This book was fine. I received it as an e-audio and I liked the narrator, I think she did a good job, but overall I didn't love the book.
This is a sapphic romance about a film student and a cheerleader. To start, I had a hard time figuring out the ages of the two MCs, it seemed like they were in university, as the cheerleader was talking about getting a fellowship to do doctoring in India and the film student was making a film, but it turns out they were in high school? I guess they were going to some sort of high achievers high school, because I'm fairly certain film making is not an option in any high schools here.
So, to start we find out that the cheerleader asked the film student (look, I can't even remember their names...) out on a date, but the film student thought it was a joke and proceeded to hate on the cheerleader for years to come. Then, of course, they get thrown together and realize how much they actually like each other and how their preconceptions of each other were totally wrong. idk, it just felt kind of like the book was going through the motions of what a YA romance was supposed to do, and it just didn't really work for me.

“It's kind of amazing what you can do when you decided you can't fail.”

This is yet another enemies to friends to lovers plotline.
Sana is a cheerleader, goes to a fancy prep school, wanting to be a future doctor with rich grandparents and a "have-to-be-perfect-daughter" complex. Rachel goes to the same school, a scholarship recipient and filmmaker with a huge chip on her shoulder.
The only thing I didn't like was the rushed ending and how everything came together quickly in the last 10 pages.

“Tragedy was in their bones.”

Unfortunately, shortly after I requested this audio ARC, it was archived and removed from my library so I am unable to give it a proper review. Rating based on average reviews.

Tell Me How You Really Feel was a cute, queer romance about two teenage girls- both POC- who fall in love. The book is an opposites attract, enemies to lovers book that is sure to charm all rom-com lovers. Aminah Mae Safi did a wonderful job writing and narrating the book. Safi's voice gives a wonderful exuberant life to her characters, and you could really feel her love and understanding of her work through her narration. Highly recommend this audiobook.

I didn't hate this book, but I didn't love it either. I found both girls to be unlikeable, especially Rachel who came off as very bossy to me. Overall, I just didn't connect with the characters and I also felt the story itself was very slow, except for the ending which felt rushed.

This book cover gives me so much life! It was honestly the reason I picked to read it. Enemies to lovers YA romance. A Cheerleader and a film geek, one is wealthy or better off and the other is poor/struggling. Then they are forced to work together and eventually start realizing the misconception they had about each other. It's cute and Romantic and shows how different cultures have expectations of their children without considering what the children actually want. I

The only bad thing I have to say is I was listening as an audiobook and in 1 part i think the author was trying to have an inner monologue and it made the audio sound off like a speaker went out a few times other than that I love it! Author did a great job Narrating!

Also dont know if there's a 2nd book coming but there's a clip in the book that makes me hope so.

This book is really good and was on my TBR for such a long time! I’m so glad I finally got to listen to it. Loved the narration as well.

This is a YA romance between two girls: Sana, head cheerleader with a future planned out for her, and Rachel, a self conscious girl with a dream of going to a film school but the only thing standing in her way is her class film. After accidentally breaking the film club's camera, Sana has to act in Rachel's film. As time progresses they get closer and learn there's more to the other than they first thought.

I really enjoyed this book! The characters were well rounded and the families and friends felt authentic and real. I feel like I understand the characters and that I know who they are and why they make the choices they make. I have two main issues however:
Firstly there were moments when the plot went a little fast, as if we jumped ahead or rushed into the next plot point. I also feel like the ending was rushed.
Secondly, the quality of the audio book. I don't know if it's because it's an ARC but the copy I listened to (through the NetGalley app) had almost a robotic echo like a static to the narrator which made it very unpleasant to listen to using earphones. I tried to ignore this as best I could but I had to stop listening in the middle of chapters multiple times because my ears hurt.

I think this book is great for any reader who loves YA romance, with a sapphic love story and diverse characters.

5/5 ⭐️
Aaaah this is one of my fav LGBT romance books so far this year!! I loved everything from the characters to the plot to the banter! And plus after learning it’s a Rory GilmorexParis Geller inspired romance makes it all the better!

I was in no way surprised that I liked this story because I have owned the physical book since it came out a few years back and I adored the book then. That being said seeing as I love audiobooks I wanted to know about this one and I was not disappointed.
A narrator can often bring new life to a book and that was the case here. I got to fall in love with these characters all over again thanks to Safi's narration. It felt like a whole new dimension was brought to the story and I found myself smiling and laughing right along with the characters all over again.
I would definitely check this audio out even if you already have or have read the book because this really brings the story back to life.

For some reason, it took me a long time to finish this book. Usually with audiobooks of this length, I'd be finished with it in about a week. But with this, something about it just made me not what to listen to it. I liked the characters and the plot was great, but I just feel like it could've been shorter. I feel like the side plots (the film, family issues, college) kind of overshadowed the story of the two leads. The representation was really great to read about though.

Rachel and Sana's relationship was also the perfect slow burn. Yet the last act conflict annoyed me but I was happy with how it resolved.

3.5 stars

**Thank you Netgalley and publisher for this arc of "Tell Me How You Really Feel"**

I was excited when I saw the audiobook for Tell Me How You Really Feel was available to request. I really enjoyed listening to it, but I wish the NetGalley Shelf app had better structure so I could speed up the audio (which is something that works really well for me), because unfortunately whenever I tried to listen to it at 2.5x or 3.0x speed, the audio would skip words and make it difficult to understand what was going on.

Sana and Rachel are enemies who are forced to work with each other after an accident happens at school.

The story is really cute and I listened to it in one sitting. The characters have their own struggles and it makes the fact that they have to work together even more interesting. However, I really dislike miscommunication, so that made me not long for their interactions that much.

Other than that, I feel like the representation in this book is pretty cool, seeing that both main characters are not only queer but also people of color.

I enjoyed the book for the most part. I thought it was cute. I liked seeing the different sides of the main characters and how they developed. (Although I didn't particularly love either one of them) I did feel overall it was lacking some sort of connection I craved and the story fell a little flat for me.

I listened to this on audio which could have added to my lack of connection. The narration wasn't my favorite.

Cute story, but it wasn’t believable that these two would make it in the long run. Also teens really do think they are superior and know best don’t they? So I guess it was relatable in that sense. Loved the Gilmore girl vibes. I listened to the audio which was narrated by the author which was fun but I wish there was some distinction between the girls POV whether she did a different voice or had a friend read opposite her. The cover is actual perfection.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audiobook.

This was a cute, quick & easy read/listen! I sometimes find when I'm reading stories with the characters in high school that the main characters annoy the hell out of me, but this (mostly) didn't happen here which was a nice change. I thought it was cool that the author was the narrator as well, and thought it was well done for the most part. The only thing that I had an issue with was there were times where I would forget which character was speaking because there wasn't a lot to differentiate between them. Otherwise, I found this a well written story and would definitely recommend!

Sapphic romance sapphic romance sapphic romance!!!! This was so sweet and I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook. I’m pretty new to listening to fiction books on audiobook and I really enjoyed this one!

(thank you netgalley for the audiobook!)
I’m starting this review of with my thoughts on the narration, after that i will talk about the actual story.
I always appreciate when an author is narrating their own book because they know how sentences were meant to come across. I liked that. However, audio quality wasnt the best and it lagged sometimes which was pretty annoying.
Overall, i couldnt really connect with the characters and the pacing of their relationship was so off. I sometimes found myself confused with what stage they’re currently in (could also just be a me problem tho)
The writing style also didnt help. It couldve used a lot of editing and at least two times someone let out a breath they didnt know they were holding 🧍

I am a little frustrated that my review did not save the first time through this site, so I'm going to keep this short and simple. This book is a perfect example of what a YA queer contemporary romance should be. It does not deal with the long, grueling, and often traumatic "coming out" story. Our two main characters can just simply be, and I love that. Although I think we still need the coming out stories, we need more "normal" ones more. Where queer kids can just be out because oftentimes reading coming out stories can be really painful. This book makes you feel like falling in love for the first time. It brings you back to all of those intense feelings you feel as a teenager. The almost-first-kiss, the real first kiss in the steamy car from the rain, the first touches, a gentle caress of a thumb against your hand, and childishly making out. It feels and flows so ooey-gooey off the page. Aminah's writing is superb and I was impressed with her audio recording skills. It is impressive when the author can both write smoothly and talk it so well. This book belongs in every high school library. There are times where I felt like throwing Rachel off a cliff, but I feel as though that is what makes a good character. Her character development is strong. She makes them feel real and raw. They are realistic teenagers, which is often very hard for adults to do sometimes, because they either try too hard or don't fully comprehend what being a teen is like nowadays. Also I adored the representation between the two main characters. This is a fantastically written and thought-out novel. Thank you for the ARC of the audiobook (are you allowed to call it an arc if it's already out in physical copy?) Anyways, I'm excited to get a physical copy at some point.

I've been wanting to read this one for a long time and have seen it featured on almost all sapphic recommendation lists so I had really high hopes for this one.

I liked the characters but I found Rachel to be very annoying. I tend to DNF books that have annoying MC but thankfully it has both the MCs POV so Sana was always there to balance it up. I know this played a lot into their general personalities but yeah.

The plot of the book was predictable but still enjoyable nonetheless. I liked the writing specially pertaining to parts about Sana's family and career talks, found some good quotes there. Also liked the whole Helen of Troy project Rachel had going.

The parts I didn't enjoy were the miscommunication trope towards the end and a couple or so scenes here and there between the MCs. But the ending made up for it, I would say.

My only problem with the book was the sentence "Urdu was Hindi, after all" in the first chapter.

Overall, it is an enjoyable one-time read, recommended to YA contemporary and sapphic lit lovers.

Rating; 3.5

I loved this story! It felt real and the characters were relatable. It felt like a situation I could find myself in.