The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo

The Way You Make Me Feel

by Maurene Goo

Clara Shin lives for pranks and disruption. When she takes one joke too far, her dad sentences her to a summer working on his food truck, the Honeycut, alongside her uptight classmate Rose Carver. Not the carefree summer Clara imagined. But maybe Rose isn't so bad. Maybe the boy named Hamlet (yes, Hamlet) on the truck next door is pretty cute. Maybe Clara's estranged mum deserves a second chance. What if taking these relationships seriously means leaving her old self behind? From the author of I Believe in a Thing Called Love comes another funny story of friendship, romance, and discovering that even when life gets serious, it can still be seriously fun.

Reviewed by Sam@WLABB on

3 of 5 stars

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Rating: 3.5 Stars

Working on her father's food truck may have been Clara's punishment, but it ended up being the push Clara needed to grow, change, and deal with some of her personal demons.

•Pro: I am going to start with my favorite thing about this book - HAMLET! That boy was just all sorts of wonderfulness. He was sweet and charming, and the way he interacted with his nainai and yeye just warmed my heart.

•Pro: It took a while, but Clara grew on me. At first, she was kind of selfish, but she grew a lot over the course of this book, and eventually endeared herself to me.

•Pro: Clara's dad was quite terrific. He was a very young dad, and took Clara's latest debacle as a call to parenting arms. We later found out, that dad was doing quite a remarkable job even as a teen.

•Con: There were a few too many loose ends for me. The ending was thoughtful and very sweet, but there were a bunch of other things that happened with other characters in the book that were just left hanging out there.

•Pro: This story has romance, but it isn't a romance. It's about finding those people, who are important to you, being real with them, and showing them how much they mean to you.

•Pro: The bond between Clara and her dad was really special, and was one of my favorite relationships in the book. Clara learned a lot of new things about her dad, and developed a deeper appreciation for him. She also shared some special moments from her past with us, and I won't pretend that a tear or two didn't formed in my eyes.

•Pro: I was a fan of the friendship that developed between Rose and Clara. It was good to see Clara had someone, who could ground her, but also support her.

Overall: A lovely story of friends and family, which was filled with a delightful cast of characters, humor, and plenty of heartfelt moments.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 30 April, 2018: Finished reading
  • 30 April, 2018: Reviewed