Content Warning: bullying and referring to your come to life sculpture as a 2 day old toddler while dating him is a werid power dynamic...probably not too triggering but it grossed me out a bit. Also way too many HP references.
I love a remake or parody ; my favorite episode of tv shows is often the Breakfast Club rip-off. Werid Science is often forgotten about sadly and this helps make up for that. The author has a great sense of humor ; I laughed so many times while reading this. I also loved the point of view presented ; Katie is a great writer with a young eye and Libby's constant interrupting was often making me laugh. I did enjoy the asexual coming out story ; although it didnt surprise me, it was very well written. The ending was a bit predictable but still very good overall.

Full review can be read here: https://twincitiesgeek.com/2021/03/you-were-made-for-me-plays-with-weird-science-and-weirdly-outdated-tropes/

DNF at 40% — The plot just wasn’t working for me.

Katie and her best friend, Libby, have created Katie’s perfect guy. When Guy actually comes to life during a lightning storm, Katie has to figure out how to hide him from her parents, as well as come to grips with the fact that this Hemsworth lookalike wants *her*.

At the point I stopped reading the book, not much had happened, plot-wise, aside from the complication of Guy coming to life. The book’s biggest strength is in its characters. Katie is trying to figure out what she wants in a guy, what a guy might see in her, and is agonizing over having the perfect first kiss. I feel like these are things a lot of young readers might relate to.

This book was cute and there were some positive things about it. The reasoning for the three star is that the dialogue was a bit juvenile where I felt this was more like Freshman or middle grade language rather than a sophomore/junior's voice. While the breaks in the fourth wall were a nice touch at first, they became an issue of interruptions as the main story progressed. I have read Frankenstein and seen different adaptations of it and was hoping this would be an interesting YA twist on the topic of creating a human. While I enjoyed the book, I didn't find it outstanding or unique enough to warrant a four or five star. I did want to note that there is subtle diversity rep mentioned in the book which I wish would've been greater elaborated upon rather than just a mention or two.

Thank you Netgalley and Publishers for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

-`ˏ 4 Stars ˎ´˗

Storyline : -`ˏ 5/10 ˎ´˗
I’ve spent a good portion of this book constantly trying to figure out why the plot sounds so familiar. Saw people compare it to the movie Weird Science. I like the idea of it being more of a rom-com version of Life Size. There’s also a movie that actually has two female characters building the perfect fake boy but at that time I couldn't remember what it was called (Later found out it was the Disney movie - How to Build a Better Boy). There’s no need to beat around the bush. It's a very cliché story with the perfect boy, perfect first kiss, everything must be a perfect typical teenage dilemma but I digress.
Characters : -`ˏ 8/10 ˎ´˗
I like the silly dynamics between Kate and Libby. Their commentary breaking the fourth wall to tell the story made me giggle. My only complaint is I wish we had more time to get to know Libby. I was much more intrigued with her storyline. They pretty much said oh yeah by the way Libby is blank blank blank but that’s not important back to funny boy craze girl. Theo is my precious baby boy & Guy . . well he’s perfect. I didn’t care much for the other characters, they were just there for the plot.
Atmosphere : -`ˏ 7/10 ˎ´˗
There was a lot and I mean A LOT of awkward moments that will give you second-hand embarrassment. Fair warning there will be many atrocious sex jokes, harsh judgment of one’s body and sexuality. Death of a family member. Recommend for an older teen to an adult audience.
Language : -`ˏ 7/10 ˎ´˗
The author’s writing style is very scriptive and well written. I felt as if a movie was playing in my head but that may also be because scenes from movies were literally playing in my head.
Enjoyment : -`ˏ 8/10 ˎ´˗
Overall, it's a simple & light rom-com. You’ll be able to read it through one sitting. Great for if you’re in a reading slump and looking for something funny and fast-paced that doesn't require you to rack your brain.

