Reviews with content warning for Death - If You Still Recognise Me

Reviews tagging 'Death'

If You Still Recognise Me by Cynthia So

13 reviews

clovetra's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

ok, there are many thoughts & feelings, but first i need to preface this saying yet again i hate saying anything negative to a small indie writer! double hate because cynthia so seems lovely & i hate the thought of trying to "disregard" someones work. i will say though this book heavily leans to the Y/A genre, so for anyone wanting to read this, keep that in mind.
now i want to start this off by saying i did not like elsie. i don't think she reaches the realm of protagonists i love to hate, but i will say i found her quite.... insufferable.
like girl....

how did you expect ada to act finding her grandma's ex gf without permission.....

. some of her behaviours are very..... insane. that's a bad way of wording it but. there's no thought behind elsie's eyes ever. girl does NOT realise actions have consequences. and now that i am almost officially out of the teen age-range, i just cant buy a teen being *this* dumb. like yeah sure im autistic so obv i wouldn't have had the regular shmegular teen experience but.... i just couldn't buy elsie. that was defo my main issue.
another point is how elsie bounces between crushes is so annoying to me. girl what are you doing??? 😭 ive defo done that before........... as a child. like fully 12 years old. what are we doing here.
i also found this book to be a bit..... rushed in some aspects? the ending defo felt rushed, and that it went from 0-100 in a split second. some parts of the story dragged on and on and on, for instance with ada & the explanation of the in-universe comic book, and other parts rushed too quickly, like with her po po & uncle! like i want more of that!!!!
i will say tho i love me some queer rep esp with a cultural element. i related a lot with elsie's worry about coming out to her family, but i will say that it wore thin on me the more i progressed through the book.
i truly did enjoy this book and gobbled it tf up! i loved joan, but honestly i found i didn't care about the plot.... i just wanted to read about joan. she captivated me.
ill be real, im lacking words to describe how i felt about this book. on one hand i read it whenever i had the chance & it never felt like it was dragging, and that this was an overall "easy" (lighthearted & comfy) book to read..... but on the other hand it was a bit predictable and lacked substance. i don't know what i was expecting though because this was a very cute read i would defo recommend snuggling under your covers for. i just think this wasn't my style - sadly i think ive started to reach the point where Y/A is wearing thin on me which BREAKS MY HEART!
i reckon honestly if i read this book even 3 years ago i would've loved the shit out of it. but now im an adult doing Adult Things™, this book seems a bit too.... happy? 😭 im too cynical and this book was too happy for my perpetually grumpy ass.
i would defo recommend this book its super cute fluff that warms ur little heart!!! im just a massive cynic + im also beginning to realise i don't like the romance genre as much as i used to
anyways cynthia so if you see this thank you for giving us the lighthearted teen lesbian romance society needed.

Content Warnings

evelynyle_88's review

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emotional lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Finally after a long time on my tbr, I decided to take this book and started to read it. I feel like this book is so sweet and the story is so heartwarming. I smile everytime I read such cute moments in this book. I love Elsie, Joan and Ritika a lot. And oh! Ada too!

This book is so perfect. Perfect to finish reading it on my birthday with a smile plastered on my face. I need more heartwarming stories like this.

Thank you so much, Cynthia for writing this heartwarming story of Elsie (and Joan; of course!). I must say, I love the ending. Nothing more to say about their dynamic. You are brilliant!

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rosereadsalot's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of If You Still Recognise Me by Cynthia So. I really enjoyed seeing such a diverse cast of characters, from different races to cultures to sexualities! This was a deep and meaningful Young Adult book and which I would definitely recommend. It deals with emotional and sensitive topics, including but not limited to homophobia, abandonment, racism and prejudice, grief and loss of a parent.

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mel_muses's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

”If you still recognize me, I must be doing something right. It means I haven’t changed so much that I’m no longer myself after all.”

IYSRM follows Elsie, a bi girl in the UK who has just one summer before starting at Cambridge for uni. Elsie is determined to use this summer to finally admit her crush on her Internet best friend, Ada. But then her childhood best friend comes back into the picture and Elsie’s summer turns into a whirlwind of evolving feelings, family secrets, and an attempt at reconnecting long-lost loves.

Elsie has so much of me: a queer girl who struggles to make friends, but when she does, it’s with her whole heart. An awkward person who uses fanfiction and fandom as an escape from her life, as something to keep her going. Even in our differences, there’s something about her that’s striking: where I’m obsessed with mounds of queer books, she’s obsessed with a queer-coded comic series. And as someone who is also academically-driven, I felt her need to escape into fiction in such a matter of fact way. Where I don’t crush on people, Elsie most certainly is in love with Ada. I can relate to that feeling of loving someone across thousands of miles, even if it isn’t romantic.

There are also so many parts of Elsie I don’t — and can’t — understand. I am not Chinese like Elsie, nor do I have trauma from a toxic relationship like she does. But the fact that she exists for other people too and has touched the lives of my friends — Meilin and Naomi, who I read this with, and Micah and Cel, who I associate with this story — makes this book needed.

But beyond the characters, I loved the journey Elsie goes on, trying to reconcile who she was with who she is with who she wants to be. The romance, the friendships, the family relationships are all handled with such nuance and care. There’s something so special about how feelings evolve, how they can bloom into something unexpected and make you realize some of the most personal discoveries.

This book is for all Elsies out there: I hope you find that there will always be someone who recognizes you.

Trigger Warnings: homophobia and biphobia (internalized, targeted, microaggressions), toxic relationship recounted, off-page grandparent death, off-page disownment, internalized racism, fetish for Asian women by an off-page side character

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axel_p's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this was the story that i needed at the moment.

Content Warnings

emily_mh's review

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

There’s part of a sentence in this novel that perfectly sums up what it is: “my summer imbued with a cosmic sheen of queer magic.” For this story is summery, and queer, and magical, and perhaps the sweetest softest sapphic romance I have ever read.

I am just in awe of the way in which So crafted this story. There are many different threads we follow, yet all of them are given the space and time they need, and all have satisfactory resolutions. They are expertly woven together to form this stunning book, giving the plot and the MC Elsie so much depth. It was a delight accompanying her on her summer of discovery!

I first need to discuss the ROMANCE. Oh my god does So know how to write pining!!! The fact that it was MUTUAL pining in a childhood-best-friends-to-lovers context just about finished my heart off. I also love love love when you can tell the LI is in love with the MC but the MC is oblivious, and that was the case here. Judging by the blurb, you’d think there’d be a love triangle but there really isn’t. Elsie’s changing feelings are handled really well. Simply based on how well these tropes were handled, I can tell that So writes really good fanfic. As well as loving the tropes, I totally saw and believed in the connection between Elsie and Joan. All their history, combined with Joan being a fully realised character outside of being a LI, meant their love was believable with a solid emotional base. I completely got what they saw in one another, and why they wanted to be together. And they were just so gentle, loving, earnest and open with each other. It just felt very healthy but no less passionate and devoted for it. Also, there is no third-act breakup here (another yay!) and the way they finally got together was perfect. The one critique I had here (and the only one I had for the whole book, really) was that Joan could sometimes get a bit lost in among the other plot threads. But this didn’t end up impacting my rating, obviously.

While romantic love is a major focus, So includes some wonderful depictions of platonic love. I appreciated that the story demonstrated how these relationships are not always perfect, but what I liked the most was how it showed that platonic connections are just as deep, meaningful and important as romantic ones. Elsie’s friendship with Ritika was my personal favourite; there was so much trust, understanding and fun there.

As well as navigating romance and friendship, Elsie is going through a process of coming to terms with her past and present. With the benefit of distance and hindsight, she is discovering that her first relationship was toxic and harmful, and that realisation is changing her perception of what love should look like in the present. Moreover, Elsie is trying to figure out why there is such a divide in her family, bringing to light just how complicated family dynamics can be. As well as these things, Elsie is understanding more about the intersection of her Chinese and queer identities, and how this has affected her view of herself and romance. All these elements are treated with care (as far as I can tell from my limited perspective), and make for a real richness in plot and character.

Another portion of the plot leads Elsie to meet queer people who aren’t young, which I loved. Representation of queer elders, and even queer middle-aged people, is so special not just because of its rarity, but because of how much hope it gives and beauty it shows.

Finally, the fandom element here was so fun. The book was like a letter to fanfiction in particular, the author really capturing what it’s like to be a part of that culture. So got me fully invested in the fictional fictional characters that Elsie was obsessed with, which is further testament to her skill as an author.

Basically, I am begging Cynthia So to write more books.

Rep: bi British-Chinese MC, lesbian British-Chinese LI, queer biracial Nigerian-American SC, questioning sapphic British-Indian SC, questioning ace SC

Content Warnings

emilycrowleyyy's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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linnea1801's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

THE BEST BOOK EVER!!!!

Content Warnings

puttingwingsonwords's review

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emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved reading about Elsie’s journey. Through looking for her overseas crush’s grandma’s old friend, she meets queer people of different generations and ends up learning more about herself and coming into her own.

And that’s just one story-thread; Elsie is also uncovering her own family secrets, rekindling a relationship with an old friend, dealing with a past toxic relationship, and trying not to neglect her current best friend in the process. All in the summer between graduation and starting uni. Definitely a stand-out in YA queer contemporary!

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luananki's review

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

loved the representation and especially the characters, very glad i got to read if you still recognise me

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