Tell Me How You Really Feel

So, I’ve been on a kick where I’ve been reading a ton of YA lesbian stories. Basically, I was excited to see this one, as it had had some mainstream reviews that had likened it a bit to Gilmore Girls and the story of Rory and her Mom. I’m not one who watched a lot of Gilmore Girls, but I figured neat, a premise I can get behind and if that makes some of the YA lesbian stories more mainstream, cool.However, it just wasn’t a good book; it’s not well written and the story falls flat at the end. By not well written, I mean passages where it is hard for me to follow who is doing what and who is being referred to. I think it would have benefited from a bit more editing. In terms of the ending, it was wildly disappointing. It is as if the story is going along at a nice trot and then where there is supposed to be a climax and conclusion it falls flat. The resolution is horrible, and it really does not tie up loose ends. There is a lot of potential for it, with some amazing characters who I want to know more about, but I get nothing.Trust me, I say these things as someone who is ALWAYS rooting for any lesbian fiction, especially YA. It is important and there is so little, but I refuse to be satisfied with something that is mediocre at best. As its one pro it normalizes lesbian relationships, meaning that it picks up without having to go through a coming out story as the main plotline, but there is one point that talks about the hurt associated with being a lesbian, which I felt was a cheap nod to the experience and glosses over a lot of depth/insight that could have been addressed in that particular area.As for the relationship with Gilmore Girls, maybe if I hadn’t have known that going into it, it would have been better. Having that tie made the story seem as though it was plagiarizing those concepts, but props to at least having representation with someone who is Indian.I mean, in the end, if you’re like me, you’ll read probably any lesbian fiction, no matter what people tell you, but at least I hope I’m giving you a heads up that it’s a bit of empty space in terms of genre. I’d argue The Gravity Between Us is a bit stronger in terms of its characters and their depth and overall resolution, so, take your pick.

One one side there's a ton of good, positive parts in this book. But I really need to start with the things that bothered me before going to the sweet parts:The first 30 to 40% of the book was really rough to go through.Sana is so well-done, 3 dimensional and nicely guided through the narrative, but the Gilmore Girl family structed inspirations were a bit distracting in the similarities (but shine once you get away form that).Her best friend Diesel was the weirdest best friend I've seen in a while: from getting mad at *her* for not telling him her dad was in town to being so invested in being friends with Rachel that really felt like he would be a better best friend to Rachel than Sana from the get go.And then there's Rachel, which I can see why a lot of people could get turned away at the begining: she's mean, she's a really terrible person to other students. At least that's all we see. She's Paris (Gilmore Girls) and Rachel Berry (Glee) combined but up to a 12 all the time on the intensity scale. Rachel was aggressively throwing her issues at people to the point I had no idea why Sana would ever like her for 4 years besides the "she's hot" factor.What made Paris and RB beloved was that, as much as they could rise to a 10, they were usually just mildly more intense than others AND we saw a lot of redeeming qualities in them. We saw the reasoning behind bad behavior, we had more soft heartfelt and sincere moments of openess.And we DO get to those moments, we see Rachel's quirks – the main and most endearing one being seeing the world from a perspective of movie/actors references, smart ones, – and we start to like her. We see her having funny, witty bickering moments with Sana that would've changed the feeling of everything if only we got it from the start.But it takes a long time to get there.When it does, though, the book shines. The writing is neat, clean, smart and fun. Easy to get in and out and moving forward. There's family issues touched and supporting family cast that felt like a laid path for more. But also it's great that not everything was just magically fixed on the spot.This was a good romance, Sana is a incredible character, a believable one that catches your attention so well that I do believe when Rachel tell us about her Helen. I can see why people like her, I understand why Rachel loves her.The bits and pieces we see Sana's relationship to religion and her family's relationship with it are highlights to me.I'm curious and excited to see what the author will write next!

I love a good enemies-to-lovers and this delightful queer romcom delivers that in spades. This will particularly appeal to anyone who loved Gilmore Girls; especially if you left that series wishing Rory and Paris would just kiss already. Super fun, sweet, swoony summer read. 10/10!

This book was so cute and everything that I wanted. It was a lesbian love story, but doesn’t call out frequently that it is two girls. It’s just a love story and I loved it.

This book is incredible. I read it during a readathon my friends were doing (basically reading your TBR list for 24 hours straight), and I ate this book up within three hours. An absolutely incredible read that spans across different cultures and makes for a wonderful love story.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was delightful, warm & fun.Also, one of the scenes reminded me of one of my favorite scenes from Gilmore Girls (season 2 or 3).

Cute

Honestly a great read and would recommend to anybody! A lovely book all around with beautifully written scenery, makes me appreciate LA even though I grew up there.

Quando li a sinopse, antes de ler o livro, o que me atraiu foi saber que havia um mal entendido e que uma das meninas não acreditava que a outra realmente estava interessada nela e nisso criou-se uma confusão "enemies-to-lovers". Só que tem um problema, eu não gosto de histórias com mal entendidos... E outro problema, cade o enemies-to-lovers? Sinceramente, só vi a Rachel sendo má o tempo inteiro e eu não gostei nada disso.Em conclusão, foi um livro de leitura rápida e com várias representatividades, mas é um livro que eu não releria.

The book was well thought out and followed both characters throughout the whole ordeal they were going through. The author thankfully did not make this book about two gay characters coming out and instead just made a queer love story about two girls trying to find love.

This is what Gilmore girls could have been. The Rory/Paris vibes were excellent

Hate to love love story with film-making. I loved it.