If I'm Being Honest - Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka
Book Synopsis: High school senior Cameron Bright’s reputation can be summed up in one word: bitch. It’s no surprise she’s queen bee at her private L.A. high school—she’s beautiful, talented, and notorious for her cutting and brutal honesty. So when she puts her foot in her mouth in front of her crush, Andrew, she fears she may have lost him for good. In an attempt to win him over, Cameron resolves to “tame” herself, much like Katherine in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. First, she’ll have to make amends with those she’s wronged, which leads her to Brendan, the guy she labelled with an unfortunate nickname back in the sixth grade. At first, Brendan isn’t all that receptive to Cameron’s ploy. But slowly, he warms up to her when they connect over the computer game he’s developing. Now if only Andrew would notice… But the closer Cameron gets to Brendan, the more she sees he appreciates her personality—honesty and all—and wonders if she’s compromising who she is for the guy she doesn’t even want.
Ok, now If I'm being completely honest... I adored this book, it was one of the most anticipated reads of mine since last year when I first heard about it being published in 2019.
What's not to love, in this modern take on Taming Of The Shrew. It's got everything you could ever want in a Contemporary YA book. Also, to be frank, I have not read that Shakespeare classic, it probably was required reading in high school, but I didn't have the conventional high school experience. It is never too late to start reading something, especially a classic.
In this story, it's not too late for Cameron Bright to turn back the time (figuratively) and break and "tame" her mean girl streak. She's been known to be called the B-word, but that's just her tough girl exterior. Every girl or almost every girl that I know has a defense mechanism like that. So refreshing to read a book with a head-strong main character that is so complex, but Wibberley and Broka were able to do that masterfully.
Even though this is only their second YA book together, which is shockingly amazing. Seriously, author duos like this are so wonderful and the fact that they are a couple is absolutely amazing.
Stories like this are probably one of my favorite kinds of YA Contemporaries. The whole high school mean girl complex is so overdone, but this is still one of my most read tropes.
Cameron is delightful, I see some of myself in her, and I don't know if that's necessarily a bad thing to have some things in common with her. For example, her ambition and confidence, I truly admire it, and try to have that same spunk she does.
Brendan Rosenfeld is adorable and probably my second favorite character next to Cameron and Elle. He's a side character that obviously has a role in Cameron's sudden change of demeanor.
The diversity of the cast of characters in this book is immense and I'm in support of that.
I'm so glad that I was in the right place and time to be blessed to read this book. It was seriously the pick me up I needed after reading so many cozy mystery books about murder.
Not to give too much away, but I just can't get enough of this author duo and I can't wait to see what they have next up their sleeves.
Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5 Stars!