If I Was Your Girl - Meredith Russo

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): A new kind of big-hearted novel about being seen for who you really are.
Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret, and she's determined not to get too close to anyone. 
But when she meets sweet, easygoing Grant, Amanda can't help but start to let him into her life. As they spend more time together, she realizes just how much she is losing by guarding her heart. She finds herself yearning to share with Grant everything about herself, including her past. But Amanda's terrified that once she tells him the truth, he won't be able to see past it. 
Because the secret that Amanda's been keeping? It's that at her old school, she used to be Andrew. Will the truth cost Amanda her new life, and her new love? 
Meredith Russo's If I Was Your Girl is a universal story about feeling different and a love story that everyone will root for.

MY OPINION: *****

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was an eye-opening read that was both informational and interesting, two 'i-words' I really enjoy in a book.

I am not one to say that I know much about the field of transgender/transsexual people so I'm honestly not going to talk about it too much because I KNOW I am going to say the wrong information.

It truly shocks me to see how people can be so mean, even ones who say that they're "always going to care about you and nothing is going to change it" and then they go back on their word. It's horrifying that even in our generation and modern times, there are those who are just so cruel to people who they think are "different."

Amanda was a great protagonist. I thought that she truly shone in the world of YA. She was brave, kind, determined, strong, and she knew that she had to stand up for herself even when the world was against her. She knew that she would be treated differently because of her secret but she chose to own up to it once her "friend" told the whole school.

Grant was annoying to me because yes, at the beginning, I was all about him. I loved him and I thought he was romantic and maybe he would be better than Parker and the rest of his friends. He was sweet and kind and he was willing to overlook Amanda's secrets because he was so in love. He burned up the letter that she wrote to him about herself which I thought was both outrageous and sweet because he loved her enough to think that nothing was going to change it.

And then he goes back on everything he says.

He literally thinks that Amanda is joking about once being Andrew after stupid Bee tells everyone at the dance. And then when he realizes that she isn't, he doesn't talk to her? And then he comes back and asks if he is GAY because of all this? Something is sincerely wrong with this guy because he said that nothing would matter to him when something obviously does.

I applaud this book and Meredith Russo for being so brave and sharing a story that is truly going to change readers' minds. This book is so important for teenagers and honestly EVERYONE to read because it shares an important message. It has a running theme that we can easily catch on to.

I did think this was a very accurate representation of our world, sad as it is to say, and I thought that it was very realistic. The characters were mostly lovable, give or take a few, and I thought that it was truly an amazing read.

I would recommend to ALL readers.

Main Character: Amanda
Sidekick(s): Grant, Bee, etc
Villain(s): Parker, people, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: All of this was very real to life.