4.5 stars. If I had more time, I would've finished this in one sitting. What a fun read. Katie and Libby think they're having lighthearted fun discussing what picky Katie's dream man would be like. Until Katie wakes up with her dream man, who is very much naked, in her bed. I don't want to spoil any of the storyline since I feel like it's an absolute must read rom-com, I will say that the last few pages are what really did it for me, I was rooting for that since the first scene of them talking about the perfect first kiss. Because what is a perfect boy when you've had one all along ;) also, Declan Bell Jones and his girlfriend can choke and that's all I will say about that. (I am slightly invested in finding out why the girlfriend was as mean as she was).

Katie was really annoying throughout the book. She was so obsessed with this 'perfect' relationship that she was blind to everything going on around her. I get it though, I was a teenager once. I also absolutely loved the present day interjections between Katie and Libby, honestly a huge part of why I loved the book so much. All in all, I really loved the story of the book and would recommend it as a fun romance.

Oh, where to start…

I wish this had come out when I was 14 and just starting high school. It reads like a YA book- talking about sex and it has cursing and all that- but at the same time it feels like middle schoolers could read it (not that I’m saying they really should). I chalk that up mostly to the format of the book; it’s told like a conversation, alternating texts between Katie and her best friend Libby. That part really did grate on my nerves, I wasn’t the biggest fan of reading what basically amounted author’s character notes.

Other than that, this is a really relatable book for people who feel like Katie; like they don’t fit in, they aren’t good enough, pretty enough. She struggles a lot with how she looks coupled with Guy, how they’re perceived together, and even his feelings about her even though he reassures her at every opportunity. I think it’s a little unrealistic that she just gets over all those feelings by the end of the book- I’ve been in several relationships and still have those feelings, but it’s a happy ending; what romcom doesn’t have a happy ending?!

Not super relevant, but there were also a substantial number of Harry Potter references, even about Harry and Ginny, that just made me so giddy. They’re my favorite couple and the references just made the book that much more endearing.

There are a lot of guys in this book! Three in particular catch Kate Camilleri’s eye: Declan Bell Jones, the boy she’s had a crush on since forever; Theo, her unflinching best friend since childhood; and perfect, made-for-her Guy. Each guy is very trope heavy but in a read like this I wasn’t super annoyed by it, which is unusual for me. Declan is a popular dude-bro, Theo is her lifelong best friend, and Guy is a literal golden retriever (seriously. He even rolls around in sand!).

Ranking the guys goes like this for me: Theo, Guy, Declan. Or maybe Guy, Theo, Declan. No matter what Declan is always at the bottom. I did not like Declan. Not in the beginning, not in the middle, and not by the end. He does not pass the vibe check. Theo and Guy are great in different ways, and throughout the book I couldn’t quite pinpoint who Katie would end up with. Despite that, I wasn’t disappointed with the ending! Though I think polyamory could’ve solved a lot of problems.

The creation of Guy left a lot to be desired. He’s basically created out of a clay sculpture and an entirely redacted “potion.” They don’t even mention if the thunderstorm played a part in his creation, like Frankenstein. I wanted more sci-fi!

Like any romcom, it’s a classic girl meets guy, girl falls for guy, there’s some angst in the middle, and eventually a happily ever after. There’s some twists and roundabouts but they get there eventually. A really cute, light read that hits pretty much every high point of a good romcom (but not so much sci-fi; it’s like a 95/5 split).

A warning: there is moderate fatphobia in this book that comes out of nowhere

I went into this book expecting a cheesy romantic comedy, which is exactly what I got. I mean this in the best way possible as I adore romantic comedies, just as I adored this book. It was absolutely adorable. I fell in love with the characters, especially the sweet Guy and Theo. They were the most wholesome characters and I loved it. This book even got deeper than I expected. The aspects of the story that focused on Theo's mom really got to me. They were beautifully written and also something I didn't expect to find in this book. I loved that this book could be so fun and also have some serious and emotional aspects. I also really enjoyed how the book was narrated, with future Katie and Libby occasionally cutting in and giving their opinions. It was a great way to keep the book light and fun even when it got a little dark and sad. It added a balance to it that really made this book even better. I honestly can't think of anything I didn't like in this book haha, it was that fun and fantastic. I highly recommend it!

