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theeuphoriczat's review
4.0
Thanks to The Coloured Pages for making this book available to me as part of the blog tour.
I really loved this book because not only does it talk about the black experience, it focuses more on black joy, queer joy without neglecting or hiding the pain that comes with it.
Gio's mother left a couple years ago, never wrote, never called, just disappeared. Just has he thinks he might be getting over her and starting to love himself in her absence, she shows up and he finds out that the lack of communication from her was not her fault but his father's. With that brewing in the background, we see Gio try to hide his bisexuality because his father is a pastor in their neighbourhood and he is convinced that Gio is going to hell. He tells Gio that it is one to have 'such desires' it is another to act on them. Like he has a choice. Bullsh*t
Anyways Jay Coles does a great job exploring friendships, race, the poor education system in the United States, allyship, relationship, queer love, acceptance, family, and community. I would like to think of this book as a biracial love story because it was beautiful to read. Gio feels that with all that is happening in his life, the last thing he should be feeling his attraction to the new guy on the basketball team, David. David is everything that Gio likes and wants, he is also bisexual like Gio. we get to see the dynamics in their relationship, in terms of race, sexuality, sex, family and community.
Friendship was another huge part of this book that I really liked and appreciated. Black friendship and solidarity is something I love seeing considering that I have a group of friends that are always there for me. We have similar experiences that makes it easier to empathise with each other.
I highly recommend this book!
I really loved this book because not only does it talk about the black experience, it focuses more on black joy, queer joy without neglecting or hiding the pain that comes with it.
Gio's mother left a couple years ago, never wrote, never called, just disappeared. Just has he thinks he might be getting over her and starting to love himself in her absence, she shows up and he finds out that the lack of communication from her was not her fault but his father's. With that brewing in the background, we see Gio try to hide his bisexuality because his father is a pastor in their neighbourhood and he is convinced that Gio is going to hell. He tells Gio that it is one to have 'such desires' it is another to act on them. Like he has a choice. Bullsh*t
Anyways Jay Coles does a great job exploring friendships, race, the poor education system in the United States, allyship, relationship, queer love, acceptance, family, and community. I would like to think of this book as a biracial love story because it was beautiful to read. Gio feels that with all that is happening in his life, the last thing he should be feeling his attraction to the new guy on the basketball team, David. David is everything that Gio likes and wants, he is also bisexual like Gio. we get to see the dynamics in their relationship, in terms of race, sexuality, sex, family and community.
Friendship was another huge part of this book that I really liked and appreciated. Black friendship and solidarity is something I love seeing considering that I have a group of friends that are always there for me. We have similar experiences that makes it easier to empathise with each other.
I highly recommend this book!
annguyen11's review
4.0
i love the characters, all of them. coles does a great job building them and makes them feel so lifelike in a way i think gets lost in a lot of YA lit. the dialogue is so good, had me laughing and cringing and missing my teenagerhood, while reminding me of everything i love about the teens in my life. the story is hopeful without being saccharine, which i appreciate a lot. i love gio with my whole heart.
parasolcrafter's review
emotional
lighthearted
sad
tense
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
1.5
this book is very...odd. its unclear who the audience is, as the writing is fairly juvenile and easy to follow, but the two sexual scenes in the book dont fit with a younger audience, but the writing isnt developed enough for an older audience. the adults feel stereotypical in their roles, too; the only father thats really there is a hardass whose been bad to his children, and the mothers are only there to be loving and supportive without motives of their own :/ his birth mother does have a sort of motive, but its shoved in at the end and her storyline ends abruptly so it doesnt even really matter. and his father development is HORRIBLE. like all it takes is one conversation for his dad to be nice to him...? im sorry, but thats not how things EVER happen with bad parents.
the main characters were fine, but they all just seemed shallow which is a shame because i saw potential for them all. this book needed to be longer and , frankly, better written. the pacing of this story is way off and it makes the relationship between gio and david very rushed into; the amount of pop-culture references was annoying as hell; the near therapy-level of speak from everyone is flat-out unrealistic and sterilized; and the shoe-horned in dialogue of things that just feel like bullet-points of inclusion is just sloppy, honestly. like...i dont get what this book was really trying to do? like, everything was just surface level and hardly explored or expanded upon, which is unfortunate because it had so many good things going for it! it really didnt work on anything it tried to touch on.
