Maurene Goo has YET AGAIN blown me away with her works. Wow wow wow is all I can say!
When starting the book, I fell so in love with the characters. They were quirky but very VERY familiar. I felt like I could see someone I knew in each person. The unique dynamic of Clara and her Dad and their relationship. I was rooting for Clara and Rose (and Clara and Hamlet! GOALS!) through out the book. Hamlet's grandparents are my most favorite people.
I honestly could not put it down and finished it within a few hours. I LOVED every word. So beautiful. PLEASE read this book!
Macmillan, NetGalley and Maurene thank you SO MUCH for the opportunity to read and review early.

3.5 stars. This was a fun and cute read. I liked almost everything about it, except Clara was sort of the exception at times (that will make more sense if you read it). She was kind of a brat but she had a ton of character growth throughout the story. I really liked part of her family dynamic and was glad she learned more about the other part. Adrian, Hamlet and Rose were all great characters. And eventually Clara was a really likeable character as well.

This was my second read from this author and I've been pretty happy with both and will watch for her future offerings. I plan to buy the hardcover for this book when it releases.

I loved this book for so many reasons, but let's just start with the fact that this broke away from your stereotypical Asian family where the child is held to unreasonable standards of success and the stress that follows. Clara Shin was not your Asian teen who gets straight A's and is Harvard-bound to become a Dr.-Lawyer-Physicist. She's a regular American teen who likes to pull pranks, mess around, scrape by on grades, and just enjoy being a kid. Maurene Goo made a fantastic, outrageous character that modern teens can laugh and relate to, no matter what ethnicity, while still squeezing in tons of Korean culture. I. LOVED. IT.

It was also beautiful to see her and her father's relationship and how completely worry free he was about her goofing off, like he knew she'd be fine and let her be a kid while she can. And when he stepped up at the time that it was necessary, that was also beautiful. Parenting Goals. I digress.

This rom-com was more com than rom and that made it so much more enjoyable. I laughed so much at Clara's antics, her sass, her thought process, everything. I fell for Hamlet little by little along with her. There were parts that had me crying along with her. I always love a book that can touch me on an emotional level. I also felt extreme bouts of homesickness as I read all about my beloved Southern California from her eyes. The whole book was a beautiful homage to the cultural melting pot that is Los Angeles, and Clara was a fantastic narrator to feverishly spread her joy and passion for her hometown.

Basically, Maurene Goo is a YA rom-com *QUEEN* and I am going to have to buy everything she ever writes, the end.

This book is a fun romantic comedy with diverse characters who are likable, relatable and interesting. Clara is a Korean/Brazilian. I loved all the Brazilian words and references to Brazilian and Korean culture. Although the love story seemed a little too immediate, I enjoyed the mayhem of the plot and how Clara changes and becomes wiser in her relationships.

This is a really fun read!

***Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL by Maurene Goo in exchange for my honest review.***

Class clown Clara and her arch enemy perfect Rose must work at Clara’s father’s food truck Kobra as punishment for a prank turned brawl at prom. Carrying a bad attitude and worse mouth, Clara isn’t counting on Rose not being quite so perfect and a cute guy named Hamlet changing her summer.

THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL reads more like a middle grade, than YA story. At the start of the story, narrator Clara is a loathsome, selfish teen with no respect for others or for her lenient father. She acts more like a twelve than sixteen-year-old. Her friends are equally abhorrent. I identified more with uptight Rose.

Maurene Goo’s filled THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL with an abundance of representation from Clara’s Korean/Brazilian roots to her friend Patrick’s being gay. The cultural differences were organic parts of the characters’ personas. I never felt like Goo was dropping in a non-white person for the mere sake of diversity.

Goo’s strong writing and voice kept me interested as the predictable story unfolded. I think younger teens will love the cuteness and heart of THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL. I look forward to seeing what Goo writes next.

Another beautiful father-daughter story. That’s a cool thing you do, Ms. Goo. It takes a lovely story up to wonderful. 💜

This was great! Clara was prickly and kind of unlikeable, but I loved that about her! I thought the way she and Rose dealt with their animosity and gradually became friends was awesome and real, and I liked her coming to terms with the fact that her friends might not actually be the greatest after all. Hamlet was sweet if a little boring, but I think the main focus here was her relationship with her friends and her dad, not the romance. Maurene Goo has so far done no wrong for me!

This book was a fun, light romance with diverse characters. The story explored family dynamics, self discovery, and growing up.

Thank you, Macmillan, for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"People who would be there for you even when you messed up and behaved like a jerk? They were the good stuff."

I'm sure that I'm not the only one who noticed that people of color (e.g. Koreans, Filipinos, and more) are becoming popular in literature nowadays. Readers continue to crave for more diverse books, whether it be in regards to race, sexuality, and religion. With that in mind, books like this are great because they can make all kinds of readers feel represented.

