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narcissia's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't enjoy this one as much as What My Mother Doesn't Know. I liked Robin better from Sophie's point of view than from his own. What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know contains beaucoup angst and a bit of melodrama, and Robin annoyed me some of the time. Still, it's worth reading if you'd like to continue their story through some difficulties, especially since it's such a quick read.
ethanleo90's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I liked this book and I would read it again. It shows some experiences of young high schoolers and how they can act towards each other. It also explores things that are new to young people and how this couple in particular navigated it. The main characters are mostly likeable.
The thing that really annoyed me is how the boyfriend let how other people view them get in between his relationship. However, high school relationships aren't supposed to be perfect and I'm glad they didn't show a perfect relationship. It just felt repetitive and it wasn't as good to read at those parts. I would recommend this book, it was still very good.
The thing that really annoyed me is how the boyfriend let how other people view them get in between his relationship. However, high school relationships aren't supposed to be perfect and I'm glad they didn't show a perfect relationship. It just felt repetitive and it wasn't as good to read at those parts. I would recommend this book, it was still very good.
4saradouglas's review
3.0
This is a pretty average teen book about relationship drama, but written from the boy's perspective which is rare. There were some great funny parts, some non-graphic intimacy scenes, and that was about it. A lot of art and music references. I liked the way the two main characters worked out their problems through comic books.
redinteeth's review against another edition
4.0
This isn't something I would normally pick up at the bookstore. Even with my new interest
in young-adult fiction, I tend to avoid anything with even the slightest connotation of being
a love story. However, I ended up enjoying this more than I thought. I wanted to give 3.5 stars,
however, but I rounded up.
PROS:
X Realistic version of being bullied.*
X Realistic duel-enrollment.**
X Story told in Verse; Flowed nicely, was easy to read both out loud and silently.
X Main character was easy to sympathize with.
X Didn't know this book was a sequel; it was easy to read as a stand-alone novel.
x Amusing.
CONS:
x At times, I would skip the 'title' of each page accidentally. This would lead to
confusion later on. Might just be me, but there was something about the arrangement
that made the title easy to miss.
x While humorous, the blurb about being afraid to read the book on the airplane sort
of through me off. It didn't fit the book, somehow. I almost put the book down, twice,
because of the blurb before buying it.
x The ending is rather abrupt to me. I reached the climax of the book, got to the end,
and sort of expected something.....more.
X The 'Tessa' story line felt like it was added in just for the sake of being added in.
It ended way to smoothly, perhaps leading to my earlier mention.
Overall, I would recommend this book to my friends. Turned out to be the perfect book to
keep in my purse to read before classes. The verse form and arrangement of the lines were
quite amusing and could bring a smile to my face.
* Scrolling through comments, I've noticed a lot of complaints about the bullying
being unrealistic. Perhaps it's just were one goes to school, but I suffered
from being bullied to this extent, if not more so. It was very refreshing to read
about it, as it reminded me that some people are jerks for no real reason. At least
in high school.
** Having been a duel-enrollment story, I can appreciate the duel-worlds that
exist between high school and college. In college, it's okay to be a geek.
in young-adult fiction, I tend to avoid anything with even the slightest connotation of being
a love story. However, I ended up enjoying this more than I thought. I wanted to give 3.5 stars,
however, but I rounded up.
PROS:
X Realistic version of being bullied.*
X Realistic duel-enrollment.**
X Story told in Verse; Flowed nicely, was easy to read both out loud and silently.
X Main character was easy to sympathize with.
X Didn't know this book was a sequel; it was easy to read as a stand-alone novel.
x Amusing.
CONS:
x At times, I would skip the 'title' of each page accidentally. This would lead to
confusion later on. Might just be me, but there was something about the arrangement
that made the title easy to miss.
x While humorous, the blurb about being afraid to read the book on the airplane sort
of through me off. It didn't fit the book, somehow. I almost put the book down, twice,
because of the blurb before buying it.
x The ending is rather abrupt to me. I reached the climax of the book, got to the end,
and sort of expected something.....more.
