He’s an incredibly talented graphic novelist. He loves books almost as much as she does. And she never has to deal with the awkwardness of seeing him in real life. They can talk about anything…
Except who she really is.
Because online, Halle isn’t Halle—she’s Kels, the enigmatically cool creator of One True Pastry, a YA book blog that pairs epic custom cupcakes with covers and reviews. Kels has everything Halle doesn’t: friends, a growing platform, tons of confidence, and Nash.
That is, until Halle arrives to spend senior year in Gramps’s small town and finds herself face-to-face with real, human, not-behind-a-screen Nash. Nash, who is somehow everywhere she goes—in her classes, at the bakery, even at synagogue.
Nash who has no idea she’s actually Kels.
If Halle tells him who she is, it will ruin the non-awkward magic of their digital friendship. Not telling him though, means it can never be anything more. Because while she starts to fall for Nash as Halle…he’s in love with Kels. (Pub Date: Apr 7, 2020)
Halle has been best friends with Nash since forever. But online, through her pseudonym Kels, a successful YA book blogger. And since they're a part of a circle, she's always been careful not to reveal too much about herself to any of them. Then she has to move in with her grandfather and the first native she finds is none other than Nash himself. She does her best to hide the Kels in her, afraid she's still too far from making her online persona justice, and avoid any contact with Nash. But their friendship is as inevitable as it is to fall in love now she has the real thing in flesh and blood.
I love the secretly online friends trope and this one was even better because it didn't go the from enemy-to-lovers route. I do love that one too, but actual friends is much harder. Even harder when one of them knows everything from day one. In fact, Halle's uncertainty about what to do with that piece of information makes for the main conflict.
I'll be honest, I was very anxious for Halle. Why the heck did she get herself into that? And of course it just spiraled because real-life Nash is a great guy, is deeply bothered that the new girl is giving him the cold shoulder for no reason, and he has equally great friends who won't let Halle have her lone-wolf way at a new school.
Anxiety aside, that group of friends was amazing, I want Le Crew (as they call themselves) for me! Actually, I was in love with almost all of the characters. I'll confess, the one I connected with the least was Halle herself. I do understand her lack of self-confidence but she and I have read too many YA's (I love that her brother says that right to her, kudos to the writer!) not to know the secret will backfire. And look, I had no idea the blast would be that when it came.
There is also the whole famous on internet trope going on too, but, maybe because Halle herself kept running away from her online life, I didn't find it all that interesting. I do like that Marisa Kanter seems to believe friendship online can form as strong a bond as IRL. You must have noticed from the review, but I really liked this writer ha ha.
The book could have been a little shorter, but it's still a very fast and easy read. This didn't get in the way of it being meaningful. Grief, family, religion, there are many more topics going on that will be great food for the teenager reading and for anyone looking for worthy discussions along with the main plot.
I'll definitely make a note to follow Kanter's next releases after such a pleasing read.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Edelweiss. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment