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foreverinastory's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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
5.0
Thank you to Bookish First for a finished copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
This was so damn good!!
Ophelia After All is a YA Contemporary that follows Ophelia Rojas. She's a biracial Cuban-American senior in high school. In her spare time, she spends it in her rose garden, caring for the various breeds of roses she has. Ophelia has always had such a clear image of herself, but when she develops romantic feelings on her classmate Talia Sanchez, all the things she thought were true are thrown into question.
This book has my whole heart. I loved Ophelia so much. Her journey of questioning and not quite settling on a label is so easy to relate to. I've cycled through several labels myself in the past years before finding ones that truly fit. I loved that this isn't driven by romance. It's driven by Ophelia's internal conflict and all the way her friend group relationship affect each other.
I loved that we find out by the end of this book, Ophelia's whole friend group is basically queer. Also I hardcore headcanon Lindsey as a lesbian. It makes sense. Besides Lindsey, I really came to love every one of Ophelia's friend group. I loved that Ophelia brings Wes, Talia and Zach into their group too. Wes and Ophelia's friendship through chem lab was one of my absolute favorite things of this book. They're just too precious. I hope they remain friends forever.
There's one scene in this book that really spoke to me. It's when Ophelia sees her friend, Lindsey, in an all glam look wearing a super sexy black dress. The way her attraction hit her and she is just like oh fuck is that what this feeling is, sooooo relatable. The way she shoves down her realization and attraction was also extremely relatable. The way women are sold only men as attractive has ingrained this type of response and I'm so glad to see it called out. I kind of want a sequel because I need more of Ophelia. I want to see her at college, super queer, and navigating all the various labels.
Ugh, thinking about this book just makes me think about how much I loved it. Can I live in this book?
Rep: Biracial Cuban queer-questioning female MC, Korean-American biromantic asexual male side character, Black Puerto-Rican bisexual female side character, Pakistani Muslim queer-questioning male side character, fat Black aromantic female side character, Black pansexual male side character, white female side character, various BIPOC and queer side characters.
CWs: Homophobia/homomisia, lesbophobia/lesbomisia, racism, cursing. Moderate: Biphobia/bimisia, sexism, outing, toxic friendship. Minor: Islamophobia, alcohol consumption, drug use, acephobia/acemisia, fatphobia.
This was so damn good!!
Ophelia After All is a YA Contemporary that follows Ophelia Rojas. She's a biracial Cuban-American senior in high school. In her spare time, she spends it in her rose garden, caring for the various breeds of roses she has. Ophelia has always had such a clear image of herself, but when she develops romantic feelings on her classmate Talia Sanchez, all the things she thought were true are thrown into question.
This book has my whole heart. I loved Ophelia so much. Her journey of questioning and not quite settling on a label is so easy to relate to. I've cycled through several labels myself in the past years before finding ones that truly fit. I loved that this isn't driven by romance. It's driven by Ophelia's internal conflict and all the way her friend group relationship affect each other.
I loved that we find out by the end of this book, Ophelia's whole friend group is basically queer. Also I hardcore headcanon Lindsey as a lesbian. It makes sense. Besides Lindsey, I really came to love every one of Ophelia's friend group. I loved that Ophelia brings Wes, Talia and Zach into their group too. Wes and Ophelia's friendship through chem lab was one of my absolute favorite things of this book. They're just too precious. I hope they remain friends forever.
There's one scene in this book that really spoke to me. It's when Ophelia sees her friend, Lindsey, in an all glam look wearing a super sexy black dress. The way her attraction hit her and she is just like oh fuck is that what this feeling is, sooooo relatable. The way she shoves down her realization and attraction was also extremely relatable. The way women are sold only men as attractive has ingrained this type of response and I'm so glad to see it called out. I kind of want a sequel because I need more of Ophelia. I want to see her at college, super queer, and navigating all the various labels.
Ugh, thinking about this book just makes me think about how much I loved it. Can I live in this book?
Rep: Biracial Cuban queer-questioning female MC, Korean-American biromantic asexual male side character, Black Puerto-Rican bisexual female side character, Pakistani Muslim queer-questioning male side character, fat Black aromantic female side character, Black pansexual male side character, white female side character, various BIPOC and queer side characters.
CWs: Homophobia/homomisia, lesbophobia/lesbomisia, racism, cursing. Moderate: Biphobia/bimisia, sexism, outing, toxic friendship. Minor: Islamophobia, alcohol consumption, drug use, acephobia/acemisia, fatphobia.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Cursing, Homophobia, and Racism
Moderate: Sexism, Outing, Biphobia, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Fatphobia, Drug use, Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcohol, and Islamophobia
asparagusisreading's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, MacMillan Children's Publishing Group and Feiwel & Friends, and the author, Racquel Marie, for thinking of me and sending an e-arc copy of this book to read and review.
Rep: multiple characters within the LGBT+ community (queer, aromantic, bisexual, asexual, biromantic, pansexual, lesbian), Cuban, Black-Puerto Rican, and Korean characters
TW+CW (from the author): mentions of underage drinking and vaping, topical mentions of sex, cut-off use of a homophobic slur (challenged), condemned homophobia, discussion of anti-Blackness within a mixed race Latine family (challenged), cursing,
OPHELIA AFTER ALL is Racquel Marie's debut contemporary novel that follows the perspective of high-school senior, Ophelia Rojas, as she's going through her final years of high school. Ophelia has grown up to be known as the boy-crazy, rose obsessed, Latine girl but things start to change when she finds herself increasingly intrigued by Talia. Suddenly, Ophelia is unsure about herself and what these thoughts mean. What happens if she's no longer the boy-crazy Ophelia that everyone has come to know? What if the changes within her change how others view her? How does she figure out what exactly these feelings mean and accept them for herself? I don't know if I have all of the proper words to describe my feelings. Throughout the book, I was emotional. There were chapters when I was crying, laughing, smiling, cheering, and yelling as I read about the characters. I couldn't help but connect to the characters and good for the best for them. It was like I was reading bits of myself in the characters personality's and my own self/queer discovery. There were moments when I was like "oh I've definitely done that" or "oof." This book had me in tears with the last 25% after watching Ophelia go through the difficult process of discovering who she is and who she can be, watching the characters respond to her, and offer their advice and support. It was difficult at times due to the vulnerability of the story and Ophelia realizing that it will not be an easy journey. She discovers that we are not defined by some parts of ourselves, we can change and others may or may not be okay with that change, the most important part of that is being okay with ourselves changing. Racquel carefully demonstrated Ophelia discovering her queerness in a way that feels unique in comparison to other stories, memorable to readers, and important to those that would need it. I really enjoyed that the Ophelia and Talia didn't get together. in the end. In many other queer romance books, the main character discovers themselves and ends up in a relationship with the love interest at the end. It showed that not all people going through their queer journey immediately falls in love or ends up in a relationship by the end. I also enjoyed the addition of the various races and sexualities. They didn't feel like they were added just to have them there. Instead, it felt like they were supposed to be there.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading Ophelia After All and can't wait to have a physical copy in my hands to annotate again and reread. It's a book that I know I'll reread over the years in search of the perfection that it is or the comfort and security that it gave me. It was messy, it was cheesy, but most of it all was beautiful. I'm giving it a glowing 5 stars, putting in a few preorders, and recommending to a few friends that I think would really enjoy it.
