What do you think?
Rate this book
Who's That Girl
This laugh-out-loud debut is filled with hilarious awkward encounters, a supportive LGBTQ organization, and too many cheesy lyrics to count—all with the compulsive readability of Audrey, Wait! and Boy Meets Boy.
Junior Nattie McCullough has always been that under-the-radar straight girl who hangs out in the cafeteria with her gay-straight alliance friends. She’s never been the girl that gets the guy, let alone the girl that gets a hit song named after her.
But when last summer’s crush, smoking-hot musician Sebastian Delacroix—who has recently hit the mainstream big-time—returns home to play a local show, that’s just what she gets. He and his band, the Young Lungs, have written a chart-topping single—“Natalie”—which instantly makes Nattie second guess everything she thought about their awkward non-kiss at that June pool party. That it was horrific. That it meant nothing. That Sebastian never gave her another thought.
To help keep her mind off of Sebastian and his maybe-about-her, maybe-not-about-her song, Nattie throws herself into planning the school’s LGBTQIA dance. That proves problematic, too, when Nattie begins to develop feelings for her good friend Zach. With the song getting major airplay and her once-normal life starting to resemble the cover of a gossip magazine, Nattie is determined to figure out once and for all if her brief moment with Sebastian was the stuff love songs are made of—or just a one-hit wonder.
Junior Nattie McCullough has always been that under-the-radar straight girl who hangs out in the cafeteria with her gay-straight alliance friends. She’s never been the girl that gets the guy, let alone the girl that gets a hit song named after her.
But when last summer’s crush, smoking-hot musician Sebastian Delacroix—who has recently hit the mainstream big-time—returns home to play a local show, that’s just what she gets. He and his band, the Young Lungs, have written a chart-topping single—“Natalie”—which instantly makes Nattie second guess everything she thought about their awkward non-kiss at that June pool party. That it was horrific. That it meant nothing. That Sebastian never gave her another thought.
To help keep her mind off of Sebastian and his maybe-about-her, maybe-not-about-her song, Nattie throws herself into planning the school’s LGBTQIA dance. That proves problematic, too, when Nattie begins to develop feelings for her good friend Zach. With the song getting major airplay and her once-normal life starting to resemble the cover of a gossip magazine, Nattie is determined to figure out once and for all if her brief moment with Sebastian was the stuff love songs are made of—or just a one-hit wonder.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 11, 2017
30 people are currently reading
2686 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews
July 21, 2017
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book has some of the best dialogue I've read in a looooong time. The snappy banter between the characters was one of my favorite things about this fun new YA! I felt like I was right there hanging out with the two Zach's, Tess, and Nattie, and following all their inside jokes (Jamba Alert!). This book's clever hook will draw you in from the get-go, but the well-rounded, awesome characters will keep you turning the page.
July 18, 2017
I loved this synopsis so much and I sort of breaks my heart to say 3 stars might be too high of a rating.
Nattie was a decent enough MC. Her inner monologue was rough for me to settle into and I'm not sure I ever really did. There were a lot of secondary characters, but they all felt flat and clichéd. I struggled with Tess and Zach because I didn't get to know them: it was pretty much all Nattie, all the time.
Plot wise, I straight up loved the idea. I think it was the execution that didn't work for me. Nattie is so obsessed with the song and trying to stay anonymous that she just draws attention to herself. Instead of it being cute or charming, I found it annoying. Especially the extra loud talking whenever she heard it play.
I know it sounds like I hated it, but I didn't. Overall, there were some cute parts and bits of excellent dialogue, but I found myself skimming parts just to see how it ended.
**Huge thanks to Harper Teen for providing the arc free of charge**
Nattie was a decent enough MC. Her inner monologue was rough for me to settle into and I'm not sure I ever really did. There were a lot of secondary characters, but they all felt flat and clichéd. I struggled with Tess and Zach because I didn't get to know them: it was pretty much all Nattie, all the time.
Plot wise, I straight up loved the idea. I think it was the execution that didn't work for me. Nattie is so obsessed with the song and trying to stay anonymous that she just draws attention to herself. Instead of it being cute or charming, I found it annoying. Especially the extra loud talking whenever she heard it play.
I know it sounds like I hated it, but I didn't. Overall, there were some cute parts and bits of excellent dialogue, but I found myself skimming parts just to see how it ended.
