“Can a love triangle have only two people in it? Online, it can… but in the real world, it’s more complicated. In this debut novel Marisa Kanter explores what happens when internet friends turn into IRL crushes.“
I won this in a First Reads giveaway on Goodreads, but all opinions are my own. I really enjoyed this book and, even though it took me a month to read, it’s will be a quick read for most people. The only thing wrong with this book is that the main character organizes her books in reverse alphabetical order. It almost set my OCD off.
The characters are really well done in this book. Each one has their own unique set of goals, fears, and issues to overcome. Whether it’s family issues, college admissions, overcoming grief or anxiety, everyone is dealing with something.
The relationships in this book are all very well done. First you have Halle and her brother Ollie, who are great siblings. Next the siblings and their Gramps who start off rocky and eventually become a great little trio. At school, Halle becomes part of “Le Crew,” Nash’s friend group. They’re a bit messy at times, but they become important to her. Kels and Nash, who are online best friends, but have never met in real life (and Nash is in love with Kels). The best one, in my opinion, is the relationship between Halle and Nash. They become friends and then more, but he doesn’t know she’s Kels. There’s also the relationship that quite a few characters have with their Jewish faith. I’m not Jewish, but I like that the author knows that in CT, there’s no school on certain Jewish holidays. It shows she did her homework.
Halle’s secret life as Kels is a very relevant topic with how much of our lives we live online nowadays. It’s great that it showed the effect that lying can have in virtual and actual friendships. I’ve made some great friends online and I love that this book normalizes that. It also made me stop and think about how I act online versus real life, but there’s really no difference. It could be different for others. I really enjoyed the focus on book blogging in this book as well. You can tell how much Halle loves being Kels and running One True Pastry, but Kanter also covers book Twitter, booktube, bookstagram and book drama. I’m super far on the outskirts of any of it, but I do enjoy some of those things. Not the book drama.
I would honestly recommend this book to everyone.
Tanie's Reviews 