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vaniavela's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
Ophelia, a botany-loving girl who is known to her parents and friends as a "boy-crazy" girl, embarks on a journey to question her sexuality during her last time in high school.
I love stories written in first person POV. Being in a character's head , reading their feelings and thoughts, is an amazing experience. And this book managed to capture that in a great way.
I liked the realism of her fears. How she fears change, and that the world around her will change the way they see her, treating her differently.
I liked the group of friends. They all have realistic flaws and attitudes, especially as teenagers about to graduate. I loved getting to know about them and their backgrounds; they weren't just put there for the plot, they were three dimensional.
I also love the ending; we weren't given a typical ending where the main character has a certainty of who who they are and is happily ever after. It shows us that she is still on her journey of learning about herself, and that we are valid even with uncertainty and doubt.
The comment about the labels, was also a good element. I loved the mention of how it was not necessary to label oneself in one thing. Also, the mention of how biromantic or bisexual identities are often erased in straight-looking relationships, was appreciated. These issues were handled with great care and made me love this book even more.
It is a beautiful, gorgeous book.
Rep: Biracial Cuban queer-questioning female MC, Korean-American biromantic asexual male SC, Black Puerto-Rican bisexual female SC, Pakistani Muslim queer-questioning male SC, Fat Black aromantic female SC, Black pansexual male SC.
CWs: Homophobia, lesbophobia, racism, cursing. Moderate: Biphobia, sexism, outing, toxic friendship. Minor: Islamophobia, alcohol consumption, drug use, acephobia, fatphobia.
I love stories written in first person POV. Being in a character's head , reading their feelings and thoughts, is an amazing experience. And this book managed to capture that in a great way.
I liked the realism of her fears. How she fears change, and that the world around her will change the way they see her, treating her differently.
I liked the group of friends. They all have realistic flaws and attitudes, especially as teenagers about to graduate. I loved getting to know about them and their backgrounds; they weren't just put there for the plot, they were three dimensional.
I also love the ending; we weren't given a typical ending where the main character has a certainty of who who they are and is happily ever after. It shows us that she is still on her journey of learning about herself, and that we are valid even with uncertainty and doubt.
The comment about the labels, was also a good element. I loved the mention of how it was not necessary to label oneself in one thing. Also, the mention of how biromantic or bisexual identities are often erased in straight-looking relationships, was appreciated. These issues were handled with great care and made me love this book even more.
It is a beautiful, gorgeous book.
Rep: Biracial Cuban queer-questioning female MC, Korean-American biromantic asexual male SC, Black Puerto-Rican bisexual female SC, Pakistani Muslim queer-questioning male SC, Fat Black aromantic female SC, Black pansexual male SC.
CWs: Homophobia, lesbophobia, racism, cursing. Moderate: Biphobia, sexism, outing, toxic friendship. Minor: Islamophobia, alcohol consumption, drug use, acephobia, fatphobia.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Racism, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Biphobia, Outing, Sexism, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Alcohol, Fatphobia, Islamophobia, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Drug use
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
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