Rep: multiple characters within the LGBT+ community (queer, aromantic, bisexual, asexual, biromantic, pansexual, lesbian), Cuban, Black-Puerto Rican, and Korean characters
TW+CW (from the author): mentions of underage drinking and vaping, topical mentions of sex, cut-off use of a homophobic slur (challenged), condemned homophobia, discussion of anti-Blackness within a mixed race Latine family (challenged), cursing,
OPHELIA AFTER ALL is Racquel Marie's debut contemporary novel that follows the perspective of high-school senior, Ophelia Rojas, as she's going through her final years of high school. Ophelia has grown up to be known as the boy-crazy, rose obsessed, Latine girl but things start to change when she finds herself increasingly intrigued by Talia. Suddenly, Ophelia is unsure about herself and what these thoughts mean. What happens if she's no longer the boy-crazy Ophelia that everyone has come to know? What if the changes within her change how others view her? How does she figure out what exactly these feelings mean and accept them for herself? I don't know if I have all of the proper words to describe my feelings. Throughout the book, I was emotional. There were chapters when I was crying, laughing, smiling, cheering, and yelling as I read about the characters. I couldn't help but connect to the characters and good for the best for them. It was like I was reading bits of myself in the characters personality's and my own self/queer discovery. There were moments when I was like "oh I've definitely done that" or "oof." This book had me in tears with the last 25% after watching Ophelia go through the difficult process of discovering who she is and who she can be, watching the characters respond to her, and offer their advice and support. It was difficult at times due to the vulnerability of the story and Ophelia realizing that it will not be an easy journey. She discovers that we are not defined by some parts of ourselves, we can change and others may or may not be okay with that change, the most important part of that is being okay with ourselves changing. Racquel carefully demonstrated Ophelia discovering her queerness in a way that feels unique in comparison to other stories, memorable to readers, and important to those that would need it. I really enjoyed that the Ophelia and Talia didn't get together. in the end. In many other queer romance books, the main character discovers themselves and ends up in a relationship with the love interest at the end. It showed that not all people going through their queer journey immediately falls in love or ends up in a relationship by the end. I also enjoyed the addition of the various races and sexualities. They didn't feel like they were added just to have them there. Instead, it felt like they were supposed to be there.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading Ophelia After All and can't wait to have a physical copy in my hands to annotate again and reread. It's a book that I know I'll reread over the years in search of the perfection that it is or the comfort and security that it gave me. It was messy, it was cheesy, but most of it all was beautiful. I'm giving it a glowing 5 stars, putting in a few preorders, and recommending to a few friends that I think would really enjoy it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Racism
Minor: Alcohol and Drug use
caseythereader's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
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? It's complicated
3.75
Thanks to Macmillan Books for the free advance copy of this book.
- Y'all, OPHELIA AFTER ALL is one of the sweetest, queerest books I've ever read.
- This book so beautifully explores discovering new sides of yourself, and grappling not only with coming out generally, but with how earthshaking it can be to understand yourself differently, and to worry about changing the set image of you others have in their heads.
- A range of queer identities are shown, from lesbian to asexual, and most of the characters are people of color as well: just wonderful to see a book about a group of queer teens that isn't primarily white.
- I did feel that it got a little bogged down in Big Teenage Relationship Feelings in the middle, but every character was so lovely I was willing to keep going in hopes of finding them happy and loved at the end.
- On a personal note, my family has always grown roses the way Ophelia does, and I loved seeing the names of hybrids I know and love given the appreciation they deserve.
- Y'all, OPHELIA AFTER ALL is one of the sweetest, queerest books I've ever read.
- This book so beautifully explores discovering new sides of yourself, and grappling not only with coming out generally, but with how earthshaking it can be to understand yourself differently, and to worry about changing the set image of you others have in their heads.
- A range of queer identities are shown, from lesbian to asexual, and most of the characters are people of color as well: just wonderful to see a book about a group of queer teens that isn't primarily white.
- I did feel that it got a little bogged down in Big Teenage Relationship Feelings in the middle, but every character was so lovely I was willing to keep going in hopes of finding them happy and loved at the end.
- On a personal note, my family has always grown roses the way Ophelia does, and I loved seeing the names of hybrids I know and love given the appreciation they deserve.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Racism
Minor: Islamophobia, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Biphobia
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