Can a love triangle have only two people in it? Online, it can…but in the real world, its more complicated. In this debut novel that’s perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Morgan Matson, Marisa Kanter hilariously and poignantly explores what happens when internet friends turn into IRL crushes.
Is it still a love triangle if there are only two people in it?
There are a million things that Halle Levitt likes about her online best friend, Nash.
He’s an incredibly talented graphic novelist. He loves books almost as much as she does. And she never has to deal with the awkwardness of seeing him in real life. They can talk about anything…
Except who she really is.
Because online, Halle isn’t Halle—she’s Kels, the enigmatically cool creator of One True Pastry, a YA book blog that pairs epic custom cupcakes with covers and reviews. Kels has everything Halle doesn’t: friends, a growing platform, tons of confidence, and Nash.
That is, until Halle arrives to spend senior year in Gramps’s small town and finds herself face-to-face with real, human, not-behind-a-screen Nash. Nash, who is somehow everywhere she goes—in her classes, at the bakery, even at synagogue.
Nash who has no idea she’s actually Kels.
If Halle tells him who she is, it will ruin the non-awkward magic of their digital friendship. Not telling him though, means it can never be anything more. Because while she starts to fall for Nash as Halle…he’s in love with Kels.
*I want to thank Simon and Schuster for providing me with an eARC, and for having me as a part of this tour. I would also like to thank my friend Chloe for sending me her physical ARC. *
I feel so blessed to present to you, the author Q and A I had the opportunity to do with Marisa Kantor! We talked about her life, the book and of course, Leonardo DiCaprio. I hope you enjoy!
Kayla Reads and Reviews: What inspired you to write this book?
Marisa Kantor: The inspiration for What I Like About You came from my own friendships that began on the internet. Since joining online writing communities as a teenager, I have made many of my closet friends in these digital spaces. As an adult, meeting these internet friends in person has always been a wonderful and validating experience. But I wondered, how would I have reacted if I had met one of my internet friends as teen? Would I live up to my profile? I wanted to explore this tension between the personas we craft online versus who we are in real in life. This premise naturally evolved into a rom-com…and then I wrote a love triangle with two people in it!
KRAR: In your book, your main character had a very close relationship with her grandmother is that similar to the relationship you had with any of your grandparents?
MK: Halle’s relationship with Grams—and her grieving process—was inspired by my relationship with my grandmother. In some ways, building this loss into What I Like About You was both the easiest and most difficult part of writing it. My Grandma Peppy made the best challah French toast, loved theater, and taught me how to crochet. She passed away in 2009, four months before my bat mitzvah and even though she was 91-years-old, it felt very sudden. My other grandmother passed away when I was five, and I never had a grandfather figure in my life… so losing her was extremely difficult. I started writing fiction the summer after she died and it’s wild that she never knew me as a writer. I think about that a lot. What I Like About You is dedicated to both of my grandmothers. And then Gramps’ character came from a place of wanting to write the grandfather relationship I never had. I have quite a grandparent complex, so I’m sorry this question got sad! Go hug your grandparents!
KRAR: Do you love baking as much as Halle does?
MK: This is the question I have gotten the most and the answer is that much like Nash, I prefer eating cupcakes to baking them! I love baking in theory. I love watching baking competition shows. I think I would bake more if I didn’t have a tiny NYC kitchen. So maybe someday my skills will improve! The cupcake aspect came into What I Like About You during revisions, when I decided Halle’s blog should probably have a fun theme. I love posts that pair book covers with something creative and unique, and cupcake covers felt like the perfect fit!
KRAR: Halle and Ollie are extremely close, is this based off of a relationship you have with a sibling or a family member?
MK: I have a younger sister and we are the same age difference as Halle and Ollie, so it felt natural to write a close sibling relationship from the older sister perspective in that way. My sister would call me out the way Ollie does, and I always felt that she was cooler than me in an effortless I’m-not-even-trying way. But Ollie was also inspired by my baseball-obsessed cousin, who was Ollie’s age while I was drafting the book and too cool for school. I think I was drawn to writing a brother/sister relationship because it’s rare to see an older sister/younger brother dynamic in YA. Even rarer? A dynamic like this where they like each other and have a genuine friendship. I never wanted to paint Ollie as the annoying kid brother.