This book was cute and fun. It was fast paced, interesting, with fun characters along the way. I liked the way the story was told by the two friends and getting to know everyone. This book was just overall a really cute, fun story that I think fans of YA will enjoy!

All I needed to know about this was that it was inspired by the film Weird Science and I was in! I love that movie and the idea of creating the perfect person is so fun.

Katie and her best friend Libby accidentally create the perfect guy; he's totally devoted to Katie, he's sweet, and he looks like a long lost Hemsworth brother. You would think Katie would be ecstatic, but instead she's unsure of Guy (the pretend boy come to life) and problems begin to arise.

I can see where having someone whose whole life centers around you would be difficult, but Katie didn't handle it well. She was dating Guy but crushing on the awful Declan at the same time. Katie was also a bit self centered, she ignored Libby and treated Theo poorly. Luckily, Katie does grow a bit in this and I supported her more by the end.

Guy is just freaking adorable in this and I want to hug him and keep him safe forever. I liked where his story went and seeing him learn about the world and feelings. If Katie doesn't want Guy, I'll take him off her hands for sure.

There was a surprise AroAce character in this that made me smile. You almost never see aromantic characters, so kudos to the author for adding this rep in!

Overall a cute story with some funny parts and a heartbreak or two. I'll be looking for other books by the author!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not gonna lie this was an engaging, delightful, and funny read for the most part, but nothing super special stuck out to me about the story overall. I see that it was inspired by the film, Weird Science, but a lot of the plot felt straight out of the movie, How to Build a Better Boy. The only thing I appreciated was the Filipino and LGBTQA+ representation but it was still crumbs with like 2 mentions. Other than that this book was filled with overdone cliché tropes and a frustrating mc. It may just be me but I've seen the typical mc too often where she goes and becomes someone who isn't herself and ignores her real friends and doesn't pay attention to them until the end where everything is resolved between everyone. Then there's the topic of the usual mean girl trio who makes fun of the mc for being a "loser" or "nerd" and then here's the thing that felt scarily exactly from the movie mentioned earlier, the mc mentioning her made up boyfriend (of course who turns out to be a real boy they created) to save face in front of the mean girl. You Were Made For Me, I feel like I definitely would enjoy watching in a movie with all these overdone high school tropes and with the comedy, but as a book it was very predictable and the sexual innuendo was eye-rolling at times. Predictable with the fact that who the mc ends up with is telling that I've probably read and watched too many things that go this exact route story-wise. I wished I liked this better, the premise is good but I didn't enjoy the execution whatsoever. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants a lighthearted fun read and hasn't seen How to Build a Better Boy because there were one too many similarities in my opinion.

I love the idea of this story - a modern play on a classic 80’s story. I liked the story, but didn’t love the voice of the main character, as sometimes she would get on my nerves with how out of touch she was. Would give 3 out of 5 stars.

I loved Weird Science and was excited for this story, but I have to say I was disappointed. The little conversations between Katie and her friend Libby were interesting at first, but got old real quick. Katie and Libby's back and forth comments were disruptive and stopped the action of the story. I enjoyed reading about Libby and Theo because they were always there for Katie and felt like real characters. I also liked the inclusion of diverse characters and wish we heard more from them and their struggles instead of it being a sort of side note. It's a shame because I saw more growth from them than I did from Katie. Katie was the weakest part of the book for me. She is selfish and for most of the book doesn't really do anything for anyone. Her friends always rescue her, which is great. Too bad she never does the same. I would have like to see her redeem herself in some way, but it never happens. Although she goes through a difficult time at one point we don't really see growth from her. The ending felt like an awkward attempt at tying up loose ends that didn't seem to fit. This story would have been amazing if I was 12 or 13 except for all the profanity, but missed the mark in terms of a main character and story that reflect depth and growth.

