If I'm Being Honest

Having read the authors' other two books, I was happy to find this equally enjoyable. Cameron is an unwitting prisoner of her parents' warped relationship dynamics. She's driven by something seemingly impossible, to have her father acknowledge her. He covers rent and her private school tuition, but there's zero emotional connection. She's convinced herself that staying aloof and telling it like it is are necessary for survival. However her concept of honesty is perceived by those who are recipients of it as verbal cruelty. When something she says at a critical moment blows up in her face, she tries to rethink her behavior, but much of what follows is seen by her victims and even her close friends as window dressing. It isn't until she show more cracks open enough to let others in and starts looking at the world through fresh eyes that, her life starts to get better. Following her through this emotional jungle makes for a dandy story. show less

Cameron Bright is the dictionary definition of a mean girl. She speaks her mind with no filter, rooted for success in her father's company, and has rejected every boy that has asked her out for the past two years. But when she gets rejected by her crush for being rude and calling Paige Rosenfield pathetic, Cameron decides it's time to change her ways in order to win her crush back. This starts with an apology tour beginning with Paige and her nerd brother, Brendan. What originally was intended to be a plan of getting her crush to like her, soon transforms into a journey of self-discovery and expression where Cameron sees life from new perspectives and befriends actually decent people. At first, I thought that this book was dumb. I was show more annoyed by the tropes, and not really a fan of any of the characters. But then the entire thing does a 180 and has me loving the main romance between a nerdy social outcast and the popular girl in a situation not far from Elenor Shellstrop's in The Good Place. It was all really sweet in the end and just sends a positive message of how it's fun to be weird and quirky and it's okay to be your honest self. We definitely need more books like this one. show less

This was an absolutely charming book that I could not put down. Cameron begins a quest to prove to the boy she likes that she's not a complete b*tch, that she can be a nice person, by setting out to "tame" herself (they are reading Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew in English class). She makes a list of people she needs to apologize to, to make things "right". While her initial reason for her actions is crap, something interesting happens along the way. I loved her character growth. The book jacket calls this Mean Girls meets Taming of the Shrew and I guess that's somewhat accurate, on the surface, but there's surprising depth to the story and character arcs. It's more than that description would lead one to believe and I'm so glad I show more picked this book up. show less

Let me begin by saying I really enjoyed this book. Cameron's problems felt real and her honesty was refreshing at times. That being said, after finishing the book, all I could think about were issues I had with it's overall resolution. Truth be told--if I'm thinking about the book after I finish it, as well as "improving" it in my mind, it means I actually liked the book; I don't think about books I didn't like for the most part.

So, my main issue was Cameron's forgiveness of her mother. Her mother basically abandoned her after she was able to take care of herself and her mother. Given what we know about Cameron, it was an insufficient resolution, IMO. I'm not sure insufficient is the right word, but it just didn't mesh with the show more character I read about. I also wanted Cameron to have more of a fight with her father, but maybe that's just the b!tch in me. Same goes for Elle (and Morgan by proxy). Maybe it was a grown-up ending and I wanted more happily ever after? It just didn't work for me.

This is the first book by these authors, and I'll definitely try another. 3.5 stars show less

Loved, loved, loved this book! Normally I don't like romance in my teen books but the authors artfully weaved in the story of The Taming of the Shrew so perfectly, I didn't mind at all. Cameron Bright grew up in a realistic way and now I'm reading all of Emily's and Austin's other books.

Starts off kind of slow, but once it gets going, it is amazing. The epilogue, though, only seems to be there to tie it to the authors' first book.

This novel had brought up a multitude of issues such as changing ones self for someone else and unconventional family situation. Personally I relate to both of these topics to some degree and I love how the authors represented imperfection. Although Cameron was portrayed as a horrible character, her attempts to "tame" herself, although initially not for the best reason, was beautiful character development and the new, true relationships she had achieved because of it was admirable. I loved how Megan and Owen - from Always Never Yours - had a cameos in the last chapter.