**Huge thanks to Harper Teen for providing the arc free of charge**
March 13, 2017
this book was perfect with the romance and the friendship. I loved tess, Sam, and and Zach, and the whole gang. natty was so normal and loved her parents. this book was perfect ❤❤
Read
February 22, 2017Well, this was all sorts of adorable. is the kind of book you want to curl up with after a long and possibly terrible day. That’s exactly what I did, and I couldn’t help but smile pretty much the entire time I was reading it. Part of that came from Nattie’s quirky family, especially her father, who was hilarious and stole every scene he was in. If you loved the parents in Easy A, you'll adore Nattie’s, too.
Then there are her friends, each of whom I completely adored, especially Zach. Because of course Zach. His relationship with Nattie was the cutest, straight from the start. Like I said: Nonstop smiling.
Particularly well done was the setting—in Philly and its suburbs. I lived there years ago, and Who’s That Girl made me so nostalgic for it.
If you need a feel-good book with a wonderful voice (or just love adorable romances), definitely check this out. It’s especially great for fans of Robin Benway’s Audrey, Wait!
Then there are her friends, each of whom I completely adored, especially Zach. Because of course Zach. His relationship with Nattie was the cutest, straight from the start. Like I said: Nonstop smiling.
Particularly well done was the setting—in Philly and its suburbs. I lived there years ago, and Who’s That Girl made me so nostalgic for it.
If you need a feel-good book with a wonderful voice (or just love adorable romances), definitely check this out. It’s especially great for fans of Robin Benway’s Audrey, Wait!
Read
February 23, 2020Just could not get into this one. Disappointed , because I really enjoyed Ordinary Girls by this author.
July 3, 2017
3.5 Stars
This was a really fun story that combined everything you could want in a summer contemporary: friend drama, romantic drama, family drama. Basically a lot of drama, but in a fun and light-hearted way. The story was a breeze to read and I found myself laughing a lot!
Things I Liked :
The family dynamic was so fantastic. It felt like a scripted sitcom family, but in the best way possible. There was such great situational humor blended with incredibly real relationships and conversations.
The friend group was also fantastic. You clearly get the characters personalities from the dialogue. Nattie, Tess, Tall Zach, and Anarchist Zach friendship felt really genuine and relatable.
This was adorkable in the most endearing way. Nattie is so awkward and self conscious, but it never felt like a weird look-at-me thing. And all of her potentially romantic interactions never went as plan, and made for some great entertainment.
Things I Didn’t Like :
I felt like it took too long to get to what the Talent show incident was. There was so much buildup and the reveal was a little lack luster.
I would have liked to see more of Tall Zach. I feel like we got to know him the least, and that he wasn’t as much a part of the group as everyone else.
Overall this was a really fun and quick read. It was cute, funny, and kept my attention. The ending wasn’t as strong as the first 2/3rds, but it was the perfect book to read between SFF reads!
I received a copy of the book from HarperTeen via Edelweiss in exchange for and honest review.
This was a really fun story that combined everything you could want in a summer contemporary: friend drama, romantic drama, family drama. Basically a lot of drama, but in a fun and light-hearted way. The story was a breeze to read and I found myself laughing a lot!
Things I Liked :
The family dynamic was so fantastic. It felt like a scripted sitcom family, but in the best way possible. There was such great situational humor blended with incredibly real relationships and conversations.
The friend group was also fantastic. You clearly get the characters personalities from the dialogue. Nattie, Tess, Tall Zach, and Anarchist Zach friendship felt really genuine and relatable.
This was adorkable in the most endearing way. Nattie is so awkward and self conscious, but it never felt like a weird look-at-me thing. And all of her potentially romantic interactions never went as plan, and made for some great entertainment.
Things I Didn’t Like :
I felt like it took too long to get to what the Talent show incident was. There was so much buildup and the reveal was a little lack luster.
I would have liked to see more of Tall Zach. I feel like we got to know him the least, and that he wasn’t as much a part of the group as everyone else.
Overall this was a really fun and quick read. It was cute, funny, and kept my attention. The ending wasn’t as strong as the first 2/3rds, but it was the perfect book to read between SFF reads!
I received a copy of the book from HarperTeen via Edelweiss in exchange for and honest review.
