ARC, 302 pages
Release Date: October 4, 2016Published by: HMHM Books for Yooung Readers
Read from: October 7, 2016Stand-aloneSource: PublisherFor fans of: Body imagery, Verse, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, YA
Fifteen-year-old Shay Summers is trying to cope with the death of her father, being overweight, and threats from a girl bully in school. When she falls in love with Blake, a mysterious boy online, insecure Shay doesn’t want to tell him who she is. But with the help of her two best friends, as well as an assist by Kermit and Miss Piggy, ultimately Shay and Blake’s love prevails.
Girls Like Me is a fun and fresh poetic take on teen angst, social media and online anonymity, and high school romance.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This one absolutely surprised me. If you didn’t know, I’m not a huge fan of verse novels. When I requested it I wasn’t aware that it was written in verse, but when it was released, the publisher started advertising it more. Because of that I opened it on a whim… And I ended up finishing it in a few hours.
“Kelly is/ Pimple on prom night/ Kelly is/ Text message to the wrong person/ Kelly is/ Period. Blood. White skirt./ Dread in its true form.'”pg. 25
Shay and her friends are “outcasts.” They stay only to themselves. Unless they’re on a website that let’s people create an on-line identity. One day while scoping out the site, Shay meets someone who she falls hard for and they fall for her too. They talk and then start talking continuously. But then he wants to meet…. And Shay’s not comfortable enough in her own skin to say they can meet. But when she finally decides to ask his name….. Her whole world implodes.
“Until the bell rang, then off to the library/ the school library/ has been my friend since The Cat in the Hat/ I wanted to jump inside each and every book when I was a kid'”pg. 29
First off, I am pleasantly surprised this book was written in verse. I can honestly say I have never been a fan of verse novels. Until this one. The poems in this one were so well written. And normally what I don’t like about them is the way it leave so much of the story out and makes the person who is reading come up with the details, but in this one, I didn’t have to do much. I was able to feel what the character felt, every time she was happy or sad, and every time she was embarrassed or mad. I also loved that St. Vil was able to give us so much story on her friends as well. They didn’t feel random even though they weren’t the main characters and they were well rounded.
“Truth is I have been/ Lonely In/ Crowds/ Lonely/ in the middle/ of conversations.'”pg. 37
The thing I like most about this book was the relevancy of it. There’s a lot of people around the world that have an online identity that’s different than who they really are. (Even me. If my IRL friends didn’t know I was going to school for library science, they wouldn’t know how much of a book nerd I am). And I’m sure there’s just the same amount of people in high schools that have been bullied over something. This book made Shay and her characters so real.
“Love./ Fake like I know how it works./ Everyone else does.'”pg. 128
I’m glad I wasn’t told until later that this was a verse novel. I probably wouldn’t have read it had I known. But since I requested it, I wanted to ensure that I read it. I’m glad I went into with an open mind. I was able to enjoy it without any judgments. If verse isn’t for you either, I say still give it a chance. You might just be as pleasantly surprised as I was.
