Tell Me Three Things

Photo credit Penguin Random House

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum is absolutely delightful. It’s a lovely teen romance book that readers will grow to love with its heartwarming characters, hilarious dialogue and a personal look at how some of the characters deal with major issues in their lives such as grief, step-families, moving and having to find a whole new life again. Wouldn’t it just be easier if someone could be like a guide for your first day in a new high school? Well that’s how Tell Me Three Things begins a mystery within the life of our main character, who is really dealing with a lot in her life at the moment. This book takes a personal look into moving forward after a loss and navigating the trials and tribulations of a new high school and a new family.

Buxbaum does an amazing job creating characters that start off small and then you grow to love as a reader because they are so authentic and believable. The characters have depth and not only does our main character have to find herself again after losing someone, but the characters around her also develop in new and intriguing ways and we discover more and more about them little by little in the same way that we would learn about the people around us when we are making friends or building relationships. The way Jessie and Theo her new stepbrother come together for good is a major character development for Theo. Theo begins by hating Jessie and her dad making fun of his new job at the supermarket, acting like it’s not a good enough job and he’s embarrassed by him, and not talking to Jessie at all at school, like he’s too good for her. In the end when things get tough, Theo talks to Jessie about talking to her dad, because he’s her dad.

“Seriously, this coming from Mr. Temper Tantrum?” [Jessie says] Turns out Theo did leave a soy sauce stain on the dining chair when he threw his fork. No matter: it is currently being reupholstered. “One time, dude. I don’t do well with change.” “Why do you care about me and my dad?” “You’re bringing negative energy into this house. We have enough bad juju as it is” “Come on.” “You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. How long they’ll last. You only get two parents, and we’re each down to one. Better to be good to them while you can.” “Whatever.” “Seriously. You’re starting to sound like one us Wood Valley brats.” “Fine.” Of course Theo is right.

The dialogue that Buxbaum created between S/N and Jessie is funny, sarcastic and heartfelt when they start discovering three things about each other every time they talk. THey have an easy banter between one another, that is light and fun and very telling about who they are as people. For example:

“SN: (1) I intend to waste most of my day playing Xbox, with occasional breaks to eat pizza, preferably with eggplant, which I get a lot of s**t for, but whatever sue me. I don’t like pepperoni. Never have, never will. (2) I was up early so I’ve been listening to Flume all morning. (3) my mom is still sleeping, like she’s the teenager in the house.

Me: You’re American, right?

SN: yeah, why?

Me: PEPPERONI! Not liking pepperoni is like not liking apple pie.

SN: Will that analogy be on the PSATs?

ME: So you ARE a junior?

SN: relax, Nancy Drew.”

Their banter back and forth you can tell that they are being light and fun, yet getting to know each other in a way, even though she’s still trying to figure out who SN is.

While this is a romance, under the surface Jessie learns to begin again after her world is changed dramatically with the loss of her mother, her father’s new marriage, and moving from Chicago to Los Angeles. One of the main things she is dealing with is how to grieve the loss of her mother. One way is counting the days that she has been gone, and in small pieces she notices things that are harder than she thought about losing someone. “One of the worst parts about someone dying is thinking back to all those times you didn’t ask the right questions, all those times you stupidly assumed you’d have all the time in the world. And this too: how all that time feels like not much time at all.”  

“She said the only thing that made senses at the time, maybe the only thing that has made any sense, since: Just so you know, I realize that what happened is not in any way okay, but I think we’re going to have to pretend like it is. Because it wasn’t okay and never will be.” This insight into her grief, came at a time when she was visiting her old best friend, where you would think that it would all be fun and catching up on their lives apart, yet the grief is still there.

I fell in love with the characters that Buxbaum created and really enjoyed the connection between myself and Jessie when going through the loss of someone close. We all deal with loss at one time or another, so her grief was a very relatable, yet unique, experience as we do not all experience grief in the same way. This was also shown through the grieving process of another character, who again approached it differently, but as a reader you knew what he was going through. I think experiencing grief through the characters helps you to see that there is no right or wrong way to grieve and we all go through it in different ways. While this is kind of a big topic to tackle especially within a romance, I think Buxbaum did it with ease. The book was highly entertaining and a fast read that I wholeheartedly enjoyed. I give this four out of five stars!

Fans of contemporary YA fiction are going to fall in love with the realistic characters, hilarious dialogue and unexpected depth within this novel. This book goes through ups and downs just like grief and life, with some hilarious moments and a little bit of mystery in trying to discover who SN really is. Plus, the in depth characters become people that you feel like are friends by the end of the book. This was all around a great romance book, but also a great realistic fiction book that encompassed a bit of everything in a wonderfully delightful package.

Buxbaum, J. (2016). Tell Me Three Things. New York: Delacorte Press.