What I Like About You | By Marisa Kanter

My thoughts

Narrative and Plot

What I Like About You is the story of a seventeen year old named Halle. Halle is young, vibrant and has a bright voice that carries throughout the story. The pacing is adequate. Basically, this is a fun YA romance read.

The central element of the plot is Halle and her struggle with her identity. In the virtual world, Halle is a book blogger. who pairs book covers with cupcakes. Needless to say, that is the aspect that got me into reading this book. But the story also gives importance to other things such as Jewish culture, teen life and the pressure of the competitive environment on them.

Characters and Conflicts

This is one of those stories where the actions of your main character is debatable. That makes it a good pick for a YA romance book club. It showcases a modern day problem which is both relatable and frustrating at the same time. Halle has this struggle where she doesn’t want her virtual life and real life to collide. When that happens, things spiral out. She is flawed yet relatable.

The virtual anonymity and the freedom that it gives to a person is very well familiar to me as a book blogger. Personally, I haven’t let this part of me collide with my real life. But a few people who get me know this. That’s the point, as an adult I am clear about how much of my identity I wish to share with someone. But were I teenager, maybe I would have struggled with this identity crisis like Halle. Because, I do interact with young adults and I can totally see where Kels’s struggle comes from. It is on that point, I relate to this story.

Conclusion

The book explores the concept of virtual identity and how it really exposes the aspirations of a creative mind. Something which would have been kept hidden in the real world otherwise. However, that being said the book solely goes with that one conflict. After a point, you look at your main character and go, this is going on for a while now!
Even so, I really enjoyed the book blogger aspect of it, the whole twitter drama, cover reveals and book cons. All this is too relatable to me personally and I recommend every book blogger especially tha YA book bloggers to surely give it a try.

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