If I’m being honest…..this was one of the most disappointing reads of the year for me.

(Get it? Because the title is If I’m Being Honest? Buh dum ch.)

It was just...unpleasant. Like, none of this read as even remotely realistic to me? Parents at large were crazy flat nothing-but-evil stereotypes (except at the end, when exactly one of them made a near-explanationless development 180).

And the “friends” from the beginning...who were soon very cruelly replaced with a Ragtag Group of Quirky Teens...what kind of friends??? Insanity City, party of this lunch table. If you want to build characters off of the mean-popular-girl stereotype then go off I guess, but things really fall apart when you try to make three of them friends with each other without giving them any more depth. And also they’re mean - plot twist - to each other, as well. Because, you know, friendship.

Sure. Why not.

I have never so completely NOT clicked with any characters. None of them made sense to me. The way that people interacted with each other was so stilted and unnatural.

Thought this was a contemporary, but honestly considering how much I don’t recognize the world, may as well be fantasy!!!

Except no world building.

I don’t want to talk about this anymore.

Bottom line: I did not care for this!!!

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cue the eternal sadness.

review to come / 2 stars

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not to be dramatic, but if i don't like this book everything is ruined and i'll be sad forever

this was my first intro to this writing duo and it did NOT DISAPPOINT. also fully didn't realize they did shakespeare retellings until 1/3 of the way through and i love it more for that.

Am I too old for YA contemporary books?

Maybe I am. I just didn't find Cameron very likeable and I know she's supposed to grow and be better and she did, but I think she took a little too long to get there. I also felt some of the characters were very cliched and didn't provide much depth to them as I would have liked. The romance was also super predictable and I'm not completely sold on it either.

Actual rating is 3.5, but rounded down.

This book was cute and would make a great summer read. With that being said, I just didn’t love this as much as I was expecting to. I think that so many people are going to love and enjoy this book though. I just had some issues with the characters and that’s why my rating couldn’t be higher than what it is.

Cameron, oh Cameron. While I really wanted to love her and cheer for her, but I couldn’t find myself caring enough about her. I get that she had things going on in her life, some pretty crappy things. However, just because you have crappy things going on in your life, that doesn’t allow you to be cruel. Some of the things she said and did were completely uncalled for.

I did enjoy how Taming the Shrew was a big part of this and how they were actually reading in their English class. It went really well Cameron’s story arc. I’ve had a lot of life realization moments while reading a story of fiction. I don’t see anything wrong with being honest and outspoken. It’s just all in the way you deliver your words. That’s all Cameron needed to change. Some of the things she said were harsh when it wasn’t called for. Since this book is all about being honest, let me say this. I don’t think she really redeemed herself at the end. Okay, too honest?

Andrew really made me want to thump him in the forehead. I didn’t really see how Cameron thought that they had anything in common except for running. He acted like he was such a good person but looked down on Cameron for how she was. He claimed that he always like her but he couldn’t have. He just liked the idea of her, of dating her. I basically didn’t like that he thought his ass was the sun.

The best part and person of this entire book was Brendan. From the moment he told her “not interested” I knew I wanted to protect him. His heart was pure and I honestly think that Cameron didn’t deserve him. THERE, I said it!

If I overlooked the characters, I would say everything else here was really good! I did like the friendships and the humor here. We also get a group that is obsessed with Rocky Horror! Can I get a “YAS QUEEN” for that?!

Overall, you can see that I had a few issues with it. However, I still hope that you try it out if you are interested in reading it. It’s still a good story and has a good message.

✨This is a BR with the lovely Melanie over at Meltotheany.

✨I read an advanced copy of this title.✨

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Somehow this book did not really vibe with me even though I love The Taming of the Shrew as a Shakespeare play. I found some of the characters a bit irritating and found the trope of the absent parent a bit overused.

3.5 stars

I am SO GLAD I decided to give this a chance after DNFing Always Never Yours- I read it in one sitting and really loved it. Cameron is such a complicated, likeable unlikeable character. I also appreciated that while she fixed some relationships, she damaged others in the process that weren’t fully back to normal yet. It felt realistic. Maybe some people won’t but I liked her SO much and I loved Brendan. And Paige! There was a lot about forgiveness and second chances and apologizing when you need to- it spoke to me. I also loved that they visited Grand Central Market because I love it there, it’s so charming! I do find it extremely odd that they never once mention 10 Things I Hate About You, though. I know it’s a 90s movie but they spend the whole book studying Taming of the Shrew! Seemed like a natural thing a teenage girl would watch, or at least mention. But that is a minor personal quibble. This was such an enjoyable contemp with a very good ship!

I bought this originally because someone said it was inspired by 10 things I hate about you (which after reading I think it’s more inspired by Taming of the Shrew, which inspired 10TIHAY), which is one of my favorite movies, but I’ve decided after adoring this somehow even more than Always Never Yours by the same authors that Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka are definitely auto-buy authors for me.

This book was so fun and I flew through it! I also loved how the authors tied some tough family relationships into this. As the daughter of an absent and rather uninterested father, I really related to Cameron trying to impress her dad even though she knew deep down it wouldn’t really matter what she did. I also loved her character arc and the relationships that she formed with her friends and Brendan! I can’t wait to read what the authors do next! Also, I loved the cameo at the end of Megan and Owen!!

I liked it, I feel like I haven’t read a lot of books from the perspective of popular girl who’s aware of it and knows that she needs to change. Cameron goes through quite the transformation in this book. It was obvious what her problems were but I’m glad she figured it out.

4/5 ⭐️

Cameron is rude, selfish and - honestly - a bitch but I didn’t expect anything different and because of that I thought If I’m Being Honest was a refreshing and fun YA contemporary and unlike any book I’ve read before.

Some things I enjoyed:
- it’s such a unique story and I loved seeing the POV of the typical “mean girl” at high school
- I ended up liking the cast of characters more than I thought I would
- Cameron felt realistic and was a quite well developed character
- it had some great messages and I unexpectedly related to Cameron at times
- Emily Wibberly and Austin Siegemund-Broka give their characters a very distinct voice which I enjoyed once again
- it had some great geeky references and surprisingly talked quite a lot about fandoms

It’s still YA contemporary so of course it was still overly dramatic and there were some cliché lines but it also went in a direction I didn’t expect and so overall I got what I wanted: a quick and fun read that still had enough depth and subplots and therefore wasn’t overly cheesy.

I personally prefer endings that are a bit more open and I thought this one unnecessarily dragged a bit but that’s really my only complaint.