There are no spoilers in this review.
It Sounded Better in My Head, Nina Kenwood
Publishing on April 7th, 2020 by Flatiron Books.
Buy It Sounded Better in my Head on Amazon – Book Depository – Indiebound – More buying links.
From debut author Nina Kenwood comes a tender, funny, and compulsively readable novel about first love and its confusions, and all of the awkwardness of teen romance.
When her parents announce their impending divorce, Natalie can’t understand why no one is fighting, or at least mildly upset. Then Zach and Lucy, her two best friends, hook up, leaving her feeling slightly miffed and decidedly awkward. She’d always imagined she would end up with Zach one day―in the version of her life that played out like a TV show, with just the right amount of banter, pining, and meaningful looks. Now everything has changed, and nothing is quite making sense. Until an unexpected romance comes along and shakes things up even further.
It Sounded Better in My Head is a compulsively readable love letter to teenage romance in all of its awkward glory, perfect for fans To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Emergency Contact.
☂️ TRIGGER WARNINGS: click here to see them.
drinking, body-shaming, bullying, talk about cheating, throwing up.
☂️ DIVERSITY: queer side character, main character with polycistic ovarian syndrom and cystic acne.
I ENJOYED…
☂️
- It Sounded Better in My Head is one of my favorite books of all times okay. I didn’t expect to fall in love with it like I did and I’m so, so, so glad this book exists.
- This story is one of the most relatable I’ve ever, ever encountered in young adult books and I’ve read a lot of them. The main character, Natalie, and her struggles, are so realistic, I felt so seen for one of the very first times in my entire life. Natalie is an 18-years-old with difficult teenage years behind her: solitary, very anxious and self-conscious about herself and her own body and her own image, dealing with a lot of acne problems, puberty and typical teenager problems with a realistic teenager voice. Moreover, she doesn’t like to drink, she doesn’t like to party and she’s just an introvert spending a lot of time with her parents and close-knit group of friends and…. it just felt so relatable to teenage-me okay. I just loved Natalie so, so much.
- It Sounded Better In My Head leaves such a big space for friendships: Natalie, Lucy and Zach are this close-knit group, sharing everything and always hanging out together. I loved their connection, I loved their relationship and how it grew thorough the story, just as well.
- The romance was everything. Slow-burning, it developed rightly all over the story, with the exact right amount of awkward conversations and moments you can expect from this kind of romance, the messy conversations, exciting first times and first emotions coming with falling in love for the first time.
- I loved the presence of family in this story, too. The story starts with Natalie finding out about her parents’ divorce and, as the chapters go on, we see her dealing with the aftermath of her parents’ separation. I liked seeing the genuine relationship between her and both of her parents, from their protectiveness to Natalie’s reluctance to listening to them, sometimes. It was lovely.
- It Sounded Better in My Head also deals with this strange time between high school and college, as the main characters await their acceptance into the college of their choices, as they wonder what they want to be, where they want to go and who that means leaving behind, sometimes, too.
OVERALL
☂️
It Sounded Better In My Head was one of the best reading surprises of 2020 so far. I loved the main character’s voice, I loved how this book captures teenage years in all of their awkward glory, from the friendships to the first time romances, to the family and its complications. Relatable, awkward, funny, endearing and heartwarming, this book is one I’d definitely recommend everyone to read.
Final rating: It’s a hurricane!
A million thanks to MacMillan International & Flatiron Books for sending me an ARC of this book. This did not, in any way, influence my thoughts and rating.
Did you read It Sounded Better in My Head? Do you want to?
What’s the most relatable book you’ve read lately? Let me know in comments!
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This sounds so good! Lovely review!
Ahh thank you, so happy you enjoyed it 🙂
Can’t wait to read this book! ?
I hope you will love it!! 🙂
Love your review!
Ahh thank you so much! 🙂
Update: I just bought it because of this review!
AH THIS MADE MY ENTIRE WEEK. <3 I'm so happy, I hope you'll love it! <3
OMG, MARIE!! One of your favorite books of all time??? That’s a HUGE endorsment and when I am in the mood to get another contemporary book sometime soon, I will definitely keep an eye out for this one. I think I could definitely relate to Natalie as well.
YES! I really hope you will give this a chance, I think you’d really enjoy it as well. It had been a long time since I encountered such a relatable main character. She felt like teenage me a bit. I loved it 🙂
From the sound of the book, the main character also reminded me of teenage me a lot haha
I think this should be a must-read for you then! It was just so good 🙂
Most recent relatable (not totally but all those scenes with cat and main character’ feeling for cat was relatable) was, The Break Up by Tilly Tenant.
Oh thank you for the recommendation!! 🙂
oh i am so happy you loved this one so much, marie!! from what you described (especially the friendship and family aspect!) it sounds so good and i’m heading to goodreads right now to add it to my tbr ? fantastic review!