That last scene definitely gained the fourth star in my rating. Without it, this book would have been just okay. I was waiting for it for a long time but I'm not disappointed because it was so freaking cute. I just wish we had more of it and not just the one scene ;) Still, it was a really good ending to a silly book following a girl who managed to create "the perfect boy" from mud by accident.

I have to say, I wasn't really a fan of the main character Katie. I found her very self-centered and she was a bit too obsessed with her first kiss to see what was going on in front of her. She grew a little by the end of the book but it was still a bit annoying before that. Her best friend Theo was a cutie and I want all the happy things for him. As for the mean girl in her school and her cheating boyfriend Declan, I'm sure karma is going to get them one day or another.

Overall, this was a cute read that charmed me with its ending!

(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

You Were Made For Me kind of reminded me of a movie. Which I think there is one for this certain book. Possibly by Disney? Not sure.. but I have a feeling that there is one and two girls made the perfect guy. Well, don't get surprised because that's exactly what happens in this book.

In it, you will meet Katie and Libby. They are the best friends anyone could ever have.. and they have a funny little group at school. If they find a way to not be acknowledged by the bullies, things go pretty smooth for them while being at school. Until one day it wasn't and they accidentally created the perfect guy. His name is.. well... Guy.. which wasn't very creative to me. He was cute and adorable though. Definitely made me laugh when he met her family.

Other than them, you meet Mikayla and Declan. Honestly Mikayla, aka the bully, needs a hobby or something. She was annoying to deal with and it was kind of sad to see her pick on Katie and Libby. So not a fan of her and I hope she meets Karma real soon. Same for Declan.

Speaking of Declan, well Katie has a huge ass crush on him. She thinks he is perfect in every was possible... which is gross. Per Hannah Montana, nobody's perfect. Which is completely fine but the way she idolized this douche was just weird and creepy. I loved whenever Libby, Alex, or Theo called her out on it.

Besides that, Libby and Katie do go through a rough patch and it was frustrating how Katie wasn't seeing what was happening until it was too late. Then the whole being obsessed with the douche canoe while she is technically with Guy just rubbed me the wrong way.

Also while all this was going down... I was shipping her with Theo. Again, it was all weird and I was there for it all. In the end, Max (her dog) was my favorite and the ending was kind of adorable.

This book was delightful . Katie was a smart, relatable heroine, and her story was a really charming, fun read.
I loved the relationships between Katie and Libby, and Katie and Theo. The book was a feminist retelling of Weird Science(which I still haven’t seen...I know, it’s a cult classic). But even if you haven’t seen the movie, you can still enjoy this well-paced, rollicking ride.
Would highly recommend, especially if you are looking for something fun and light.

This is an honest review, so I can’t (and won’t) lie: I have conflicting feelings about this book. I chose it because it seemed fun and lighthearted, as well as I really enjoyed the first sentence of the book, creative as it was — “The day I created a boy started out like any other”. The conversational writing style also interested me at first, but after a few pages, it started to be annoying. The comments and bantering between Libby and Katie felt like they were trying too hard to be funny; of course, they nailed it a few times, because even a broken clock is right twice a day, but the failed attempts are still too many.

About the characters, I really enjoyed Libby’s and Theo’s: their problems, reactions and concerns felt real to me, unlike Katie’s, that seemed to be ripped from a Disney channel movie, but with sexual comments, which leads to the next point: the narrative felt juvenile, even a tad immature. Without the sexual comments, it’d be a very good middle grade book, for kids around 12.

I’d talk about how Guy’s character felt flat, but it made sense in the narrative for him not to be as complex as the other characters, considering he technically wasn’t even a year old. Besides, his reaction upon discovering experiences, tastes, feelings etc. felt heartwarming and creative, which I give Jenna kudos for.

