What I Like About Me

What I Like About Me
Written by Jenna Guillaume
Contemporary, Coming Of Age, #LoveOZYA
256 Pages
Published February 26th 2019
Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia
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★★★★★
You know all those movies where teenagers have the summer of their lives?

This summer is probably not going to be that.

Here lies Maisie Martin, dead from embarrassment, aged sixteen.

The last thing sixteen year old Maisie Martin thought she'd be doing this summer is entering a beauty pageant.

Not when she's spent most of her life hiding her body from everyone.

Not when her Dad is AWOL for Christmas and her gorgeous older sister has returned to rock Maisie's shaky confidence. And her best friend starts going out with the boy she's always loved.

But Maisie's got something to prove.

As she writes down all the ways this summer is going from bad to worse in her school assignment journal, what starts as a homework torture device might just end up being an account of how Maisie didn't let anything, or anyone, hold her back.
Good day to you Discovery Journal.

Unlike Maisie Martin, I am writing this journal entry entirely of my own free will. Maisie on the other hand is being forced under extreme parental duress to write in her school appointed, fire breathing teacher approved journal each day. That's what happens when your mother is also a teacher, you can never escape school.

Now I'm sure Maisie will tell you that even though her father is staying in the city, working, this summer promises to be epic as she's allowed to invite totally gorgeous best friend Anna along for company. More like a buffer against her overbearing mother and her almost but not quite estranged yet perfect sister who is bringing her new and probably equally as perfect girlfriend to Cobbers Bay. Not that Maisie plans on spending time with either of them, it's summer which means sun, sand, dodgy barbecues watching others swim like a totally non perverted creeper and summer crushes. For the last few years Maisie has been making serious heart eyes at smoking hot, resting dreamy faced Sebastian Lee. If only his annoyingly flatulent best friend Beamer wasn't always around. That and if Maisie could work up the courage to take a chance.

Discovery Journal, I feel that. At sixteen and convinced I was the ugly friend, you know the one. She's the funny but less attractive sidekick and she most certainly never gets the boy. Even as a married adult who's reasonably confident and no longer the ugly friend, you still convince yourself that people only like you in small doses. Which is bullshit. Sometimes you just need to pull up your Maisie pants and realise that is people don't like you then that's their own damn fault for not spending the time getting to know you. The difference between us at sixteen is that Maisie is about to have the summer of her life.

I think most of us have had a friend like Anna. She's beautiful, popular and although you don't spend much time together any more since she started dating, you'll always be there for her. Especially during the breakup with her dickhead boyfriend when she's utterly miserable. Because that's just what friends do, only Anna seems to be spending more time with resting dreamy face Sebastian than she is Maisie. Maisie is so not okay with this recent development because you should be happy when your hot heartbroken friend starts hooking up with your hot forever crush. Best friends, the reason why we can't have nice things.

Maisie is hitching up those britches and making new friends, proving that you can't keep a good woman down. Leila is a local, a fashion designer and just bloody fabulous. Discovery Journal, this is why you you need friends that empower you and at the risk of breaking into a rendition of Wing Beneath My Wings, friends that help you soar. They don't suck face with your crush fully knowing how so not over him that you are.

Don't get me wrong Discovery Journal, Sebastian is a stand up guy but what happens when all the things Maisie thinks she loves about him, he isn't actually worthy of... Unexpected shit happens with delightful results. Now the real sucking face begins. Like an Italian chef, I am kissing my fingers to show you how delicious these developments are. Have at it girl.

Maisie is the heroine. She's me at sixteen, she's probably you at sixteen, she's the girl that lives next door or the girl that sits in front of you in social studies while you draw genitals in your text book. She's the girl with moxie and doesn't know it, the girl who is constantly evolving and finding herself. She's the girl who'll set the world ablaze, who deserves more than the assholes trying to extinguish her fire. She's the fat, funny and beautiful girl. She's us.

What I Like About Me is a feel great, utterly charming read about friendship, finding love and finding yourself along the way. It's about loving yourself and stuff what anyone else thinks. It's confidence building, it's empowering and it's embracing your inner Maisie and unleashing her on the world.

It's everything.
Love, Kelly.

16 comments

  1. This book sounds amazing. Maisie sounds like such a role-model and badass. I haven't heard of this book but I'll definitely look into it. I love that you formatted your review as a journal.
    Vivien @ Pages of Wonderland

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    1. Thanks Vivien. It was such a wonderful read, so uniquely Australian and I loved the themes of empowerment and body positivity.

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  2. Fun review , thanks for sharing

    Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out

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    1. Thanks Shelleyrae, I would love to see what you think of it!

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  3. Love your review. The format was really really fun, and I hope we get this book in the US, because it sounds wonderful!

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    1. If it isn't picked up by a publisher there, it should be available on Amazon or The Book Depository. I agree, we need more books with body positivity and female empowerment.

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  4. Love how you wrote this review. This sounds like a really great contemporary read, and I'm pretty sure I'd relate to Maisie a lot. :)

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. She's one of those characters that we can all relate to, whether it be our confidence, the feeling of a first love, the expectations others place upon us and feeling as though we don't quite fit in. I absolutely loved Maisie and would love to see what you think of it Lauren!

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  5. Aw I love how you did this as a diary entry!! 😂And glad you loved this book! It felt like the Aussie version of Dumplin, right?!

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    1. It did! But I preferred What I Like About Me so much more. Dumplin' was great but I found her character too judgemental where Maisie was absolutely lovely and so much more likeable.

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  6. This sounds like a brilliant read! I hadn't heard of it before but it's definitely going on my TBR.

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    1. It's so lovely and such a feel great read Suzanne, you'll absolutely love this one!

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  7. This book sounds excellent and a book that will give me flashbacks to the awkward teenage years and hopefully make me smile when it does. I think it sounds brilliant and even thought YA is not my go to genre I want to read. It seems like it will get me in the mood for summer perfectly. Now I just have to figure out where to get a hold of this aussie read because I swear they don't let these books leave the country.

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    1. The writing reminded me like a cross between Jenn Bennett and Jenny McLachlan, sweet, funny and just a feel great read.

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  8. That was beautiful Kelly! I loved this book So much and you've just touched on everything that made this such a treat to read!

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    1. I was absolutely enamoured! I can't wait to see what she's working on next.

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