Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

Pages: 325

Intended Audience: Teens

Genre: Contemporary / Romance

Notes for Parents: Contains some sexual innuendo and other mature content

The Back Cover

Me: Tell me three things I don’t know about you. You know, besides your name and, well, everything else.

SN: okay. (1) I make a killer grilled cheese. (2) if you met me even a year ago, I was a totally different person. (3) …I don’t know. May keep this one to myself.

Me: Come on. You keep everything to yourself.

SN: (3) I like you.

Me: (3) I like you too.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

I feel the back cover doesn’t really tell you much, so here’s the description from Penguinrandomhouse.com:

Everything about Jessie is wrong. At least, that’s what it feels like during her first week of junior year at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. It’s been barely two years since her mother’s death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her step-monster and her pretentious teenage son, and to start at a new school where she knows no one.
Just when she’s thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from a person calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School. Is it an elaborate hoax? Or can she rely on SN for some much-needed help?
In a leap of faith—or an act of complete desperation—Jessie begins to rely on SN, and SN quickly becomes her lifeline and closest ally. Jessie can’t help wanting to meet SN in person. But are some mysteries better left unsolved?

What’s good?

This story is less about romance, and more about relationships – between daughter and father, old friends, new friends, step-families, the dearly departed, and a mysterious confidante. Jessie feels alone as she struggles to adjust to her new life, in a new town, with a new family, at a new school. She’s lonely and sad, feeling like she has no allies, until she gets an anonymous message from a boy offering to help her through. It’s an intriguing story with a lighthearted tone, but with some laugh out loud moments (and a few heart-breaking ones).  Jessie is a strong, relatable protagonist who is vulnerable and awkward, but still bold and brave in a way that feels genuine. The dialogue (mostly instant messaging) is witty and creates a good pace. The plot is simple, but some of the moments are complex as Jessie deals with new emotions.

Best Part: First line of the novel – Seven hundred and thirty-three days after my mom died, forty-five days after my dad eloped with a stranger he met on the Internet, thirty days after we then up and moved to California, and only seven days after starting as a junior at a brand-new school where I know approximately no one, an email arrives.

What isn’t good?

Watching Jessie struggle with SN’s identity was painful. I don’t know if his identity was supposed to be obvious to the reader, but I knew it was him the moment he was introduced. Jessie was oblivious to the clues, which made the “mystery” parts of the story tedious. My only other issue is the stereotypes. Los Angeles is always sunny, and the girls are all thin, rich, blonde, and mean. Perhaps it was meant to be how Jessie saw things, but a little more balance would have been nice.

Worst part: The vague description on the back of the book is unfortunate.

Recommendation ☺☺☺☻☻ (3/5)

I don’t like romance stories, which is why I had no intention of reading this. But I read the first line, like I often do with new books, and I was hooked. I was still expecting a sappy teen romance (thanks to the description on the back cover), but was amazed to read a smart, funny story about resiliency, grief, and friendship, with a little thread of mystery. Well done. Recommended.

Buxbaum, Julie. Tell Me Three Things. New York: Ember, 2016.