It was /very/ interesting to see an open, “un-girlfriend” relationship amongst teens portrayed. Kann does a great (as far as this otherwise ignorant acespec in a het romance can tell) job at it.

The part that was more troubling, as a fellow person who struggled with her weight as a teen (and still today, though less and differently), was Winnie’s weightloss storyline. I genuinely was proud of how she handles the doctor’s appointment, but less pleased with the rest of the story. Especially when [spoiler] happens to her brother.

Then there was the diner and food competition storyline. And the arguing-with-Granny storyline. It’s a lot to juggle. Mostly, Kann does a good job, but I did find myself zoning out more than once while listening to the audiobook. Narrator did a good job, though.

Another fantastic book by Claire Kann, who reliably creates protagonists that have interesting and complex identity questions and heartaches, but always grow into proud humans. Definitely recommended where contemporary fic is popular.

This was so cute! I loved the representation and the characters were pleasantly lifelike and believable. Winnie is such a well-rounded fleshed out protagonist. I didn't love the love triangle aspect, but thoroughly enjoyed the rest of it.

Tender and relatable. Fat, black queer girl with messy and complicated family relationships. I appreciated the storyline with the grandmother

Claire Kann does it again! Her latest YA LGBTQ romance follows Let’s Talk About Love with even more relatable characters who give readers the representation they deserve. If It Makes You Happy features Winnie, who faces her fears, opens up and learns to live her best life. - featured in my Ms. Magazine column 6/3/2019

In case you are new to my blog and reviews, let me start by saying this: Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann is one of my all-time favorite books out there and this has everything to do with Alice, the biromantic ace character of my heart, and its’ adorable friends-first-romance-later romance. So when I heard about Claire’s new book, If It Makes You Happy, I jumped right on it. I also loved that the blurb mentioned an Ungirlfriend, so I was intrigued by what I assumed would be a new ace love story. But I was also not 100% correct in my assumptions.

Though the romance in this story is not exactly what I had envisioned, it’s still super intriguing and though I didn’t understand fully at first (not sure if I even understand now, to be honest), it did quickly hook me and got me rooting for all these characters. Let me try to explain, in case you are as confused as I was. Our main character, Winnie, is in a queerplatonic relationship with Kara, who she calls her Ungirlfriend. They are partners, they mean everything to eachother and their relationship is built on communication, honesty and trust. (which I LOVED). But though Kara is ace (aro? aro ace? I’m honestly still not sure), Winnie is bisexual and they have an agreement that if Winnie would fall in love with someone else, she could pursue it on the condition that they would talk about it honestly and her boy/girlfriend would have to accept Kara too. All that sounds easier said than done when Winnie starts having feelings for the handsome Dallas…

Though I was a bit surprised by this at first, their relationship quickly became my favorite thing about this book. It’s not a conventional relationship you read about often, but it should definitely be out there more often. I loved the focus on honesty and communication and I loved all the scenes between Kara and Winnie together.

Other things I liked:

The focus on family: though it seems like the romance part takes the forefront, it’s actually the family relationships that are the heart of the story. Most notably, Winnie’s relationship with her brother Winston. She would do anything for her little brother and I was grinning though all of their interactions. But also her relationship with her cousin Sam, which is not as perfect but is still beautiful since they both put so much effort into it, and her relationship with her grandmother, which is unfortunately not so perfect.

The body positivity: Winnie is a fat girl and she is happy with the way she looks. Though not everyone agrees with her, luckily Winnie knows how to stand up for herself and make her feelings heard and let me just say that Winnie’s speeches made me want to get up and clap for her, because the girl has a way with words!

Honestly, I did have a few issues with the book, mainly that I was just so confused throughout most of it. The writing and plot felt a little all over the place and I was often wondering what the point of the story was. There is just so much going on and I felt like the story would have been better if a few things were cut from the story to give the remaining plotlines more room to breathe and reduce the chaotic overall feel.

That said, I still really enjoyed this story and recommend it to everyone who loves to read about an honest, communicative queerplatonic relationship, family dynamics and body positivity.

