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.

Content Warnings

courtnoodles's review against another edition

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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? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

motz_stick's review against another edition

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challenging informative tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Disappointed

I picked this book up after seeing Reyes’ name attached because I had a great time reading Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School. I knew this book would be fast paced considering my previous knowledge of their work, but this was too fast even for me. I absolutely loved the empowering plot and the way the characters developed overtime, but there was so much going on it became hard to keep track. I wish this book would’ve been a series that covers Ari’s family issues, exposing of Lewis, and blooming relationship in 3 different books. This would’ve allowed for so much more development in a more reasonable amount of time. The only other complaint I have is that the first half of the book feels forced. Labels are added in so frequently it begins to just feel like buzzwords.

Content Warnings

kptinydancer97's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring 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

4.0

Content Warnings

maemcferrin's review against another edition

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informative inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

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