Between her mom's diet-helicoptering, missing her sister, and worrying about her collegiate future, Savvy has enough to worry about. And then she meets George, the cute new kid at school who has insecurities of his own. As Savvy and George grow closer, they help each other discover how to live in the moment and enjoy the here and now before it disappears.
Released on August 21, 2018 by Swoon Reads
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My Thoughts:
To Be Honest tells the story of Savannah, who is accepted her weight for what it is, and does her best to act confident about it. Meanwhile, her mother is the recent success story from a popular weight-loss show, which causes difficulty for Savannah to be confident in herself with her overbearing mother. It does a great job of showing eating issues, family dynamics, friendship, and a great touch of romance for an overall great novel.
Savannah was an amazing main character, because she wasn't overly dramatic about her weight and how she thought everyone was thinking about it as much as she was. To me, she seemed like a girl who just wanted to do her best and live the life she hoped it would be, and if she was overweight, that wasn't a problem. I loved the way that Maggie Ann Martin wrote her character – her personality was great!
The relationship between Savannah and her family was done really well. You have her mother who is trying to keep off the weight that she lost on the tv show she was on, her older sister who has just left for college, and her father who is no longer in the picture but makes a couple appearances. Savannah is the equal balance of being independent enough that she doesn't need her parents there for her every move, but dependent enough on her sister that she will drive hours to see her after a bad day. All of it was executed well, and the parts with her mother's eating habits brought a really powerful aspect to the story.
Next, of course, is Savannah and George. I love how their friendship started and gradually turned into a relationship. Their banter was adorable, and it was a great aspect that weight was never a factor to their relationship. Savannah was nervous about George liking her, but she never once mentioned that she thought he wouldn't because she was "fat" or "overweight". She just said "a girl like me," and I really liked that touch. Also, George was a kind of weird kid, and that made the story seem so believable. Too often am I seeing stories of a super gorgeous kid getting any girl, and I liked that he had a lot of quirks.
Overall, I really enjoyed To Be Honest. It was a great contemporary that had deeper meaning. I think the cover could have been better, because it makes it seem like a light and fluffy book, but it has a lot of great quotes and deeper context to it than what you would expect.
Stars: 4 out of 5 stars
What I Liked: Savannah's personality, family dynamics, easygoing relationship
What I Disliked: Nothing, besides the cover
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