Reviews with content warning for Lesbophobia - Pumpkin

Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

redheadorganist's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? Yes

5.0

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amberinpieces's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

4.25

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tigger89's review

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

There's so much packed into this little novel: body positivity, gender and sexuality, drag, identity, abandonment, religion, even the imposition of adult responsibilities onto childhood. Some of it gets a bit dark, and not in the way that's to be expected from a queer book, so check content warnings. The inclusion of supportive adults was a welcome counter to the dark patches.

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.

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baylan's review

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adventurous funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

0.75

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grace_bunty's review against another edition

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3.5

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alisonvh's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring 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

This book is every bit as endearing and heartwarming as the first two books in the series. Although you don’t need to have read the other two books in order to enjoy this one, I did appreciate that we got a glimpse of the couples from the two prequels and how they’re doing now.

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jenny_librarian's review

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funny inspiring medium-paced

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

4.75

It's a good thing this series isn't linear, because I completely jumped over Puddin' to read Pumpkin because of the rainbow spine (yes, I'm that shallow). And I regret nothing! This book was the right way to end Pride month. It's got enough sparkle in it to fuel a queer army, and just enough cheese to make you go "awww" once in a while.

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

Tucker

as anything but straight. And I don't love the fact that the word itself is never mentioned. It would be fine to say that character is questioning, but he seems pretty comfortable in his identity. Especially after what happened with Lucas, I'm surprised Waylon would accept it without knowing where

Tucker

stands (even if he's still discovering it himself).

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