Tell Me How You Really Feel (Hardcover)
Winter 2020 Reading Group Indie Next List
“Romantic, utterly swoon-worthy, and heartfelt. What sets this romance apart is how developed each character and her own circumstances are. While their shared attraction and issues form the core of the romance, Rachel and Sana each have questions about their own identity and purpose, and this aspect makes the story come to life.”
— Rebecca Waesch, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, OH
Staff Reviews
Sana and Rachel hate each other. Actually, Rachel hates Sana. It has something to do with Sana asking her out in 9th grade. She wasn't serious, right? It must have been a prank. It wasn't. Three years later Sana still doesn't understand why Rachel hates her so much. When these two fantastic characters collide, literally, and are subsequently forced to collaborate on a project, three years of pent-up passion (part anger/part love) finally explode. A fiercely feminist love story, complete with romantic tension and cheesy public declarations, along with genuine, insightful commentary on the professional and social challenges women experience.
~ Eight Cousins
— From Summer PicksAminah Mae Safi's Tell Me How You Really Feel is an ode to romantic comedies, following two girls on opposite sides of the social scale as they work together to make a movie and try very hard not to fall in love.
The first time Sana Khan asked out a girl–Rachel Recht--it went so badly that she never did it again. Rachel is a film buff and aspiring director, and she’s seen Carrie enough times to learn you can never trust cheerleaders (and beautiful people). Rachel was furious that Sana tried to prank her by asking her on a date.
But when it comes time for Rachel to cast her senior project, she realizes that there’s no more perfect lead than Sana--the girl she's sneered at in the halls for the past three years. And poor Sana--she says yes. She never did really get over that first crush, even if Rachel can barely stand to be in the same room as her.
Told in alternative viewpoints and set against the backdrop of Los Angeles in the springtime, when the rainy season rolls in and the Santa Ana's can still blow--these two girls are about to learn that in the city of dreams, anything is possible--even love.