Book Review: If I’m Being Honest by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka

If I’m Being Honest by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka

Rating: ★★★★☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: April 23, 2019
Source: Borrowed

High school senior Cameron Bright’s reputation can be summed up in one word: bitch. It’s no surprise she’s queen bee at her private L.A. high school—she’s beautiful, talented, and notorious for her cutting and brutal honesty. So when she puts her foot in her mouth in front of her crush, Andrew, she fears she may have lost him for good.

In an attempt to win him over, Cameron resolves to “tame” herself, much like Katherine in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. First, she’ll have to make amends with those she’s wronged, which leads her to Brendan, the guy she labelled with an unfortunate nickname back in the sixth grade. At first, Brendan isn’t all that receptive to Cameron’s ploy. But slowly, he warms up to her when they connect over the computer game he’s developing. Now if only Andrew would notice…

But the closer Cameron gets to Brendan, the more she sees he appreciates her personality—honesty and all—and wonders if she’s compromising who she is for the guy she doesn’t even want.

I read Always Never Yours back in the summer of 2018 and while I didn’t hate it or anything, I thought the pacing was off and the fact that everybody was cheating on everybody really bothered me. For that reason, I was really skeptical about If I’m Being Honest, but I saw so many glowing reviews of it that I had to give these authors another chance. I’m glad I did, because this book was very good.

First things first, let’s talk about Cameron. She’s definitely one of the best-written YA heroines I’ve read about in a very long time. She’s so complex, with really realistic problems and fears and growth. As the book begins, she’s an absolutely terrible person, but as the story continues, we start to see why and she slowly begins to change. And she’s not perfect! She wants to be better, but that doesn’t mean she just flips a switch and instantly transforms. Of all the books I’ve read dealing with this theme, I think this one handled it the best.

And it’s not one of my book reviews if we don’t talk about the romance, so let me just say that it was great. So cute. There was so much banter and so much chemistry. Cameron and Brendan have a history filled with a lot of negativity, but watching them overcome that just made me so happy.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Now I’ll just be over here waiting to get my hands on Time of Our Lives.

---

Have you read If I’m Being Honest? What’s your favorite YA contemporary romance?
Let’s talk in the comments!

Find me all over the internet: Goodreads | Twitter | Bloglovin’