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kaikai1618's review against another edition
4.0
This book was amazing. We start off with such a relatable scene that people in fandoms understand. Our characters are at the start of being at a convention and wondering am I really here?
There's nothing like looking forward to an event for a book or a fandom or anything like that which you love, and finally getting there.
That got me from the beginning along with the amazing representation of different kinds of people and what they experience.
So we have out stellar main characters' Taylor and Charlie who are both amazing while also being very distinctly different in personality.
Taylor is a shy girl who's excited to meet her favorite author of her favorite books of all time. The Firestone Series has been so important to her, and the Firestone community has helped her as she deals with her anxiety.
Charlie is an Asian-Australian bisexual actress is a confident woman trying to show she's doing well after her all too public breakup with douche king Reese Ryan. She along with Taylor and their best friend Jaime were lucky enough to be able to come to America along with Charlie who is doing interviews and promoting the movie she acted in.
So we start off with Charlie going off to a signing while Taylor and Jaime go on the line to meet Firestone series author Skyler Atkins. The moment is just so clearly pictured in my mind. We have Taylor in her cosplay holding the special edition box set of the Firestone series for five whole hours while talking with Jaime about how exactly she plans to talk to Skyler. It's relatable dedication. We then find out that Skyler has to catch a flight and can no longer sign. Taylor along with a girl we find out is named Josie are crushed from being only 53 people away from meeting Skyler. Josie is a comic book artist who invites Taylor to the Artist's Alley whenever she wants to stop by.
Meanwhile, Charlie is at her signing when popular Youtuber Alyssa Huntington is seen and they both have a friendly conversation :) . There are many people who want Charlie and Reese to get back together, and so much pressure on this even though he draped himself over other girls and broker her heart. Charlie ha to deal with how her relationship became so public and how she feels like she's in the constant shadow of Reese. She's his ex, or she's the background character to the "swoonworthy" guy. I really like the way this book showed the life of someone in the eyes of the media. Charlie is a normal person who had her heart broken and had to piece herself together, but with the added pressure of the world not truly understanding what he did to her. We also see the difference between the way Charlie and Reese are treated. While Reese gets an in-depth question on his acting performance, Charlie gets a question on how she stays in shape and her dieting. All these things and issues are pointed out so well by Charlie. The mindset of Charlie, in general, was so empowering. Once she got herself back together she realized how bad that relationship was for her. She would constantly adhere to Reese's needs and wants. Then when he was with another girl she ended up blaming herself for the entire ordeal. She got stuck in a dark place where she would question what she had done wrong. Why wasn't she good enough? But then she ended up finding herself again and took no shit from Reese.
I love this one scene where she says, "When the inevitable questions about our breakup or the chances of us getting back together come up, we just give the standard answer about that being our private business. If you're not down with that, tell me now. I'd rather walk into the studio and quit the sequel than sacrifice my personal space or comfort over this."
I mean damn she's literally my new icon.
Anyway, so Jaime and Taylor are out getting lunch when they find a tweet from Skyler about how she was sorry to leave so soon but would be back to have dinner with the winner of the Queen Firestone SupaFan Contest. This contest is for the Queen Firestone biggest fan with a cosplay contest for round one and a trivia for round two. The winner gets to have dinner with Skyler, be her date to the SupaCon afterparty, and go to the premiere of the next movie. Jaime encourages her to go as it might be her only chance to meet Skyler, but Taylor's too scared of the judgment that comes from being on stage. Not wanting to talk about it anymore, she stands up to go to the bathroom. She hasn't eaten in 14 hours. Hardley sleep. She didn't meet Skyler. All her worries and frustrations pile up. The way this book explains anxiety is just amazing. Taylor isn't having a panic attack since she knows how to handle those and hasn't had one in a while. She explains anxiety as not being an attack and explodes out of her, but as a constant companion in her everyday life. It's not as if it's just something that gets triggered in her.
" My anxiety is invisible to others, but is often the focal point of my mind. Everything that happens on a day-to-day basis is filtered through a lens colored by anxiety. [..]
That's what I feel when the phone rings.
When someone knocks on my door.
When I go outside.
When I'm alone.
When I'm in line at a store.
Everything feels like I'm on a stage, spotlight on me, all eyes on me, watching, judging. Like I'm one second away from total disaster. It's invisible, it's irrational, it's never-ending."
I don't have Anxiety, and this was just an amazing visual to really understand the struggles of day to day life with anxiety. I really felt the voice of this author who has anxiety and deals with this just like Taylor. There's the normal anxiety I feel when going onto a stage, or ordering something to eat and having to interact with someone I don't know. But having that feeling for everything? The difficulty in that was very vividly pictured in my mind.
We then go back to Charlie who is informed about Taylor and Jaime having lunch. As she walks over to meet them, she's on Twitter not paying attention when she knocks into someone. That someone being Alyssa Huntington. They start talking and then Alyssa invites Charlie to lunch. She says yes and takes a reign check on lunch with Taylor and Jaime. Charlie and Alyssa end up gushing about each other's Youtube channels that they both watch and bond over their fellow nerdmanship. Charlie suspects Alyssa is flirting with her which leads off into her explaining through her thoughts how she found out she was Bi. At 14 she'd had more than one crush on girls who were mostly movie stars, and never interpreted them as being anything more than admiration.
Something I really loved about this book was the way Charlie's sexuality wasn't a big deal or a giant mess of coming out. She was already out and it wasn't a big deal. She had accepting friends and an accepting environment. It was more about the issues of a relationship in general, and how Charlie was hesitant to have herself vulnerable again due to the last relationship she was in.
So basically Alyssa and Charlie make plans to do a collab video together later.
Later when Taylor is behind the set, she's unfortunately talking with Reese. He's drunk and running his mouth. Honestly the AUDACITY this dude has to have garbage spew out of his mouth is INSANE. Taylor happens to share the detail that she wants to go to Uni for film and/or writing when Reese says that in order to make it she'll have to sleep her way to the top and that she "cute" for thinking such a thing.
UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
He's all "How do you think Charlie made it?"
When Taylor makes a very smart comment defending Charlie and talking about how she got here because of her talent and persistence, this dumbass is saying she's a bitch who can't take a joke.
ARGHHBJKGBHGGGUGUILGYFTFIGYIGU:GUOGUOGUGYIGI:
NO
Reese is about to leave and slaps Jaime on the back saying that Taylor's in a mood as if they can relate to the crazy bitchiness of females. Jaime doesn't move.
I love Jamie for this scene.
"So you insult Tay, basically telling her she'll only succeed if she puts out, then insult her best friend and take credit for her success? [...] Then Tay stands up for herself and for Charlie, and somehow that makes her a bitch Do you see the flaws in your argument Reese?"
I LOVE THIS. In this scene, Reese is so infuriated and he's pushing at Jaime. He only does this because of course Jaime asked for it. This is obviously because the way Jaime put it was so smart that Reese had no way to having some good comeback for his own stupidity. He resolved to violence. and what I love here is how Jaime doesn't fight back. The message of this scene is how it doesn't make you weak if you don't fight back. But at some point Jaime can't just keep being pushed over and over, so he pushes back once. Reese falls, and I swear in that moment I thought he was going to call security and feign injury to get Jaime kicked out. It amazed me how even with how much of a dick Reese was, Jaime held out his hand to him to help him up. I really respected him even more after that. He explains how he doesn't like that dumb macho stuff. I loved how this book had a main male character who is just a nerd who is an intellectual and doesn't need to be macho or a tough guy. There are too many of those.
Taylor says he didn't have to defend her and that it's not the first time someone called her a bitch. That just hit from how she then explained how her shyness had been mistaken for disrespect or rudeness. God.
OKAY BUT THEN we have Charlie's POV where
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Reese says he wants to get back together with her.
I know
HA
HA
Freaking HA
please.
I like this part,
Reese: I'm an idiot obviously.
Charlie: At least we can agree on that
Reese: I'm being serious
Charlie: Did I sound like I was joking?
YES CHARLIE god that line was killer. He's saying he should have never tried to treat her like that BLAHBLAHBLAH and he even has the audacity to bring up how everyone wants them together and that fans demand it. I was like he's got to be joking right?
He in his douchebag fashion says she's being a prude to which she responds
"How are you not getting this? You cheated on me. You humiliated me. You constantly belittle me. And five minutes ago you beat up one of my best friends. Saying no to you doesn't make me a prude, Reese. And if you think it does, then you need some serious help."
One of my favorite quotes in this whole book comes from scene Taylor is thinking about in the past where she and Charlie are watching Alyssa Huntington videos. Reese walks by when Alyssa mentions bisexuality and he scoffs. He thinks s that gayness makes sense but bisexuality doesn't exist. I can't help myself and I laugh in that scene because I laugh at Reese every two seconds for how dumb he is. He makes me take a second when I throw my kindle on my bed and pace around my room in frustration.
Charlie says that she's bi, and doesn't she exist?
Reese wants to know how she can possibly be bi when she's with him and how she hasn't even been with a girl before.
He's making me sick of this review and I think I'll continue this later. First truly very lengthy in-depth review I've ever done and its been 2.5 hours.
Charlie: well how did you know you were straight before you dated a girl.
when Reese walks out all like I'm NOT HOMOPHOBIC SO WHATEVER Charlie mutter's one of the smartest lines in the book,
"You can't pick and choose whose equality you support. That's not equality."
I legit looked up the quote then and there so I could make it my new lock screen.
(i just realized this isn't 100% in order but you're gonna have to deal with it)
Off we are back to Taylor who is surprised by Jaime. Jaime brings her to the Firestone alley with a bursting area dedicated to Firestone. I can just imagine being immersed in an area full of the books you love. There's swag everywhere for the books and movies. This is when one of my favorite scenes, and I also think the most emotional one happened. Tayor finds the comic booth of Josie who we met before. We find out that Josie based her comic loosely on herself with an autistic main character. This is when we find out that Taylor has autism, as she tells this to Josie. Their interaction is so emotional, and Josie talks about how she understands. She says that every day feels like someone who's afraid of heights having to walk a tightrope 50 stories up. They would be seen as brave, but that's what they face everyday with normal things in everyday life. The moment was so touching and beautiful. It also gave me insight into what it's like to be autistic, as I don't know much about it.
Josie: "Here we are moving forward anyway. That's not weak. We're the brave ones."
They hug and I cry.
OH this part. Well. It seems Charlie and Alyssa are collabing and Charlie asks Alyssa a bunch of questions that is also in turn answers herself. It's all light and fluffy and great. Charlie is all final question is....oh NEVERMIND! But Alyssa sees there's one more and wants to know if it was embarrassing or something.
"Do you have a crush"
Alyssa: yes
she waits for Charlie's answer
Charlie: yes
They're looking at each other and then BOOM THEY KISS. yessssssss. It was awesome.
Taylor ends up being asked to join other Queen Firestone cosplayers who love her costume that includes intricate detailing. We have a small moment when the cosplayers are being filmed by Entertainment Now, asking who had traveled the furthest. Since Taylor is from Australia, she, of course, gets a mini spotlight when I held my breath hoping she would be okay. And she was thankful. The girl who brought Taylor over introduced herself as Brianna and asked if Taylor would participate in the contest.
okay so next there's this activity thing where Reese and Charlie have to go into a Maze that is designed like the set of their movie. Reese (groan) says oh actually I decided I don't like you and I don't want to get back together so whatever like this was hi idea. Though Charlie and Reese are the ones supposed to be filmed, Taylor and Jaime are participating for fun. They run to get away from the zombies. They end up at the library wheeeennnnn all these zombies are passing by to get to Charlie and Reese. They end up smushed together very tightly and then they FINALLY kiss.
Taylor though gets really worried about what could happen and everything in general and she needs to take a break. At some point she talks to Jaime about what happened as he thinks that Taylor didn't want to kiss him and that he did something wrong. This is when Taylor finally opens up more to Jaime about how she feels everyday with her anxiety.
Let's not forget about the date that Alyssa and Charlie planned. It was AWESOME. We had Alyssa surprising Charlie with the arcade since they both geek out about games. It's empty since it's after hours and they play a game version of The Rising along with a bunch of old games. I love the simplicity of their date. After the games they have pizza and they talk. Alyssa opens up about her experience with her last girlfriend and shows a more vulnerable side. They share the heartbreak of relationships they weighed them down. Charlie finally feels happy in her relationship.
Okay I'm going to wrap it up now.
So basically we have Taylor who is empowered by Josie decides to enter the contest. She's terrified but this is a moment for her to conquer the anxiety at the time. She's about to leave seeing all the lights and people, but Brianna helps her by saying they can be wrecks together. When Taylor goes out there she accidentally misses the star where she's supposed to stand but she makes it to the next level since people got a chuckle from that. Before the trivia we hear an anonymous person saying that Taylor wouldn't win the contest because she doesn't look like a queen and that she's too fat basically. It was so hurtful and ignorantly unfortunate to have those words spoken in such a supposedly supportive area. Though Taylor doesn't say it directly to her, she can express herself exquisitely through words and says,
"I'm not offended by the word "fat" even though you said it like it's the worst thing ever. I don't care what some random person thinks about my body. I like my body. But it's not the most interesting part of me. If you judge me based on the way I'm shaped, then you miss out on how awesome I am. And I am awesome. I love wearing my queen Firestone cosplay. I feel strong in it. I feel powerful. If you're beautiful. Your fleeting superficial judgment won't change that. My body is healthy. My heart is beating."
