When I first saw that Tell Me My Name by Amy Reed was being marketed as a gender bent Gatsby retelling in the vein of We Were Liars, I immediately jumped on board. After reading it I 100% see the comparisons, but I unfortunately enjoyed the book much less than I thought I would.

The story follows a teenage girl, Fern, who lives on a small island off the coast of Seattle. She spends her summer getting caught up in a weird love triangle between her childhood crush, Ash, his girlfriend Tammi, and a new girl on the island, a celebrity, named Ivy. All of them are incredibly unlikable characters, and do follow in the same vein as many Gatsby characters: using and abusing people’s wealth, status, and emotions to get what you want.

The plot is strikingly similar to the original Gatsby, except these old sports are teenagers, there’s a f/f relationship, and some pretty intense forest fires happening in the background. If you’re in the mood for teenage drama, you’ll love this book. It also touches on some mental health themes, and has a bit of a thriller vibe to it, too.

However, overall, I found the book to be somewhat scattered. Other than the very predictable plot, I don’t really understand what happened in this book. It’s a quick, quirky read, and would probably be fun to read if you were on a beach, but it unfortunately wasn’t for me.

Thank you Penguin Teen Canada for sending me a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Tell Me My Name by Amy Reed came out on March 9, 2021.