It really was such a fantastic read, I hope you’ll give it a chance and will love it! 🙂
Thank you so much!! <3
I’m glad that you enjoyed this book! I’ve never heard of it before, but it sounds charming. I especially appreciate how you said the book was able to capture an authentic teenage voice. One of my greatest pet peeves with YA novels that have great stories is that their teens’ dialogue or text messages sound like adults trying to imitate teenagers rather than teenage voices themselves. Off of the top of my head, I couldn’t think of the most relatable book I read recently, but one of the most non-relatable (haha) was Anna K by Jenny Lee just because the characters I described as being rich and frivolous partygoers XD. lovely review ! :))
claire @ clairefy
AH I’m so, so happy I could put this book on your radar, Claire <3
I so agree with you. I LOVE young adult books so much, but it had been a while since I had read one with such a relatable, teenager voice shining like that. I loved it so much!
Ahah I can imagine not relating to Anna K. …. AT ALL. But I'm here for all the drama ahha 🙂
Thank you so, so much! <3
Glad this sounds so relatable and the romance sounds so sweet! I really want to read now <3
AH YAY! I hope you’ll love it 🙂
wow, this book sounds lovely!! ? the slowburn romance and family themes are definitely intriguing me, haha. it sounds like you really enjoyed it, so i’m definitely adding it to my TBR! amazing review <3 stay safe xx
it was such a lovely read, I hope you’ll give it a try! 🙂
thank you so, so much! <3
Okay, well you’ve convinced me. Now I want to read this one. Like, a lot. Thanks for such a glowing and excellently written review, Marie! ??
AH YES my job here is done ahah. This makes me SO happy. I hope you will love it, and thank you so much Kat <3 <3
AHHHHH I can’t wait to read this!! Slow-burn romances in YA contemporary are almost unheard of ? Also – an introverted MC who just likes to chill at home with her family? I STAN!!!
? Ngoc
AH YES! This makes me so, so happy to hear. I hope you’ll LOVE this book <3
I’m SO glad you enjoyed it, just a couple of days ago I was wondering if this book would be something I would enjoy and this is my sign!! I”ll add it to my TBR. Incredible Review, beautiful ❤️✨ and I hope you’re safe and secure, I send you my best energy and all my love in these difficult times in the world ??
AH I’m so, so glad to hear this Sofi <3 I hope you'll love this book <3
And thank you so much, you too, i'm sending you all the love <3
I am a huge fan of this book. Natalie was so awkward and real. I simply adored her!
Ahhh same here. I love her SO much! <3
This sounds so so good !! I’d seen it around but hadn’t read many reviews yet, and now I definitely want it on my tbr ??
Ahhh yay! I’m so happy to hear this. I hope you will love it <3
I don’t read many contemporaries but this review has me thinking I might just like to add this to the TBR. I mean, Nathalie’s awkwardness and personality sound a lot like mine, it’s scary LOL. I’d love to read something relatable and real. Thanks for sharing. It’s the best feeling when you can name a book a favorite so I’m happy for you! 😀
Oh this would make me the happiest. I hope you’ll read and will love it, especially if you already feel like you can relate to Natalie! She was such an incredible main character <3
Ahh now I can’t wait to read this book too!! It sounds really relatable and if you love it this much, I probably will love it too. Great review, you made me really excited to read it! 🙂
AHH yay! I hope you’ll love it 🙂 thank you so much <3
This sounds pretty good! I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve been hearing great things about it. I’m glad you enjoyed it so much! Great review! 🙂
oh thank you so much, Raven! 🙂
i have never heard of this book, but it seems like the book i would LOVE. I already added it to my TBR list. I’ve been hopping around my TBR list like crazy! This might skip the line completely. Great post xxx
Melina | http://www.melinaelisa.com
Ahhh yes! I hope you’ll love it, Melina <3
I was excited before reading your review but now I’m SUPER excited to read this! *_* Natalie sounds like an amazing protagonist – can’t wait to read this! Lovely review! <3
AH YES this makes me the happiest. I hope you’ll love this 😀
This sounds like such a wonderful and relatable book and I’m SO incredibly excited to read it ?? like an introvert who doesn’t like to party and just loves to spend a lot of time with her close friends……that’s literally me haha. Thank you for this amazing review, Marie! <3
It is so, so, SO good ahh Dezzy you should LOVE that one. I really hope you will! ❤️
Aahhhh Marie !! I’m back to tell you that I just finished this book, and I LOVED it so much omg ?? I literally agree with every single thing in your review – like omg, I found Natalie SO freaking relatable, reading about her thoughts & feelings & insecurities really felt like taking a peek inside my own brain hahaha. Natalie and Alex are so cute together and I love them sm. Ahhh this book made me so happy and I’m so glad I picked it up ☺️ Thank you so much again for writing this review & convincing me to pick up this wonderful, heartwarming book <3
(I wrote down more of my thoughts in my Goodreads review [https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3126420179?book_show_action=false] but no worries if you don't have time to read it haha, just wanted to let you know 🙂 )
AH this just made my entire day ahhhhhh thank you!! I’m just so thrilled you enjoyed this book, we need way more stories with relatable introvert characters like Natalie <3
Thank you!! <3