We then see that Brianna is having and anxiety attack. She's freaking out, and Taylor helps her through. It was an interesting and just a nice moment where Taylor understands and has experienced this kind of situation. She does a breathing exercise with Brianna to help calm her down. When it comes to the trivia Taylor knows all the answers but ultimately can't seem to get her last answer out. She knows it, but I found the pressure and the being tongue tied at the end to be realistic. Even though she lost she did so much that she hadn't before. The entire experience in general helped her find more and realize more about herself.
So next we go off to Charlie who is in the crowd during trivia and gets the news that the unedited video with her and Alyssa kissing had been uploaded by accident. Charlie has to go over and leave Taylor. Her manager apologizes and the good thing that comes out of this is that Charlie gets tickets for afterparty tickets for her friends, a party she thought they couldn't go to.
When Charlie talks to Alyssa, I find it refreshing that there wasn't a giant argument that leads me depressed about how could that moment be posted online. Alyssa was fine with it, but her only problem was that Charlie wasn't. Charlie was still scared, and they had a reasonable conversation that Charlie needed a little time to figure things out and be okay with being in an open relationship.
We come down to the end where Charlie tells Jaime and Taylor about the afterparty tickets and it so happens that this is the party Skyler is at. Taylor and Jaime are at the party, and Taylor finally gets to meet Skyler so is so nice and dances weirdly like the nerds. She was just one of the geeks.
Then we had a video play where Charlie says that she's ready to start her relationship with Alyssa. Her life is public but she wants to be happy and not care what others think anymore. She says she's so in for this relationship and that if Alyssa's ready to hit play so is she. She has a bag of tokens in her hand and she's in the arcade room where they had their first date.
Alyssa runs out of that room damn fast.
Yay everyone reunites in a good place and they all hang out at the afterparty with SKYLER. I mean I would like to hang out with an author.
It all ended really well and we end with Taylor saying that though there are going to be hard days, she's realized that she can get through and that she's weird and a nerd but that's all these "flaws" aren't so bad
"Messes aren't so bad as long as you have people to share them with."
Though I did really like this book, something fell flat for me. I don't know if it was the high hopes I had for this book or what because though this was so diverse and had so many amazing things in it, I didn't find myself as excited as I wanted to. There would be things I related to, but that I didn't find myself relating to as much as I hoped I would have. The content and everything was right there but my emotions weren't as much as I wanted them to. And I really wanted them to. That was the reason I have this as a four star. Everything was so brilliant but there was something missing. I would still definitely recommend this book though.
This book is very quote worthy.
There's nothing like looking forward to an event for a book or a fandom or anything like that which you love, and finally getting there.
That got me from the beginning along with the amazing representation of different kinds of people and what they experience.
So we have out stellar main characters' Taylor and Charlie who are both amazing while also being very distinctly different in personality.
Taylor is a shy girl who's excited to meet her favorite author of her favorite books of all time. The Firestone Series has been so important to her, and the Firestone community has helped her as she deals with her anxiety.
Charlie is an Asian-Australian bisexual actress is a confident woman trying to show she's doing well after her all too public breakup with douche king Reese Ryan. She along with Taylor and their best friend Jaime were lucky enough to be able to come to America along with Charlie who is doing interviews and promoting the movie she acted in.
So we start off with Charlie going off to a signing while Taylor and Jaime go on the line to meet Firestone series author Skyler Atkins. The moment is just so clearly pictured in my mind. We have Taylor in her cosplay holding the special edition box set of the Firestone series for five whole hours while talking with Jaime about how exactly she plans to talk to Skyler. It's relatable dedication. We then find out that Skyler has to catch a flight and can no longer sign. Taylor along with a girl we find out is named Josie are crushed from being only 53 people away from meeting Skyler. Josie is a comic book artist who invites Taylor to the Artist's Alley whenever she wants to stop by.
