Unfortunately I had to purchase a new Kindle device and could no longer access this book. I will come back and review if I read this in the future.

Cover ⭐⭐⭐
Characters ⭐⭐⭐
Setting ⭐⭐⭐⭐
POV ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Romance ⭐⭐
Story ⭐⭐⭐
Overall: 3 Stars

When I first started reading this book, I thought it was funny. I mean, genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, which is rare for me. It's takes a lot to get a verbal laugh out of me, but this book did it - multiple times. I was so excited and felt for sure this was going to be my next 5 star novel (finally).

I really empathised and could relate in many ways to Natalie and I understood her struggles. I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of this book and I had a fun time being in Natalie's head.

The party scene was my favourite. Hiding in the bathroom, failing at fitting in, oh the feels.

I think the story started to lose me when they went away for the weekend. I didn't really feel any chemistry with the romance and I'm so sorry to say it but, Natalie started to get annoying.

Her constant self pity and over analysing became tiresome and I started liking the book less and less and ended up on a solid 3 stars.

I started this book because I needed something to cheer me up and boy, did it! It Sounded Better in My Head is the perfect comfort read to help you escape from the harsh reality of uni/work life.

Natalie was such a relatable protagonist. Her fears and anxiety resonated with me and I connected with her throughout the whole book. Her insecurities and internal dialogue were what I felt like when I was 18 and sometimes even now! Plus, she was the most hilarious narrator I’ve ever read about and her witty quips left me chuckling.

I loved the friendships between Natalie and her friends, Zach and Lucy. They were always there for each other and offered a great support system. I am happy there wasn't a lot of drama between Natalie and her friends for the sake of plot because we need more YA books with strong friendships.
In terms of the romance, it was so sweet and realistic. I loved the banter between Alex and Natalie. Their natural progression from friendship to coupledom without it feeling forced was a breath of fresh air.

Overall, I loved this sweet novel and I’m looking forward to more books by Kenwood!

Thank you to NetGalley and Text Publishing for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed It Sounded Better In My Head, I loved the writing style that Nina Kenwood employs in this beautiful tale. I feel like all of the characters were fleshed out really well despite there being so many characters to follow, it was really easy to tell who was who and follow the individual stories.

I finished It Sounded Better in My Head because I was buddy reading — okay, impromptu semi simultaneous reading — with a friend and we were invested. However, I might’ve skimmed through some of it.

We have a “coming of age” story involving Natalie, a high school graduate who is in tradition to the next step of her life while dealing with the separation of her parents. Natalie is uncomfortable in her own skin and is very insecure about herself, and that’s a very prominent element in of the book.

This was one of my main complaints with this book. I relate to Natalie in a way because I had a lot of skin problems when I was in my early teens. Pimples, acne, etc. However, it was on practically every page and mentioned every chance she got. It got a little annoying. I understand this was the cause for her insecurity but the amount of detail surrounding her scars and blemishes was way too much.

There was no real plot going on. I couldn’t summarize other than Natalie’s parents are getting divorced, she complains about her skin quite a lot, there are mini flashbacks about touching a boy’s hand and her acne. There was also a boob shirt? Otherwise, I just went with the flow.

I did enjoy the secondary characters outside of Natalie. Her friendship with Lucy and Zach was cute, and the relationship with Alex. Even though it was a bit of an insta-attraction . . . there was some second hand embarrassment and cute moments during the two of them. Hello, one bed trope!

Oh I really loved this so much more than I expected! The writing was brilliant and kept me constantly wanting to see what was going to happen next. I loved how real these characters were, and seeing how much acne had affected Natalie and her confidence was heartbreaking but also so real. I loved her and Alex' relationship and how they both had insecurities but realised it was okay to be vulnerable. It was such a fantastic read, and I loved how Natalie never changed for anyone no matter how hard it got. She was such a strong ass woman and her friendship with Lucy was perfect. I definitely recommend this for a quick but emotional read!