June 26, 2017
Rating: 3.5 Stars
This was a super-cute rom-com that had me laughing out loud and often. I am pretty sure I wore a smile from the beginning until the end of this book. I am of lover of all things fun and cute and this one really delivered.
Things I loved:
*Nattie was adorable, quirky, a little nerdy, and a bit awkward. I really enjoyed her Lucy-esq antics, and that she was just so normal. Her emotions, fears, and joys were so commonplace. It was easy to relate to her.
*Nattie's friends were such a wonderful, eclectic group. I adored listening in on their conversations. There was some great banter going on here, and it was often very amusing. Her squad was very special and as Nattie was dealing with all these emotions, I was glad she had her squad there to support her. They were all special, but Tess stood out, because she played such a huge role in the secondary plot. I liked that Thornburgh made her a little more than a sidekick, and I had a mile-wide smile when her big plot line was fulfilled.
*Another wonderful group of people in Nattie's world was her family. The quirky apple didn't fall far from the tree here. We get lots of laughs with each visit to her parents and her "brother", foreign exchange student, Sam. They were all very warm and open, and their home seemed like a lovely place to grow up. I really liked that her relationship with Sam evolved a little over the course of the book, and that it may have been stronger than she had anticipated. Lots of warm and fuzzy feels on the family front here.
*The romance was adorable. It was a total slow burn, with one party being totally oblivious to its existence! There were so many times that I wanted to shake some sense into Nattie and tell her to open her eyes. But alas, these things take time, and that just made it so much sweeter when it finally happened.
I will not lie, the main plot hardly mattered to me, as I was enraptured by this lovely group of people that Thornburgh assembled. Who's That Girl was a fun story of love, friendship, family, and being oneself, which kept me jolly and fully entertained.
Warning: There is a lot of baking and baked goods in this book. Beware reading this on an empty stomach. =)
**I would like to thank the publisher for the advanced copy of this book.
BLOG|INSTAGRAM|BLOGLOVIN| FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS
This was a super-cute rom-com that had me laughing out loud and often. I am pretty sure I wore a smile from the beginning until the end of this book. I am of lover of all things fun and cute and this one really delivered.
Things I loved:
*Nattie was adorable, quirky, a little nerdy, and a bit awkward. I really enjoyed her Lucy-esq antics, and that she was just so normal. Her emotions, fears, and joys were so commonplace. It was easy to relate to her.
*Nattie's friends were such a wonderful, eclectic group. I adored listening in on their conversations. There was some great banter going on here, and it was often very amusing. Her squad was very special and as Nattie was dealing with all these emotions, I was glad she had her squad there to support her. They were all special, but Tess stood out, because she played such a huge role in the secondary plot. I liked that Thornburgh made her a little more than a sidekick, and I had a mile-wide smile when her big plot line was fulfilled.
*Another wonderful group of people in Nattie's world was her family. The quirky apple didn't fall far from the tree here. We get lots of laughs with each visit to her parents and her "brother", foreign exchange student, Sam. They were all very warm and open, and their home seemed like a lovely place to grow up. I really liked that her relationship with Sam evolved a little over the course of the book, and that it may have been stronger than she had anticipated. Lots of warm and fuzzy feels on the family front here.
*The romance was adorable. It was a total slow burn, with one party being totally oblivious to its existence! There were so many times that I wanted to shake some sense into Nattie and tell her to open her eyes. But alas, these things take time, and that just made it so much sweeter when it finally happened.
I will not lie, the main plot hardly mattered to me, as I was enraptured by this lovely group of people that Thornburgh assembled. Who's That Girl was a fun story of love, friendship, family, and being oneself, which kept me jolly and fully entertained.
Warning: There is a lot of baking and baked goods in this book. Beware reading this on an empty stomach. =)
**I would like to thank the publisher for the advanced copy of this book.
BLOG|INSTAGRAM|BLOGLOVIN| FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS
July 29, 2017
While this was cute and easy enough to read, it felt a little forced. I'm all for diversity but the YA genre has been inundated lately and for me, this felt like a bit of everything had been added in just for the sake of it. There was no feeling of authenticity and instead felt a bit over the top.
May 25, 2017
ADORED this. Full review soon.
September 1, 2017
First thoughts: Just okay.