KRAR: Halle mentions that Ariel Goldberg’s books were the books that first made her ever feel seen as a Jewish teen, was there a book like that for you?
MK: Honestly? I didn’t feel seen in YA as a teen. Growing up, the only books I read with Jewish representation were Holocaust books. I didn’t see myself in the YA romance books I loved to read. Because I didn’t see myself in the books I read, it never even occurred to me to write Jewish characters in my earliest manuscripts. What I Like About You is my fourth manuscript, but the first book where I wrote Judaism into the story. I started drafting it at the beginning of 2017 and it felt important to write fun, romantic Jewish stories. 2017 is also the year The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli came out, and that reading experience was the first time I saw myself in YA. Upside validated that Jewish kids have a place in rom-coms and motivated me to finish the book that became What I Like About You.
KRAR: What are your feelings on Leo and his six nominations and no wins?
MK: HAHA KAYLA I LOVE THIS QUESTION. So! Leonardo DiCaprio did win on his sixth nomination (technically his fifth acting one) for The Revenant. I still maintain that it’s absurd that he had to eat raw animal flesh for the golden dude statue, but he was always up against tough competition!
KRAR: Is there one book that you read as a child that you still love today?
MK: I recently reread Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta and still love that book with my whole entire heart. You know a book is special when you already know what happens and it still makes you cry. It’s one of a handful of books that I regularly reread for the masterclass in storytelling it provides and its ability to make me feel all the feelings. If you haven’t read it and you love YA, it’s a must.
KRAR: At the end of the book, Ollie goes to summer camp. Did you ever attend summer camp as a kid?
MK: In high school, I attended a week-long student council camp three summers in a row. Camp friendships are so special and weird in the best way—it still fascinates me how we’d build these intense bonds at camp so quickly over such a short period of time. Then we’d go a full year without seeing each other, yet pick up right where we left off last summer. Of course, social media made it easier to keep in touch!
KRAR: What’s one piece of advice you wish someone told you before writing your book?
MK: Honestly, I wish someone had handed me Story Genius by Lisa Cron! It would have saved me so much time and terrible drafts. Generally, drafting for me means knowing the main beats of my story (inciting incident, act breaks, midpoint, climax)—and then pantsing my way through the scenes. I’ll never be the writer who plans a detailed outline, that’s just not my style. I’m a character-driven writer, so most of my planning comes in the form of character sketches. Story Genius’s focus on developing backstory & deepening your understanding of who your characters are before your book begins has revolutionized and focused my prewriting before I’m ready to dive into drafting. Plus, it uses brain science in its explanations, which I find so fascinating.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Marisa Kanter has worked in publicity for major publishers and covered YA books for MTV. Currently, she works in sales, on the distribution side of the publishing industry. She can often be found searching for the best iced chai in NYC, or reading on the 3 train. What I Like About You is her first novel. Follow her at marisakanter.com
Blog Tour ScheduleWeek 1 3/30/2020Novel NoviceBookHighlight W/ Giveaway3/31/2020Book BratzReview4/1/2020The Novel KnightAuthor Guest Post4/2/2020Book Princess ReviewsReview4/3/2020eleven thirteen pmAuthor Q&AWeek 2 4/6/2020Vicky Who ReadsCreative Post4/7/2020Pub Day (Marisa)Creative Post4/8/2020Kayla Reads and ReviewsAuthor Q&A (THATS ME!!)4/9/2020The Heart of a Book BloggerAuthor Q&A4/10/2020Mary Had a Little Book BlogReviewWeek 3 4/13/2020Jen Ryland ReviewsReview4/14/2020Love in PanelsBookHighlight W/ Giveaway4/15/2020Forever and EverlyReview4/16/2020I’m All Booked UpReview4/17/2020Awkwordly EmmaAuthor Q&AWeek 4 4/20/2020Rants & Raves of a BibliophileBookHighlight W/ Giveaway4/21/2020Read By TiffanyAuthor Q&A4/22/2020A Court of Coffee and BooksReview4/23/2020From the Library of AlexisReview4/24/2020Bookishly JulesBookHighlight W/ GiveawayWeek 5 4/27/2020Lost in a BookReview4/28/2020Pages and PugsReview4/29/2020Skye’s ScribblingsReview4/30/2020Kait Plus BooksBookHighlight W/ Giveaway5/1/2020We Live and Breathe BooksReview
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