the main characters were fine, but they all just seemed shallow which is a shame because i saw potential for them all. this book needed to be longer and , frankly, better written. the pacing of this story is way off and it makes the relationship between gio and david very rushed into; the amount of pop-culture references was annoying as hell; the near therapy-level of speak from everyone is flat-out unrealistic and sterilized; and the shoe-horned in dialogue of things that just feel like bullet-points of inclusion is just sloppy, honestly. like...i dont get what this book was really trying to do? like, everything was just surface level and hardly explored or expanded upon, which is unfortunate because it had so many good things going for it! it really didnt work on anything it tried to touch on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Death, Grief, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Cursing, and Drug use
Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Child abuse, Homophobia, Biphobia, Infidelity, and Classism
hswhite's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
My biggest beef with this book is that it's unclear who the intended audience is. I agree with other reviewers that for the most part, this book feels like it's aimed at a middle school audience. There's an introduction to a lot of difficult issues: racism, bi-sexuality, parental abandonment, etc; but it's mostly wavetops, fairly generic stuff. The romantic relationship in the book is very tame for 90% of the book and then randomly includes not one, but two sex scenes that were not in any way necessary for the plot in the last forty pages of the book, which pretty much rules out a middle school audience and even some young adult readers. That choice had me very confused.
I appreciated that the birth mother plotline was not neatly resolved, but since it's the leading storyline, it would have been nice if we'd gotten more interaction with the mother character, more complex deliberating and difficult scenes between her and Gio.
Also, the book has an oddly rosy view of family relationships . . . the moms are always showing up with snacks and using pet names for their teenaged sons. Even in Gio's family, whose birth mom abandoned them years ago, there is a very traditional, rosy vibe because Gio's stepmom fills that void. I liked Karina, but I wonder what this story would have looked like without her? Perhaps grittier, more real, fewer opportunities to avoid addressing the past because the present is no better?
I appreciated that the birth mother plotline was not neatly resolved, but since it's the leading storyline, it would have been nice if we'd gotten more interaction with the mother character, more complex deliberating and difficult scenes between her and Gio.
Also, the book has an oddly rosy view of family relationships . . . the moms are always showing up with snacks and using pet names for their teenaged sons. Even in Gio's family, whose birth mom abandoned them years ago, there is a very traditional, rosy vibe because Gio's stepmom fills that void. I liked Karina, but I wonder what this story would have looked like without her? Perhaps grittier, more real, fewer opportunities to avoid addressing the past because the present is no better?
shinespike's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
3.5
It’s like yeah it was fine but I feel like it could’ve been longer forreal idk
mwaltos's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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? No
bookishkellyn's review against another edition
The writing was too young for me. After 8 chapters, I couldn't get into it.
erincataldi's review
4.0
A young adult book coming of age novel that focuses on being true to yourself and finding your real family. Gio has always had a big hole in his life, the void left when his birth mother abandoned him and his little brother. His father is a pastor and has remarried a wonderful woman, but it just isn't the same. What did he ever do that was so bad to be abandoned? Gio has two best friends whom he can lean on but the dynamic changes when a new white kid moves in across the street and joins the basketball team. He slowly starts to join Gio and his friends and when he announces he's bisexual, Gio has some feelings. To make matters more complicated, his birth mother has shown up, announced, and wants to be involved in her sons life again. Will Gio let her in his heart again? Will Gio let in romance? A good coming of age novel that deals with a myriad of issues that teens will relate to. One of the reasons I really enjoyed this book was that it was set in Indianapolis, specifically at Ben Davis High School, a school that I've been to in real life. It was neat to read about a place I had actually been.
jwinchell's review
4.0
This book is about a lot of things: basketball, making music playlists, having good friends, being bisexual, falling in like, estranged parents. It was compulsively readable and I really liked it. I think I saw some 8th+ or 14+ reviews, and on those counts I would put it in a middle school library for older readers. There are some short but fairly graphic sex scenes. Recommended.