Review: Had to bring this one down to two stars.My biggest problem with this book is that I didn't care for Nattie. She had no personality, she had nothing going on in her life, she was just there.
Nattie has a crush on Sebastian, who graduated the prior summer and is an aspiring musician. Sebastian's band has a hit song, "Natalie." So for some reason, Nattie freaks out and becomes a shell of a person. Makes some really odd decisions and allows others to make plans for her. Nattie couldn't communicate, as in she was unable to really form a conversation. Her friends, family, and Sebastian talked at her, but she rarely responded with a coherent thought. Somehow, she is great at Latin but can't do simple math. Yet, somehow she is funny, and we know this because everyone says she's funny. She is also pretty, but her hygiene habits, as presented by her, are not the best. I get that there are quirky girls, and perhaps Nattie is supposed to be one, but she is shallow and judgmental, yet she has nothing going on for her.
The supporting characters were interesting, but it wasn't enough.
Review: Had to bring this one down to two stars.My biggest problem with this book is that I didn't care for Nattie. She had no personality, she had nothing going on in her life, she was just there.
Nattie has a crush on Sebastian, who graduated the prior summer and is an aspiring musician. Sebastian's band has a hit song, "Natalie." So for some reason, Nattie freaks out and becomes a shell of a person. Makes some really odd decisions and allows others to make plans for her. Nattie couldn't communicate, as in she was unable to really form a conversation. Her friends, family, and Sebastian talked at her, but she rarely responded with a coherent thought. Somehow, she is great at Latin but can't do simple math. Yet, somehow she is funny, and we know this because everyone says she's funny. She is also pretty, but her hygiene habits, as presented by her, are not the best. I get that there are quirky girls, and perhaps Nattie is supposed to be one, but she is shallow and judgmental, yet she has nothing going on for her.
The supporting characters were interesting, but it wasn't enough.
March 9, 2018
A fun read overall. Here are the remarks from my notes:
-the lead's behavior was a little confusing at times
-the whole Tall Zach & Zach the Anarchist thing isn't pulled off properly, going back to reread happened a few times cause I had no idea which Zach was talking
-odd comments here and there that could've been worded better disrupted the flow ("“That’s how we’re going to turn a profit.” Zach narrowed his eyes at me as I chewed the cookie. It was, of course, really good." is the example that stuck with me, the 'of course' bothers me quite a lot.)
-some evident dialogue problems
-there were some unrealistic plot points here and there (mainly about how fast Sebastian's career was progressing)
-the writing was okay (although I would've loved more creative dialogue tags)
-the conclusion of the story might be the most anticlimactic one I have ever read
-the lead's behavior was a little confusing at times
-the whole Tall Zach & Zach the Anarchist thing isn't pulled off properly, going back to reread happened a few times cause I had no idea which Zach was talking
-odd comments here and there that could've been worded better disrupted the flow ("“That’s how we’re going to turn a profit.” Zach narrowed his eyes at me as I chewed the cookie. It was, of course, really good." is the example that stuck with me, the 'of course' bothers me quite a lot.)
-some evident dialogue problems
-there were some unrealistic plot points here and there (mainly about how fast Sebastian's career was progressing)
-the writing was okay (although I would've loved more creative dialogue tags)
-the conclusion of the story might be the most anticlimactic one I have ever read
July 26, 2017
This was an entertaining, funny, awkward as hell in a very deliberate way and a VERY UPSETTINGLY REAL WAY romantic comedy. It's ripe for TV, so someone really needs to get on that, okay? Just. The parents! The exchange student! The friends! THE AWKWARD! Natalie's voice! UGH SEBASTIAN.
This was an utter delight and YA contemporary fans, this is a must read. It hits alllll the right buttons. Super recommend for fans of Cath's voice and awkwardness in FANGIRL and the friendships and quirk of Morgan Matson's THE UNEXPECTED EVERYTHING.
This was an utter delight and YA contemporary fans, this is a must read. It hits alllll the right buttons. Super recommend for fans of Cath's voice and awkwardness in FANGIRL and the friendships and quirk of Morgan Matson's THE UNEXPECTED EVERYTHING.
October 27, 2017
Adorably adorable, predictably predictable but also had me chuckling multiple times. Fun characters. A great debut but doesn't add anything to YA genre for me.
