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What I Like About You

Marisa Kanter (Goodreads Author)

3.64 · Rating details · 3,614 ratings · 944 reviews

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 a ...more

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Hardcover, 416 pages

Published April 7th 2020 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

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Apr 15, 2020 High Lady of The Night Court rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary-read

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 m 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. ...more

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Feb 14, 2020 Caryn - iam.caryn rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-ya-contemporary, read-2020, read-dnf, read-arc

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. 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. ...more

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Feb 10, 2020 may ➹ rated it liked it

Shelves: read-2020, contemporary, rep-mental-illness, annoying, young-adult, diverse, pov-female, pov-1st, arc, ownvoices

— 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 co ...more

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Apr 10, 2020 may ❀ rated it it was ok

Shelves: contemporary, marshmallow-fluff, standalones, yawn, arcs, 400-pgs, meh

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 relat ...more

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Apr 08, 2020 Jen Ryland rated it liked it

Shelves: setting-aside-for-now, not-in-the-mood-for-this

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 a ...more

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Mar 02, 2020 Nenia ✨️ Socially Awkward Trash Panda ✨️ Campbell marked it as to-read

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. ...more

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Sep 27, 2018 Rachel Solomon rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: jewish-mc-ya, all-time-favorites, jewish-ya-2020

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. ...more

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Mar 30, 2020 Katie B rated it really liked it

Shelves: giveaways, young-adult, social-media, read-in-2020, arc, fiction, connecticut

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 al 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. ...more

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Apr 27, 2020 Vicky Again rated it it was amazing

*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! ...more

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Mar 25, 2020 Lisa (Remarkablylisa) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: march-2020

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 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!! ...more

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Mar 19, 2020 Vee marked it as did-not-finish

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 f ...more

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May 03, 2020 Claude's Bookzone rated it it was ok

Shelves: unacceptable-mc-behaviour, love-triangle, high-school, too-long-needs-editing, diverse-characters-represented, predictable, not-much-happens, friendships, young-adult-book, romance

CW: (view spoiler)

Reading advice: You will want to eat cupcakes so be prepared by making/buying them in advance.

A good edit would have made this a better read for me as it felt really drawn out. The secret identity story went on for an unrealistically and frustratingly long time and my annoyance levels were off the charts. This meant that I didn't really feel invested in any of the characte ...more

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Jan 22, 2020 Tiffany (Read By Tiffany) rated it really liked it

Shelves: heartwarming-contemporaries, read-in-2020, 2020-releases, own-arc, 4-stars

Filled with delicious cupcake descriptions, relatable teenage angst, and passionate love for books and online friendships, What I Like About You is a love letter to book bloggers everywhere. 💌 As someone who’s been blogging for over 2 years, I loved exploring Halle’s journey towards finding herself while following her personal experience in this much-loved community.

What I Like About You follows the perspective of Halle Levitt, a popular YA book blogger who runs One True Pastry under the alias ...more

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Feb 22, 2020 Jennifer rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley-ebooks, simon-schuster-canada-arc, coyer-winter-challenge-2020, 2020-book-hoarder-reading-challenge

4.5/ 5 stars

What I Like About You is a debut Young Adult contemporary romance.

This is such a cute YA read! I really enjoyed this book. The girl in this book writes a blog where she combines her love for reading Young Adult books with her love for making cupcakes. She designs cupcakes to go with her favorite YA books.

This book takes place in Middleton, Connecticut. The narrator is Halle (senior in high school - 1st person POV).

Halle loves books and she loves baking. Online she is known as Kels, a ...more

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Mar 26, 2020 Madalyn (Novel Ink) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020-releases, quarantine-reads

*3.5 stars*

I blew through this in two sittings and had a blast. This is definitely one of those books where the main character’s decisions will stress you out the. entire. time., so just be aware of that going in if you’re someone who gets easily frustrated at YA protagonists (personally, I love flawed protagonists because THAT WAS ME as a teenager). There was also a lot of lying, which added to the stress for sure. BUT I loved the friendship dynamics, and I especially loved the warm and fuzzy b ...more

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Apr 14, 2020 sam rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary-read

Is it possible for the heart to grow in size cause mine just swelled up.

Gahhh i need more of this trope like seriously if anyone has any recs like this please please please let me know.

