Book Review

Guest Squee: The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo

Jennifer Prokop is back on SBTB with a guest squee! If you missed her previous review of What Does Consent Really Mean?, be sure to give it a read!

Jennifer has been reading romance ever since she found a bag of remaindered paperbacks in her grandmother’s basement when she was a teenager. She writes romance reviews for The Book Queen and you can find her on Twitter @JenReadsRomanceShe’s also created a website to help readers find romances based on genres and tropes!

The Way You Make Me Feel is an outstanding YA romance. Clara Shin is my favorite type of heroine: prickly, funny, and in your face. The book opens with Clara deciding to run for Prom Queen, not as a serious act of popularity determinism, but instead as a fuck you to her rival in the junior class, Rose Carver. Clara is an irreverent jokester and Rose is her foil, all buttoned up and serious. Clara announces her candidacy by throwing tampons (packaged and unused!) into the crowd of high schoolers and, being the kind of person who commits to a theme once she starts it, she stages an episode based on Stephen King’s Carrie at the actual dance. Rose is not amused, and a scuffle between them afterward starts a small conflagration in the school gym.

Now at this point, you might be thinking: Jen, why are you spoiling this book for me? But all this happens in the first 25 pages! This book is jam packed with action, and although it’s possible that lightning fast pace and sheer amount of big events might overwhelm some readers, I’d argue plot is important in YA. One of the most brilliant things about The Way You Make Me Feel is that Maurene Goo understands how kids have to throw themselves through and across and into obstacles to figure out who they are.

Clara’s and Rose’s parents are furious at the girls and decide they should have to work for the summer to make money to pay for the damage to the gym. Clara’s father, Patrick (she calls him “Pai”), insists that they spend the summer working on his food truck, the KoBra, named for the Korean-Brazilian fusion that Pai makes as an homage to his roots in both countries. In fact, Patrick and Juliana were teenagers themselves when they left Brazil to move to LA with baby Clara. Pai is in his early 30s and has been raising Clara on his own because Juliana is an irresponsible mother who jets around the world as a social media influencer. Clara resents Pai’s new-found determination to bring her to heel, feeling sure her mother would be more lenient.

Clara and Rose’s evolution from enemies to friends is one of my favorite parts of the book. It sounds like a cliché to say that they learn from each other, but they do and I loved every minute of it. After a few weeks of working together, they have a conversation where they work through some of their past animosity. In it, Rose gives the most stirring defense of apologizing I’ve ever seen in a book. She tells Clara, “I know I apologize a lot. But maybe it’s not a bad thing. Maybe it’s considered a bad thing because it’s something girls do a lot. Maybe it’s actually something nice that keeps the world humane. It’s a gesture.”

As the KoBra makes its way around town, one of their regularly scheduled stops brings them into contact with a handsome young guy named Hamlet Wong. His first name isn’t symbolic of his personality, thank goodness. Hamlet has his own problems, but he is a sunny, optimistic soul. Their “first date” scene is especially well done. (I don’t think teenagers actually go out on big dates anymore, but maybe this staple of the romance can’t be eliminated, even from YA.) Clara, ever cool, doesn’t have a big plan for what she’ll wear and Rose swoops in to rescue her with a full on makeover and wardrobe selections. Hamlet is adorably awkward and made reservations at three different restaurants so she can choose the one she likes best. Clara is unfamiliar with sincerity as a relationship gambit, and finds herself both impressed and squeamish at these efforts on her behalf. They’re both relieved when a call from Hamlet’s grandmother allows them to leave a snooty restaurant and go to his house for a home-cooked meal and video games.

The metrics we use to judge a YA romance should rightly be different than that of an adult romance. Sure, some people meet their true love in high school, but the business of YA is exploring themes of identity. I don’t want to see Clara and Hamlet settle down forever, what I want is a convincing journey towards self-discovery and compelling exploration of how Clara thinks about who she is at the beginning of her life in romantic relationships: Who am I in this relationship? Is this more than just physical attraction? Can I share my real self and my feelings? Does this relationship make me a better version of myself, or a worse one?

The novel is firmly on its way to establishing that this will be a summer of change for Clara. However, it’s pleasing to see a YA romance show that “the boyfriend” isn’t the only, or even the most important, relationship in Clara’s life. Goo creates a complex web of relationships that Clara must navigate: she is becoming emotionally invested in Hamlet and his family; her parents demand a certain kind of behavior that she finds stifling; and she feels increasingly torn between Rose and the old friends who suddenly seem silly and immature. It’s clear that Clara isn’t changing for Hamlet and Rose, she’s changing because she’s seeing the world in a new way. To be fair, this might frustrate readers who are looking for a straight YA romance with a clean HFN/HEA, and instead are presented with Clara’s entire world.

That doesn’t mean it’s all smooth linear progression to a new and improved Clara. There’s a third act blow-up with her parents that Clara does not handle well at all, but it’s the final piece of the puzzle that reveals Clara’s growth in all directions. Without much fanfare or fireworks, the book demonstrates that all of Clara’s relationships are vital and important to her happiness and well-being.

There’s so much to recommend this book to anyone who enjoys great YA. There’s a pleasing complexity and closure to Clara’s story, but The Way You Make Me Feel doesn’t feel like a book that’s been sanitized of all its rough edges to please an adult audience. Clara is completely immersed in her own world, one that’s dominated by her own concerns and convictions about how her life should be. Her triumphs and defeats are authentically portrayed with both humor and pathos. Teenagers will love Clara’s shenanigans and commiserate with her tangled web of feelings; adults will be thrilled to read a YA novel that so aptly and tenderly demonstrates that romantic relationships don’t mean you have to forget about your friends, family, or yourself along the way.

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The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo

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  1. flchen1 says:

    DD, who is 15, just read this and loved it. She’s not so much into the straight romance-y stuff, but she really enjoyed this story and yes, the representation. Plus food trucks, for the win!

  2. Darbi says:

    Loved reading this review! I really want to check out this book. And also eat Korean-Brazilian fusion.

  3. Can’t wait to buy this for my 14-year-old niece here in Rome – and read it myself, of course! (I love straight-up romance, especially ones where heroines aren’t inane.)

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