X The 'Tessa' story line felt like it was added in just for the sake of being added in.
It ended way to smoothly, perhaps leading to my earlier mention.
Overall, I would recommend this book to my friends. Turned out to be the perfect book to
keep in my purse to read before classes. The verse form and arrangement of the lines were
quite amusing and could bring a smile to my face.
* Scrolling through comments, I've noticed a lot of complaints about the bullying
being unrealistic. Perhaps it's just were one goes to school, but I suffered
from being bullied to this extent, if not more so. It was very refreshing to read
about it, as it reminded me that some people are jerks for no real reason. At least
in high school.
** Having been a duel-enrollment story, I can appreciate the duel-worlds that
exist between high school and college. In college, it's okay to be a geek.
illiterad's review against another edition
2.0
there's nothing quite like experiencing romance through a teenaged boys eyes. i've never read a second romance novel written from the pov of the love interest that i adored so much in the first book only to end up feeling disgusted and let down by the end of it. this feels like character assassination frfr
the first one is a guilty pleasure read of mine from childhood that i revisit every couple of years. it's a cute romance with main characters that i liked a lot, so when i found out there was a sequel, i read it immediately. and listen....if you liked the first one, and you specifically liked murphy, don't read this if you want to remember him fondly. if you feel the same way i do about this kind of shit, you're not going to be able to experience the story the same way again.
i get that this is a fourteen year old kid we're seeing this story through and i get that puberty turns your body wacky but damn dude, did we really need that many pages about how pissed he is that his fellow fourteen year old girlfriend isn't ready for him to grope her chest. like was that absolutely necessary. it might be authentic but jesus christ does it make me feel like absolute shit thinking about the boys i dated in high school. all teens are weird horny nerds, but why can't this fictional boy in a made up story be better than reality. we know teen boys are gross and immature and don't really know how to deal with this shit yet (same as the rest of the teens!!) but this is fiction. we can do anything here.
beyond that shit, they get into a huge fight because he's mad he has to share her time with her BEST FRIEND now. i GET that he's had absolutely no one, not a friend or other, since early elementary school, and this is probably exactly how a kid like this would actually act BUT CAN WE CREATE CONFLICT A DIFFERENT WAY FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. for most of the story, we're seeing the reality of sophie's choice lol to continue dating him, and a whole lot of shit happens with that, plenty in fact. but no. we had to see him have his joker moment because the girl he loves won't put out and now she's reuniting with someone else she loves and she hasn't exclusively been available to give him boners in person for TWO DAYS? then he straight up cheats on her right at the end of the book, she finds out, it destroys her, he tries to make it right, and then it ENDS with almost no resolution. robin yappin about getting worked up with no release, homie stfu
i liked most of the beginning. it had a similar appeal as the first, and similar young love sweetness, but it just devolves. and devolves. and devolves. i think i'm just going to donate this book and pretend like i've never even heard of it. i'm going to remember robin as the sweet love interest of that one kids book that i reread every few years.
the first one is a guilty pleasure read of mine from childhood that i revisit every couple of years. it's a cute romance with main characters that i liked a lot, so when i found out there was a sequel, i read it immediately. and listen....if you liked the first one, and you specifically liked murphy, don't read this if you want to remember him fondly. if you feel the same way i do about this kind of shit, you're not going to be able to experience the story the same way again.
i get that this is a fourteen year old kid we're seeing this story through and i get that puberty turns your body wacky but damn dude, did we really need that many pages about how pissed he is that his fellow fourteen year old girlfriend isn't ready for him to grope her chest. like was that absolutely necessary. it might be authentic but jesus christ does it make me feel like absolute shit thinking about the boys i dated in high school. all teens are weird horny nerds, but why can't this fictional boy in a made up story be better than reality. we know teen boys are gross and immature and don't really know how to deal with this shit yet (same as the rest of the teens!!) but this is fiction. we can do anything here.