There was so much about this that I liked, but there was also enough that I did not enjoy that I think I have to leave it at a middle-of-the-road 3 star rating. Let's start with the things I did like!

THE REPRESENTATION. Winnie is self-described as queer, fat, and black, and she is living her best life and embracing all aspects of her identity! Winnie's self-confidence was contagious, and I could even feel my own self-esteem rising when reading about her. She's also incredibly giving and kind, and will absolutely throw down to defend those that she loves. I really enjoyed being inside her head through this story. This book also explores a queerplatonic relationship, which I had heard of but never read in a book before, so that was incredibly interesting and fun to read about. Speaking of relationships, Winnie's love interest was a baaaaabe. His name is Dallas and he was a really wonderful person who was there for Winnie and supported her through all the crazy things that were happening in the book. I think overall, the characters are what really shine in this book. They all feel fleshed out and the conflict between them feels realistic without being overdramatic.

Now onto what I didn't like as much: the plot. Or lack thereof. This is a very character-driven book, as I just mentioned above, but it has essentially no plot. For me, that just isn't enough. I need some sort of driving force in a book and this just didn't have it. So if you super enjoy character-focused books and don't really care about plot, this may be a really great fit for you! It unfortunately didn't have that oomph I look for in my books. I do also think that some of the characters didn't treat Winnie very well and then didn't really face any consequences for their behavior. I don't mind messy characters and conflict, but the resolution to said conflict felt a little wishy-washy to me. People just walked all over Winnie and didn't have to deal with the fallout of their actions and that didn't sit right with me.

Another thing that bothered me is that some dialogue hints that a character is on the ace or aro (or maybe both?) spectrum, but they don't just say "asexual" or "aromantic" on the page. In Claire Kann's debut, Let's Talk About Love, it was a HUGE DEAL that the main character said she was asexual in no uncertain terms, so it just felt a little odd that this wouldn't be confirmed in the text in this book. I did read an arc so maybe it changed in the final copy, but based on other reviews I don't think that's the case. This particular character seems pretty confident in herself and her identity, so it felt a little out of character that she wouldn't talk about that identity.

Overall, I did enjoy this and would recommend it if you're looking for a fairly, though not entirely, light summery contemporary chock-full of diversity and small-town charm, along with a not-so-healthy dose of teen drama. Trigger and content warnings for fatphobia, emotional manipulation from friends and family, asthma attacks.

In theory there's a lot to like, but as it's written this is kind of jumbled. Because I was reading an e-ARC, I can forgive the many typos, and I'll hold out tentative hope for the confusing/muddled/unresolved aspects of the narrative to get smoothed out before final publication.

Fun summer read about Winnie spending her summer with Granny, running the diner, and with her brother Winston and her cousin Sam. And of course, with her partner and ungirlfriend, Kara, who is amazing. Actually, what's most interesting in this book is the depiction of a different kind of relationship, besides straight, monogamous or even queer and monogamous. Winnie's relationship model is completely different and she has rules, but it still confuses her and Kara sometimes. There is some new love in this book, and some fun small town, and some funny parents. It's got a lot of great summer fun...plus a little extra representation we sorely need.

While I liked the overall story, I could not get past how selfish the protagonist was towards her grandmother. Family was such a strong focus of the book and the diner linked granddaughter and grandmother together so strongly, I was highly disappointed how the author made the grandmother out as the villain of the story. I really thought this could have been done better or with more consideration for their relationship.

Alright, so I fell off my posting plan a little last week. There was no special Friday post, I for really busy with things and I just did not have the creative energy to come up with something I wanted to post that was fun (and part of those Friday posts is that they are supposed to be fun for me to post, not that reviews, are not fun because they are but they are supposed to be something outside of the norm)! So I decided it was okay to skip last Friday and finish reading some titles and start fresh today with my post about finishing reading If It Makes You Happy, a book which I really enjoyed.

