I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

I unknowingly read these two very similarly-themed books back to back over the past week.
In Attachments (a contemporary romance), the IT security guy who monitors flagged office emails finds himself interested in one of the women’s emails he’s been reading, but he can’t reveal to her who he is or how he knows her.
In What I Like About You (YA), it’s about two online best friends who have never met. The female, who uses a fake name online, finds she’s moved into the same town as her BFF and he has no idea it’s her as she continues to keep her online and IRL world separate.
Even though they both had similar themes of technology and hiding who they were from others, I think I preferred Attachments a bit more than What I Like About You but I did enjoy both - even though in most cases these characters just needed to TALK TO EACH OTHER! 😅

The short review is I did like this book. The slightly the longer review is while I liked it, I spent most of my time screaming at the protagonist.

It’s one of those situations where I thought the romance overall was really cute but at the same time I felt terrible for our love interest who was being strung along and lied to for the entire book. You wanted to root for the romance but at the same time you didn’t because it was all rooted in a lie.

There was a close relationship between our protagonist and her brother which was really nice to see how they went to each other for advice (and I feel like her brother was being the readers voice throughout the book) so I enjoyed that a lot. It’s nice to see a strong sibling relationship and it’s one of my favourite things in books when it’s included!

I put off this review longer than I should’ve as I read it back in may so some of the details are a little fuzzy now but that’s how I felt about it. Overall I did like it but at the same time it made me mad too.

I thought this story was adorable. While being strongly YA, it perfectly portrayed the uncertainty of being a teen, when you always want to be cooler than you feel and frequently feel not good enough, where life seems as though it’s balanced on the head of a needle and even the tinniest change will ruin everything. Do I wish Halle had come clean to Nash about her book blogger persona Kels? Of course. But more importantly, did Kanter make the reader understand Halle’s reasons for not doing so even if we disagreed with them? Yes, she did. I loved all the book blogging and baking and especially how they intersected. I thought both Nash and Halle were relatable. There was some repetition in the story, but it didn’t bother me. I really enjoyed this book.

I really enjoyed the dilemma of having 2 lives: one online and one in the real world. I loved how the 2 colliding made for so much ridiculous fun but also such a sweet story.

This was a fun read, where the lines between online life and real life blur, when we tell the truth and how that affect our relationships. Definitely inspired me to start reading more YA again. I was kept interested in where the characters would end up and finished the book in two days. Also has relatable representation (Jewish characters, LGBTQ, POC)

A modern take on the love triangle trope, “What I Like About You” is a contemporary YA romance focusing on a boy, a girl and her online personality. Offering a diverse cast inclusive to both Jewish and multiracial representation in both main and supporting characters, there is a nice mix of levity with emotional resonance woven into the story’s plot.

A must read for YA romcom fans, Marisa Kanters debut in the genre is a wonderful one.

This book was just alright. Not bad, but also not amazing. It took me a while to get into it and even then I wasn't very invested. I found the female main character to be quite annoying at times but I thought the romance was okay.

I found this one fell flat for me. So much of the central conflict could have easily been avoided with some simple conversations. Not a winner for me.

A debut book from Marisa Kanter, What I Like About You focuses on internet relationships and real life friendships. This story had felt done before, so while it was enjoyable at times, it also felt cliche.

What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter



Synopsis: Halle Levitt is a YA book blogger, who operates under Kels the creator of One True Pastry. Kel’s is and has everything Halle doesn’t in her personal life. When Halle and her brother move in with their gramps, she discovers Kel’s online best friend Nash lives in the little town too. Nash has no idea that Halle is Kel’s so she tries to avoid him everywhere she goes. Halle considers whether she should come clean and tell Nash who she really is.



Review: This book was pretty cute, and covered two important topics, grief and anxiety. It was fun to read a book about book bloggers, considering that’s what we’re all doing on our pages. I loved the character’s; they were all relatable and genuine. The drama was good, although a bit too exaggerated at times. I don’t read a lot of YA, I found the author mentioning that YA is for teens multiple times to get pretty annoying. Overall, it was a cute, fluff read!

This book was really cute! It was a bit familiar of a story but that's not necessairly a bad thing. It didn't do anything particularly groundbreaking but it was a cute, familiar story.

A solid YA contemporary story. I enjoyed reading about the characters, and found the plot line a bit deeper than I was expecting!

There were good parts to this story, likeable characters and it was an easy and light read. The plot didn't hold my attention though and I found it to be too predictable and even repetitive. A miss for me unfortunately.

This is a really cute book that is completely relevant at the moment. I love how it involved the online book community, which I've been part of for many years..Sometimes we don't get enough credit and this story gave us that. The online persona vs. real life was also an interesting plot. Even as an adult, I appreciated everything this teen novel is.

