I adored this book! And it started out with the very first paragraph on the very first page!

"From the time we can understand basic things such as words and master simple motor functions, we're told how brilliant, pretty, and special we are. For some people this is true."

So often I think of how my parents told me all these things, as well as other family members, teachers, etc. Yet, I am one of the people that it is not true. Or at least that is the way I feel a lot of the time. And so connecting with Keilah happened right off the bat for me. Her unrequited crush on a guy that didn’t even know her. Yeah, been there, done that, still do it sometimes! Her not being able to say anything that sounded intelligent or carry on a normal conversation when he was around? Yeah, that’s still me too. The best friend who became popular and started hanging around with that crowd, but still keeps her around as her best friend? That was sorta me. Only my best friend at the time and I parted ways as high school went along. Probably partly because my best friend dropped out of school and I gravitated more towards the nerdy people I ended up with for the rest of the time.

I liked the idea of the dating app being a way she could meet someone. Although I don’t get why everyone kept saying she did ship with someone when she never saw it? That was weird. But I like the love interest she ended up with. How he didn’t give up on her. How he kept being there for her and trying to make it up to her. Mostly. There is one thing I think maybe he didn’t really ever explain? But hey, they’re teenagers, right?

I sped through this book in like a day. I could barely put it down even though I had to go to sleep the night I was reading it, so had to wait to finish the last 20 pages the next day. My only reasoning for dropping it to a 4.5 stars from a 5 since I loved it so much is that there were several grammatical errors that were repeated, and since this came out back in November, I’m surprised those hadn’t been fixed in the copy I got. A really good story, and I liked how Keilah dealt with the guy her best friend got shipped with. I feel like that is more realistic for how someone would behave. Even a teenager again. I hope to read more by this author in the future!