Please note I received a copy of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.


This book was a ride! There were quite a few times early on where I contemplated on marking it as a DNF, I'm glad I didn't.

It Sounded Better In My Head is about an 18 year old girl who is coming to terms with being comfortable in her own skin as well as the rush of change that comes from graduating and starting the next step of your life.

I have one major thing that bothered me and that is the constant talk about her pimples and skin problems through puberty. We get it, you had a rough time and have scars, we don't need multiple chapters of details about this. All the details and pages spent on this really put me off the book and contributes to my rating.

This book is told mostly in Natalie's head, which usually I like but a lot of the book is done with flashbacks and memories of some horrible time Natialie had a pimple or that one time she touched fingers with a boy. I skimmed most of these chapters.

What I did love was the characters and their relationships! I love her friendship with Lucy and Zach! They're such a fun group of friends that it was easy to like them. I also liked Alex and Owen, wish we got to see more of them and more of all the groups just hanging out instead of pages upon pages of pimples. (Just did a search, pimple is mentioned 20 times, acne 16 times, and skin 52 times...too many times! Honestly feels like more though)

I adore the love interest and the progression of their relationship. There are many of times that were cringe and second hand embarrassing but that made the moments more real.

Overall I enjoyed this but am left wanting more! The parts that are good are so fun and I would love to see more. On the other hand, I don't need any more about her bad skin.

I absolutely loved this book. I have to say my boyfriend suffers from eczema and thinks of it as no big deal so it was nice to see another side of it that I had not realized before. The lack of confidence and body shame is something a lot of people can relate to and this book did a great job at relaying the issues. I love how relatable Natalie was.

Wow, what an amazing read!!

Natalie is one of the most relatable characters I've read in so long, and she took me straight back to my late teenage years!

Natalie's trials and tribulations in love and romance made me laugh, made me want to cry, and made me want to go back to being 18 years old to do it all over again!

4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Special thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Natalie was a teen with some issues, to the extremity that it almost entirely shaped her entire years of her life. She was reluctant, anxious and introverted due to her problems. Later it got manageable, but still left her with all the affects those years had on her personality. We get all these glimpses into her life gradually over time.

I liked how relatable this book was. It had some scenes I couldn't help but tear up a bit along with Natalie. The chaotic thoughts, insecurities , overthinking and the teen angst, sometimes cringe-y and awkward situations, everything felt so real.

I couldn't get into the story in the beginning, and sometimes the humor felt forced. But it got better, far better. :') I loved their friendship and how it wasn't overly dramatic.

I want to love this book, but it was just an okay read for me. The romance is cute, but there is about it. Was expecting some more. But I can see a lot of people would like this book, especially the YA readers.
One thing though, can I just say that I really appreciate how the main character deals with acne? something that I haven't read before.

This was a very interesting book. It made me wish that I researched authors better, or perhaps that the synopsis on the back would mention that the book takes place in Australia. It's a little bit confusing at first, realizing that the characters are not in America based on the language they use, but not placing them in Australia until a few pages later when they mention Melbourne. After the initial period of adjustment, the flow of the writing was easy to dive into, and carries you along into the mind of Natalie. This book really made me stop and think, especially at the descriptions of Natalie's horrible acne and the effect it has on her outlook on herself and the world around her. I had a friend with similar troubles, and fully admit I never really understood what she went through. This book gave me a window to look back on my past, to view certain things from a different angle, so I appreciate the insight it gave me. However, other than that the story itself is very simple and straightforward. While cute, there is nothing to really make it stand out over any other contemporary romance YA book. It was an enjoyable and quick read, so I'd recommend it as a solid beach read for anyone wanting to enjoy it while on vacation.

