Since You Asked by Maureen Goo

A humorous, debut novel about a Korean-American teenager who accidentally lands her own column in her high school newspaper, and proceeds to rant her way through the school year while struggling to reconcile the traditional Korean values of her parents with contemporary American culture.

Before I started reading Since You Asked, I hadn’t really heard much about it. I saw the cover and the book looked cute and sassy, so I decided to pick it up. Though I did like the book, I was also disappointed. This book was cute and sassy, yes. However, at times the sassiness got to the point of sounding immature.

The main character, Holly, starts out being really awesome. She writes for his high school newspaper, she’s determined to stay true to herself, and has no problem with speaking her mind. However, at times she took it too far. Holly’s column went from being a space to share her honest opinion, to being a space where she just ripped on everything that was happening for no reason. Her motivation at times felt fake- and so did she. Though Holly’s bluntness is what makes her relatable to many teens, it is also what makes her unrelatable. She is angry about so many things. I’m a teenager, I know that teenager’s are moody and angry and filled with angst. But from my own personal experience, I’ve never met a fellow teenager who is this full of angst. It was rare to find a moment in Since You Asked where Holly wasn’t complaining about something. There were parts that I liked about Since You Asked. I liked the overall idea of the novel, despite my problems with how it was executed. I liked all of the secondary characters. They added some reality to the story, and I really liked all of the relationships.

Though it wasn’t my thing, I think that some people would enjoy Since You Asked. It reminded me of something that may be like YA chick-lit, minus the super-romance aspect. Going in to it, you have to be prepared for Holly, though.

FTC- Received via Netgalley.