I Like You Like This: A Novel

by Heather Cumiskey

Overview

A loner girl. A mysterious boy. With their peers and parents against them, can an unlikely love survive?

In 1984 Connecticut, sixteen-year-old Hannah Zandana feels cursed with wild, uncontrollable hair and a horrid complexion. Painfully aware of how invisible she is in high school, she longs to change her pathetic life by attempting to impress a group of popular girls. An ill-fated effort, except that she captures the attention of Deacon, a handsome and mysterious boy who also happens to be her school’s resident drug dealer.

Hannah’s life suddenly takes an unexpected detour into Deacon’s dangerous and seductive world. But when their relationship and her family unravel around her, Hannah is forced to reexamine a love she once trusted—while Deacon risks it all to win her back. 

Perfect for fans of Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland, 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher, and All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, I Like You Like This is the first book in a poignant young adult series about addiction, sexuality, peer pressure, and first love.

Lose yourself in a powerful coming-of-age love story with I Like You Like This.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631522925
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	11/07/2017
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	840L (what's this?)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Heather Cumiskey was born and raised in Garden City, New York. Her essays have appeared in Kids’ BookBuzz and Germ Magazine. She lives in Maryland with her husband and three sons. Catch up with her at HeatherCumiskey.com.

Editorial Reviews

2018 International Book Awards Finalist in Fiction: Young Adult
2018 Reader's Favorites Book Awards Honorable Mention in Young Adult—Social Issues

“Hannah's story is primo, and the surprise twist of the epilogue will have readers stoked with anticipation for a sequel. Overall, a tubular story for readers looking for their next great melodramatic love story.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“The two teens’ unpredictable melting pot of emotions and attempts to find their place resonates.”
—Publishers’ Weekly

“A poignant coming-of-age read full of heart-pounding drama and a swoon-worthy romance, I Like You Like This is guaranteed to captivate readers from beginning to end. Think Riverdale, but set in the 80s.”
—BuzzFeed

“For fans of 13 Reasons Why, Heather Cumiskey's new novel takes a spin on a classic.”
—PopSugar

“I Like You Like This paints a gut-wrenching portrait of a young girl’s journey through a world bent on rejecting her . . . readers will be swept away by Hannah’s inner turmoil and search for acceptance in a story that transcends the typical formula and delivers a mind-blowing ending that will leave you wondering: What. Just. Happened.”
—Alane Adams, award-winning author of The Legends of Orkney series

“First love, addiction, and peer pressure are sprinkled lovingly across the paths of young Hannah and Deacon. I Like You Like This tells a beautiful story of finding yourself, learning to love yourself, and living as your true self.”
—Leora Krygier, author of Keep Her and When She Sleeps

“As if being a teenager isn’t traumatic enough. Cumiskey captures the angst of high school in her young adult novel about drugs, sex and parents. Readers will root for star-crossed lovers, Hannah and Deacon, both suffering from under the hands of those that love them. Growing up is hard, but having parents who never managed to grow up themselves is even harder. A heart-wrenching story about the ripple effects of drugs and addiction, and what can happen to teenagers of parents who fail them.”
—Jennifer Gooch Hummer, award-winning author of Girl Unmoored and Operation Tenley

“Juicy, tragic, and appealing, I Like You Like This is a love story for every girl who has fallen for the wrong boy for the right reasons. Misfit Hannah Zandana is completely relatable as she sucks the reader into her world of adolescent pain and abuse. Readers of YA romance are sure to eat this book up.”
—Carolyn Cohagan, award-winning author of The Lost Children and Time Zero

“In I Like You Like This, Heather Cumiskey tells the compelling story of 16-year-old Hannah as she struggles for acceptance within her family and at school. A captivating debut.”
—Fleur Phillips, award-winning author of Crumble, Beautiful Girl, and I am Lucky Bird

“This teen narrative will pull at your heartstrings. I Like You Like This is a book you’ll definitely like!”
—RT Book Reviews

“The romance between Hannah and Deacon, the unexpected ending, and Hannah's transformation make this book a compelling read.”
—Readers' Favorite, Five Star Review

From the Publisher

11/01/2017
Gr 9 Up—An ambitious debut novel that attempts to tackle too many issues. Hannah is a sophomore who is bullied at school and at home. Her father is ultra-religious and shames her for her clothing and appearance. Her mother has eschewed religion and seeks solace by consuming pills. Her little sister is the consummate brat. Hannah has one quasi-friend, Peter, who cares about her but is essentially a cipher himself. He is little protection against the triad of beautiful bullies who make Hannah's life a constant hell. Everything changes when she buys acid from the local drug dealer, a handsome senior with a politically connected father. He gives her too much, suffers a sudden bout of conscience, gains information about where Hannah lives, and rushes to her home to care for her during her overdose. That is just one of many implausible plot points. This first drug deal becomes the basis for a torrid—if unhealthy—relationship with Deacon, her dealer. This work is set in the 1980s, and includes mostly accurate depictions of the decade, complete with big hair courtesy of Aqua Net, but the characters, dialogue, and plot feel flat and forced. The attempt to intertwine body image, LGBTQ issues, substance abuse, bullying, murder, parental abuse and neglect, and coming of age results in a top-heavy title that is crushed under its own weight. VERDICT A marginally additional purchase that is most appropriate for readers who crave melodramatic, issues-based romances.—Jodeana Kruse, R.A. Long High School, Longview, WA

School Library Journal

2017-09-18
In 1984, one bad trip will completely change the course of Hannah Zandana's teenage life.Cumiskey transports her readers back to the 1980s, viewed through the kaleidoscope of big, feathered hair and Swatch watches. The largely white setting and the plot are, like, totally out of a John Hughes movies. And though Cumiskey's timeline is a little bogus—for example, Beetlejuice came out in 1988—readers should be able to ignore minor flubs as they meet her cast: mean girls Gillian, Leeza, and Taylor tease and fluster Hannah until she feels she needs to prove her cool by scoring some LSD from Deacon, the local heartthrob/rich boy/drug dealer. When Deacon saves Hannah from a bad trip, sparks fly between the bad boy and the quirky girl. While Hannah's story would be radical in '84, its strengths may also be its weaknesses. For example, Hannah's confrontation with Gillian ends when Hannah drops a homophobic slur to silence the mean girl. While this was considered humorous at one time, modern readers may find it jarring for the heroine of a book to use emotional blackmail in order to avoid bullying. Also, the question hangs: will readers get the gnarly '80s references? These quibbles aside, Hannah's story is primo, and the surprise twist of the epilogue will have readers stoked with anticipation for a sequel.Overall, a tubular story for readers looking for their next great melodramatic love story. (Historical fiction. 13-17)

Kirkus Reviews