Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I am a big fan of Jane Austen adaptations but I think trying to do it in a children's book really doesn't work. I just couldn't get into it and don't think my students would enjoy it.

In this loosely based retelling of Jane Austen's Emma, we meet Emmy, a pre-teen who creates a "magic" app that runs into a few snags. I think this book did not hit the mark for me because the ages seemed a bit off for the premise of the story. The main character is 12 years old, which felt a bit off for creating a secret-boys-thoughts dating app. There is also a glaring lack of representation where there would have been a perfect opportunity to bring diverse multicultural and LGBTQIA+ characters into the fold. I loved the illustrations and the overall "vibe" of the story, but I felt like it could have used a little more development.

This was a cute Middle Grade book that I would have loved when I was that age! I definitely recommend trying it!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

Emmy is an average teen girl who is obsessed with her phone. She dreams of making apps that set up couples for generations to come! But, after a try to set up her best friend Harper with a new boy on the block ends in complete failure, Emmy hits ground zero. On the verge of giving up her dreams, Emmy appears on a new, never thought to be downloaded app titled I Speak Boy! With the opportunity to easily make matches and create everlasting teenage love, you would think everyone would be sold on Emmy's idea. Will she though be able to convince Harper that true love may come from this app? With secrets bound to be released and her name on the line, will Emmy bounce back and land on her feet? This is the perfect young adult novel to dial into soon!

This novel is a magical retelling of Jane Austen's Emma. I would recommend this to any young adult student or anyone looking for a twist on a classic tale. Author Jessica Brody brought a group of characters that represent the younger generation and their challenge with mental health. This book resonates with me with Jessica Brody's open dialogue about anxiety.

This was cute! I love a light sci-fi vibe, and the magic translation app was a fun twist. I kind of thought it might be a reveal that she was in love with her best friend and I was a little confused - she was really obsessed with her and how great she is and who she’s “supposed” to be with. I really enjoyed a lot of the side characters, but was rolling my eyes at some bits (the brother’s unsolvable made up language that was SO OBVIOUS, for one) maybe because I’m old 😂

Ah, Jessica Brody - you are my favorite author of "junk" books. Although you take familiar concepts sometimes stolen directly from movies like "Groundhog Day" or "Freaky Friday", you always bring a little something extra with your characters and (slightly) more serious subplots. I blaze through the books and I booktalk them constantly to my students who want a romance or something lighter than the latest book on cutting. You are perfection in this genre! I Speak Boy is exactly what I wanted after bogging down in two heavy fantasy ARCs. Although Emmy is objectively not a good friend, you are still rooting for her to work things out. The peek into what boys are thinking is also fun, even in fictional format.

*Disclaimer I received a free copy of this book for a honest review, this will not affect my opinion or feelings on the book*

As a big fan of all the work from Jessica Brody, I was excited to get the chance to read her newest book. I Speak Boy was a really fun story to read. Watching Emmys character grow as a person was also a great journey to read. I love all of our supporting characters as well they were all nicely used and didn’t just feel like extras. I thought the message of this book was a good reminder for us that we tend to forgot. The final act of the book gave me all the good feels. The pacing also felt very consistent to me never felt slow or way to fast in anyway. Over all this book is a must read for fans of Jessica Brody or anyone who’s looking for a good standalone read. This book is definitely going into my top 2021 books with a star rating of 5/5 stars.

*This review will be posted on Goodreads April 20th 2021, everywhere else on publication date*

I was lucky to be gifted an eARC of this book to review. This book is a middle grade retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma, with a magical realism twist. I am a huge Jane Austen fan, so the minute I saw this book I knew I needed to check this book out.

This experience was amazing! I loved seeing the nods to the story I know, and how Brody incorporated them into this story white making it her own. I think this story will really resonate with young girls and women everywhere. This book took me back to when I was in middle school, and I feel like it really shows what that time is life for girls. I swear Brody was in my brain and writing about things I thought and did when I was in middle school. The whole idea surrounding the app to help understand boys, where is that when I needed it in school?! This is such an ingenious idea!

Brody filled this book with truly hilarious moments, as well as good mental health representation. Our main character has anxiety, and I have been told by people who suffer from anxiety that this is described so well. It is great to see this representation in books for younger readers, so if they suffer from similar experiences they can see they’re not alone.

I knew this book was going to be fun, but I didn’t know I was going to have as much fun as I did. This book is full of great moments for all readers, and I HIGHLY recommend it for anyone who thinks this book sounds interesting. You will not be disappointed!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I Speak Boy follows twelve-year-old Emerie Woods, who's low-key obsessed with two things: her phone, and matchmaking. When an attempt to match her best friend with a boy from school goes awry, Emerie ends up with an app that will translate what boys say into what they actually mean. With a whole new world of boy-speak at her fingertips, Emmy navigates a semester rife with secret crushes and strained friendships.

I Speak Boy was such a fun read! I was able to get through it very quickly -- in one sitting -- and I enjoyed every minute of it. Emerie reads as the twelve-year-old girl she is, the way twelve-year-olds perceive themselves. Though the consequences of her various escapades can be predictable to an audience that knows what to look for, the overall plot of the novel felt intuitive while maintaining its entertainment value.

Another aspect of this book that I absolutely adored was that it didn't shy away from more difficult themes/topics, especially the effects of divorce on children. There are many young readers who I am certain will feel seen when they read this book, not just in Emmy's phone obsession or difficulty navigating the middle school social scene, but also in her questions about her father who just left one day, and in the way she commiserates with the classmate who's going through a similar experience.

I Speak Boy filled me with joy, and I am excited for this book to fall into the hands of young readers for whom it will mean the world.

"A phone-obsessed twelve-year-old girl, frustrated by the cryptic boys in her life, discovers a magic app that can read boys' thoughts in this modern-day retelling of Emma by Jane Austen.

After a matchmaking attempt for her best friend, Harper, goes wrong, Emmy is fed up. Why are boys so hard to figure out? But then something amazing happens - she wakes up with a new app on her phone: iSpeak Boy! Suddenly Emmy has the information every girl wants to know - the super-secret knowledge of how boys think...and who they like!

Now Emmy is using her magical app to make matches left and right. But can she use it to help Harper, the only person who doesn't seem to buy into Emmy's "gift"? And when her secret gets out and the app ends up in the wrong hands, can Emmy figure out how to undo the damage she's caused?"

I am ALL HERE for modern retellings of Emma!

This is a fun retelling of Emma with a twist of magic. After a matchmaking attempt goes wrong, Emmy finds a new app on her phone that helps her understand the secret thoughts of boys. This is such a fun idea, though I didn’t love how it encourages the idea that girls should like a boy that’s mean to them just because the boy likes them. I really liked this adaption though—it was really fun.

E ARC provided by Netgalley

Emerie Woods think she has her best friend Harper all figured out. In her capacity as "Love Coordinator", she has come up with an elaborate plan to fix up Harper with her crush, Elliot at the school dance. When she puts the plan in place, however, it backfires in a spectacular way, and she ends up in a decorative pool. Her fancy phone goes dark, and she panics, since she promised her mother that she would make the phone last five years. The next morning, the rice in which she placed the phone has miraculously restored it, and there is an odd app. Emerie had been using an app called "iSpeak" to help her talk to a French pen pal, but now there is one labeled "iSpeak Boy". Sure enough, it magically translates the thoughts of all of the boys around her. It's amazing how concerned they are about their hair, their height, what others think of them, and bras! While this is fascinating, Emerie has a problem. Harper is mad at her because of what happened with Elliot. Emerie tries to make amends, but keeps getting distracted by other things in her life. Her computer teacher, Mr. Weston, seems to think her MOM is cute, her twin brothers are still using weird twin speech that drives her and her mother up a wall, all of the other girls want to know what boys are thinking about them, and her former friend and boy-next-door Grant is the only boy whose thoughts are not translated by her phone. Emerie is still trying to use her love coordinator talents to make things right with Harper, but is that really what the problem is? As she starts to realize that knowing what boys really think isn't all that helpful, will Emerie realize that she has some work to do on herself?
Strengths: Brody has a growing body of really solid works of magical realism. Better You Than Me,(2018), Addie Bell's Shortcut to Growing Up (2017) and In Some Other Life (2017) are all fun, changing places romps. This has a great use of technology, not quite akin to Mlynowski's 2010 Gimme a Call (best use of phone EVER!), but definitely fun. Who hasn't wanted to know what people are really thinking? Emerie's experiences at home, at school, and with her friends are filled with a delicious blend of drama and self-realization. This is one of those restful, fun books that I would have saved up my dimes to buy from the school book fair and reread with alarming frequency.
Weaknesses: Is the boy-next-door trope over used, or am I just bitter that there were no other teens in my neighborhood growing up, so my dreams were just dashed?
What I really think: Definitely purchasing, and this will be hugely popular with fans of Nelson's Wish Novels.

A magical app that translates what boys really mean when they speak and a 12 year old matchmaker, what could go wrong? In this modern-day retelling of Emma by Jane Austen, the story follows Emmy, a girl who just wants to matchmake couples up. When a match for her best friend goes wrong, and she discovers the magical new app iSpeakBoy! which translates what boys mean when they really talk, Emmy takes it into her hands to try and make as many matches as possible. Too bad things start going wrong and now Emmy has to figure out how to really fix all the damage she’s done. Throw in old ex-best friend and neighbor, Grant Knightly, a shy artist Robby Martinez, and Emmy’s mom and a certain Mr. Weston, and the drama goes on!

