When You Realize You’re the Parent

The Way You Make Me Feel

By: Maurene Goo

Grade: B

Age wise anyway. 🙂

It was bound to happen eventually. And her parents were high-school age when they had Clara but still it actually explained a lot in the beginning of the book because I was like- why is this chick annoying me so much? Then we found out her parents were all of thirty-four. So she could be my kid.

Not a big deal. 🙂

I really did find early Clara annoying though. She’s a practical joker that doesn’t take much seriously and her friends are specifically written for that purpose. She wants to go through life without caring about anything.

And really the minute you hear practical joke at prom doesn’t everyone’s mind just go to Carrie? So she’s also not exactly that imaginative.

As punishment Clara and her mortal enemy Rose are forced to work on her father’s Korean/Brazilian food truck (YUMMY FOOD!) for the summer. Brat City happens until she realizes that she may actually like working with Rose and doing what her father says is the only way to see her social influencer famous mother at the end of summer.

Also there’s a cute boy named Hamlet. Because there is always a cute something

(Insert to be or not to be joke- and someone does by the way.)

But credit where credit is due the book actually hits it’s stride when Hamlet comes into play. The friendship with Rose develops nicely and we begin to see more of Clara’s flawed -not always pleasant to be around but realistically teenage- personality come out. And hey! I actually liked her!

Also bonus points because there are a couple of places at the end where I thought I knew what they would do and Goo didn’t. She kept the wrap-up pretty realistic every day stuff as well. Nice little bit of a love letter to Los Angeles that made me wonder if Clara didn’t get too mushy. But it was nice to get a book view of the city.

Overall The Way You Make Me Feel was a relatable read. (Seriously loved Clara’s mention that the minute you were grateful that you had good traffic in LA was the minute you were going to find yourself trapped in it. True!) It does make me want to check out I Believe in a Thing Called Love- Goo’s other read.

Recommend: Yes. Clara might not have been my favorite. But she felt real.