library Science and not history, but still). Excuse any ignorance on my part for these casual internet statistics – but it’s said that the Holocaust was the mass murder of 6 million Jews – The Great Leap Forward ended in disaster totaling anywhere between 18 and 32 million deaths. I suppose I’m just baffled as to how I only heard about this as an adult (I’m sure there are other such tragic points in history that I could mention or learn about, but I think you see my point). I guess I’m just more enticed to read great, informative historical fiction.

On a different note, I loved seeing Pearl come back to Shanghai – to her old home where she had so many happy memories with May in the 20's. I found the small details, like fitting into her old extravagant clothes again, exciting – she had been through so many hardships. It felt like a comforting nostalgia for her.

Alas, my ever present note from an adoptee/birth mother perspective – wow. Joy certainly drove me crazy sometimes. Her anger at her mothers for keeping her biological roots secret is warranted, but she certainly took a long time to get over it. Not wanting to see the woman who raised her again – or even cutting some slack for the woman from whose body she came from – well. It angered me, but maybe I take these things too personally. It’s such a controversial and personal topic, people are bound to react differently. Everyone's story is also different, I know. If I knew Joy in real life, though – we would have been having a little talk about respect for the two women who put her first. Fortunately, She did seem to come around in the end, (and I guess I'll cut her some slack for it being the 50's/60’s – I suppose adoption was a lot more taboo back then).

I’d certainly suggest reading Shanghai Girls before Dreams of Joy, so that readers don't feel lost.  For those that liked this duo, I would definitely recommend Ai Mi’s translated novel Under The Hawthorn Tree – although it focuses more on a romantic story, the characters are still dealing with Maoist period China. Snowflower and the Secret Fan would also be a great read for those who like Lisa See’s work - it’s likely her most well-known, and I felt it stood up to the hype (although it’s set in feudal China, not Communist – but this is just an opportunity to learn about another period of Chinese history). I’d also recommend watching the 2009 movie Mao’s Last Dancer  - it’s set just after the Maoist period, but after reading these books, you’ll likely understand the background a little bit more (also, it was just a great movie). 

Review: How To Love by Katie Cotungo

How To Love by Katie Cotungo

Balzer + Bray, 2013

Like many other reviewers have mentioned – this book confused me. I feel conflicted, because I’m rating it 5 stars – for sheer enjoyment (I read it in one sitting last night!), but I’m also not sure I like the message it sends.

How to Love has been on my TBR list since I read the synopsis in the Chapter’s New & Hot Teen Fic section.  I actually jumped up and down when my hold finally came in at work (it took forever). I’m a sucker for teenage pregnancy stories, but it should also be noted that I find them a bit of a double edged sword. It is so easy to judge other’s decisions. Being a birth mother myself, I have this weird thing where I hate reading/seeing fictional stories about adoption, but I also become seriously enraged when young/surprise pregnancy stories fail to mention adoption as even an option.  And then, there’s also that whole thing where seeing/reading young women successfully raise their children makes me feel a little sad and guilty, but that’s just life, and I try to push through It (my own story worked out the way it’s supposed to).

So Reena has grown up with Sawyer as friend of the family, secretly loving him from a young age. Because she has a hard time talking about her feelings, her best friend is even unaware of the extent of her massive crush on him. This leads to a relationship between the best friend and Sawyer, much to Reena’s shock. (Spoiler) stuff happens, and eventually Reena begins a rocky relationship with Sawyer, who certainly has some issues of his own.

I love drama – I hate admitting that. I mean, I don’t crave drama in my own personal life, I swear, but in books and TV, I love me some good dramz. This book had plenty of it. I was hooked on Cotungo’s Reena voice from the first page. I love that – when you start the first paragraph of a book, and you just keep going – and going, and going. There were no boring bits to wade through to get to the good stuff.

The book is written in this flip-back-and-forth-format – two storylines running simultaneously side by side – “Before” chapters follow “After” chapters. One is the story of how Reena falls in love and begins her tortured relationship with Sawyer, which obviously ends with her pregnancy and his mysterious departure. The “After” is the current day story that starts with his return to town after 3 years.

