Reviews tagging 'Outing'

Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie

25 reviews

luananki's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

i don’t know how to put into words that i absolutely love this book. there wasn’t a single page i didn’t fall in love with. i did not want the story to end.
there is so much representation and not only queer representation but also the struggle of being an interracial child, i related to ophelia a lot.
her not being able to open up and basically pushing everyone away even though she clearly needed someone to talk to and her being scared of destroying the “perfect” imagery her friends and family created of her in their heads and her feeling like she doesn’t truly belong with any culture.
i get her, on almost every level.

wes is (like the author mentions in the acknowledgments) a precious cinnamon roll. i’m so glad he became friends with ophelia
and supported her even though they didn’t even really know each other in the beginning.
he also sounds like a very comforting person to be around. the development of their relationship was one of the thinks i enjoyed the most throughout this book.

i had fun with every single character. their friend group made so much sense. all of them felt real because they all had their own ongoing struggles and flaws to deal with. the emphasis on healthy communication, saying sorry and that queer relationships are about more than having sex, as well as friendship and that no relationship is more important than the other make me so happy. 
sammie and agatha are amazing and also lindsay (i appreciate the relationship between her and ophelia so much, it’s sort of painful but also very real) and o’s parents and the youth center and the unexpected aro and ace representation - loved it

i was expecting it to be a full on romance book but i’m even happier it turned out the way it did. the ending fits the story perfectly.
this was a treat in so many ways. i wish i had this when i was younger. 

i will hopefully come back to this one day and decide to reread because good queer latine representation is really something i need more of.
thank you racquel marie for writing this story and thank god for booktok for getting this on my fyp <3

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

booksbutmakeitgay's review

Go to review page

funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted 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

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

thesawyerbean's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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? It's complicated

4.75

This book was such an endearing read. It was a pleasure to read this queer YA coming-of-age story: the diverse cast of characters were well-developed, with believable humorous dialogue and realistic problems that made it feel like a slice of life. The plot was sweet and heart-warming, and a very important representation of growing up queer. Some of the writing was gorgeous and thought-provoking while not feeling unnatural in the context of the novel. A truly pleasant read for fans of YA contemporaries

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

foreverinastory's review against another edition

Go to review page

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. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lindseygetsliterary's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny 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

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...