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dunder_mifflin's review against another edition
4.0
this was so good! i loved it so much!
my only qualm was that i really didn't like sana at points, i.e. but it was hard to stay hating her because of reasons and sdhgsnjhda.
JAMIE WAS SO PRECIOUS. I LOVE CHRISTINA. I LOVE REGGIE. I LOVE CALEB. SO GOOD.
my only qualm was that i really didn't like sana at points, i.e.
Spoiler
when she cheatedJAMIE WAS SO PRECIOUS. I LOVE CHRISTINA. I LOVE REGGIE. I LOVE CALEB. SO GOOD.
kaikai1618's review against another edition
**********SPOILERS AHEAD**********
I really enjoyed this book and I think it will be staying with me. I went into this novel feeling happy and feeling like HERE finally a book that I can relate to even if I'm whatever I am and I'm not sure how much I like girls.
I felt a relation to this character as an Asian American somewhere in between. Not born in Asia and growing up in that culture and not white. It was the identification with other people with the same ethnicity as you because of shared culture and ways of growing up, and the ways of trying to fit in with everyone. I found myself educated and pleasantly surprised to find how this book gave a perspective on race and racism that effects people in everyday life.
Not only did this give me more insight on the stereotypes that are followed, but also on the complexity of people and relationships. Infidelity was touched on and fleshed out as not being so simply black and white. We had Christina who comes off as cold but is a loyal and hardworking person. I love how all the characters were realistic and many of them had dimension to them.
Another thing I loved about this book was the poetry. I love poetry and this was so interesting and unique in how the poem ms were involved in the story. I really enjoyed that part especially with the book that Jaime and Sana would write in.
I had a good cry with this book. There are a lot of books that make me tear up or maybe cry a little, but I have never cried this much while reading a book since "I'll give you the sun" by Jandy Nelson that I read last year. That was a while ago. I guess there are so many sad and tragic books, but something about the way Sana confronts her dad, the way things ended with Jaime, and the way that Sana's emotions were portrayed just had me crying a lot. I ready the author's note about how these are topics that people can walk with everyday, but not mention because they're uncomfortable. People don't want to discuss things, and nothing changes. I read this book with the audiobook and kindle, and I think that though sometimes the girl's voices could be screetchy sometimes, there was so much emotion portrayed in narrator in hard scenes that it really made the experience more emotional for me.
I think that when it came to Sana, I knew I wasn't exactly like her, but I understood a lot of what she thought. I feel like I rarely find books with a main asian narrator, let alone one who had struggles with her sexuality. I found her younger voice and thought process to be something I could understand even if there are thoughts and actions she has that of course don't always reflect my own. I think that her flaws and slow development was realistic. I'm not a lesbian, but the way that she was in a place that is pretty accepting of LGBTQIA+ people but was still unsure about herself and scared was something that resonated with me. It was so hard for her to stand up for once. She's constantly not saying anything, or saying the wrong thing. She's ignoring things or stalling for things that she needs to take initiative on. I think by the end of the book Sana finds herself more and she mends her relationships.
Sana finally takes that initiative and she reads that poem out loud. I feel this moment for her. I felt so much in this book and I just feel like this was especially a good read from the way it made me think. I didn't always like Sana's choices, but in the end I understood her and felt the humanity in her fear. I understood.
And it's been a long while since I felt like I could see some of myself in a character.
Thank you. When I read this book I finished with a feeling of resonation and a ring of a truth to mull over. I'll be thinking for a while.
I really enjoyed this book and I think it will be staying with me. I went into this novel feeling happy and feeling like HERE finally a book that I can relate to even if I'm whatever I am and I'm not sure how much I like girls.
I felt a relation to this character as an Asian American somewhere in between. Not born in Asia and growing up in that culture and not white. It was the identification with other people with the same ethnicity as you because of shared culture and ways of growing up, and the ways of trying to fit in with everyone. I found myself educated and pleasantly surprised to find how this book gave a perspective on race and racism that effects people in everyday life.
Not only did this give me more insight on the stereotypes that are followed, but also on the complexity of people and relationships. Infidelity was touched on and fleshed out as not being so simply black and white. We had Christina who comes off as cold but is a loyal and hardworking person. I love how all the characters were realistic and many of them had dimension to them.
Another thing I loved about this book was the poetry. I love poetry and this was so interesting and unique in how the poem ms were involved in the story. I really enjoyed that part especially with the book that Jaime and Sana would write in.
I had a good cry with this book. There are a lot of books that make me tear up or maybe cry a little, but I have never cried this much while reading a book since "I'll give you the sun" by Jandy Nelson that I read last year. That was a while ago. I guess there are so many sad and tragic books, but something about the way Sana confronts her dad, the way things ended with Jaime, and the way that Sana's emotions were portrayed just had me crying a lot. I ready the author's note about how these are topics that people can walk with everyday, but not mention because they're uncomfortable. People don't want to discuss things, and nothing changes. I read this book with the audiobook and kindle, and I think that though sometimes the girl's voices could be screetchy sometimes, there was so much emotion portrayed in narrator in hard scenes that it really made the experience more emotional for me.
I think that when it came to Sana, I knew I wasn't exactly like her, but I understood a lot of what she thought. I feel like I rarely find books with a main asian narrator, let alone one who had struggles with her sexuality. I found her younger voice and thought process to be something I could understand even if there are thoughts and actions she has that of course don't always reflect my own. I think that her flaws and slow development was realistic. I'm not a lesbian, but the way that she was in a place that is pretty accepting of LGBTQIA+ people but was still unsure about herself and scared was something that resonated with me. It was so hard for her to stand up for once. She's constantly not saying anything, or saying the wrong thing. She's ignoring things or stalling for things that she needs to take initiative on. I think by the end of the book Sana finds herself more and she mends her relationships.
Sana finally takes that initiative and she reads that poem out loud. I feel this moment for her. I felt so much in this book and I just feel like this was especially a good read from the way it made me think. I didn't always like Sana's choices, but in the end I understood her and felt the humanity in her fear. I understood.
And it's been a long while since I felt like I could see some of myself in a character.
Thank you. When I read this book I finished with a feeling of resonation and a ring of a truth to mull over. I'll be thinking for a while.
thepetitepunk's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars? 4? I’m not sure.
So this DEFINITELY will not be for everyone. I will just put this warning out there right now: this book deals with prominent themes of cheating and racism, with a generous dash of homophobia and general stereotyping. If you don’t like books that rely on cheating and ignorant characters (there’s character growth! fear not! but their racist and homophobic comments are still noticeably abundant), this won’t be for you. Also...be prepared for some unlikeable, messy characters.
Now that that’s over with, I surprisingly enjoyed this much more than I was expecting. Based on the reviews I read before reading the book myself, I assumed that I wasn’t going to like quite a few elements of this book, just based on the fact that I haven’t liked those same elements in other books. But somehow it worked for me? I’m confused.
Our main character Sana is a hot mess. She whines all the time. She makes terrible decisions. She makes terrible decisions while whining about said terrible decisions because she knows she’s making terrible decisions that will have consequences that she will whine about later. Seriously. Sana is ALL over the place.
I think it’s safe to say that her character will annoy most people at the very least, but most likely anger readers due to her unfathomably atrocious decision-making skills. Now, I don’t know what this says about me, but I think Sana and her epic tale of just repeatedly being horrible made me like the book. It was (shhhhh don’t judge me) oddly relatable...? See, whenever I relate to a character and then read reviews that the character was so god-awful and ruined the book, I get a little self-conscious because that’s probably what people are saying about me in real life. Lol. But yeah. Sana struggles to speak up, deals with constant cognitive dissonance, wants to be a goody-two-shoes while also wanting to do “rebellious” things, gets angry, gets jealous, gets vengeful, gets confused, gets hurt, gets whiny, gets messy, etc. etc. etc.
I just related to this, okay? People aren’t perfect. Aaaand some people deal with that in better ways than other. (And that wouldn’t not be Sana. Or me.)
So this DEFINITELY will not be for everyone. I will just put this warning out there right now: this book deals with prominent themes of cheating and racism, with a generous dash of homophobia and general stereotyping. If you don’t like books that rely on cheating and ignorant characters (there’s character growth! fear not! but their racist and homophobic comments are still noticeably abundant), this won’t be for you. Also...be prepared for some unlikeable, messy characters.
Now that that’s over with, I surprisingly enjoyed this much more than I was expecting. Based on the reviews I read before reading the book myself, I assumed that I wasn’t going to like quite a few elements of this book, just based on the fact that I haven’t liked those same elements in other books. But somehow it worked for me? I’m confused.
Our main character Sana is a hot mess. She whines all the time. She makes terrible decisions. She makes terrible decisions while whining about said terrible decisions because she knows she’s making terrible decisions that will have consequences that she will whine about later. Seriously. Sana is ALL over the place.
I think it’s safe to say that her character will annoy most people at the very least, but most likely anger readers due to her unfathomably atrocious decision-making skills. Now, I don’t know what this says about me, but I think Sana and her epic tale of just repeatedly being horrible made me like the book. It was (shhhhh don’t judge me) oddly relatable...? See, whenever I relate to a character and then read reviews that the character was so god-awful and ruined the book, I get a little self-conscious because that’s probably what people are saying about me in real life. Lol. But yeah. Sana struggles to speak up, deals with constant cognitive dissonance, wants to be a goody-two-shoes while also wanting to do “rebellious” things, gets angry, gets jealous, gets vengeful, gets confused, gets hurt, gets whiny, gets messy, etc. etc. etc.
I just related to this, okay? People aren’t perfect. Aaaand some people deal with that in better ways than other. (And that wouldn’t not be Sana. Or me.)
poachingeggs's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars, but i’ll round up because it was pretty cute. initially, i was losing it because this book was marketed as “perfect for fans of becky albertalli and to all the boys i’ve loved before,” and the fact that tatbilb is the only prominent ya book with an east asian lead so it’s tacked onto the blurb any other ya book with an east asian is ridiculous. hOweVer, the writing style did have similar ~vibes~ to tatbilb in that it was descriptive and relatable and just the right amount of quirky. sana, the main character, is incredibly flawed in so many ways and so are all of the characters, which is nice to read about because it’s so realistic, but i wish there was more on how sana is working to better herself, especially since so much of the book deals with racism within different POC groups, and just ,,,,, Sana Do Better.
leafblade's review against another edition
3.0
Some of the slutshaming and racism never got resolved. And, you know, I'm latina so it hurt
knmel's review against another edition
1.0
i liked the representation, and the characters and friendships were cute, but this was frustrating. first, it’s kind of problematic. there is a lot of racist things that happen that are kind of talked about, but not really dissected at all. also, having a lesbian cheat with a guy is kind of a weird storyline. second, we don’t really get to know jamie very well but are supposed to be rooting for this relationship that seems very toxic, juvenile, and rushed. also, the writing seemed odd, you can always tell when a story is being written about teenagers by an adult who has no clue what it’s like to be a teenager now. that being said, i thought it was very cool to read a book where all of the characters besides one or two are poc, and the main relationship is gay. also, it talks about subjects which writers usually avoid, such as racism within racial groups, racial prejudice, and complicated family relationships. overall, a 2 or 3
rainbowbookworm's review against another edition
5.0
Poetry, lesbian romance, family traditions, and culture clashes are some of the things that make this YA romance a gem.
marginsofmarisa's review against another edition
2.0
This book had the potential to be really good but I feel like it tried to tackle too many things. In result, it came off as unauthentic. Many of the issues with race are very real, but the way they were presented made it seem like a skit about how-not-to-be-racist. Overall, kind of disappointing.
lnlee78's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book but I'm not sure if "the cute teen lesbian romance we always wanted" is an accurate description for it (if that's the expectation that people had for this book, I can see why they were disappointed!). IMO, it seemed to be more about the story of a girl whose dad is unfaithful, and how that affects her as she tries to grapple with her identity (racial, sexual, etc.), relationships (with SOs, friends, parents, etc.), and sense of self.
As a bi individual, I appreciated the Asian queer rep in this book (which I thought was well-done even though it may not be "own voices"), and I esp appreciated the fact that Sana went from thinking she was straight-->considered the possibility of being lesbian and felt shame for it because of her highly traditional Asian background-->accepted herself as a lesbian+found love-->questioned whether she is lesbian or bi/tried to date a boy because of external pressures to be a "normal Asian girl"-->completely accepted herself as a lesbian/owned up to her mistakes before finally being accepted by family and friends. It was a bit messy, I know, but as someone who comes from a similar background as Sana, it felt more genuine and true to home than the "I'm confident in my queer identity" non-Asian queer stories that I've seen in YA before.
And although I acknowledge the fact that the Latinx rep might be problematic, I think the book accurately depicted the views of the Asian parents/teens I have known in my life (again, just my experience as the daughter of highly racist Asian parents who also have friends that are similarly racist). Sana's exploration of the different POC social groups in a diverse high school and how each has their own micro-aggressions against the other also rang very painfully true to me. And I appreciated the fact that Sugiura not only addressed those racist ideas as problematic but also showed how Sana learned that she herself was not "color blind" due to her own upbringing and learned to own up to her mistakes. I also SCREAMED in the scene with the white cop, since everything the white cop said to Sana to set up Asians as a "model minority" to put them apart/against other POC groups (down to the "oh (this asian country) is so clean! There are lots of good food there! People are so nice and there is no crime because there aren't any (THIS group of people)!") was something I experienced in my own life in the Bay Area (PSA to white people in case it wasn't obvious: this is also a form of racism, since it not only says Asians are 'exotic' but also pits a POC group against another.)
On a personal level, I definitely appreciated the beginning of the book, when Sana first realizes that she will NEVER fit in with her all-white friends no matter how much she thinks she does, as well as the culture shock she received when she moved to a more diverse area, in which she strangely/sadly felt like an Other, too, even among other Asians (that was me while growing up, too). The progression of her relationships with her parents as well as the conversations she has with her mother towards the end were also very emotional and important for me (I cried a LOT).
This book is messy. It confronts issues and boldly includes conversations that might make some readers uncomfortable. It contains complicated relationships and yes, there is cheating in this book. The cheating was especially painful to read, personally, but as someone who grew up with friends who had to deal with cheating fathers early on and witnessed how that messed up how THEY themselves dealt with their own personal relationships (i.e.: gave them fearful/unstable views about relationships, just like Sana's)...I felt like Sana's personal journey (and her mistakes) was sadly very accurate, in the psychological sense.
So TL;DR: this book isn't just a "sweet lesbian romance." YES, it has very cute girl-romance scenes that I adored, but this book is more of a coming-of-age story of a girl who comes from a "messy" background (b/c of her parents' backstories/views) who learns about herself, owns up to her mistakes, and pursues who/what she truly wants. And for that, this book felt incredibly important.
As a bi individual, I appreciated the Asian queer rep in this book (which I thought was well-done even though it may not be "own voices"), and I esp appreciated the fact that Sana went from thinking she was straight-->considered the possibility of being lesbian and felt shame for it because of her highly traditional Asian background-->accepted herself as a lesbian+found love-->questioned whether she is lesbian or bi/tried to date a boy because of external pressures to be a "normal Asian girl"-->completely accepted herself as a lesbian/owned up to her mistakes before finally being accepted by family and friends. It was a bit messy, I know, but as someone who comes from a similar background as Sana, it felt more genuine and true to home than the "I'm confident in my queer identity" non-Asian queer stories that I've seen in YA before.
And although I acknowledge the fact that the Latinx rep might be problematic, I think the book accurately depicted the views of the Asian parents/teens I have known in my life (again, just my experience as the daughter of highly racist Asian parents who also have friends that are similarly racist). Sana's exploration of the different POC social groups in a diverse high school and how each has their own micro-aggressions against the other also rang very painfully true to me. And I appreciated the fact that Sugiura not only addressed those racist ideas as problematic but also showed how Sana learned that she herself was not "color blind" due to her own upbringing and learned to own up to her mistakes. I also SCREAMED in the scene with the white cop, since everything the white cop said to Sana to set up Asians as a "model minority" to put them apart/against other POC groups (down to the "oh (this asian country) is so clean! There are lots of good food there! People are so nice and there is no crime because there aren't any (THIS group of people)!") was something I experienced in my own life in the Bay Area (PSA to white people in case it wasn't obvious: this is also a form of racism, since it not only says Asians are 'exotic' but also pits a POC group against another.)
On a personal level, I definitely appreciated the beginning of the book, when Sana first realizes that she will NEVER fit in with her all-white friends no matter how much she thinks she does, as well as the culture shock she received when she moved to a more diverse area, in which she strangely/sadly felt like an Other, too, even among other Asians (that was me while growing up, too). The progression of her relationships with her parents as well as the conversations she has with her mother towards the end were also very emotional and important for me (I cried a LOT).
This book is messy. It confronts issues and boldly includes conversations that might make some readers uncomfortable. It contains complicated relationships and yes, there is cheating in this book. The cheating was especially painful to read, personally, but as someone who grew up with friends who had to deal with cheating fathers early on and witnessed how that messed up how THEY themselves dealt with their own personal relationships (i.e.: gave them fearful/unstable views about relationships, just like Sana's)...I felt like Sana's personal journey (and her mistakes) was sadly very accurate, in the psychological sense.
So TL;DR: this book isn't just a "sweet lesbian romance." YES, it has very cute girl-romance scenes that I adored, but this book is more of a coming-of-age story of a girl who comes from a "messy" background (b/c of her parents' backstories/views) who learns about herself, owns up to her mistakes, and pursues who/what she truly wants. And for that, this book felt incredibly important.