This was definitely an interesting take on the classic Emma story. It had a lot of the classic elements while incorporating new ones. I think it would be a fun read for middle-grade readers!

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Children's for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I love an Emma retelling, but the pacing on this was hard to sink into. The chapters were really short, and the middle became a muddle for me. I feel like there are parts of this book that put down boy-crazy girls which I don't love. I think Emmie proved that boy-crazy girls can still be clever and responsible so having Darcy represent all the bad things about those girls and become a negative, unethical character was a bummer.

This was a lovely book that I think has a lot of positive messages for the MG to internalize and digest. The pacing at times felt a little fast, but I am an adult, I'm sure the pacing will help the intended audience keep their attention on the events unfolding. Overall I really liked it!

Emmy is trying to be a matchmaker, when she screws up on matching with her best friend, Harper. Harper is so annoyed and humiliated, and upset that she stops being her friend.

But, Emmy has found an app on her phone that translates what boys are really saying, and she knows she can find the perfect boy for Harper now, if only Harper was still talking with her.

It takes Emmy a while to figure out the right thing to do, but in the meantime she tries to match up everyone she can find, because she likes to. And she misses what is right in front of her nose.

Nice story. I haven't read Emma, which is what this is based on, but this is a fun story, where you, as the reader, will probably see what Emmy is missing because she is staring at her phone.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

This middle grade take on Emma is exceptionally cute. It stars a tween girl who discovers an app on her phone that translates what boys are really thinking. Loved what it did with the relationship with her best friend, Harper, and the friction she has with her next door neighbor, Grant Knight.

Emmy and Harper are making a list of how to tell a boy likes you. I like the name Harper. The tone was okay. Emmy thinks Harper and Elliott have a crush. I like the name Harper. I liked Harper's and Emmys relationship. I wasn't completely hooked but good quick read.

Most of what I've been reading recently is super dramatic YA, so this book was perfect to balance that out. It was like going back to middle school myself. I love it.
Now, I haven't actually read Emma (the closest I've gotten is the retelling "Off Script") so I don't know how accurate to the original story any of it was. But I'd recommend this book to fans of A Match Made in Mehendi or The Retake. And it isn't really as "supernatural" as this author's other books (A Week of Mondays, Better You than Me or Addie Bell's Shortcut to Growing Up,) which I actually liked, as there was far less drama.
Emerie "Emmy" Woods is obsessed with her phone. She has an app for everything, from identifying constellations to translating voices. And she's a little too much of a risk-taker-- she just wants to set up her best friend, Harper, with the guy she likes, but when it turns out that this boy likes Emmy instead, Harper is humiliated and their friendship might never be the same.
Until the next day, when Emmy wakes up and discovers that her phone has a new app she's never heard of before: an app called iSpeak Boy. She soon finds out that the app can tell her exactly what boys are really thinking, and uses it to set up two classmates who would've otherwise never talked to each other. She even learns that her computer science teacher is interested in her mom, who is divorced and has not been on a date in over a decade. It doesn't take long for Emmy's gift to become known all across the school, and soon girls are lining up to ask her to figure out what their crushes really think. But how long can she keep the app itself a secret? And what is she going to do about Harper?
One thing I like about this book (as well as Addie Bell's Shortcut to Growing Up) was that it's told from the perspective of the "boy-crazy, growing up too fast" friend. Instead of being constantly jealous of her gorgeous best friend and wishing to be extroverted like her, or complaining about how her friend only talks about boys, these books feature characters who learn to slow down and listen to their friends' concerns. It's important to have books that show different types of main characters, because I'm pretty tired of the self-proclaimed awkward girl with jealousy issues.
There are also a few references to characters and situations from this author's other books (Ruby from Better You Than Me comes up, as does Addie Bell's favorite boyband) and that was another favorite thing. I read Addie Bell's Shortcut to Growing Up in eighth grade, and now I'm a senior in high school and I just realized that this would be the year that Addie would actually be sixteen? Some fun nostalgia if you liked that book.
The characters are 12/13, but I kept forgetting that they weren't in high school because that's the age group I normally read about. If you like similar YA books (like The Code for Love and Heartbreak), please read this.
As I mentioned, there's no supernatural drama in this book like there was in Better You Than Me. The app just shows up on Emmy's phone after she makes a wish, and she is allowed to delete it any time she wants. Nothing involving reversing her wish or going back in time or anything like that. Very little stress comes from reading this book, and we honestly need more books like that.
I haven't given a five-star review in a long time, and this is well deserved.