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. Synopsis from Goodreads PERSONAL REVIEW This book was recommended to me through Goodreads and I thought it sounded like a fun read! I love Eliza and Her Monsters and thought that this sounded similar (which I was excited for), except this time the main character is a book blogger and struggles to merge her two lives. This was a book I really wanted to love, but there were too many things that were off for me... Love Halle's Blog It should come as no surprise that I would end up loving the fact that Halle is a book blogger. There are literally thousands of book accounts that I'm in love with because of how they talk about or picture books. One of my favourites is Steph at @pieladybooks; like Halle, she's amazing at creating pies that connect to books. Because of accounts like this, Halle's blog and platform seemed completely realistic and I love that Kanter decided to lean in to the Instagram/Twitter world when creating this character. We Knew This Would Happen... The biggest drawback for me was that it's completely obvious that eventually Nash would realize Halle is Kels and that the longer she waited, the worse the fallout would be. Don't get me wrong, I can completely appreciate that she's super shy when they first meet. But even Ollie makes the point of saying that by not telling Nash, Halle is fully just playing him - and I don't have the patience for it. It was really frustrating to read about her stringing him along for so long. Yes, Nash makes some mistakes, but those only happen because Halle is just never honest. What kind of relationship is that?? Abrupt Ending This book felt like it just kind of STOPPED when it needed some time to keep going. So much of the middle of the book could have been cut so that Nash learning the truth happened earlier and then we could really see what happens when Halle tells everyone the truth. Somehow, two months passes within a few pages and I just didn't buy it. For a story that spends so much time building the relationship, once the relationship falls apart, the resolution happens too fast for me to believe. I really wish we had received an epilogue, if not a few more chapters to properly bring the book to an end. Overall, while this was a cute story, I often found myself frustrated with Halle about her lack of action. The rest of the characters were excellent and I like the concept in theory, but the execution was missing a few things for me. HOWEVER, I know that there are a lot of people who will still really enjoy this book and I'd recommend it to people who liked Eliza and Her Monsters or are looking for an easy, predictable book to binge read. What did you think of What I Like About You? FINAL RATING: 3/5
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About MeHi, I'm Alexandra! I love reading (largely YA fiction, but sometimes I'll read "adult" books), playing board games, Nutella, and binge-watching TV shows on Netflix with my husband. Follow Me on Instagram@AllCharactersWanted
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