This is just yet another YA contemporary where I cringed every single 5 pages or so and that the main characters barely had more than one point to determinate their personality. I literally do not want to hear about high school kids stressing over college admissions the entire time. Ming is adopted from China by Jewish parents- we never really get the details on the hows- but his first choice of university is Peking University in Beijing.

She helps Halti see what his dreams could be instead of what he thinks they must be, and they both let down their guard to let each other in.I adored Henry, even if he's far from perfect and makes plenty of mistakes, and I also loved Corinne. I loved the characters of Henry and Corrinne's parents, their friends, and even the teachers at school. No book has made me more happy to be past the application stage than this one, and I didn’t even have to deal with the intense requirements of Ivy League schools! We didn’t see Henri thinking about the sneakers he was designing, we didn’t see him getting excited about new ideas he was getting, etc.

With amazing black leads, a stunning love story, and wonderful characters that tug at your heartstrings, I wholeheartedly recommend this book!It’s no longer tenable to imagine that the anxieties of a white heterosexual young man expelled from an expensive prep school capture the spirit of our era. I’m looking forward to reading it, but I have to admit, it’s not my favorite when a novel feels like it’s divided into two parts, with each part concentrating on something different. As I was reading the book, it felt to me like there were consequences to some of his actions but not to others, which was something that threw me off because it felt like an inconsistency in the story. From the award-winning author of The Field Guide to the North American Teenager comes a whip-smart and layered romantic comedy.

You can even feel it move with him when he goes to visit Montreal when he has a college interview Montreal feels like a city that's gotten a good night's rest and woken up in time for a bike ride alongside the Saint Lawrence River. This makes the first few chapters hard to read for me as it feels like he’s info-dumping everything about himself as well as the scenery and people around him. But their friendship is spot on👌 But as a couple I didn’t ship them and that’s the hard part of enjoying a romance.

But then Corinne Troy, his neighbour and classmate, blackmails him when she finds out his dog walking job isn't very legit. I think it’s definitely one that can find its audience if you enjoy a rom-com that explores some more serious themes, but it just was not for me. And I'm lowkey cheating by counting this as my Haiti book for my challenge but this does represent an Haitian experience so I don't feel fully guilty. Oh, really adore Henri as a main character, he IS charming even though its not l through out the story but this is what makes him a well written character. I’m really excited to read a story by a Haitian author about a Haitian-American main character (because I’m Haitian-American) and the synopsis just makes me want to read it even more.

As much as I love Henri, I wouldn't complain if Corinne had a POV of her own as well as this girl is my definition of "fictional bestie" Y es, you can label her as "socially awkward" but there's so much more about Corinne. Plot-wise, this book felt like it was divided into two different parts: the first half that focuses more on the romance while the second-half focused more on the college applications.I don't really have many complaints because this story is written in a way where you know what's happening, but you also know that it could have been written better. With a perfect balance of snark, keen observation, and wry humor, Ben Philippe has given us the brilliant Norris Kaplan—by far, the funniest, wittiest, smartest character I’ve ever read! Anyways, Charming as a Verb is about Henri, an ambitious child of Haitian immigrants and owner of fraudulent dog walking company.