Sweet novel exploring relationships in relation to new age technology. Loved the writing, as it had an almost flowery way about it.

Thanks to netgalley for allowing me to review this book.
I have this book a 3.5 star. I really enjoyed it. I loved how the main character was a book blogger, who makes cupcakes to look like book covers. I’ve never read a book with this concept before. I also enjoyed how the book talked about book con, booktube and book Twitter. It felt like I was sort of reading about myself while reading this book.
The reason I took off 2 stars, is because as much as I enjoyed the text messages, twitter comments and group chats being in the book. It was very hard for me, to figure out sometimes who was writing which message. Also, I get why kels/Halle didn’t let Nash know who she really was. I didn’t think that she needed to keep the secret so long. Also, after things were all wrapped up. The book just ended. I would have liked to know if Halle and Nash went to NYU together.
All in all I really enjoyed this book.

This book was so cute and wholesome!! I loved how it centered on a teen blogger and the book community. The main character is really involved in books and baking (two of like, my favourite things EVER) and i found so many aspects relatable and a proper, genuine representation of the online book world

The relationship between Halle and her brother Ollie was SO FREAKING PRECIOUS!!!! they're best friends and get along so well and trust each other and stand by each other and keep each other in line and I just love it so much!!!! beautiful sibling representation is one thing but beautiful little brother representation is even more 🥺🥺🥺

Halle's a really relatable main character. She's awkward but smart. She loves books and baking and spending time with her family and friends. She's really sweet and has a good heart but doesn't like making big decisions or taking chances (meeeeeeeeee) and of course, she spends her entirely life online!!!!!

Nash!!! He's such a soft, adorable boy. He's a graphic artist and makes his own comics and he's really sweet and caring and a whole marshmallow.

However, I didn't love everything about the book. The whole plot of the book kind of hinges on the fact that Halle (though she uses an alias online) knows Nash's identity from the online world but he doesn't know hers. and so, there's a TON of miscommunication

and usually these "You've Got Mail" type of retellings are my favourite thing ever. But the fact that Halle KNEW about Nash right from the moment she met him and didn't say ANYTHING for the majority of the book made me feel very uncomfortable.

I totally understand wanting to stay safe online, especially for teenagers, but the way in which their friendship grew in real life and she kept finding excuses not to come clean made it feel sooooooo catfish-y

and the problem was, the book felt really repetitive. it was like a cycle of nash and halle hang out and become close friends, they do something fun, nash is torn bc he has feelings for kels (halle's online persona), halle feels guilty.

and repeat.

for the majority of the book.

if the plot progressed a little more or something more developed, i might have been easier on it. but i just felt everything was hinged on this plot line ONLY and it was quiet predictable and drawn out.

anywhos. it was a fun read and cute and I really enjoyed how it was bookish centered,

The things I liked in this book: Halle’s family, (OLLIE!!!!) seeing a family deal with a tremendous loss in Halle’s Grams, the message of Halle overcoming self-doubt to be confident, the Jewish representation and the inclusion of mental wellness as Halle deals with anxiety and her Gramps deals with losing his wife.

All of these things were great, I loved them and wanted more. My enjoyment of this book faltered with the romance aspect. I went into this thinking that the romance was the main plot line. And I was disappointed with the romance as I didn’t feel invested in Halle and Nash’s relationship. When I viewed it as a contemporary as Halle grows into herself I was more happy with the book. But the whole not-a-love-triangle plot didn’t work for me at all. It was way too predictable and not engaging. Also, I think it wrapped up way too quickly. When I finished and my ereader when back to the Home page, I thought it was a mistake for a moment because I was expecting an epilogue at least.

Posted on Goodreads and Indigo.ca

1.5 stars
I can see why so many people like What I Like About You. I thought this would be a great book to recommend to teen readers and some parts are great for the young adult crowd, but some things just didn't sit right with me. I am not going to beat around the bush. What I Like about you was just not for me. As someone who has not really blogged before (I dabbled ages ago) I cannot really comment on the accuracy of the blogging that was featured in the book. But I will say posting a picture of a cupcake and a blurb on a book you get how may thousand followers seems extremely far fetched and kind of trivializing the actual effort book bloggers go through just to get even a couple hundred who have been doing this for years. I also had a real hard time liking the main character she was kind of a horrible person, catfishing your potential love interest regardless of age is just not okay. And to top it off nothing happens to her. She gets away Scott free, I feel bad for the love interest.
Overall, What I Like About You had such good promise especially for young adult readers, but unfortunately its hard to ignore some of the negative aspects the book has.