4.5⭐️

Oh yeah and full review to come

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Jul 26, 2020 Vishakha ~ ReadingSpren ~ rated it did not like it

Shelves: the-feminist-approves, 2020, scribd

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 e 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. ...more

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Nov 03, 2020 Kylie Dennison rated it did not like 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

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Jul 20, 2020 Joshee Kun (조수아) rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary, kindle, simon-and-schuster, romance, sci-fi, physically-owned

To him, it's a triangle. But I know it's just a line. It's always been a line.

Not only does this book have a super cute cover; it also has one of the most relatable characters in YA fiction. Most readers will like the sweet "love triangle." But if you're a fellow book blogger or reviewer, you're going to resonate with the story on an entirely different level.

What I Like About You focuses on the life of Halle Levit, who happens to be the daughter of prominent Jewish filmmakers and the granddaught To him, it's a triangle. But I know it's just a line. It's always been a line.

Not only does this book have a super cute cover; it also has one of the most relatable characters in YA fiction. Most readers will like the sweet "love triangle." But if you're a fellow book blogger or reviewer, you're going to resonate with the story on an entirely different level.

What I Like About You focuses on the life of Halle Levit, who happens to be the daughter of prominent Jewish filmmakers and the granddaughter of a well-known editor. Halle wants to be a bookish influencer without the help of her connections, so she creates a new persona: Kels. Soon, Kels wows the YA community with One True Pastry (OTP), a blog that combines unique cupcakes with book covers and reviews. Kels also befriends a Korean-Jewish artist named Nash, and the possibility of meeting IRL becomes too tempting. However, when family problems result in an accidental get-together, Halle doesn't have the guts to tell Nash that she's Kels. And guess what? Nash has fallen in love with Kels.

I loved reading the narrative from Halle's POV because of our many similarities. Our love for family, our passion for reading/writing, and even our disdain for big groups of strangers. Halle usually had panic attacks at parties, and I deeply understood why she couldn't thrive in such high-energy situations. I'd rather stay at home than be a wallflower or trying-hard extrovert. I don't want to sound bitter; I just think that it's better to have remarkable conversations with a few people than engage in small talk with many people whose names you'll immediately forget. Hahahahaha. I'm pretty sure that Halle would affirm my argument.

Halle's most striking quality was her blogging consistency. Regardless of her heavy academic load, she had time to write and schedule posts for her readers. And her creative process wasn't simple at all. She had to bake dozens of cupcakes for a single book cover reveal. The downside was that Halle became too focused on social media to the detriment of her IRL relationships. Moreover, not everyone on the Internet had nice things to say about One True Pastry. This novel taught me that Book Twitter could be a significant source of undue stress and anxiety. Book blogging is fun and rewarding, indeed. But it's not all sunshine and rainbows, either.

Because of her dedication to book publicity, Halle earned a spot at BookCon. In this annual event, readers can meet their favorite authors, win ARCs of hyped books, and just appreciate the presence of fellow bookworms. Halle was invited to be one of the panelists for a much-awaited discussion, and her excitement and gratitude were palpable. In a way, reading about Halle's experience made me feel like I was there myself. I'd love to attend BookCon, but I don't have the means to do so. For now, I can only keep on dreaming. :(

Regardless of my fondness and empathy for Halle, I resented her for how she treated Nash. Ollie, Halle's brother, always encouraged her to come clean. But it was to no avail. When the pressure of having two identities became overwhelming, Halle ghosted Nash as Kels as if their long-term friendship meant nothing. Nash learned the truth about Kels before Halle could tell him herself, so he was very heartbroken. If I remember correctly, his anger lasted for around 50 pages. LOL

As a whole, I liked many things about What I Like About You. It's perhaps the most engaging contemporary book that I've read this year. Hopefully, I can emulate Halle's blogging habits and write reviews more often. If only reading were a full-time job! Sometimes, #adulting sucks. ...more

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Nov 18, 2020 Trina (Between Chapters) rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobooks, standalones, 2020, contemporary, romance, young-adult

The main character is a book blogger and goes to BookCon in this, so this was a fun experience as someone who was formerly a book vlogger! I did enjoy the commentary on online personas.

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Aug 27, 2020 Lindsay (pawsomereads) rated it really liked it

This was a super cute story about confidence, love, family, friends, and our favorite thing, talking about books!
What I Like About You follows, Halle, a YA blogger with a love for baking who uses the pen name Kels so she isn’t associated with her grandmother who was a well-known editor.
Halle and her brother move in with her Gramps while her director parents travel to Israel for their newest documentary. Halle runs into an online friend who only knows her as Kels and has to deal with the drama t ...more

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Aug 21, 2020 Shealea marked it as will-not-finish · review of another edition

Will not finish.
(Audiobook stopped at the end of Chapter 2.)