August 9, 2017
I'm in the minority for this but that's okay. It happens. I was not impressed with any of the characters. Nothing special about the main character. Her friend Tess or whatever was a complete piece of work. She reminded me too much of someone I don't like in real life. I tried but this just wasn't for me.
April 19, 2017
I can't think of anything I hated about this book, so I think it's more of a case of it didn't impress me very much or stand out in any way. Review to come later.
August 24, 2017
This is a really cute book! It definitely succeeded in making me forget about work.
September 14, 2018
Concept was cute and story was innocuous, albeit predictable with an annoyingly self-absorbed heroine.
June 8, 2017
A YA contemporary debut with adorable/funny awkwardness, a strong group of friends, musical theming, and compulsive readability. I loved the voice in this book -- for such a large cast of friends, the dialogue came naturally and felt very distinct, which is a difficult task! The basic premise is that main character Nattie discovers that the boy she had a massive crush on / sort-of kissed the previous summer has hit the big time with his band's song "Natalie"... and when the band comes to town to play a local show, she becomes a news-gossip celebrity by default as everyone suspects the song is about her. But she'd assumed that Sebastian never gave her another thought after they'd parted ways.
Life understandably gets complicated at this point, especially when she starts to develop feelings for her guy friend Zach. Chaos ensues! A LGBTQIA-friendly, fun read that's perfect for summer! (I always read more contemporary books when it starts to get sunny outside... I don't know why, but it happens every year!)
Life understandably gets complicated at this point, especially when she starts to develop feelings for her guy friend Zach. Chaos ensues! A LGBTQIA-friendly, fun read that's perfect for summer! (I always read more contemporary books when it starts to get sunny outside... I don't know why, but it happens every year!)
September 19, 2018
Maybe I'm super biased, because I know and worked with Blair and she's incredible, but this book was great. The thing I love best about it, though, is that Blair does an in-freaking-credible job of making sure that the teenagers always sound like teenagers. Sometimes I read a YA book and am like, "Do teenagers talk like this?" That's not to say that they should say dumb things all the time or sound incredibly immature, but sometimes YA characters sound too much like twentysomethings or thirtysomethings. But these kids always sounded and felt like kids; so many times I was rolling my eyes at them because they were reacting in such a teenager-y way to things, which is what made me love this book so much. It's nice to see teenagers in YA acting like teenagers--jumping to somewhat ridiculous conclusions, overdramatizing, focusing obsessively on things like student council or their specific club or the school dance. Anyway, all of this rambling to say that this book was A+ and such fun and you should read it.
September 21, 2017
A delightful YA romcom/classic friendship & family-ship, set in my beloved Delaware Valley, in & around Philadelphia. Prep school kid & Latin whiz Nattie has a couple of intense, not-quite-making-out moments with a hot boy who graduated for her school, and now it seems like his catchy indie rock song might be about her? Also, she & her bestie need a good band to play the LGBTQIA dance, so...maybe the Young Lungs could do it? Wackiness and genuine emotions ensue, and resolve very satisfactorily for everyone involved. Je totally frappe ce livre.
July 18, 2017
***3.75 stars***
Review to come on LairOfBooks (Link is in the bio)
Review to come on LairOfBooks (Link is in the bio)
August 23, 2017
Quirky characters, gripping teenage angst, familiar locale, a bit too wordy but quite a fun and easy read. I believe my teenage self would have loved it!
December 17, 2019
cute and funny!! i really enjoyed this. the only flaw was that it was too straight. but every character other than the leads wasn't so i can let it slide.
November 21, 2017
This was completely charming, and perfectly captures both my high school and the neighborhood where I grew up. This book filled me with joy and nostalgia in equal measure.
March 14, 2018
4 stars
A quirky debut, Who's That Girl by Blair Thornburgh revolves around the life of Nattie McCullough who's life takes a turn as a song with her namesake by an up and coming band headed by a boy who used to go to her high school grows and gains traction.
Sebastian Delacroix's band and their song "Natalie" starts to spread across the internet, and Nattie doesn't know what to do. What's worse is that she used to have a crush on him, especially with that almost-kiss incident at a party.
Nattie has to deal with boy drama and the fact that her best friend Tess is obsessing over the very-long-acronym-that-starts-with-an-O Dance which their Gay Straight Alliance has taken over. Nattie's in for a hectic ride on finding out who she really is.
