I Like You Like This

Hannah's home life stinks. Her school life also stinks. She thinks maybe a talk with the local dealer and then a party with a small group of girls she badly wants to be friends with will help. Deacon, a senior and the local dealer, has problems as well. Deacon's home life stinks too. When these 2 lives intertwine, secrets get revealed. People get hurt. This book invokes so many feelings, sadness, anger, it's an emotional roller coaster. Well written. Well worth 5 stars. Well worth reading.

Wow! I loved this book! The story was original and refreshing to have a story take place in the 80s. I enjoyed our heroine 's journey towards self loving. The ending was a little confusing at first. Is it a set up for a sequel or a way to have an open ended happy ending?

Release Date: November 7, 2017
Thanks to She Writes Press for providing an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Note: This review contains spoilers.

Heather Cumiskey’s debut novel I Like You Like This is an honest tale of finding a way out of the dark not by following the light at the end of the tunnel but by being the light itself.

It’s 1984. Hannah Zandana grew up scorned and ridiculed by her parents and schoolmates for her physical appearance. She had big, wild hair and acne on her face that made people twitch their nose in disgust. Hannah longed to have friends, to be appreciated. She wanted so bad to belong that she covered her face in makeup and bought the nicest clothes. She even hung out with fake friends. Hannah was too hard on herself, which caused her to suffer anxiety.

Deacon Giroux was rich and handsome. He had everything but lacked the most important thing in his life: the love and warmth that his parents should have cocooned him. Alone, like Hannah, he had his own way of coping up with what he didn’t have by selling drugs. With this he felt powerful. It consumed him as he fed on it.

During one of her missions to fit in, Hannah decided to buy drugs from Deacon to impress her so-called friends. From then on, everything changed for the two of them. The good blurred with the bad as night kissed day at twilight.

The characters and their situations were very relatable to me. I believe that at some point in our younger years, we’ve all been through Hannah and Deacon’s struggles in trying to find our own place. We were puzzle pieces turning left and right, wondering where we belonged best.

I know for a fact that a number of youths have struggled with parental issues. We’ve all been drowned by neglect and strangled by our efforts of trying to get their attention. To be honest, this book opened up some of the seams that I’m still trying to mend in myself and it was a bit difficult for me to read through Hannah’s experiences. I’ve been there and it was as if I was looking at myself.

I believe this book is more suitable to mature YA readers due to its sexual content. The scenes weren’t explicitly detailed, but it would still be best to read this cautiously and at your own risk.

Related to that, I would like to discuss a particular scene wherein Deacon forced himself on Hannah and she was afraid of him, but then his parents arrived and interrupted the act. I think a lot of people would be repulsed by that; I was too. But after thinking about that scene and analyzing it, what I think the author wanted to show was Deacon’s desperation, his craving of feeling her and this overwhelming urge in him that shouted she understood him and accepted him. I think it was him opening up to Hannah in his own, but undeniably frightening, way. That scene was actually pretty messed up and says a lot about consent. I’m not sure what could’ve happened if his parents didn’t arrive. Would Hannah have had said no or would she have let him get his way with her?

The ending was something I was half-expecting but I am very excited if there would ever be a sequel, since there are no announcements about one yet.

This is a very promising debut and I would surely read the author’s future books. Highly recommended!

I Like You Like This by Heather Cumiskey

Oh my goodness!!! I absolutely couldn’t put this book down! I can’t wait till the next book comes out! I’m still thrown about Hannah’s flashbacks when she used there is so many questions left there! I loved hers and Deacon relationship I can’t wait to see how he finds his way back to her!!! 5 Stars!!!

Due to the sensitive subject matters in this book, I recommend it to Highschool age and older, those with the emotional maturity to deal with tough subjects!



I Like You Like This

A Novel

by Heather Cumiskey

She Writes Press

Teens & YA

Pub Date 07 Nov 2017

I am reviewing a copy of I Like You Like This through She Writes Press and Netgalley:

It’s 1984 Connecticut and sixteen year old Hannah Zandana feels cursed. Her hair is wild and controllable, her complexion is bad, and she constantly picks at her face. Her parents do not help, they are constantly belittling her, and shaming her.

In an attempt to impress the popular girls and perhaps change her life Hannah takes LSD. She does not impress the girls but gets the attention of Deacon, a mysterious young boy who happens to be the schools drug dealer. Hannah soon founds her life taking a turn into Deacon’s dangerous world of drugs, druggies and dealers. Soon though her relationship with her family comes farther apart and she finds herself having to re-examine what she believes about herself and her family.

Will Hannah be able to save her family, and herself, find out in I Like You Like This.

I give this book five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

I quite enjoyed this book - there were a bit of issues with transitioning into different mindsets - I prefer when each person is either labelled or there is a space to show there is another person talking, so I had a bit of a problem following along in a few parts, but since most of the book is Hannah it was not a huge issue.

I read an arc of this book, I saw the description and it immediately spoke to me - being a self conscious acne riddled (adult mind you) I was like, hey first hook line and sinker. Hannah's family life is pretty awful for her, she tries to escape I think using Deacon, their time together was actually quite amazing to read. You get those fluffy romances most YA books have and this was different. I thought it was great.

Onto the ending - if I don't get a book 2, or a novella, or SOMETHING I'm going to be very upset, you can't do that to me! You just cant! I'd totally read this book again, and I would recommend it (to certain members of my family/friends, as I know some people wouldn't be interested in the content there's a lot of drug talk, etc.)