tw/cw: mentions of under-age drinking, relationship issues, "forced" coming-out, homophobia, some mentions of racism
i really enjoyed this book overall! i rated it 4.5 stars.
my main issue with the book was that the beginning felt slow. it took a while for things to really begin changing in Ophelia's life! and also, my other qualm was the fact that Ophelia was still being defined by her crushes in the end. i wish that Ophelia had been able to stand up for herself and eliminate that from being one of her only personality traits in her family and friends' eyes.
i really appreciated this being a look at coming out. the spectrum of identities that were being represented vaster than i have seen before in ya novels (usually, it is one or two LGB characters). i liked that coming out wasn't treated as a definitive thing, but that the characters were allowed to question who they were.
i think my favorite part was how flawed and messy Ophelia was allowed to be. usually, in YA novels i find that the mc gets a chapter or two to make a mess, and then they have to put it back together again in the last 20 pages. Ophelia spends most of the book falling apart, and doesn't get put back completely together again. she's a flawed character, but she's also only a teenager, and i appreciated how well-done her characterization was (especially for a debut!)
anyways, enjoy! - lindsey
i really enjoyed this book overall! i rated it 4.5 stars.
my main issue with the book was that the beginning felt slow. it took a while for things to really begin changing in Ophelia's life! and also, my other qualm was the fact that Ophelia was still being defined by her crushes in the end. i wish that Ophelia had been able to stand up for herself and eliminate that from being one of her only personality traits in her family and friends' eyes.
i really appreciated this being a look at coming out. the spectrum of identities that were being represented vaster than i have seen before in ya novels (usually, it is one or two LGB characters). i liked that coming out wasn't treated as a definitive thing, but that the characters were allowed to question who they were.
i think my favorite part was how flawed and messy Ophelia was allowed to be. usually, in YA novels i find that the mc gets a chapter or two to make a mess, and then they have to put it back together again in the last 20 pages. Ophelia spends most of the book falling apart, and doesn't get put back completely together again. she's a flawed character, but she's also only a teenager, and i appreciated how well-done her characterization was (especially for a debut!)
anyways, enjoy! - lindsey