Book Review Quick Hits: "Tell Me How You Really Feel" by Aminah Mae Safi

The cover may promise a cute love story, but you'll have to read to find out more. 

By Caleb Calhoun | Library Assistant Ⅱ, Powderly Branch Library

Whereas books typically inspire movies, Tell Me How You Really Feel may owe much of its success to shirking that norm.

Author Aminah Mae Safi described the 2019 release, which became an instant cult classic in the YA LGBTQ+ community, as “My love letter to rom-coms.”

Created to mirror the feel and pace of a comedic sitcom, Tell Me How You Really Feel does read more like a Netflix series than a traditional work of literature.

The characters (modeled after archetypal roles from the hit series Gilmore Girls) drop in fully created on page one, letting you tag along on their already constructed day-to-day worlds.

While this approach may be jarring to this aging librarian or pretty much anyone over 40, it clearly resonates with a younger generation raised alongside Tik Tok and other streaming platforms.

Safi plays on the readers' expectations of popular rom-coms, filling in the typical formula with a fluffy queer romance steeped in different cultural backgrounds that collide with one another.

The book follows two teenage female characters as they complete their senior year at a wealthy private high school, looking forward to their future with amazing, stress-inducing opportunities quickly approaching after graduation.

Rachel, who internalizes the role of the "outcast" because of her scholarship status and single-parent household, and Sana, the perfect cheerleader struggling to come out from the glass closet, are thrown into each other's orbits by chance— by fate.

Or maybe by the whims of a teacher (Douga) who is overworked and sick of excuses.

Rachel and Sana must work together on Rachel’s final film project: remaking The Odyssey.  

As the end of the semester draws near, afternoon script rewrites transition into late-night movies and karaoke outings where the duo realize they have more in common than they thought possible.

Not that this realization makes their budding romance any easier.

One of the book’s great successes is how it allows its characters to remain confused—even when they are certain they are doing the right thing.

With Safi’s status as a native Angelino and familiarity with Hollywood sets from her childhood, the through-line of the story is believable and revealing.

Steamy without being overly graphic, straightforward in an unconcerned way, and relevant to its core, Tell Me How You Really Feel provides kindness and normalization with a healthy dose of wit and whimsy along the way.

For those who never saw themselves in the leads of many rom-coms, Aminah Mae Safi takes you on the set of her rom-com as Rachel’s directorial aspirations lead her to Sana in an unexpected way.

Stop by Powderly Branch or one of our other Birmingham Public Library locations to check out a copy today.

Caleb Calhoun

Library Assistant Ⅱ

Powderly Branch Library

Caleb.Calhoun@COBPL.Org