If I had to describe this novel in one word, it would be quirky. And not in a necessarily 100% positive or 100% negative way. Just quirky.
I mostly liked reading it, but there's just a few points that were off to me.
For one, Nattie is a very odd character. I had a hard time relating to her and wasn't a big fan of how she acted and some of her decisions. She's very concerned with seeming weird by her classmates, which in turn makes her weirder. Sometimes I wanted her to just take a chill pill, relax, and stop worrying about other people.
You can see how much it influences her opinions and how she acts because she's always very hesitant and there's a ton of awkward pauses, but not in a Mary Sue Good Girl type of way.
She's not particularly talented, can be a little condescending, and is a terrible treasurer.
One of my biggest peeves about her character is how she calls the woman in the poem she's translating from Latin as "slutty." I'm sorry, but that's a no in my book. Slut shaming and girl on girl hate is not acceptable.
One of her friends & potential love interests, Zach the Anarchist (there are two Zachs, Zach the Anarchist and Tall Zach) shuts her down quickly which gave him huge points in my mind. Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
It also annoys me that she's a terrible treasurer and undeserving of the title as she has barely any passion about the club except for her friends. This is something I can really relate to because it's terrible to see unqualified people in positions of power (not gonna say anything about the government) when there are so many other qualified people there. Club competition can be FIERCE; I know from personal experience.
If I was in the GSA Nattie's in, I would have been very mad that she only has the position because her best friend is the president.
She's also very underappreciate for a large part of the novel. Nattie has a wonderful family and an awesome foreign exchange student foster brother, Sam, yet she doesn't spend very much time with them. Her dad is a fun character, and she doesn't actively try to do any father-daughter bonding as he builds a yurt (don't ask).
Nattie still has some pluses as her narration is very interesting and she's got a dry sense of humor, though sometimes it comes at others' expense.
She eventually grows as a character and becomes a better as well as more likeable person, but for the first 70% I wasn't too fond of her.
There's a fine line an author has to balance on for making a character. The character can't be too perfect, or else they wouldn't be dynamic. On the other hand, making characters that aren't appealing to the reader will cause a lot of people to DNF it and move on to read something else. This can be summed up really nicely in the tweet I saw a few days ago:
In Who's That Girl, I felt like Nattie leaned toward the unlikeable side a little more. She's not very enthusiastic and is very apathetic, superficial teenager-ish. This was what caused a whole star to be removed because I just could not relate to her.
Despite this, the rest of the story was really fun to read. I loved all the side characters, and she has such a fun group of friends. They make up the Acronymphomaniacs (I hope I spelled that right) and are all part of the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA for short).
Tess is Nattie's fun best friend who's obsessed with the Coming Out Dance because it'll help her come out to her parents that she likes girls. I honestly would have enjoyed this story so much more if it was about Tess because she's such an interesting character.
Zach the Anarchist (also potential love interest) is cute, not really an anarchist, smart, and very in like with Nattie. He's probably my second favorite character besides Tess because he's so nice. He's kind and sweet and caring and intelligent and everything you would want in a boyfriend, even after sitting through unrequited like for quite a while. He's also got a very cute sense of style with flannel, so brownie points to him!
I like how Thornburgh shows that your male love interest doesn't have to be that bad boy cigarette holding cliché leaning on a motorcycle (not that many people use that anymore). Zach the Anarchist is a mix of nerdy and cute and very relatable.
The last person of Nattie's friend group is Tall Zach who we don't really learn much of and is kind of the fourth wheel. I wish we got to know more about him, but he wasn't very important in general, to the plot or anything else.
I did like how the characters were dynamic as Nattie, Tess, and Zach the Anarchist all grew as people, Nattie most of all. I was scared for some time because I had so little faith in Nattie that I thought she would make the wrong decision. I just couldn't relate to her, but she ended up becoming more likeable as she grew throughout the novel.
The plot was interesting enough as this is a more character-based novel that uses the plot to further the characters vs. the other way around. Thornburgh introduced new settings and paced it moderately.
She did, however, create a very nice voice for Nattie, which is something I liked. All the characters are uniquely them, and you can usually tell who's speaking without the need for dialogue tags. The character development was probably the best part, even though I didn't like Nattie very much.
