I’m an absolute sucker for books that center messy characters especially when it comes to coming of age stories with queer characters, and Malinda Lo absolutely delivers in A Scatter of Light.
This story follows Aria Tang West who is forced to spend her summer with her grandmother (Joan) in San Francisco after nude pics of her surface following the night of her graduation party. All Aria wants is one last summer with her friends before she’s off to MIT in the fall.
Aria is a hot mess but instantly relatable. She starts off so sure of her future and place in the world until she meets Steph Nicols. From that moment on, we see Aria question everything about herself from from exploring her queerness and new labels to her biracial (half Chinese half white) identity to life after high school.
Now I did say this book is messy and that’s because Aria and Steph make all sorts of questionable decisions without always thinking through the consequences. But that’s what makes this so great because it mimics real life. It was so hard not to root for these two no matter what.
And since this is a companion novel to The Last Night at the Telegraph Club, I loved how the author fit Lily and Kath into this storyline and getting an update on their lives.
This story follows Aria Tang West who is forced to spend her summer with her grandmother (Joan) in San Francisco after nude pics of her surface following the night of her graduation party. All Aria wants is one last summer with her friends before she’s off to MIT in the fall.
Aria is a hot mess but instantly relatable. She starts off so sure of her future and place in the world until she meets Steph Nicols. From that moment on, we see Aria question everything about herself from from exploring her queerness and new labels to her biracial (half Chinese half white) identity to life after high school.
Now I did say this book is messy and that’s because Aria and Steph make all sorts of questionable decisions without always thinking through the consequences. But that’s what makes this so great because it mimics real life. It was so hard not to root for these two no matter what.
And since this is a companion novel to The Last Night at the Telegraph Club, I loved how the author fit Lily and Kath into this storyline and getting an update on their lives.