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anneknut's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Transphobia
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Outing
Minor: Sexual violence
maxtiu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Religious bigotry
slide_key'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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Rape and Violence
bittersorbitol'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
3.75
Graphic: Deadnaming, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Outing, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Bullying, Sexual content, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Violence and Toxic friendship
Deals with a lot of realities of being a trans woman, includes details aboutthattransbookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Bullying and Transphobia
loverofeels's review against another edition
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Homophobia and Abortion
annekay'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
3.75
Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, and Suicide attempt
deadgirlwalking23's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Bullying, Rape, and Sexual assault
penguinsquack's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Deadnaming, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Transphobia, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Outing, and Dysphoria
eagleshouse's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The story of Amanda, a trans girl in southern USA, is incredibly important, especially coming from a trans author. The book takes on a difficult topic and faces it bluntly and head on, and goes into detail about her emotions and difficulties in being trans. These sections were brilliantly written, and made me understand and realise things that even I as a nonbinary person had not gotten beforehand.
However, I do have a few issues with the book. First and foremost, it feels very much like a Mary Sue. Amanda seems perfect. She passes perfectly, she moves and immediately everyone loves her, she is fully transitioned at the age of 18, and gets a perfect boyfriend and life. Whilst I understand that this may be the author trying to give a trans person hope that this is an option, it feels very detached from the unfortunate reality, and also creates a pretty boring main story. The story tends to ramble about how Amanda is gorgeous, how everyone is in love with her, how she's an A* student and is homecoming queen. Until the very end, where this is questioned (no spoilers from me!), it creates a bland style of writing that took me a little to power through. Had it not also been about Amanda's struggles as a trans woman, I most likely would have put the book down within the first 10 chapters (there are 33 total).
(SPOILERS AHEAD!!)
Another small issue that I had was the only openly sapphic character being the person to out Amanda purely because she wouldn't get with her. Whilst I understand that Bee was the only one Amanda felt like she could tell due to her also being lgbt+ and a "loner" of sorts, it did feel like it fell into the "bi people are slutty" and "predatory wlw" stereotype as Bee broke up with Cloe (the other sapphic character who was closeted before Bee also outed her) just for a shot at Amanda, who she had known was straight anyway, and had even said she was only dating Cloe because she felt bad for her. Bee also sexually harassed Amanda after she turns her down, kissing her without consent. I know for the storyline to progress, Bee was the only person able to out Amanda, but it still rubbed me up the wrong way.
(END OF SPOILERS)
tldr; the book is incredibly important, showing the story of a transwoman by a transfemme author. However, the story is not without its flaws, and often ends up being bland or falling into a Mary Sue style read. I still reccommend the book, as the sections regarding Amanda's relationship with her gender is poignant and informative from the perspective of an author who understands personally what she is going through.
Graphic: Bullying, Transphobia, Violence, and Outing
Moderate: Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt