Tell Me How You Really Feel
Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi
Overview: Sana and Rachel hate each other. After a bad encounter freshman year and a misunderstanding that followed, the two have been at odds in their two separate worlds. When the two collide on the school field, Sana and Rachel are pulled together to make it right by Sana staring in Rachel's movie. While the two struggle with their futures, they find interesting allies in each other. Overall: 4
Characters: 4 I really loved both Rachel and Sana's characters. Sana feels the need to be perfect to make her mother and grandparents proud. She has to bear the weight of intense expectations on her shoulders, and as senior year comes to an end, she finally feels the need to break out of her box and start living for herself.
Rachel feels the need to be perfect because she's at her fancy private school on scholarship, she needs to earn money to go to college, and she wants to prove that she belongs with the rich kids. Her chip on her shoulder leads her to push everyone around her away and refuse help.
As their relationship deepens, they both learn how to let go in different ways.
Plot: 5 More than anything else, I love the story here. Hate to love or enemies to lovers as a trope has a lot of room to flop. Here, though, the pacing and timing of the beats are laid out perfectly to make their relationship feel natural and realistic. It made for a super enjoyable read. There's also a strong set of layers woven behind the love story that made it feel whole.
Writing: 4 The writing was maybe my least favorite part of the story. While the third person dual narrative worked well, I just didn't personally click with her style particularly well. The characters and plot were so strong, though, that I still completely enjoyed the book.
If You Liked This Book...
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Links of Interest:
Fear of Missing Out: Review Here
Mid Year Freakout: Here
Into YA with Chris Tebbetts: Here
Me Myself and Him: Review Here
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