SPOILERS AHEAD

High school is finally over for Winnie and she is going to spend the summer like she always does, working at her Grandmother's dinner, living with her Grandmother, brother, and cousin in her Grandmother's town called Misty Haven. This is one of Winnie's favorite things about life however, this summer is a little different. It's Winnie's last summer before college and this summer she will be the assistant manager at the dinner as well, taking on way more tasks and responsibility than ever before. When Winnie and her brother and cousin arrive for the summer things start off smoothly but quickly take a turn when Winnie is elected the summer queen and a guy volunteers to be her King. Now this would be okay, except for a few things, one Winnie is terribly stage fright and having to be in the spotlight of the whole town for the whole summer was not exactly on her to-do list and secondly Winnie has an ungirlfriend who is perfectly happy to volunteer to be the King to Winnie's Queen. But now that someone else has also volunteered they are going to have to compete for Winnie in front of the whole town and on top of that Winnie thinks she may even like the guy who volunteered! This is only the start to Winnie's crazy last summer before college but she definitely makes it a memorable one.

I really enjoyed this book, at first I was like oh this is going to be a cute contemporary and at the time of starting to read this book I was also reading Scythe so it gave a nice balance but then I found myself wanting to read this book more and more to find out what was going to happen with Winnie next. On top of all the romantic drama mentioned above Winnie goes through lots of family drama during this last summer before college as well and I really just wanted to see how it was all going to go down. I loved all the characters in this book but I especially loved Winnie, Winston (her brother), and Sam (her cousin) I felt like they all had such different personalities but they were so well accounted for by each other in the book and this amazing unique relationship where they stick by one another and help one another out (even if it sometimes means going against their Grandmother or parents). The last thing I wanted to talk about before I wrap up this review is how Winnie handles things such as her romantic relationship status. I thought the author went about this in such a great way, Winnie has an ungirlfriend in Misty Haven but she also has an interest in this boy who enters to be King. We get to see a lot of how she works this out between the two parties and how things have gone in the past with her family with her romantic situation and I really felt like the author did an excellent job with this. I highly recommend this book, I think it was really awesome, had lots of representation in it, and deserves to be read! I am giving this book five stars on Goodreads.


**I was given an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this title. I read Claire Kann's first book, Let's Talk About Love, and immediately fell in love with her writing because as an ace woman, this was the first time I had seen an ace female MC that was relatable and real. And then Claire gave me Winnie, the body positive LGBTQ+ role model of my dreams, and I was a gonner. This will be in my steady rotation of recommended books for a LONG TIME.

This is a quiet book, very character driven, but the characters are so remarkable. A fat Black girl getting ready for college, already in a queerplatonic relationship and crushing hard on a guy she wants a romantic relationship with. I loved her friend group and her family dynamic - they were close, but things were still complicated. And I loved that this was not a book about miscommunication, as so many can be, but a story about personalities that work together and ones that don't and when to decide it's not worth forcing things.

If you love Gilmore Girls and the cozy, small town feel of it and the complexities of the relationships, then this is absolutely the book you need because it has all the charm, but it's better and more inclusive.

*I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

3.5 stars

This is my second book by this author and I have to say, so far I'm willing to read anything they write.

This book is cute, fun, sweet and bubbly. It is a great summer read. At the same time, there are some harsh moments and themes present that make this book real. See, this book starts off about this Winnie and her love for the diner she is helping her grandma run during the summer. There is a contest or two thrown into the mix and we think it is coming to be all roses and sunshine, until people start in on Winnie about her weight and there is also some familial emotional/mental abuse.

Winnie is adorable and I love her. I was rooting for her and wanting her to find her happiness the entire time. She knows what she wants for her future and she is a take charge type of person, even if she has a hard time in front of cameras or groups of people. She is willing to do anything for those she loves. Winston, her brother, is great. He is such a younger brother and their relationship felt so, so real and great. Sam is Winnie's cousin who is sweet, naive, and slightly clueless. Sam didn't win me over.
It should also be mentioned that Winnie has a queerplatonic relationship with Kara and is slowly falling for Dallas. The whole relationship aspect of the book is handled so well. I don't think I've ever read a YA book-- or maybe any book ever, with this much open communication. Winnie is always open to talk and wanting to get those she is in relationships with to talk to her so that they understand each other and are on the same page. Every time she stepped up to ask for communication I shouted with joy. COMMUNICATION IS SO IMPORTANT!

