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A review by hannahmarkezich
If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann
3.0
I was really looking forward to this because I loved [b:Let's Talk About Love|31625039|Let's Talk About Love|Claire Kann|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1505836080l/31625039._SY75_.jpg|52306893] when I read it last year. I was also really looking forward to reading a book with such a variety of representation that's so different from my own experience. BUT this didn't quite live up to my expectations.
I really liked Winnie and her voice. She's kindhearted and emotionally aware. She takes time to communicate about her emotions and opinions with her family and friends. She's honest and funny and passionate. I liked being in her head, and I was really pulling for her throughout the whole book.
There are also a lot of really good side characters. They've got a lot of personality and impact Winnie's life in meaningful ways.
What I really didn't like was the plot. Because there was barely any. The premise is that Winnie is somehow chosen to be the Misty Haven Summer Queen. Basically, she's the face of her town's summer activities so she gets to do photoshoots and meet people and speak at all the events. But this storyline took a back burner to lots of interpersonal drama. I don't necessarily have a problem with that, but there was just so much going on that the book felt really unfocused. There's the summer queen storyline, the job at Goldeen's (the family diner) storyline, plus a potential new love interest, tensions with Winnie's ungirlfriend/partner, Winnie's fights with her grandmother, and the cooking competition. It just felt like a lot.
Don't get me wrong, I liked all these elements. They fleshed out the characters and world as something really and dynamic. But it felt like Kann was trying to make all of those things full-blown plots of this novel. That came at the expense of actually narrowing in on one or two plot lines to explore deeply. Instead, everything was dealt with pretty shallowly. Parts of the story got resolved quickly or dropped entirely. It just needed to be a little tightened up and it would have been far easier to read and appreciate.
In the end, I can't exactly say what the main plot was. Obviously, a large focus is how Winnie developed as a person and how her relationships matured/changed, and I love a character-focused growth story, but I need a lil bit of action too.
I also had a huge problem with Kara. She's Winnie's partner/un-girlfriend (they're in a platonic but committed relationship). But she does some things in this book that are really manipulative and awful. Winnie was very quick to forgive her, but I wasn't. She could have done a lot more emotional work to explore and deepen their relationship, but instead Winnie had to do it all and honestly she deserved better than that.
At times, I also felt like I got lost in Winnie's thoughts. Like I already mentioned there's a lot of minor plot threads and relationships throughout, so her mind is clearly very busy processing and resolving all of these issues. But sometimes spending so much time in her mind really got overwhelming and confusing. I'd forget where we were in the story and have to get back into. Sometimes I also got confused by how she jumped from one thought to the next.
Overall, I do think this book could have just used another set of edit to focus the plot a little more and trim excess thoughts and ramblings from Winnie's narrative. I still enjoyed my time reading about Winnie, and I'll definitely be reading Kann's future works, but I'm not sure that this was all it could have been.
I really liked Winnie and her voice. She's kindhearted and emotionally aware. She takes time to communicate about her emotions and opinions with her family and friends. She's honest and funny and passionate. I liked being in her head, and I was really pulling for her throughout the whole book.
There are also a lot of really good side characters. They've got a lot of personality and impact Winnie's life in meaningful ways.
What I really didn't like was the plot. Because there was barely any. The premise is that Winnie is somehow chosen to be the Misty Haven Summer Queen. Basically, she's the face of her town's summer activities so she gets to do photoshoots and meet people and speak at all the events. But this storyline took a back burner to lots of interpersonal drama. I don't necessarily have a problem with that, but there was just so much going on that the book felt really unfocused. There's the summer queen storyline, the job at Goldeen's (the family diner) storyline, plus a potential new love interest, tensions with Winnie's ungirlfriend/partner, Winnie's fights with her grandmother, and the cooking competition. It just felt like a lot.
Don't get me wrong, I liked all these elements. They fleshed out the characters and world as something really and dynamic. But it felt like Kann was trying to make all of those things full-blown plots of this novel. That came at the expense of actually narrowing in on one or two plot lines to explore deeply. Instead, everything was dealt with pretty shallowly. Parts of the story got resolved quickly or dropped entirely. It just needed to be a little tightened up and it would have been far easier to read and appreciate.
In the end, I can't exactly say what the main plot was. Obviously, a large focus is how Winnie developed as a person and how her relationships matured/changed, and I love a character-focused growth story, but I need a lil bit of action too.
I also had a huge problem with Kara. She's Winnie's partner/un-girlfriend (they're in a platonic but committed relationship). But she does some things in this book that are really manipulative and awful. Winnie was very quick to forgive her, but I wasn't. She could have done a lot more emotional work to explore and deepen their relationship, but instead Winnie had to do it all and honestly she deserved better than that.
At times, I also felt like I got lost in Winnie's thoughts. Like I already mentioned there's a lot of minor plot threads and relationships throughout, so her mind is clearly very busy processing and resolving all of these issues. But sometimes spending so much time in her mind really got overwhelming and confusing. I'd forget where we were in the story and have to get back into. Sometimes I also got confused by how she jumped from one thought to the next.
Overall, I do think this book could have just used another set of edit to focus the plot a little more and trim excess thoughts and ramblings from Winnie's narrative. I still enjoyed my time reading about Winnie, and I'll definitely be reading Kann's future works, but I'm not sure that this was all it could have been.