I loved this so much more than I expected to and I'm so glad. I related to Natalie so much - I was always a very self conscious and anxious teen and moving out at 18 for uni was scary but good for me. Lucy and Natalie's friendship was by far the best part of this book, and although zach was a dick at times he still had my heart. I enjoyed the romance and how it didnt play a HUGE role in the story and Natalie grew without needing Alex to be her boyfriend.
All in all, a really fun and relatable quick read that I would highly recommend.

This was an amazing book! I would totally recommend people to read it. The story line was amazing everything about it was good!

A realistic story of a teenage girl who experiences problems mixed with anxiety and happiness! This book handles all teenage drama befalling to a school going teen - from first love to periods, acne, body image, the circle of friends along with family trouble. The writing is smooth and lively. I will profoundly recommend the book to teens.

It Sounded Better In My Head is a fun and amazing read. The story is about discovering your first love, life of a growing teenager with hormonal change and self aware of own body.

I can definitely relate with Natalie struggle as a teenager taking notice of early inch of her body. I love the friendship between the 3 of them (Natalie, Zach and Lucy) but pity that Nat feeling herself being a middle person as both her best friend being a couple. There's also sweet moment with her relationship build with Alex.

Some of the scene is quite funny as well with Natalie fighting off her inner thought which always being the opposite of what she want. This book really brings back the memories of my own teenager life. Definitely a good read.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC copy.

Actual rating: 3.5*

Nina Kenwood wrote a contemporary with a relatable main character who will speak to many of us. Natalie grew up with acne which left her with scars in the back. I believe it's the first time I read a book with a mc with acne and I wish to see more stuff like that in book, especially in MG and YA since the main target of these books are young people who also grow up with acne. I believe it helps not seeing "perfect looking mc".

The romance was pretty cute. I actually liked the love interest -- until we learn something we did and then I totally lost interest in him. Though I liked how they continually asked each other if they were okay with what they were doing. They asked for consent. They also talk about having sex, about std, about condoms and other subjects like that.

It Sounded Better in my Head was a cute contemporary with important topics and themes.

I wanted to love this book so bad, but unfortunately it just did not live up to the expectations I had for it. While I think it had some great messages, I don’t think it was executed well enough. The writing just wasn’t as mature as I like in my novels, and the main character Natalie fell a little flat to me. She didn’t have a lot of growth throughout the story, and I often found myself being annoyed by her.

This was a great book for YA readers. The language in which it was written was appropriate for that age group along with the humor and story. I would definitely put in my school library!

I loved this book!
I seriously didn't expect to enjoy the story so much, but I did!
The book tells the Story of Natalie, who is part of this small friend group but since her two best friends - Zach and Lucy - got together she often feels like the third wheel. Natalie also struggles with the break up of her parents, who decided that it would be a good idea to not tell their daughter until she graduated.
Caught between personal drama at home, uneasiness in her friend group and nothing to take up her mind because it's the summer before university, Natalie must deal with a lot of problems.

What made this book so special for me was Natalie's honest voice. She doesn't hold back any of her feelings, even the ugly ones, that no one likes to talk about. She speaks about jealousy, being mean because she herself isn't feeling great, attraction and being overwhelmed. Sometimes it hurt to read about Natalie, sometimes I laughed out loud. She is a complex human being and she doesn't always communicate well - intentionally
and unintentionally - but I enjoyed her honesty so much!

The friendships and relationships in this book weren't black and white and they needed hard work but they felt real because of that.

I also really enjoyed that Natalie sort of formed a really nice relationship with an ex-girlfriend of somebody she was interested in - no bitch fights or unnecessary mean behavior.

Natalie also touches upon body positivity and severe acne and how that diminished her self esteem. Struggling through puberty is something everyone can relate too, but this book really took some time an effort and talked about microagressions and unsolicited advice and how they can hurt for a long time. Natalie is also a feminist and speaks out about sexism - even to her closest friends. I loved that!

Even though Natalie is far from perfect - and honestly doesn't seem like she wants to be perfect - I really loved following her voice and journey. A perfect summer read!