While the relationship are part of the story, they aren't the biggest part. This book is a love letter to being body positive and living your best life. Fatphobia is dealt with in this book. I really liked how Winnie is comfortable with who she is. She knows her body, she's dealt with people "trying to help her with her weight" all her life and understands what they are about. How she deals with everything (mostly) is amazing and total goals.
The living your best life aspect comes from dealing with toxic people in her life: learning how to move on and be comfortable doing things that aren't traditionally what we are supposed to do. Winnie is such a strong character and watching her blossom is a treat.

Truly, I should stop my review here because I swear I'm so close to giving away spoilers. My last thoughts-- for as much gushing over this book as I'm doing, I am only rating it a 3.5/5. This is because there were times when I was bored reading it. I wasn't always hooked into the story, but my love for Winnie and wanting to see if she would overcome the obstacles in her path kept me reading to the end.

I recommend this one to anyone looking for sweet read with a not often written about relationship structure. 3 cheers for Winnie! I look forward to Claire Kann's next book.

I loved the GIlmore Girls but DIVERSE vibe of If It Makes You Happy, set in a quaint small town with a diner at its center. I wans't prepared for how much of a character study this book ended up being. The reader is in Winnie's head throughout the novel and her thoughts are all over the map. She is incredibly relatable (I absolutely love the way fatness and body image and self-love are portrayed very honestly throughout) and often funny, but her stream of consciousness felt like just that; Many times the chapters are filled more with Winnie's random thoughts and opinions than with plot and dialogue which resulting in a lot of telling and not showing. But the most frustrating part of the book, for me, was Winnie's relationship with Kara. What they are to each other is never fully defined (I totally understand that's sort of the point, and that Gen Z'ers might be able to relate to that romantic ambiguity more than I can as a millennial) but the way Kara acts as if she is in charge of Winnie's other relationships (even though they agreed to be non-exclusive) felt like a very unhealthy portrayal of a relationship. Overall, I think if you're looking for a book with great rep, you'll like Winnie and want to hear her story.

I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK.

There is not enough work out there, either academic or artistic, that takes seriously the importance and power of friendship, particularly queer friendship. This book does exactly that, by centering a committed, queer platonic relationship. I love how the characters in this relationship don’t stress about whether or not other people will “get” them — they just make sure they “get” each other. The focus within the plot on the importance of communication for the health of any relationship is really powerful.

While the town the book took place in felt a bit like a fantasy, the characters themselves felt so real and relatable.

Rating 3.5 out of 5

I loved Claire Kann's LET'S TALK ABOUT LOVE and when her new book IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY was announced, it immediately went on my TBR wishlist. My enthusiasm was high which is why I found it surprising that it took me a while to get into the swing of reading Winnie's story. There wasn't a definitive plot point that kept my interest.

I enjoyed IF MAKES YOU HAPPY well enough, but there were parts of the story that were underdeveloped. The storyline of the Misty Haven crowning and a baking show competition were disconnected. In the book's description, the baking show was the draw, but in the story it seemed like an afterthought.

Winnie's relationships with Kara and Dallas and her brother and her grandmother are what make this book interesting.

There are a lot of people in Winnie's life who she gives a big part of herself to. She has the kind of energy and presence that people want to be a part of. She knows who she is and doesn't mess when people want to tell her otherwise. I really like this about her. It doesn't mean that she has it all figured out, but she's definitely on her way and knows how to communicate that.

Memorable Line:

"Trying people’s patience was my unintentional theme song."

I can't claim this book is a must read, but I do want to revisit IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY again because Winnie is a character that deserves more attention. She makes this book.

I see where this is going and I have recommended the book as a good beach read, but I didn't finish it. I thnk the plot left me lacking and the love/not love triangle was a little hard to follow in that I couldn't really invest in the supporting characters like I wanted to. I haven't done a full review because I don't like to put poor reviews out into the universe.