So in the beginning, you don’t know the whole story – you don’t know the details of Sawyer’s problems, why he left, what he did when he was away or how much contact he had with his family.  Before I knew all this, I was pissed. I couldn't understand why she was even giving him the time of day, let alone letting him take care of her kid. This is where I've seen some reviewers fault the book.  But I thought it was a good, slow reveal. I might just also be a sucker for a broken guy, but as the story went on, I could understand why she was in love with him. She didn't make great choices – in her past relationship with him, nor with his return home (she seemed to forgive him so, so, quickly), but she’s only human, and so was he. If you’re a shades-of-grey-thinker, you might agree. If you’re more of a grudge holder, black and white thinker, you might hate Sawyer or Reena, and thus, this book. I didn't though. I couldn't stop reading it. I think it wrapped up well – a little predictable (and quickly, if I’m to be honest). But I liked the ending. I like a happy ending.

As long as you’re reading the book with the understanding that not everyone makes the right decisions – I think it was a great read. And isn't that life, anyway? People make mistakes, they have weaknesses and soft spots.  Sometimes stories are just stories – not every story in life is meant to be modeled after. Also, I think, Reena did have some admirable qualities. She was a great mom, if not a little emotional, but one can understand such reactions given the situation. I was glad she (sort of spoiler) eventually stood up for herself in the end with the parents in the story. Her whole “Oh, poor me, I’m the whore of Babylon” shtick was getting old fast.

The book left me with a weird feeling a heartache – for the way the “before” timeline ended, when Reena was very alone and pregnant. But, knowing the current day Sawyer and then the ending, I was comforted. They’ll obviously have a lot to talk about in the future, but I was happy with the (again, somewhat predictable) ending.  It was what I was rooting for, by the time I fully understood Sawyer.

Also – no mention of adoption. Strange, considering how Catholic the families were. There is one conversation where her friend Shelby tells Reena  “you know, you don’t actually have to do this …” referring to the abortion option, but Reena’s response is about how it’s already changed her life and how she loves the baby, etc.  This response answered the question for me – clearly she was into raising the baby, but I wish Shelby would have just included like, even just the word, “adoption” in this options conversation. Reena’s response would have answered both suggestions well.

All in all, a great, quick read. I’m still trying to think of other perfect read-alikes. My first suggestion would be Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen – teen pregnancy, BFFs, bad-influence-boy intense romance. I’ll update later if I think of another one. 

Review: Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil

Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil 

Peachtreee Publishers, 2013

I first heard about this book while I was at work doing research for a YA book list called "Around the World". I had been looking for YA novels set in various different countries around the world, and this must have popped up on one of my Goodreads lists for recent, country specific books ( I can't remember where, exactly). It had me immediately hooked with only the tiny Amazon.ca blurb - geeks, romance, World of Warcraft, and Princess Leia? I was sold! We didn't have it in our system, so I quickly put in a request for purchase for my branch with my selector. Does it sound like I'm bragging here? Haha, I might be! I get this weird nerdbrarian satisfaction from knowing that *I* was the person that suggested we purchase a certain book. Especially when it turns out to be awesome - screw the author, I asked my selector to BUY that sucker! Lol - I'm a narcissist for sure. Also kidding on the screw-the-author bit. Great writers (writers at all, really) are what makes my job even possible!

Being written by an Australian author, and set in Australia, this book also satisfied the "Australian" requirement for my current Quarterly Young Adult Book Club Reading Challenge. I would have read it anyway, regardless, though. I've been waiting anxiously for it to get through processing for some time now - had it on hold as soon as the record was available in Horizon. There's also some satisfaction in knowing that I was the first person to read my branch's copy.

Luckily, my anticipation was not let down - I LOVED this book! It wasn't really deep or surprising - occasionally predictable and cheesy, but I loved it for what it was. Great, nerdy, YA romance.  If you think about it - there really aren't enough books like this. It's nice to see books written about nerdy teenagers - I would imagine that many teens who are book gobblers are also nerds themselves, and of course it's always fun to see yourself reflected in a book's character. I find I notice this most often with emotional or family situations - these are what we talk about teens finding relatable in YA books. Occasionally I've read books about other readers, sure, but they usually seem to be more about the literally teen girl - Oh, I just love to read Wuthering Heights and Pride & Prejudice. Sure, those teen girls exist - but what about the pop culture video game nerd kind of girls (or guys)? This book fits that kind of teen, instead. 

