What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know

Fiction
By Sonya Sones
Reviewed by Katiee Stoughton
Rated 4 out of 5 stars

In the sequel to What My Mother Doesn’t Know we learn more about Sophie and Robin, but this time, it’s from Robin Murphy’s point of view. Struggling to make sense of how he’s actually dating pretty, popular Sophie Stein, Robin learns that getting your heart’s desire isn’t always easy. And what you think you want isn’t actually what you really want.

 Author Sonya Sones once again creates a book in verse that throws the reader into the depths of the characters. With her amazing poetry, the voice of Robin is so strikingly real and full of self-doubt.

“I told her I’d understand if it has to end. And sure I’ll understand. Because, I mean, what girl in her right mind would want to be seen hanging with me?  With Murphy…the ugliest guy at Cambridge High?  The guy whose last name people use as a diss. As in: “You are a real Murphy.” But even though he is carried away with confusion, life is looking up for Robin. Not only is he dating Sophie, but he also is selected by his art teacher to audit an art class at a University. There, he finally feels like he belongs. Nobody knows him as “a Murphy,” the butt of all jokes. At Harvard he is the jokester, and better yet, he makes new friends. Once they start drawing in this new class they are drawing something Robin would never have thought of. But back in his real high school life, things with Sophie become tough. Her friends have ostracized her for dating Robin. Even though they love each other, it’s as if it’s Robin and Sophie against the world. Does Robin allow Sophie to sacrifice her social life just to date him?

 Like Sones’s previous books, What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know is a truly enjoyable and amazing read. Her story feels so real and relatable and it’s amazing what she can do with so few words. Robin is an authentic male teen voice whose struggle is often heartbreaking, realistic and funny. I can’t wait to see what Sonya Sones writes next.