Title: The Way You Make Me Feel
Author: Maurene Goo
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5 Stars)
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Release Date: May 8, 2018
I feel like it’s hard to go wrong with a contemporary in the summer, so I knew I was destined to enjoy The Way You Make Me Feel. We follow Clara, a fun-loving girl with a flare for the dramatic who is sentenced to a summer of working on her dad’s food truck with her school rival, the goody two shoes Rose, instead of vacationing with her influencer mom in Mexico. But Clara and Rose must learn to work together over the summer to avoid suspension, and maybe help Adrian reach his dream of owning a restaurant along the way.
Things I Liked
If you know me, you know I’m a sucker for a friendship story. Or a potential friendship story, anything slow-build, and I’m hooked. So I loved seeing Clara and Rose rising and falling together in bouts of frustration and laughter.
The romance between Clara and a fellow food truck worker, Hamlet, was adorable and perfect summer fluff.
Adrian, Clara’s dad, was such a wonderfully happy and optimistic person. I loved the positive relationship he and Clara shared. And you could clearly see how much he cared for her, even if Clarac want to revel in her teenage ignorance.
Things I Didn’t Like
Time jumps that happen after the first chapter is a pet peeve of mine and it always takes me out of the story for a second. It’s just something that bugs me, I’d rather have chapter one be a prologue, then jump into the bulk of the story instead of starting with a shift in scene after just getting into the story.
Clara was not my favorite character. Though I did grow to like her more as the story continued. She was bratty, immature, and obnoxious for a lot of the story. But she knows she’s a jerk so I have to give her some credit for being self aware. While her biting sarcasm was fun to laugh at, I feel like she’d be a bit exhausting to be around for long periods of time.
Felix and Patrick were just kinda there. I didn’t feel any particular way about them – besides maybe annoyance- But I didn’t feel like I got enough about them or their friendship with Clara to be invested.
The Way You Make Me Feel is a friendship story that combines food, drama, and romance to make a perfect summer book.
Life of a Literary Nerd 
I heard this one was pretty good. I’ve read “Somewhere Only We Know” and “I believe in a thing called love” because of the kpop/kdrama inspiration, but was very disappointed.
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