Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel
Ratings21
Average rating3.2
15
Ratings21
Average rating3.2
At Armstead Academy, everyone knows everything about everyone. Well, everyone thinks they know everything . . . Leila has made it most of the way through Armstead Academy without having a crush on anyone, which is a relief. As an Iranian American, she’s different enough; if word got out that Leila liked girls, life would be twice as hard. But when beautiful new girl Saskia shows up, Leila starts to take risks she never thought she would. As she carefully confides in trusted friends about Saskia’s confusing signals, Leila begins to figure out that all her classmates are more complicated than they first appear to be, and some are keeping surprising secrets of their own “An empowering romance featuring a lovable, awkward protagonist who just needs a little nudge of confidence to totally claim her multifaceted identity.” —Booklist, starred review “Farizan exceeds the high expectations she set with her debut, If You Could Be Mine, in this fresh, humorous, and poignant exploration of friendship and love.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “Funny, heartwarming, and wise.” —Kirkus Reviews • A 2015 ALA Top Ten Rainbow List Title • A 2015 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
Reviews with the most likes.
Fun, uncomplicated YA, and there's nothing wrong with that. I enjoyed the glimpses into Persian culture in the US and the main character's voice was a lot of fun and easy to spend time with. This read a little bit like a middle-grade book, or the younger end of YA, with a bit too much Valuable Lessons Learned, but overall I enjoyed this.
(Read Harder 2017: #15 Read a YA or middle grade novel by an author who identifies as LGBTQ+.)
This was both funny and cute and almost had me crying at some points. This book had a lot of heart, I loved the main characters and I loved her family and friends and learning a bit about Persian culture.
I'm conflicted by this book. I gave it a 3, but it's probably a 2.5. Due to the subject matter — a coming out story of a lesbian as well as the intersectionality of her ethnicity — I wanted to love it. However, this didn't read like a YA book, it read like it should've been for middle school or younger. The plot was simplistic, the action rushed, the characterization was 2-dimensional. I read this book in 2 hours. I read fast, but it's also really telling of how little substance this book had. As a positive, I will say that as much as I usually hate first person writing, I didn't mind Leila as a narrator. There is somewhat of a tiny plot twist that if this book had been written even an iota better, could have really been something.