As a book blogger myself, I found the premise of What I Like About You and its focus on book blogging to be promising. In fact, I did enjoy the beginning of the audiobook.

However, once birthright was casually mentioned very early on (I think the main character's parent expresses excitement about traveling to Israel since they "haven't been there since birthright"), I couldn't shake off my discomfort. Especially knowing the terrible et ...more

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Jan 29, 2020 Iris rated it really liked it

Shelves: geekiness, so-much-fun, light-fluff, read-in-2020, 4-stars, contemporary, romance, full-of-tropes, impossible-to-put-down

4.5 stars

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

This book was cheesy and stupid and ridiculous and overdramatic but I loved it with my entire heart. This was a book about a YA book blogger, and (even tho I don't really blog anymore) I genuinely don't think I've ever felt so seen.

This community, this messy wonderful community, means the world to me, and seeing it in a book was just... mind blowing. The magic and the petty drama, the difficulties and the triumphs... yo ...more

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May 01, 2020 Courtney ♡ librarycutie rated it liked it

Shelves: contemporary

okay, it’s taken me so long to read this but finally—i have! i had to listen to the second half on audio because i just couldn’t get into it as much as i wanted. firstly, i loved that this is about book bloggers and the community that i’m so familiar with and in love with, it felt so comforting reading about it and understanding it. but, what i didn’t like was how halle/kels went about her identity and hiding it. i just couldn’t respect her, despite her reasoning. she was keeping this secret fro ...more

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Apr 09, 2020 aarya rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: theme-c-writer-critic-journalist, theme-r-judaism, theme-literary-or-book-club, theme-coffee-tea-baking-cafe, tag-smart-bitches, read-via-library-hoopla-2020, owned-in-arc-ebook, theme-social-media-apps-viral, theme-c-student-in-high-school, year-2020

D review: https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/r...

Disclaimer: I received a free e-ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Mar 01, 2020 Stephanie rated it it was ok

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. It does not impact my review.

What I Liked

-There is a lot of book community nerdiness in this and I liked it. It’s always fun to read a book about a book blogger.

-I enjoyed reading about Jewish culture. Though Halle is Jewish, she wasn’t really raised with religion, so when she lives with her grandfather who is religious, we get to learn right along with her about traditions and etc. I haven’t read a lot of books that include this, so it helps set it I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. It does not impact my review.

What I Liked

-There is a lot of book community nerdiness in this and I liked it. It’s always fun to read a book about a book blogger.

-I enjoyed reading about Jewish culture. Though Halle is Jewish, she wasn’t really raised with religion, so when she lives with her grandfather who is religious, we get to learn right along with her about traditions and etc. I haven’t read a lot of books that include this, so it helps set it apart a bit from other similar books.

-I loved Halle’s little brother, Ollie. He was wise beyond his years and was always there for Halle. He deserved a little better from her, though, to be honest.

-I liked Le Crew. Though some members of the group weren’t always my cup of tea, I liked their friendship.

What Didn’t Work for Me

-Halle’s parents are famous documentary filmmakers. A little is spoken about the super important topics they cover, but more is said about how they are chasing an Oscar. They came across really shallow to me. I didn’t really respect them.

-One of my biggest pet peeves in books is when all the drama could be resolved with one, honest conversation. I got very, very frustrated with Halle. I can understand being caught off guard the first time she met Nash, but then months go by and their relationship progresses, and it turned more into an uncomfortable catfishing situation. Her brother was the only one who knew the truth of the situation and he continually tried to talk her into telling the truth and she would just get mad at him and storm away to go pout. She was often a hard character to like.

-There’s a lot of YA Book Twitter drama that goes on and it reminded me of why I mostly avoid Twitter. The YA Book Community can be great, but it can also be incredibly toxic and judgmental and promotes “cancel culture”. To be fair, though, the Twitter community in general can be that way. One situation in this story is that the author of a book that means a lot to Halle disses the movie being made about her book saying it’s not just for teens. Halle plans on seeing the movie anyways because it meant a lot to her grandmother (who worked on the book), but she lets other people make her feel guilty about it and it sways her opinion to join the boycott. For a book that celebrates the YA book culture, I just wish that the characters would’ve come across a little better than they did.

