Tell Me How You Really Feel
Ratings17
Average rating3.3
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Look, the characters here? So unlikable. I honestly couldn't stand them which made reading this book ridiculously difficult. Things they had problems with felt like no-brainers. Again, communication, being a decent human-being to others, etc. And Sana's problem of not picking a college yet because of the internship she wants to do??? I'm not sure why any family would have a problem with it.Why, seriously why was it a huge secret? I had a problem with her dad coming back and people acting like Sana should be happy instead of doing what she did which made sense.
So much about this book just did not work for me. I mean, don't even get me started on the romance which felt suuuuuper forced.
Not liking this book makes me so sad because the cover is beautiful and I want to read great f/f books so I can put them in the hands of teens that want them, but this one won't be a first choice for me.
I am so disappointed
Likes:
- great rep!! gay girls, no homophobia, Jewish Mexican & Muslim Persian/Indian MC's
- this reminded me of Gilmore Girls if Rory & Paris started dating
Dislikes:
- Rachel is truly insufferable. I truly don't understand why Sana even continued to have a crush on her? she just hated anyone who was attractive for whatever reason and GOD I hated reading from her perspective
- very slow moving. Rachel & Sana didn't really get together until about 200 pages in
- very insta-lovey. EIGHT DAYS after kissing for the first time they proclaim their love for each other and plan to wait for each other for a year... chill
This book was alright. There was a lot of hype around it before it released and I...don't really agree. I liked both characters. I enjoyed the plot. Okay, I enjoyed the entire book, except. Except. Rachel BLINDLY hates beautiful people. Which is ridiculous, given (at least on the cover) she's far from ugly herself. I just don't get her blind hatred of beautiful people. She's spent the last three years hating Sana because, what? Sana had the guts to ask her out while being pretty? That plot point just kept pulling me out of the story. Which was otherwise really good! But two pretty girls on the cover and one of them hates pretty people but has no self-awareness that she is ALSO pretty? I don't recall the text actually saying whether Rachel is pretty or not, but Sana obviously thinks so.
This might be an issue with whoever designed the cover not understanding the plot of the book; I know authors don't always have full control over their covers. But it REALLY made that particular plot point confusing.
This book is also another example of the cover description being misleading. Rachel doesn't “realize” that Sana is perfect for the role and try to cast her; her supervisor informs her that Sana will be in that role and she'll just have to make it work. It's a bit of a different dynamic.
Sooooo I don't know whether to recommend the book or not. It was good, but I was annoyed by that plot point. Rachel and Sana were the only developed characters; everyone else was only there to further their story. Which is not always a bad thing; but I generally like the supporting cast to be a little bit more developed. They are people too, they shouldn't solely exist to drive the romance between the two main characters.
As a lesbian romance, this was great. As a well-rounded book, not so much.
You can find all my reviews and more at Goddess in the Stacks.