Don't get me wrong - they don't actually even talk about reading, really (aside from school studying, and maybe a one-off LOTR reference). They aren't really book-nerds. Sam, the main character, is obsessed with scary movies, and wants to be a screenplay writer. He troubleshoots IT problems at school, plays World of Warcraft (squee!), and quotes movie lines like they're going out of style (oh, and he finds Princess Leia sexy - but who doesn't, really). He has a core group of friends: Mike - the karate champ who just came out as gay; Adrian, an overly enthusiastic hobbit-looking short and chubby guy, and Allison - a shy, quiet girl who is obsessed with Anime and all things Japanese (a girl after my own heart!). They are frequently bullied by the popular-cool kids. 

Camilla - the new girl in town, enters the scene and turns life upside down - her dad is big in the music scene - she has beautiful long hair that she wears in a number of different ways and wears cool, vintage clothes. She has loads of self confidence, and decides (much to their bewilderment) to be friends with our misfit nerd crew. They find out she also loves WoW, Star Wars, and even knows particular Strar Trek TNG episodes. 

The conversation between Camilla and Sam when she sees his WoW night elf screen saver was awesome - it felt real. I've had those conversations before - Do you play Wow? (excitement!) Errr... yeah (cautious, scared response, please don't make fun of me). It's always a little nerve wracking telling people you have a level 87 blood elf warlock, lol (which if you don't know WoW, isn't overly impressive or anything, it just seems to be those words themselves that make non-Blizzard people bawk). I enjoyed the way Keil wrote about the WoW interactions as well - in-game actions made sense, and I also liked that the dialogue stayed the same as regular dialogue - they didn't change the font or anything funky like that to differentiate WoW chat versus IRL convo - she used words to explain what was happening. It felt more organic and real. The only thing I disliked about her WoW-related storyline was the fact that Sam was ALLIANCE. Pft. Ridiculous. Booo. Especially as a slasher film enthusiast - I don't think Sam would have played Alliance, but, you never know. This wouldn't effect my star rating for the book at all, haha.

The novel plays out as you would imagine - there is a decent amount of teen angst - oh no, why are my friends leaving us alone together? I couldn't love her, could I? If I love her that changes my whole world! Same old, same old. But in a good way. Romance is romance is romance, right? You can only do it so many ways. I felt the angst was also believable for Sam's character, as well.

The nerd culture references were also well done - WoW, Battle Star Galactica, Star Trek TNG, Star Wars, Dr. Who, Lord of the Rings ... but they're dropped subtly. Not too much at once, so it doesn't look like Keil's trying too hard. 

Characters were well developed - I felt like I really knew the friends in Sam's group, and Camilla too. Perhaps the parents could have used a little more character-wise, but that's fairly norm with the YA genre. It's often an us-and-them mentality, which is the way it feels when you're that age anyway.  

I loved the bromance between Sam, Mike and Adrian. I love a good bromance in a storyline - it also makes the male lead more likable, I find, when you get to see how he cares for his friends, too. 

My only criticism - other than the Alliance bit (lol) would be the name-dropping. It drove me crazy - when Sam and Camilla talked to each other, they frequently started the sentence by using the person's name - "Sam, I'm bla bla bla" ... "Well, Camilla, you'll have to bla bla bla". I don't remember it happening with any other characters though - and upon further reflection, I think I made this very same criticism for another YA romance recently. It could actually maybe be a form of flirtation? It just felt weird. I could've used less names, I guess. But if that's how you flirt, to each their own!

Overall this was an awesome YA romance that I gobbled up in one night. I gave it a full 5 stars on Goodreads. There were many adorable moments - namely, without spoilers - I squee'd/laughed out loud at the blue-velvet-hat part (you could really feel the chemistry in this moment); I also loved Camilla's costume for the Spring Dance. You go girl. Let your freak flag fly! That was also a great moment of realism as well (don't we all cringe at those She's All That moments - she's taken off her glasses and has now had a make over! Whoa!). 

I'd recommend this book largely to anyone who likes cute, nerdy, YA romance  - which, to be honest isn't a huge genre, is it? So I'll go with cute YA romance. More specifically, I think you should read this book if you liked The Summer I Became a Nerd  by Leah Rae Miller and/or Lola and The Boy Next Door  by Stephanie Perkins: YA romances that also deal with teen angst over being yourself, even if that version of yourself differs from other people want/expect.