Reviews with content warning for Bullying - The Luis Ortega Survival Club

This book was absolutely beautiful. The characters were all written beautifully and I saw parts of myself in each one of them. The experience of being neurodivergent, queer, and a victim of sexual assault were all represented so beautifully. I truly felt more seen in this book than many of the other books I have read with similar concepts. Panic and shutdowns are dealt with so well in this book. It truly helped me feel less alone in my experience and story.

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lingfish7's review against another edition

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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

5.0

📖🎧This might be my new absolute favorite Latinx YA book! This is the first book by this author I’ve read, and I am so obsessed. Not only does this book explore rape and the me too movement, but it also explores autistic representation and the intersection between being different and being taken advantaged of.

⚠️TW: rape, sexual harassment, bullying, neurodivergent discrimination

The main character is a Latinx, autistic, selectively mute teenager. Ariana has a close relationship with her parents, but her parents are going through some things in their marriage that further make Ariana feel isolated. The book opens with a scene where Ariana is waiting for an Uber ride home from a party she attended. At this party, she recalls how Luis never asked her if she wanted sex, and since she is selectively mute, she couldn’t say no. After a season of loneliness and hurt, she finally finds friends - friends who have also been harmed by Luis. They form a club: the Luis Ortega survival club.

This book so beautifully captured the overstimulating experience of being autistic, as well as the gaslighting experience of being raped. The found family community made my heart sing with happiness and the revenge at Luis made everything right again. I can’t even explain how powerful this book was, it gave me all the feelings. ✨💕

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jkreads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny 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

This was such a wonderful book! I adored the relationships that formed over the course of this story, both romantic and platonic. I felt that this book handled some incredibly sensitive topics with grace and care, not dancing around them but also not falling into trauma porn.

It was so refreshing to read a book written from the perspective of an autistic person with selective mutism, I’ve read books in the past with an autistic MC but I think this is the first one I’ve read that had that added mutism/nonverbal component. I’m not part of the autistic community however I’m always looking for more stories with good rep! There was some ADHD rep and this is a community I AM a part of, I felt the small glimpse we got to see of that was pretty well done.

There were also a range of different sexualities and gender expressions represented throughout the book and I felt these were weaved in well - they didn’t feel tokenistic or forced, just realistic and representative of a typical high school and of society as a whole.

Overall I adored this book, the audio narration was a wonderful easy listen and I fell in love with the characters very quickly. The way they loved and looked out for each other was so beautiful.

Definitely be mindful of content warnings going in to this one, as I mentioned earlier it addresses some topics that may be triggering for some.

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skye_era_books's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring fast-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

Literally 5 million stars. Please note that this deals with rape/SA. I absolutely love the main characters. I’ve never read about a semi-mute autistic person so this was so interesting to read from their perspective! Such an amazing sound family trope, even if they came together for such a horrible reason. I’m so glad they all have each other and that

Luis Ortega was brought to justice!!

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readingwithtemperance's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective 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? N/A

5.0

This was even better than The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholoic School! I love Sonora Reyes' writing so much.

This book was so healing for me. I was in an abusive relationship for around 5 years. And I was SA'd numerous times throughout. Ari's thoughts and feelings about hers are very similar to my own.

The Luis Ortega Survival Club was an excellent reminder for me that there was nothing I could have done differently. That what happened was NEVER my fault.

This was so empowering. It was nice seeing someone so horrible get exactly what they deserve.

Books like these are so important. I wish I had this growing up. I'm immensely grateful to the author for bringing this story into the world.

If you have your own Luis Ortega, I see you. You are not alone. It was never your fault. And I am sending you so much love.

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