Meanwhile, Charlie is at her signing when popular Youtuber Alyssa Huntington is seen and they both have a friendly conversation :) . There are many people who want Charlie and Reese to get back together, and so much pressure on this even though he draped himself over other girls and broker her heart. Charlie ha to deal with how her relationship became so public and how she feels like she's in the constant shadow of Reese. She's his ex, or she's the background character to the "swoonworthy" guy. I really like the way this book showed the life of someone in the eyes of the media. Charlie is a normal person who had her heart broken and had to piece herself together, but with the added pressure of the world not truly understanding what he did to her. We also see the difference between the way Charlie and Reese are treated. While Reese gets an in-depth question on his acting performance, Charlie gets a question on how she stays in shape and her dieting. All these things and issues are pointed out so well by Charlie. The mindset of Charlie, in general, was so empowering. Once she got herself back together she realized how bad that relationship was for her. She would constantly adhere to Reese's needs and wants. Then when he was with another girl she ended up blaming herself for the entire ordeal. She got stuck in a dark place where she would question what she had done wrong. Why wasn't she good enough? But then she ended up finding herself again and took no shit from Reese.
I love this one scene where she says, "When the inevitable questions about our breakup or the chances of us getting back together come up, we just give the standard answer about that being our private business. If you're not down with that, tell me now. I'd rather walk into the studio and quit the sequel than sacrifice my personal space or comfort over this."
I mean damn she's literally my new icon.
Anyway, so Jaime and Taylor are out getting lunch when they find a tweet from Skyler about how she was sorry to leave so soon but would be back to have dinner with the winner of the Queen Firestone SupaFan Contest. This contest is for the Queen Firestone biggest fan with a cosplay contest for round one and a trivia for round two. The winner gets to have dinner with Skyler, be her date to the SupaCon afterparty, and go to the premiere of the next movie. Jaime encourages her to go as it might be her only chance to meet Skyler, but Taylor's too scared of the judgment that comes from being on stage. Not wanting to talk about it anymore, she stands up to go to the bathroom. She hasn't eaten in 14 hours. Hardley sleep. She didn't meet Skyler. All her worries and frustrations pile up. The way this book explains anxiety is just amazing. Taylor isn't having a panic attack since she knows how to handle those and hasn't had one in a while. She explains anxiety as not being an attack and explodes out of her, but as a constant companion in her everyday life. It's not as if it's just something that gets triggered in her.
" My anxiety is invisible to others, but is often the focal point of my mind. Everything that happens on a day-to-day basis is filtered through a lens colored by anxiety. [..]
That's what I feel when the phone rings.
When someone knocks on my door.
When I go outside.
When I'm alone.
When I'm in line at a store.
Everything feels like I'm on a stage, spotlight on me, all eyes on me, watching, judging. Like I'm one second away from total disaster. It's invisible, it's irrational, it's never-ending."
I don't have Anxiety, and this was just an amazing visual to really understand the struggles of day to day life with anxiety. I really felt the voice of this author who has anxiety and deals with this just like Taylor. There's the normal anxiety I feel when going onto a stage, or ordering something to eat and having to interact with someone I don't know. But having that feeling for everything? The difficulty in that was very vividly pictured in my mind.
We then go back to Charlie who is informed about Taylor and Jaime having lunch. As she walks over to meet them, she's on Twitter not paying attention when she knocks into someone. That someone being Alyssa Huntington. They start talking and then Alyssa invites Charlie to lunch. She says yes and takes a reign check on lunch with Taylor and Jaime. Charlie and Alyssa end up gushing about each other's Youtube channels that they both watch and bond over their fellow nerdmanship. Charlie suspects Alyssa is flirting with her which leads off into her explaining through her thoughts how she found out she was Bi. At 14 she'd had more than one crush on girls who were mostly movie stars, and never interpreted them as being anything more than admiration.
Something I really loved about this book was the way Charlie's sexuality wasn't a big deal or a giant mess of coming out. She was already out and it wasn't a big deal. She had accepting friends and an accepting environment. It was more about the issues of a relationship in general, and how Charlie was hesitant to have herself vulnerable again due to the last relationship she was in.
So basically Alyssa and Charlie make plans to do a collab video together later.
Later when Taylor is behind the set, she's unfortunately talking with Reese. He's drunk and running his mouth. Honestly the AUDACITY this dude has to have garbage spew out of his mouth is INSANE. Taylor happens to share the detail that she wants to go to Uni for film and/or writing when Reese says that in order to make it she'll have to sleep her way to the top and that she "cute" for thinking such a thing.
UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
He's all "How do you think Charlie made it?"