By looking at the pretty cover, one can easily deduce that The Way You Make Me Feel is about an Asian girl. It follows Clara Shin, who is both Korean and Brazilian. She is particularly famous (or infamous) for her ability to cause mayhem and piss people off. After Clara gets into a catfight with her African-American nemesis named Rose Carver, both of them are obliged to spend the whole summer working on Clara's dad's food truck, the KoBra. They continue to get on each other's nerves but eventually realize that it is possible for them to be friends. To make things more interesting, Hamlet, a hunky, Chinese barista nearby, seems to be crushing on Clara. Get ready to be entertained by a story of family, love, and friendship.

For the most part, this book was a fun read. I gave 3.5 stars to I Believe in a Thing Called Love last year, so I expected to have a similar reading experience. Unsurprisingly, I encountered the same virtues: diverse characters, beautifully simple writing, and a touching family dynamics. I also didn't have a hard time finishing this book because the content was very easy to process or take in.

I particularly loved the close relationship between Clara and her dad, Adrian. Adrian practically raised Clara on his own; Clara's mom was an Instagram celebrity who couldn't stay in one country. Hence, it was interesting that Clara seemed to favor her mom, who clearly didn't prioritize the right things. There wasn't supposed to be any competition, but I was on Adrian's side all the way because he never made Clara feel neglected. He was a permissive parent at the beginning of the book, but thankfully, he became wiser and stricter. At the end of the book, Clara couldn't have asked for a better dad.

Clara and Rose's hate-to-love relationship was also fascinating. I was surprised that even worst enemies could become best friends. After spending much time together, they learned to understand and accept each other. I didn't feel sad at all that Clara decided to "ditch" her old "friends" who only brought out the worst in her.

As for the romance between Clara and Hamlet, it was sweet but instalovey. Even Rose thought so! Haha. She was shocked to learn that Clara and Hamlet became a couple after just one date. LOL. Looking at the bright side, it was nice that Hamlet did not pressure Clara to confess her love for him. According to Hamlet, they would follow "Clara Time," not "Hamlet Time". That was such a cute and feminist thing to say.

The only problem I had with this book was...Clara. She was super annoying, especially at the beginning of the book. In fact, she was the one who made me understand the concept of girl hate because she had nothing but derogatory things to say about the females she encountered. And she had a public catfight with Rose, for crying out loud. Clara wasn't this mean or aggressive to any of the male characters, so I couldn't help but describe her attitude as a manifestation of girl hate. With that in mind, it was a miracle that she was able to make a best friend out of Rose.

Furthermore, it bugged me that Clara kept on comparing Hamlet to a dog. Chinese people are kinda known for their willingness to eat dogs, so go figure. :( I'm not sure if this counts as racism. Thus, please correct me if I'm wrong. Is it okay for Asians to be racist to fellow Asians? Ugh. Whatever.

Overall, I liked reading The Way You Make Me Feel mainly because of its emphasis on family dynamics. Still, in retrospect, some of its themes/aspects were contradictory (e.g. female friendship and girl hate, racial diversity and racism). If you loved I Believe in a Thing Called Love, you might be disappointed in this book. I hope that you'll enjoy it more than I did.

Clara Shin enjoys pulling pranks. Some might say a little too much. Especially when she goes a bit too far at the junior prom. Her punishment? Being forced to work on her dad's Korean-Brazilian food truck all summer. Alongside her sworn enemy, Rose Carver.

Tensions are high, initially, but over the course of being trapped in such close quarters, Clara and Rose learn to work together, and work together well, at that. As the summer goes on, Clara and Rose's blossoming friendship strengthens. Clara also seems to have caught the eye of Hamlet (yes, that's his real name), a boy who works a coffee cart at one of the food truck's regular stops.

But those are not the only relationships that are examined over the course of this novel. Author Maurene Goo does an excellent job of balancing Clara's various relationships over the course of this book. From the strong relationship with her single father to the tenuous one with her world-traveling mother, Goo fleshes out the character of Clara through these relationships. Goo also demonstrates Clara's growth through the growing distance between Clara and her so-called "previous life" friends, Felix and Patrick, friends that, admittedly, bring out Clara's rebellious side, however much it might be to her own detriment. But this change and the developing and unraveling of relationships are part of adolescence and growing up, and will happen, whether we like it or not.

One of the great things about Goo’s writing is her ability to write about interesting characters that will appeal to all types of readers. This title takes an interesting look at the Korean American experience - one that differs from the one that is presented in I Believe in a Thing Called Love. While it took me a really, really long time to like Clara, this was overall another solid, entertaining, and authentically diverse YA book that will be super attractive to my teen library patrons.

Laugh out loud funny and food trucks! Really loved this book because it was so fun.

