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natsreverie's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.5
The Love That Binds Us is an LGBTQ+ YA novel written by Phoenix Blackwood. It´s the second book of the Surviving Youth Trilogy and it follows the complicated life of sixteen-year-old Alex. This story deals with many difficult topics that can be potentially triggering, and even if most of them are implied, some are marked as explicit, so be advised to read the trigger warnings at the end of this review.
This story takes place in the present day in the US. The main character and first-person narrator is Alex, whose life might appear perfect from the outside considering she´s a good student and she´s in a happy relationship with her partner Theo. However, everything is not as it seems. Not only is her home life incredibly difficult, since her father left years ago and she´s trying to hide her relationship with her partner from her homophobic mother who would never accept her daughter loving a trans and non-binary person, but Alex and Theo are also getting bullied at school because of who they are. Things get worse when her mother discovers her relationship with Theo, complicating Alex´s life even more. This story explores how she deals with the difficulties of being a teenager, the added family trauma she has experienced and everything she has yet to uncover.
When I started this story I knew it would be a hard read considering how triggering some of the topics discussed can be, but I knew as soon as I started reading that I would enjoy the book. It is true that I would sometimes stop reading because it was painful, but the author makes you care about the characters so much that you have to keep going even when it´s hard. Every part of it, the self-discovery, the struggles, the dynamics between the characters, the humour, everything is real, and it´s really easy to get immersed in the story.
A few aspects stood out to me and made this a truly incredible read. The first one is the communication between the characters, especially between Alex and Theo. Even as young as they are they communicate so well, they are so gentle with each other, and the way consent is talked about is just so good. I also love that the author included conversations about periods and period cramps. It may not seem like much but they are a really important part of many people´s lives and there´s so much shame surrounding them, so I´m so glad this aspect of life was included in the book.
And then there´s the found and chosen family, the domesticity of it all and the importance of having a good support system around, especially as a person who´s just trying to figure things out. It brought me so much joy and comfort while I was reading.
There´s nothing I disliked about the book really, I do think a narration with multiple points of view would work great with this kind of story since there are a lot of characters I would love to know more about, but I really enjoyed experiencing everything through Alex´s eyes so I really wouldn´t change anything. I did get a little bit of a jumpscare when galaxy leggings made their appearance but it wouldn´t be a true teenage experience without them, would it?
I would rate this story 4,5 out of 5 stars overall, and here is the rating broken down into categories:
- overall enjoyment: 4,5
- writing quality: 4,5
- characterisation: 5
- world-building/setting: 4
- plot development: 4
- ending satisfaction: 4
This was an overall great read. It had its ups and down considering the content that´s explored in the book but I really liked it, even if I had a hard time seeing the characters suffer.
If you are looking for great queer representation in a YA novel, this story is for you. I do believe you should still read this if you are not part of the community, I think everyone should read stories like this one to understand the struggles so many people go through and to try to understand how hard it is for some people to just exist in this society. However, if you think any of the topics discussed might cause you more harm than good then maybe don´t read this, or wait until you feel like the content is not triggering for you; your mental health is more important than reading a good book.
Age recommendation: Young Adult LGBTQ+ General Fiction (16+).
Trigger warnings: Child Abuse (explicit), Medical Trauma (explicit), Genital Mutilation (implied), Homophobia (explicit), Queerphobia (explicit), Transphobia (explicit), Bullying (explicit), Physical Abuse (explicit), Misgendering (explicit), Conversion Therapy (implied), Alcoholism (implied), Anxiety (explicit), Depression (explicit), Drugs (explicit), Drug Addiction (implied), Eating Disorder (implied), Profanity (explicit).
I received an advanced review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
This story takes place in the present day in the US. The main character and first-person narrator is Alex, whose life might appear perfect from the outside considering she´s a good student and she´s in a happy relationship with her partner Theo. However, everything is not as it seems. Not only is her home life incredibly difficult, since her father left years ago and she´s trying to hide her relationship with her partner from her homophobic mother who would never accept her daughter loving a trans and non-binary person, but Alex and Theo are also getting bullied at school because of who they are. Things get worse when her mother discovers her relationship with Theo, complicating Alex´s life even more. This story explores how she deals with the difficulties of being a teenager, the added family trauma she has experienced and everything she has yet to uncover.
When I started this story I knew it would be a hard read considering how triggering some of the topics discussed can be, but I knew as soon as I started reading that I would enjoy the book. It is true that I would sometimes stop reading because it was painful, but the author makes you care about the characters so much that you have to keep going even when it´s hard. Every part of it, the self-discovery, the struggles, the dynamics between the characters, the humour, everything is real, and it´s really easy to get immersed in the story.
A few aspects stood out to me and made this a truly incredible read. The first one is the communication between the characters, especially between Alex and Theo. Even as young as they are they communicate so well, they are so gentle with each other, and the way consent is talked about is just so good. I also love that the author included conversations about periods and period cramps. It may not seem like much but they are a really important part of many people´s lives and there´s so much shame surrounding them, so I´m so glad this aspect of life was included in the book.
And then there´s the found and chosen family, the domesticity of it all and the importance of having a good support system around, especially as a person who´s just trying to figure things out. It brought me so much joy and comfort while I was reading.
There´s nothing I disliked about the book really, I do think a narration with multiple points of view would work great with this kind of story since there are a lot of characters I would love to know more about, but I really enjoyed experiencing everything through Alex´s eyes so I really wouldn´t change anything. I did get a little bit of a jumpscare when galaxy leggings made their appearance but it wouldn´t be a true teenage experience without them, would it?
I would rate this story 4,5 out of 5 stars overall, and here is the rating broken down into categories:
- overall enjoyment: 4,5
- writing quality: 4,5
- characterisation: 5
- world-building/setting: 4
- plot development: 4
- ending satisfaction: 4
This was an overall great read. It had its ups and down considering the content that´s explored in the book but I really liked it, even if I had a hard time seeing the characters suffer.
If you are looking for great queer representation in a YA novel, this story is for you. I do believe you should still read this if you are not part of the community, I think everyone should read stories like this one to understand the struggles so many people go through and to try to understand how hard it is for some people to just exist in this society. However, if you think any of the topics discussed might cause you more harm than good then maybe don´t read this, or wait until you feel like the content is not triggering for you; your mental health is more important than reading a good book.
Age recommendation: Young Adult LGBTQ+ General Fiction (16+).
Trigger warnings: Child Abuse (explicit), Medical Trauma (explicit), Genital Mutilation (implied), Homophobia (explicit), Queerphobia (explicit), Transphobia (explicit), Bullying (explicit), Physical Abuse (explicit), Misgendering (explicit), Conversion Therapy (implied), Alcoholism (implied), Anxiety (explicit), Depression (explicit), Drugs (explicit), Drug Addiction (implied), Eating Disorder (implied), Profanity (explicit).
I received an advanced review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
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