I found the entire novel pretty realistic as they didn't do anything too outlandish and stayed within their realistic fiction realms, and the LGBTQ+ representation was awesome.
I originally picked this up from the library because of the pretty cover. It's very fitting, and it has a paper-y texture like A List of Cages. I didn't get the ombre warm colored hair until later since Nattie has fire-y red hair, and the hair on the cover is very fire-y. The typography is stunning (I forgot to write down who did the hand-done type from the back cover, but a big shoutout to them!), and there's a cute little strawberry on the side as Nattie's allergic to strawberries. The cover fits the book very nicely, and I might just buy the book just because of the cover, which grows on me everyday. Maybe I'll ask for it as a gift?
Overall, Who's That Girl was a very unique read that I would classify as coming-of-age due to Nattie's large amount of character growth. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a fun, contemporary novel with romance on the back burner!
Blog | Instagram | Twitter
A quirky debut, Who's That Girl by Blair Thornburgh revolves around the life of Nattie McCullough who's life takes a turn as a song with her namesake by an up and coming band headed by a boy who used to go to her high school grows and gains traction.
Sebastian Delacroix's band and their song "Natalie" starts to spread across the internet, and Nattie doesn't know what to do. What's worse is that she used to have a crush on him, especially with that almost-kiss incident at a party.
Nattie has to deal with boy drama and the fact that her best friend Tess is obsessing over the very-long-acronym-that-starts-with-an-O Dance which their Gay Straight Alliance has taken over. Nattie's in for a hectic ride on finding out who she really is.
If I had to describe this novel in one word, it would be quirky. And not in a necessarily 100% positive or 100% negative way. Just quirky.
I mostly liked reading it, but there's just a few points that were off to me.
For one, Nattie is a very odd character. I had a hard time relating to her and wasn't a big fan of how she acted and some of her decisions. She's very concerned with seeming weird by her classmates, which in turn makes her weirder. Sometimes I wanted her to just take a chill pill, relax, and stop worrying about other people.
You can see how much it influences her opinions and how she acts because she's always very hesitant and there's a ton of awkward pauses, but not in a Mary Sue Good Girl type of way.
She's not particularly talented, can be a little condescending, and is a terrible treasurer.
One of my biggest peeves about her character is how she calls the woman in the poem she's translating from Latin as "slutty." I'm sorry, but that's a no in my book. Slut shaming and girl on girl hate is not acceptable.
One of her friends & potential love interests, Zach the Anarchist (there are two Zachs, Zach the Anarchist and Tall Zach) shuts her down quickly which gave him huge points in my mind. Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
It also annoys me that she's a terrible treasurer and undeserving of the title as she has barely any passion about the club except for her friends. This is something I can really relate to because it's terrible to see unqualified people in positions of power (not gonna say anything about the government) when there are so many other qualified people there. Club competition can be FIERCE; I know from personal experience.
If I was in the GSA Nattie's in, I would have been very mad that she only has the position because her best friend is the president.
She's also very underappreciate for a large part of the novel. Nattie has a wonderful family and an awesome foreign exchange student foster brother, Sam, yet she doesn't spend very much time with them. Her dad is a fun character, and she doesn't actively try to do any father-daughter bonding as he builds a yurt (don't ask).
Nattie still has some pluses as her narration is very interesting and she's got a dry sense of humor, though sometimes it comes at others' expense.
She eventually grows as a character and becomes a better as well as more likeable person, but for the first 70% I wasn't too fond of her.
There's a fine line an author has to balance on for making a character. The character can't be too perfect, or else they wouldn't be dynamic. On the other hand, making characters that aren't appealing to the reader will cause a lot of people to DNF it and move on to read something else. This can be summed up really nicely in the tweet I saw a few days ago:
Create sympathy & likeable aspects of character early on. THEN bring in the flaws. If u intro flaws 2 early, readers may not stay on (4/12)
— Whitney Davis (@wdavisliterary) August 3, 2017
In Who's That Girl, I felt like Nattie leaned toward the unlikeable side a little more. She's not very enthusiastic and is very apathetic, superficial teenager-ish. This was what caused a whole star to be removed because I just could not relate to her.