Overall

Overall, What I Like About You wasn’t really for me. I almost DNF-ed it several times, but I decided to keep going and did enjoy some parts of it. When needless lying is basically the whole plot, though, I just can’t get behind it. However, this book is obviously a celebration of YA literature and I am well over the age of the target audience, so some of the things that bothered me may not bother them.

Overall Rating (Out of 5): 2.5 Stars ...more

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Mar 31, 2020 Jenn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary, high-school-days, books-i-own, new-author-to-me, swoonworthy-boys, young-adult, read-in-2020, can-t-stop-smiling, surprised-me, forever-recommend

^^^^ literally me reading this book

Ok guys, this book was freaking adorable! I read it in one sitting and I'm pretty sure I was smiling the entire time. Marisa Kanter created this wonderful, feel good story about young love and the fears teens face showing their true selves. Fantastic debut!

Halle Levitt lives her life online. Online she has a following in the book world. Known for her beautiful cupcake book covers, Halle has created this persona that's larger than life. And she's always been able to keep them separate. Until now. When she moves in with her grandfather and finds herself face to face with her online best friend Nash. Instead of jumping for joy and exclaiming how nice it is to finally meet him, she decides to keep that little secret to herself. And we all know how this will go.

This book was pure joy. Having been a part of the book community for awhile now, I loved seeing it so prevalent in Kanter's book. The way she showcased cover reveals, book cons, book twitter and the online community was spot on. I also loved how she showed that online friends are just as important as real life friends. Many believe that they can't cross over just because you've never met face to face. I've met some of my favorite people because of fandoms and books, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The other thing I loved about this book were the characters. Yes, Halle drove me nuts while keeping her secret, but she was also so relateable that even though I didn't agree with her choices, I understood why she made them. Nash was your perfect swoon worthy boy who was an amazing artist and just so adorkable that you had to love him. But it wasn't just the two of them that made this book, the side characters were just as important. Especially Halle's grandfather and brother. I could read an entire book with just them.

I kind of stumbled onto this book and I'm super glad that I did. I'm going to be rec'ing this book right and left to anyone who will listen. Marisa Kanter has definitely put herself on my 'to watch' list and I can't wait to see what comes next from her.

...more

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Feb 16, 2020 Dahlia added it

Shelves: 2020-releases, religion-in-ya-na, jewish

This was too freaking adorable for words, and I looooved all the stuff about book blogging, internet friendships, and YA. It was really freaking stressful waiting for the truth to come out - like, among the most stressed I have been in a rom-com - but super worth it and I would pay more than zero dollars for epilogue.

TW: (view spoiler) ...more

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Jul 14, 2020 Brinley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: romance, contemporary, july-2020-challenge, plan-to-buy

I really liked this book. It was super predictable, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable for me. I binge-read it in a span of hours, it never hit a slow spot. This was a book about a pair of book lovers, and they had the life I wished I had. (minus the love-triangle drama)

I found both characters in this to be so likeable. They also felt real, and their actions were believable. Halle was frustrating at times because of her refusal to tell Nash her identity, but even that was understandable. ...more

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Sep 27, 2018 Sierra Elmore rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: best-of-2020

I was super lucky to read an early copy of this amazing book. Marisa's debut is a complex tale of mistaken (or hidden?) identity, family complications, and first loves, all wrapped up in a sweet, sassy package. Think: a delectable mix of Morgan Matson, ALWAYS NEVER YOURS, and a splash of The Great British Bake-Off (yes, there are PLENTY of desserts to be found!).

The characters and situations ring true, and there's plenty of fandom and blogging references to keep teens fervently flipping pages! ...more

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About Marisa Kanter

Marisa Kanter

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Marisa Kanter is a young adult author, amateur baker, and reality television enthusiast. She is the author of What I Like About You and As If On Cue. Born and raised in the suburbs of Boston, her obsession with books led her to New York City, where she got her degree in Media Studies and Creative Writing from NYU. Marisa works in the publishing industry to help books find their perfect readers. Fo ...more

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Quotes from What I Like About...

“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.” — 5 likes

“I need to make a playlist of acoustic covers from tonight and carry it in my pocket. Songs that will remind me of winding up in a coffee shop in lace sleeves and red lipstick” — 2 likes

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