Winnie loves spending every summer working at her granny's diner, Goldeen's, in idyllic Misty Haven. This year is no different until she arrives and things go south. Granny and her keep butting heads. Her best friend and ungirlfriend Kara is jealous, making their once perfect relationship tense. Her cousin, Sam, is being a pain. And then there is Dallas. The cute boy in the next town over who seems to be taking an interest in her. While the two of them get closer, Winnie also tries to become the person she knows she is.

I had a lot of issues with If It Makes You Happy. I went into this expecting a book as great as Kann's first, but was left unsatisfied and kind of confused.

The biggest problem with If It Makes You Happy is that there is almost too much plot, but nothing happens with any of it. Kann throws in a cooking competition; the workings of the diner; Winnie's relationships with granny, Kara, Winston, Sam and Dallas; and a beauty pageant of sorts. But none of it really gets the focus meaning they all feel dropped and not fully explained. This could have been a great book if just one of these things was kept and the rest gotten rid of. For example, Winnie and Dallas did not need to be the King and Queen of Misty and Merry Haven. Most of their time together was outside of their duties of that anyway and their relationship could have been exactly the same if that plot point was cut.

Also, it feels like Kann was trying to hit on a lot of different social issues, some of which were done beautifully and some that didn't hit the mark. Winnie is fat and beautiful and strong and confident. She is a great character and has a lot of positive aspects that I thought were refreshing. Winnie is a kind person, but she has a temper when pushed. I liked this for the most part. But Kann has one scene that explores what it means to be a black business owner dealing with white customers. The lesson and meaning is great, but the way it fits into the story seemed weird and out of no where.

But then Kann introduces Kara who Winnie is in a queerplatonic relationship with. I'll admit this was new to me and something I hadn't heard of before. Kann did a beautiful job explaining and showing an asexual character in her first book, so I was confused why she glosses over exactly what Winnie and Kara have. It felt like they were just close best friends who love each other intensely -- but aren't allowed to date anyone else unless the other gives approval? I just never really fully understood what their relationship was. I liked that this book introduced a type of relationship I was unfamiliar with, but it left me feeling more confused by it. The biggest confusion was that Winnie didn't seem to be fulfilled by this queerplatonic relationship. She very obviously wanted a romantic and affectionate relationship and Kara seemed to selfishly hold her back and I didn't like that.

I liked If It Makes You Happy for its diverse representation. Winnie is a great character and one we don't see a lot of in YA. I really liked her and she had a great, stand-out voice. But she gets lost in a muddled plot that could have been streamlined a bit. This works well as a quick, light summer read. But not much more.

**I received an e-ARC from Netgalley**

If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann is a gem of a book. I am not sure why I have not heard more about this book when it hits a lot of excellence boxes. Friends, if you’re looking for a great poolside read, I am so enthusiastic about this book.

Winnie is spending the summer before starting college staying with her Granny in Misty Haven along with her brother Winston and cousin Sam. Winnie is excited to work at Goldeen’s, the diner owned by her grandmother which she hopes to run someday. She’s also excited to hang out with her ungirlfriend Kara and just enjoy the summer. Winnie is picked to be Summer Queen along with this guy named Dallas, which throws kind of a wrench in her plans, given the penchant of Summer Royalty to end up together. It is going to be one interesting summer for sure.

Friends, this is such a fat positive, wonderful book. Also, Winnie is Black. She’s also polyamorous. None of this is shoehorned, by the way. ALSO! There’s some pop culture references that just feel natural and real. It definitely does not feel like TOO MUCH while reading. I loved Winnie’s character and how she kind of holds everything together. She sacrifices for her family to be happy. But, she also is flawed in that she has one serious temper.

If It Makes You Happy is a quick, somewhat light read and has me wanting more. I mean, I would love more light contemporary books staring Black girls. Winnie has an interesting story and personality, and I think well, there’s room for more books like this. I hope that you pick this one up if you’re looking for breezy with a distinctive voice.