
Title: The Way You Make Me Feel
Author: Maurene Goo
Genre/Themes: Young Adult, Contemporary, Coming of Age, Responsibility, Food Trucks

Blurb from Goodreads
Clara Shin lives for pranks and disruption. When she takes one joke too far, her dad sentences her to a summer working on his food truck, the KoBra, alongside her uptight classmate Rose Carver. Not the carefree summer Clara had imagined. But maybe Rose isn’t so bad. Maybe the boy named Hamlet (yes, Hamlet) crushing on her is pretty cute. Maybe Clara actually feels invested in her dad’s business. What if taking this summer seriously means that Clara has to leave her old self behind?
With Maurene Goo’s signature warmth and humor, The Way You Make Me Feel is a relatable story of falling in love and finding yourself in the places you’d never thought to look.

My Review
This book could so easily have been dreadful because the MC Clara Shin just acted like the most up-her-own-butt tosser ever for lots of the novel…
And believe me I wanted to slap her for being such a diva!!!
But something kept me reading.
And that something was character growth.
Okay, we aren’t talking about the best character arc you’ll ever read but there was something so easy about this book. I got incredibly invested in the developing friendship between Clara and Rose. I think that was the high point of the book for me. I liked how the two girls almost learned what it means to be friends and it was just a really nice portrayal of female friendship…
(But that Cynthia character. *eye roll at the girl cliches*)
The love interest, Hamlet Wong, was terribly sweet and all things lovely…
But wow was he bland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean it’s great that he wasn’t some ridiculously edgy bad boy wannabe. It’s nice to have the MC falling for a perfectly nice guy who treats her with dignity and respect…
Hamlet. Lovely. Sweet. Cute but void of personality really…
But I guess it worked because this book is basically candy floss. And who wants depth from candy floss?? Not me that’s for sure. I’m all about the sugar rush. And their love story was just adorably cute.
OOOH. I have changed my mind about the book’s high point… Yes I’m fickle. BUT HELLO PRESENT PARENTAL FIGURES IN YA!!!
Gosh I love a book that acknowledges that teenage characters have families. And this book was all about portraying great families in different guises.
- Clara and her dad were just everything. Honestly the sweetest relationship and so nice to read about a connection like theirs.
- Rose’s family were super cute.
- Hamlet’s pseudo grandparents were awesome…
JUST LOVED ME ALL THESE ADORABLE FAMILIES!!!
Basically this book is sweet and cute and utterly non-taxing thereby making it the perfect fluffy summer read.
Word of the wise though. This book will make you want to eat!!! My god all the food descriptions just made my mouth salivate.
A fun, summery read

Other Works by Maurene Goo I’ve Reviewed
My Socials

I was going to read this like a week ago but now I am thinking I should steer clear, ha. Great review!
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Well if you don’t like diva main characters then deffo stay away but otherwise this was a lot of fun :)))
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Aww I love good families in YA! I’ll have to check this one out!
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I’m just so happy when I see present parents in ya because so many times it’s like these teenagers exist without families? And like sure, that makes sense for some stories but for the majority?? Eh nope!
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Exactly. Like how in every paranormal YA the parents are always gone, dead, or just don’t care? Like, that’s not realistic at all
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Yup!! It’s definitely one of my bugbears in ya.
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Okay, I couldn’t decide whether to read this one or not but your review makes it sound SUPER CUTE and very much like the perfect fluffy summer YA read. I’m going to have to check it out!
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HAHAHA I did say super cute just waaaaaaay too many times lol! Prepare to want to slap the lead character a lot though…but that’s kinda half the fun 🙈😂
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Love your review – I felt the same about Clara! 😂 And yes to acknowledging family. 👏🏼
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I loved this review! It had me cracking up at the end. 😂 Hamlet was super cute but that doesn’t make up for having no personality and Clara’s father was amazing. I also wanted to smack Clara for her diva behavior.
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I guess I thought it was alright that Hamlet was so bland because Clara dominated so much with her annoying diva tendencies lol!!! Needed someone that didn’t irk me to counter balance her presence 😂😂😂
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Lol!! I never thought about it that way! I also felt for her dad whenever she threw a fit about something. 😂😂
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Oh if I was her dad I’d have shipped her off to her mother A LOT 😂😂😂
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I would have too!! 😂😂
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I am so happy you reviewed this because i’ve been DYING to read this and this makes me so excited emer!!!
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Oh it’s such a perfect summer read. Really light and frothy. Exactly what you’d want for a lazy hot day :)))
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