beyond that shit, they get into a huge fight because he's mad he has to share her time with her BEST FRIEND now. i GET that he's had absolutely no one, not a friend or other, since early elementary school, and this is probably exactly how a kid like this would actually act BUT CAN WE CREATE CONFLICT A DIFFERENT WAY FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. for most of the story, we're seeing the reality of sophie's choice lol to continue dating him, and a whole lot of shit happens with that, plenty in fact. but no. we had to see him have his joker moment because the girl he loves won't put out and now she's reuniting with someone else she loves and she hasn't exclusively been available to give him boners in person for TWO DAYS? then he straight up cheats on her right at the end of the book, she finds out, it destroys her, he tries to make it right, and then it ENDS with almost no resolution. robin yappin about getting worked up with no release, homie stfu
i liked most of the beginning. it had a similar appeal as the first, and similar young love sweetness, but it just devolves. and devolves. and devolves. i think i'm just going to donate this book and pretend like i've never even heard of it. i'm going to remember robin as the sweet love interest of that one kids book that i reread every few years.
reba_reads_books's review against another edition
4.0
I admit I was expecting this book to be in the same timeline as the first one, but it's not. It picks up where the first book left off. It's still just as riveting of a tale, and I adore how Sones uses verse.
andeez's review against another edition
4.0
As I've said in previous reviews, I'm not a series girl. I like when one story is told and wrapped up nicely at the end. It is very rare that I'm ok continuing on with characters. This is one of those times.
I would have been fine with just What My Mother Doesn't Know ending where it was. But I surprisingly loved what happens next from Robin's side of the story. I talk to my students about Judy Blume a lot. At their age, she was my go-to author. What stands out to me was her book Then Again Maybe I Won't. As a teen girl, it was good for me to read a story from a male perspective. I know it was good for teen boys to have that reflective tale, as well.
I would not read this without reading the first in the series. It would not have had the same impact. If you are going to dive into this, make sure you have both books in hand.
I would have been fine with just What My Mother Doesn't Know ending where it was. But I surprisingly loved what happens next from Robin's side of the story. I talk to my students about Judy Blume a lot. At their age, she was my go-to author. What stands out to me was her book Then Again Maybe I Won't. As a teen girl, it was good for me to read a story from a male perspective. I know it was good for teen boys to have that reflective tale, as well.
I would not read this without reading the first in the series. It would not have had the same impact. If you are going to dive into this, make sure you have both books in hand.
kmcneil's review against another edition
5.0
From School Library Journal:
Gr 8 Up-This sequel to What My Mother Doesn't Know (S & S, 2001) stands completely on its own. Robin's life at Cambridge High School is miserable. The arty outsider's last name becomes the pejorative slang of the school-as in, "Don't be such a Murphy." His lot improves, however, when popular Sophie becomes his girlfriend despite the detriment to her reputation. Better still, the freshman is invited to audit an art class at Harvard. It is his homecoming; for once, he is the comedian rather than the butt of jokes. One of the college freshmen even shows some romantic interest in him. Written as a novel in verse, this title is a fast-paced, page-turning romp that gives authentic voice to male youth even when it is painfully truthful.-Leah Krippner, Harlem High School, Machesney Park, IL Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
Gr 8 Up-This sequel to What My Mother Doesn't Know (S & S, 2001) stands completely on its own. Robin's life at Cambridge High School is miserable. The arty outsider's last name becomes the pejorative slang of the school-as in, "Don't be such a Murphy." His lot improves, however, when popular Sophie becomes his girlfriend despite the detriment to her reputation. Better still, the freshman is invited to audit an art class at Harvard. It is his homecoming; for once, he is the comedian rather than the butt of jokes. One of the college freshmen even shows some romantic interest in him. Written as a novel in verse, this title is a fast-paced, page-turning romp that gives authentic voice to male youth even when it is painfully truthful.-Leah Krippner, Harlem High School, Machesney Park, IL Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
knbee's review against another edition
4.0
awwww... sweet novel in verse about a challenged first love and growing up. takes me back.