Despite this, the rest of the story was really fun to read. I loved all the side characters, and she has such a fun group of friends. They make up the Acronymphomaniacs (I hope I spelled that right) and are all part of the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA for short).
Tess is Nattie's fun best friend who's obsessed with the Coming Out Dance because it'll help her come out to her parents that she likes girls. I honestly would have enjoyed this story so much more if it was about Tess because she's such an interesting character.
Zach the Anarchist (also potential love interest) is cute, not really an anarchist, smart, and very in like with Nattie. He's probably my second favorite character besides Tess because he's so nice. He's kind and sweet and caring and intelligent and everything you would want in a boyfriend, even after sitting through unrequited like for quite a while. He's also got a very cute sense of style with flannel, so brownie points to him!
I like how Thornburgh shows that your male love interest doesn't have to be that bad boy cigarette holding cliché leaning on a motorcycle (not that many people use that anymore). Zach the Anarchist is a mix of nerdy and cute and very relatable.
The last person of Nattie's friend group is Tall Zach who we don't really learn much of and is kind of the fourth wheel. I wish we got to know more about him, but he wasn't very important in general, to the plot or anything else.
I did like how the characters were dynamic as Nattie, Tess, and Zach the Anarchist all grew as people, Nattie most of all. I was scared for some time because I had so little faith in Nattie that I thought she would make the wrong decision. I just couldn't relate to her, but she ended up becoming more likeable as she grew throughout the novel.
The plot was interesting enough as this is a more character-based novel that uses the plot to further the characters vs. the other way around. Thornburgh introduced new settings and paced it moderately.
She did, however, create a very nice voice for Nattie, which is something I liked. All the characters are uniquely them, and you can usually tell who's speaking without the need for dialogue tags. The character development was probably the best part, even though I didn't like Nattie very much.
I found the entire novel pretty realistic as they didn't do anything too outlandish and stayed within their realistic fiction realms, and the LGBTQ+ representation was awesome.
I originally picked this up from the library because of the pretty cover. It's very fitting, and it has a paper-y texture like A List of Cages. I didn't get the ombre warm colored hair until later since Nattie has fire-y red hair, and the hair on the cover is very fire-y. The typography is stunning (I forgot to write down who did the hand-done type from the back cover, but a big shoutout to them!), and there's a cute little strawberry on the side as Nattie's allergic to strawberries. The cover fits the book very nicely, and I might just buy the book just because of the cover, which grows on me everyday. Maybe I'll ask for it as a gift?
Overall, Who's That Girl was a very unique read that I would classify as coming-of-age due to Nattie's large amount of character growth. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a fun, contemporary novel with romance on the back burner!
Blog | Instagram | Twitter
July 26, 2017
As I was reading the book, I was thinking this would be two stars, but it picked up towards the end, and so I think it warrants a 2.75 or something along those lines. BT's writing is flawless; it flows easily, she knows how to construct her sentences to make them seem almost poetic or at the very least, crucial; but the plot, although its premise was promising, was boring. I thought I wouldn't be able to put this book down but instead I kept just picking it back up to get it done with. Unfortunately.
However, given that I enjoyed her writing so much, I am not passed giving Thornburgh another chance when the opportunity arises with a new novel.
However, given that I enjoyed her writing so much, I am not passed giving Thornburgh another chance when the opportunity arises with a new novel.
January 18, 2019
This book was blander than an uncooked potato, except that a potato would be of more use.
I picked up this book in an effort to connect with a genre I avoid—teen romance. It reminded me why I avoid it.
Also the main character gets sexually assaulted and it’s very minimized. I’d give it zero stars but goodreads don’t roll like that.
I picked up this book in an effort to connect with a genre I avoid—teen romance. It reminded me why I avoid it.
Also the main character gets sexually assaulted and it’s very minimized. I’d give it zero stars but goodreads don’t roll like that.
Read
April 24, 2017This was fine. I'm really unenthused by most of this year's YAs... it's possible it's me, but they seem like a lot of the same. Anyway, cute enough read, I was irked that there was a random running joke than Sam Huang the foreign exchange student was always called by his full name like Huang was soooooo funny. I know this is a thing that happens but it was pretty icky to read, to be honest.
January 26, 2019
Tall Zach, marry me.
June 26, 2021
cute! realistic at times, I appreciate the Latin references and regional PA references
Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews