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ridesthesun's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I honestly wanted to like this book so much more than I did. Unfortunately... the story just wasn't very good. All of Nate's friends were manipulative assholes tbh, especially Flo, who he kept insisting was such a good best friend like???? dude???? I get yall are in high school so things are a mess but come on. The will they/won't they that kept going back and forth with so many characters just wasn't convincing enough to get me invested. And at the risk of sounding like a Boring Adult™, this book felt way too explicit to be a YA. The themes and characters felt very YA, but the graphic sex was - while convincingly awkward for teens doing the deed for the first time - was pretty damn graphic for the target age group. (also my pet peeve of "character is hesitant about sex and doesn't really want to do it that much but has sex anyways and the moment is used as an example of Character and Relationship Growth" was v much there. let people - ESPECIALLY TEENS!! - be virgins and let them be ok with that).
One thing I DID love about this book is how it seems like all these kids are so so unapologetically queer. It was never even a topic of interest; no one even mentioned being gay or queer, they were all just comfortably having crushes on whatever gender suited them at the moment. No one questioned it or discussed it. No one's parents were shitty about it, no one was bullied about it. It was unrealistic, but a really nice unrealism. It was a fun thing to see :)
I also really enjoyed the Deaf rep here, especially for a teen. Ollie was honestly really good Deaf rep, and surprisingly realistic. It was refreshing for a Deaf character to be shown not magically being a good lip reader, and actually having the communication struggles Deaf kids in a hearing world have. (though the constant descriptions of his signs got grating after a while. They were mostly accurate, but just..... unnecessary. you can just say the character signs, guys, you don't have to describe every sign I promise)
I think I was spoiled by reading Felix Ever After and absolutely adoring it; I came into this with Expectations that made it more of a bummer when those expectations weren't met.
I think this story had a LOT of potential, but the execution just wasn't there. The family dynamics and relationship struggles could have gone in a lot of great directions, but things just fell flat, which is an honest bummer :(
(also Oliver-James is the dumbest hyphenated name I have ever seen tbh. no)
One thing I DID love about this book is how it seems like all these kids are so so unapologetically queer. It was never even a topic of interest; no one even mentioned being gay or queer, they were all just comfortably having crushes on whatever gender suited them at the moment. No one questioned it or discussed it. No one's parents were shitty about it, no one was bullied about it. It was unrealistic, but a really nice unrealism. It was a fun thing to see :)
I also really enjoyed the Deaf rep here, especially for a teen. Ollie was honestly really good Deaf rep, and surprisingly realistic. It was refreshing for a Deaf character to be shown not magically being a good lip reader, and actually having the communication struggles Deaf kids in a hearing world have. (though the constant descriptions of his signs got grating after a while. They were mostly accurate, but just..... unnecessary. you can just say the character signs, guys, you don't have to describe every sign I promise)
I think I was spoiled by reading Felix Ever After and absolutely adoring it; I came into this with Expectations that made it more of a bummer when those expectations weren't met.
I think this story had a LOT of potential, but the execution just wasn't there. The family dynamics and relationship struggles could have gone in a lot of great directions, but things just fell flat, which is an honest bummer :(
(also Oliver-James is the dumbest hyphenated name I have ever seen tbh. no)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
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