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amberinpieces's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, and Fatphobia
Minor: Blood, Death of parent, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Cursing, Alcohol, and Biphobia
tigger89's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I loved the process of Waylon embracing his identity and choosing to face rather than avoid people who made him uncomfortable. I especially liked the way Kyle was handled. We all know a Kyle. We're happy for you bro, but you've gotta stop putting everyone else down in the process of giving yourself a fitness pep talk! I liked that he was portrayed as more than a one-dimensional mean boy, because he really wasn't trying to put anyone down. It's not necessarily intuitive to realize the effects that cheerleading for your own accomplishments might have on others.
I was less a fan of the core romance. I'm not a huge romance fan in general, but even accounting for that, the resolution(events at prom) felt very rushed to me. It was cute, but nothing groundbreaking. I did appreciate how three-dimensional he was as a love interest. He actually had a life, motivations, and problems outside of the protagonist of the novel, which is unfortunately more rare than we'd like.
This isn't typically the kind of book I read(I picked it up for work-related reasons), but it was better than I'd expected. If I was rating just for my own tastes I'd give it a 3, but I'll bump it up to a 4 because I recognize just how Not For Me it is. Despite being #3 in a series, it can be read as a standalone. I haven't read the first two volumes, and I understood everything just fine.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, and Bullying
Moderate: Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, and Drug use
sarahallen03's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Minor: Homophobia, Bullying, and Alcohol
aribook's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, and Homophobia
Minor: Alcohol
beckyyreadss's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Cursing, Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, and Homophobia
castielsshield's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Alcoholism and Death of parent
alisonvh's review
- 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
Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Body shaming, Transphobia, Fatphobia, and Bullying
Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Addiction
Minor: Death of parent
jenny_librarian's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
One thing I love about Julie Murphy is how she writes unapologetic fat characters. Waylon doesn't try to lose weight. He's not uncomfortable in his body, except when it's in relation to others because that's what society taught him. I love how the author challenges assumptions that losing weight solves everything and how going on and on about your weight loss can actually be damaging to other (eg. Alex).
I saw the romance coming from miles away, but it was still cute. I would however like to point out that bisexuality seems a completely foreign concept to those teens, even though they go on rants about the fluidity of gender or write something about being asexual. For the first half of the book, Waylon is even borderline biphobic, refusing to even imagine
Moderate: Fatphobia and Bullying
Minor: Homophobia, Biphobia, Sexism, and Lesbophobia
bectothebooks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Moderate: Bullying, Alcoholism, Lesbophobia, Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Homophobia
Minor: Death of parent, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
calamitywindpetal's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Body shaming, Homophobia, Cursing, Fatphobia, Alcoholism, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Animal death, Car accident, Death of parent, Death, Violence, and Sexual content