The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo

3.5 stars!

This was a nice break from fantasy, which is exactly why I went into this contemporary book and I think that overall increased my enjoyment of it. It was exactly what I expected and what I wanted.

I liked this story a lot for what it GAVE in addition to the usual (mostly) predictable contemporary plot lines. Basically all of the major players in the story were POC (Korean/Brazilian, Black, Chinese), I always love that. Family was very present throughout the book, and not just Clara's. LOVE that. I think family is so important and we got to see a cool father-daughter-close relationship, those are my fave.

Character thoughts:

The main character Clara had a clear and distinct character growth throughout the story. The male love interest Hamlet was also the typical drop dead gorgeous type, but had the cutest personality to balance it out! Rose, though at first I was kind of annoyed by, really came through after the initial set up of the story. I loved how she always kept true to herself even when other people thought she was uptight or unreasonable. Small amount of anxiety rep from her, but I don't have anxiety, so I can't say how true her feelings were to the real stuff.

Plot thoughts:

Let's be honest, I don't read contemporary for any brilliant plot lines or whatever. But Maurene Goo has a way of still making everything fun and fast paced feeling. And there are small things, like little interactions and small hiccups that surprised me throughout the book. It was a fun read overall.

Now why did I knock off some stars? Well, though I liked the book and enjoyed it for what I expected it to be. That's just it. I expected a lot of things. And though I felt my heart strings twinge a big in the middle/end there, I wasn't bawling or extremely moved by anything. So just average? but slightly better.

I def still pick up more of Maurene Goo books because they're such quick, fun reads (based on my initial impression with this one)!