I do think that teenage romantic comedy fans will really love this, but I was personally a bit disappointed. I LOVED Clara in the beginning--she had so much sass and humor and these crazy ideas. Sure, she was obnoxious and had a lot of growing up to do, but what 16 year old doesn't? She and Rose (who is amazing) went from being enemies to BFFs way too quickly, and Clara loses some of her spark in the transformation. Still, I'll definitely recommend it to genre fans.

All props to Maurene Goo. The Way You Make Me Feel is one of my favorite YA contemporaries of 2018. A large part of my love is due to Clara, the Korean-American main character and narrator. She’s prickly and sarcastic and fun-loving. After a prom prank gone horribly wrong, her father forces her to work on his Korean-Brazilian fusion food truck for the summer. If that wasn’t bad enough, her arch nemesis Rose will also be womanning the truck with her. Clara refers to Rose as a long-lost Obama daughter and Rose’s ambition is truly something to behold. The two girls are bold and clash constantly, but you’ll be relieved to know that it doesn’t take long for them to work through some of their differences and become awkward pals.

Clara finds time to flirt with Hamlet, a cute sign-flipper who is so not her usual type. He’s caring and considerate and also kind of a dork. He’s concerned with her emotions and, man, Clara’s emotional journey in this book is so fantastic. There’s a reason it’s called The Way You Make Me Feel, which works for so many facets of the book. Clara’s changing friendship with her snarky group of high school buddies was one of my favorite parts of the story.

There’s a lot of privilege tucked into this book—most of the characters are wealthy or wealthy-ish. Clara’s mom is a successful instagram influencer who’s also a bit of a flake and Hamlet’s parents live in China to manage their business. I found myself wishing that the book had done slightly more with money issues, but I ultimately realized it’s really nice to see a bunch of massively successful people of color who don't have to answer for their success. (Heaven only knows we have enough books about rich white kids.)

The humor is spot-on, the situations are just ridiculous enough to be believable, and the descriptions of LA food are mouth-watering. Also, how delectable is that cover? Pre-order this immediately for its May release.

(Thanks to Netgalley and FSG for my e-galley!)

I absolutely loved this book! I really liked the main characters. Well, all the characters to be more precise. I thought the pacing was excellent. I also really liked the overt political commentary in this book.
I also really enjoyed the cultural richness of this book. This was done exceptionally well.
The development of the relationships throughout the book was also excellent. I enjoyed seeing how Clara matured and re-evaluated her priorities. This was done in a way that was believable. I found myself cheering for the MC, even as I sometimes cringed about the decisions she made.
I would highly recommend this book!

From the publishers:
From the author of I Believe in a Thing Called Love, a laugh-out-loud story of love, new friendships, and one unique food truck.

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 thoughts:

I have changed my job/location/school/grade level three times in my career. I started as a high school teacher at a public school, moved to an independent middle school and I am currently teaching university students who want to be teachers. In the three interviews I was always asked: how do you teach multicultural students? In the 26 years that I have been teaching, I have ONLY taught multicultural students, so this question always stumps me. I do not know how to teach monocultural students. I don't know what lame answer I gave, but looking at my recent reading choices, I think my answer is that I continue to look for literature and stories to bring into my classroom that allow my multicultural students to see themselves in the stories. This is one of those stories. It does not matter if I do not have Korean/Brazilian students. I have students that are two or more ethnicities, raised in an American society that often just sees them as "other" or are "seen" as stereotypes of some form of the model minority.

Clara is a strong, messed up, broken protagonist that could be any of my students. She is head strong and stubborn but she is salvageable. This kind of voice from Maurene Goo is fresh air for my students.

#1-This cover is AMAZING. I would buy this based on the cover alone.

#2-This book just made me happy. I think I was smiling the whole time I was reading it. The descriptions of LA, mouthwatering food(get me to the nearest food truck!!) and lovable but complex characters made this book beyond enjoyable.

#3-Friendship!Romance!Delicious Eats! Character Growth! This book made me want to use a lot of exclamation points!

This book! I cannot remember the last time I cared about four characters as much as I cared about these four.

At the exposition the uncertainty felt about Clara, the sixteen year old protagonist of The Way You Make Me Feel really makes the reader feel that they want to reach into the book and smack her upside the head for some of the boneheaded stunts she pulls without a thought. But the OMG turns to ILY as Clara does that growing up thing. I found her wise cracks amusing and even borrowed some of her language because the dialogue was so well written. If you're a foodie, this book will make you hungry and the urge to run out to a food truck will be the biggest need in your life. After wrapping up the reading because the ending, the description of LA, WOW. Great imagery and fun characters. And there's some good lessons in there too. I'd insert a smiley emoji here if I could. :)

A fun contemporary YA book that features great characters and excellent relationships between them. As several others have said in reviews, the relationship between Clara and her father was particularly wonderful. I look forward to recommending this to teen readers.