When Taylor makes a very smart comment defending Charlie and talking about how she got here because of her talent and persistence, this dumbass is saying she's a bitch who can't take a joke.
ARGHHBJKGBHGGGUGUILGYFTFIGYIGU:GUOGUOGUGYIGI:
NO
Reese is about to leave and slaps Jaime on the back saying that Taylor's in a mood as if they can relate to the crazy bitchiness of females. Jaime doesn't move.
I love Jamie for this scene.
"So you insult Tay, basically telling her she'll only succeed if she puts out, then insult her best friend and take credit for her success? [...] Then Tay stands up for herself and for Charlie, and somehow that makes her a bitch Do you see the flaws in your argument Reese?"
I LOVE THIS. In this scene, Reese is so infuriated and he's pushing at Jaime. He only does this because of course Jaime asked for it. This is obviously because the way Jaime put it was so smart that Reese had no way to having some good comeback for his own stupidity. He resolved to violence. and what I love here is how Jaime doesn't fight back. The message of this scene is how it doesn't make you weak if you don't fight back. But at some point Jaime can't just keep being pushed over and over, so he pushes back once. Reese falls, and I swear in that moment I thought he was going to call security and feign injury to get Jaime kicked out. It amazed me how even with how much of a dick Reese was, Jaime held out his hand to him to help him up. I really respected him even more after that. He explains how he doesn't like that dumb macho stuff. I loved how this book had a main male character who is just a nerd who is an intellectual and doesn't need to be macho or a tough guy. There are too many of those.
Taylor says he didn't have to defend her and that it's not the first time someone called her a bitch. That just hit from how she then explained how her shyness had been mistaken for disrespect or rudeness. God.
OKAY BUT THEN we have Charlie's POV where
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Reese says he wants to get back together with her.
I know
HA
HA
Freaking HA
please.
I like this part,
Reese: I'm an idiot obviously.
Charlie: At least we can agree on that
Reese: I'm being serious
Charlie: Did I sound like I was joking?
YES CHARLIE god that line was killer. He's saying he should have never tried to treat her like that BLAHBLAHBLAH and he even has the audacity to bring up how everyone wants them together and that fans demand it. I was like he's got to be joking right?
He in his douchebag fashion says she's being a prude to which she responds
"How are you not getting this? You cheated on me. You humiliated me. You constantly belittle me. And five minutes ago you beat up one of my best friends. Saying no to you doesn't make me a prude, Reese. And if you think it does, then you need some serious help."
One of my favorite quotes in this whole book comes from scene Taylor is thinking about in the past where she and Charlie are watching Alyssa Huntington videos. Reese walks by when Alyssa mentions bisexuality and he scoffs. He thinks s that gayness makes sense but bisexuality doesn't exist. I can't help myself and I laugh in that scene because I laugh at Reese every two seconds for how dumb he is. He makes me take a second when I throw my kindle on my bed and pace around my room in frustration.
Charlie says that she's bi, and doesn't she exist?
Reese wants to know how she can possibly be bi when she's with him and how she hasn't even been with a girl before.
He's making me sick of this review and I think I'll continue this later. First truly very lengthy in-depth review I've ever done and its been 2.5 hours.
Charlie: well how did you know you were straight before you dated a girl.
when Reese walks out all like I'm NOT HOMOPHOBIC SO WHATEVER Charlie mutter's one of the smartest lines in the book,
"You can't pick and choose whose equality you support. That's not equality."
I legit looked up the quote then and there so I could make it my new lock screen.
(i just realized this isn't 100% in order but you're gonna have to deal with it)
Off we are back to Taylor who is surprised by Jaime. Jaime brings her to the Firestone alley with a bursting area dedicated to Firestone. I can just imagine being immersed in an area full of the books you love. There's swag everywhere for the books and movies. This is when one of my favorite scenes, and I also think the most emotional one happened. Tayor finds the comic booth of Josie who we met before. We find out that Josie based her comic loosely on herself with an autistic main character. This is when we find out that Taylor has autism, as she tells this to Josie. Their interaction is so emotional, and Josie talks about how she understands. She says that every day feels like someone who's afraid of heights having to walk a tightrope 50 stories up. They would be seen as brave, but that's what they face everyday with normal things in everyday life. The moment was so touching and beautiful. It also gave me insight into what it's like to be autistic, as I don't know much about it.
Josie: "Here we are moving forward anyway. That's not weak. We're the brave ones."
They hug and I cry.
OH this part. Well. It seems Charlie and Alyssa are collabing and Charlie asks Alyssa a bunch of questions that is also in turn answers herself. It's all light and fluffy and great. Charlie is all final question is....oh NEVERMIND! But Alyssa sees there's one more and wants to know if it was embarrassing or something.
"Do you have a crush"
Alyssa: yes
she waits for Charlie's answer
Charlie: yes
They're looking at each other and then BOOM THEY KISS. yessssssss. It was awesome.
Taylor ends up being asked to join other Queen Firestone cosplayers who love her costume that includes intricate detailing. We have a small moment when the cosplayers are being filmed by Entertainment Now, asking who had traveled the furthest. Since Taylor is from Australia, she, of course, gets a mini spotlight when I held my breath hoping she would be okay. And she was thankful. The girl who brought Taylor over introduced herself as Brianna and asked if Taylor would participate in the contest.
okay so next there's this activity thing where Reese and Charlie have to go into a Maze that is designed like the set of their movie. Reese (groan) says oh actually I decided I don't like you and I don't want to get back together so whatever like this was hi idea. Though Charlie and Reese are the ones supposed to be filmed, Taylor and Jaime are participating for fun. They run to get away from the zombies. They end up at the library wheeeennnnn all these zombies are passing by to get to Charlie and Reese. They end up smushed together very tightly and then they FINALLY kiss.
Taylor though gets really worried about what could happen and everything in general and she needs to take a break. At some point she talks to Jaime about what happened as he thinks that Taylor didn't want to kiss him and that he did something wrong. This is when Taylor finally opens up more to Jaime about how she feels everyday with her anxiety.
Let's not forget about the date that Alyssa and Charlie planned. It was AWESOME. We had Alyssa surprising Charlie with the arcade since they both geek out about games. It's empty since it's after hours and they play a game version of The Rising along with a bunch of old games. I love the simplicity of their date. After the games they have pizza and they talk. Alyssa opens up about her experience with her last girlfriend and shows a more vulnerable side. They share the heartbreak of relationships they weighed them down. Charlie finally feels happy in her relationship.
Okay I'm going to wrap it up now.
So basically we have Taylor who is empowered by Josie decides to enter the contest. She's terrified but this is a moment for her to conquer the anxiety at the time. She's about to leave seeing all the lights and people, but Brianna helps her by saying they can be wrecks together. When Taylor goes out there she accidentally misses the star where she's supposed to stand but she makes it to the next level since people got a chuckle from that. Before the trivia we hear an anonymous person saying that Taylor wouldn't win the contest because she doesn't look like a queen and that she's too fat basically. It was so hurtful and ignorantly unfortunate to have those words spoken in such a supposedly supportive area. Though Taylor doesn't say it directly to her, she can express herself exquisitely through words and says,
"I'm not offended by the word "fat" even though you said it like it's the worst thing ever. I don't care what some random person thinks about my body. I like my body. But it's not the most interesting part of me. If you judge me based on the way I'm shaped, then you miss out on how awesome I am. And I am awesome. I love wearing my queen Firestone cosplay. I feel strong in it. I feel powerful. If you're beautiful. Your fleeting superficial judgment won't change that. My body is healthy. My heart is beating."
We then see that Brianna is having and anxiety attack. She's freaking out, and Taylor helps her through. It was an interesting and just a nice moment where Taylor understands and has experienced this kind of situation. She does a breathing exercise with Brianna to help calm her down. When it comes to the trivia Taylor knows all the answers but ultimately can't seem to get her last answer out. She knows it, but I found the pressure and the being tongue tied at the end to be realistic. Even though she lost she did so much that she hadn't before. The entire experience in general helped her find more and realize more about herself.
So next we go off to Charlie who is in the crowd during trivia and gets the news that the unedited video with her and Alyssa kissing had been uploaded by accident. Charlie has to go over and leave Taylor. Her manager apologizes and the good thing that comes out of this is that Charlie gets tickets for afterparty tickets for her friends, a party she thought they couldn't go to.
When Charlie talks to Alyssa, I find it refreshing that there wasn't a giant argument that leads me depressed about how could that moment be posted online. Alyssa was fine with it, but her only problem was that Charlie wasn't. Charlie was still scared, and they had a reasonable conversation that Charlie needed a little time to figure things out and be okay with being in an open relationship.
We come down to the end where Charlie tells Jaime and Taylor about the afterparty tickets and it so happens that this is the party Skyler is at. Taylor and Jaime are at the party, and Taylor finally gets to meet Skyler so is so nice and dances weirdly like the nerds. She was just one of the geeks.
Then we had a video play where Charlie says that she's ready to start her relationship with Alyssa. Her life is public but she wants to be happy and not care what others think anymore. She says she's so in for this relationship and that if Alyssa's ready to hit play so is she. She has a bag of tokens in her hand and she's in the arcade room where they had their first date.
Alyssa runs out of that room damn fast.
Yay everyone reunites in a good place and they all hang out at the afterparty with SKYLER. I mean I would like to hang out with an author.
It all ended really well and we end with Taylor saying that though there are going to be hard days, she's realized that she can get through and that she's weird and a nerd but that's all these "flaws" aren't so bad
"Messes aren't so bad as long as you have people to share them with."
Though I did really like this book, something fell flat for me. I don't know if it was the high hopes I had for this book or what because though this was so diverse and had so many amazing things in it, I didn't find myself as excited as I wanted to. There would be things I related to, but that I didn't find myself relating to as much as I hoped I would have. The content and everything was right there but my emotions weren't as much as I wanted them to. And I really wanted them to. That was the reason I have this as a four star. Everything was so brilliant but there was something missing. I would still definitely recommend this book though.
This book is very quote worthy.
fantasynovel's review
3.0
Not as good as I thought it would be. I definitely appreciated the diversity and the SF elements, but the writing was too mediocre/amateur.
leafblade's review
4.0
my first #sapphicathon read!!
maybe a bit too cliché heavy and not deep enough to be a 5/5, but DEFINITELY a new favorite
maybe a bit too cliché heavy and not deep enough to be a 5/5, but DEFINITELY a new favorite
tishywishy's review
5.0
An adorable story with no excessive drama. Just wholesome feel good young love.
joanna1905's review
3.0
**3.5**
Honestly, this one surprised me. I picked this up at a thrift shop like four years ago, read like a chapter and just wasn't in the mood and it's been collecting dust ever since. I picked it up again on a whim and I honestly really enjoyed it, it definitely felt more on the younger end of ya but it was still enjoyable to an older reader.
I really liked the way the book touched on anxiety, autism - fr finally some autism rep that isn't just some guy being a mega genius, female autism rep is rare and even more so in teenagers since most women get their autism diagnosis later in life, and queerness. We also got some nice diversity with one of our main characters being fat - which is part of her story but not her entire story - and an Asian Australian MC. It also made some nice albeit surface commentary on toxic fan culture and the shipping of real people, particularly teenage celebrities.
The romance between Charlie and Alyssa was fine but I had no strong feelings about them, however, I really liked the relationship between Taylor and Jamie and thought that the friends to lovers relationship was done well. Jamie was such a sweet nice guy who clearly adores Taylor and did so much to support her and I loved him for it.
Honestly, this one surprised me. I picked this up at a thrift shop like four years ago, read like a chapter and just wasn't in the mood and it's been collecting dust ever since. I picked it up again on a whim and I honestly really enjoyed it, it definitely felt more on the younger end of ya but it was still enjoyable to an older reader.
I really liked the way the book touched on anxiety, autism - fr finally some autism rep that isn't just some guy being a mega genius, female autism rep is rare and even more so in teenagers since most women get their autism diagnosis later in life, and queerness. We also got some nice diversity with one of our main characters being fat - which is part of her story but not her entire story - and an Asian Australian MC. It also made some nice albeit surface commentary on toxic fan culture and the shipping of real people, particularly teenage celebrities.
The romance between Charlie and Alyssa was fine but I had no strong feelings about them, however, I really liked the relationship between Taylor and Jamie and thought that the friends to lovers relationship was done well. Jamie was such a sweet nice guy who clearly adores Taylor and did so much to support her and I loved him for it.
staceyisbooked's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lbarsk's review
5.0
Ahh reading this was like total brain candy. So sweet, so progressive, so diverse! Loved both romances and loved Jen Wilde's commitment to telling authentic stories about characters who are neurodivergent, non-white, and LGBTQ-identified.
nandaisreading's review
3.0
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
I really enjoyed the story. The writing is not amazing but it's light and the nostalgic feeling was there for me all the time. It's from a fan to a fan. And it's awesome. I feel represented and I think a lot of people will feel like this too.
I really enjoyed the story. The writing is not amazing but it's light and the nostalgic feeling was there for me all the time. It's from a fan to a fan. And it's awesome. I feel represented and I think a lot of people will feel like this too.