A characters that also felt flat, but wasn’t supposed to, though, was Mikayla Fitzsimmons, as well as her friends and fellow antagonists (the group that had not-so-lovingly been named ‘unholy trinity’). They felt like villains from a teenage movie from the ‘00s, with no redeeming qualities, almost as Katie was everything good in the world, with Mikayla as her polar opposite. Things aren’t quite like this in real life and I can’t see there was an attempt to make reference to that: the moment where Katie was in her archenemy’s bedroom during a party and sees her in a more human light. I thought that would’ve been developed, not necessarily with Katie starting to like her bully, but processing what she’d seen that day, but that was never mentioned again.

I gotta congratulate the author on representation, even though I personally think that the main romance could’ve used a little bit of it. There’s an openly gay character in the narrative and an aroace one with a coming out scene — which I loved, but personally thought that should’ve been mentioned/hinted at earlier or after the coming out part.

Another point I find important to talk about is, the book claiming to have a feminist twist. I don’t quite get that part: except for the fact that women are doing the objectifying of Guy (Katie and Guy’s relationship was very physical, and a woman from Katie’s family kept touching his abs in a way I personally found totally creepy), I didn’t see what that was about. Yeah, there were some quotes where Libby commented about blaming the victim in situations, which felt too unnatural for a mature book (which I assume that was the intention of it, since it deals with mature topics like sex, grief and bullying in a descriptive manner), and Theo reassuring Katie that he wasn’t slut-shaming her in one of their discussions.

In conclusion: if you’re looking for a romantic comedy that you would’ve liked as a child and now you’re a bit too mature for that, but you want nostalgia alongside themes like body image struggles and non-heterosexual sexualities, then you absolutely should try this one, but it wasn’t what I was looking for.

This YA romance was delightful, fun, and just plain cute. Here, less than popular Katie and her best friend Libby sort of, accidentally, sculpted and baked a perfect teen boy replica who then magically came to life. And it turned out that, once real, he was a super devoted boyfriend to the never been kissed Katie. It's described as a modern, feminist retelling of the eighties cult movie "Weird Science," and just by the description, I could tell this would be super cute and fun. Which it was. The book's written like a post-experiment diary from Kate, with interjections by Libby, as they recount this story in the first-person perspective. Sure, it's a bit slow to start before the boy they make, Guy, comes to life. But once he does, it ramps up and I just find myself so compelled by the language that I have to know what happens next. Sure, this premise is completely off-the-wall bonkers, but I'm actually into it. It's just a fun and cute YA. A great one-sitting read. Then, there's Theo, the boy next door who definitely, positively has a crush on her but she doesn't see it, and also the most popular boy in school who she's always liked. So, there's a whole bunch of things happening here. But in the end, it was such a cheesy, cute teen romance, but enjoyable nonetheless.

This was so cute and fun! I loved the concept of this book, how it was like a Weird Science re-write. I could NOT get over the adorable-ness of this. Best for fans of Jennifer E. Smith, Jenny Han, literally every contemporary lover will love this too. Definitely will reread when I get my hands on a physical copy.

Thanks for the publisher for pooviding an eARC of You Were Made for Me in exchange for an honest review.

You Were Made for Me is kind of Weird Science genderflipped, with our 2 uncool 'nerd' girls accidentally great the perfect boyfriend for protagonist Katie and chaos ensues. It tells you its a feminist flip on it, but beyond the objectified character's gender no longer being female, I didn't really pick up on the feminist angle. The biggest reason it didn't work for me probably just comes down to the comedy style not knowing my thing which I know pretty much from the get-go.

It's told as if Katie's writing this out to keep a record of it with her best friend Libby popping in in italics occasionally to interject. The humour and writing style felt a little too in your face for an older YA audience but there are also a lot of references to sex & sexual themes so I don't think its targeted at the younger demographic the humour would better match.

I also really couldn't stand Katie. The narrative kind of calls her out for it, but Katie never really has to apologize or even fully acknowledges her a lot of her faults and fixing her hurt relationships almost always became the responsibility of the person she wronged. Not all protagonists need to be likable but based on the conclusion, I have a feeling Katie was definitely supposed to be.