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mamareadstuff's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
As a 30 something, I was obviously not the target audience, but it was a great YA, coming of age story. Add in being Black and Jewish, trying to come out, a blended family, mental illness, sibling bonds, first relationships, and more. It's a LOT for one book, but the author did a great job at not making it an afterschool special, not shying away from nuance, and telling a compelling story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Biphobia, Violence, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Stalking
Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Bullying, and Mental illness
Minor: Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, and Abortion
greenleafbooks's review against another edition
Sadly this is book was a dnf for me. I could not bring myself to care about any of the characters :( I got 3/4 the way through it and decided to stop. I would be open to trying again at some point, just not at the moment.
joana_stormblessed's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book and definitely recommend the audiobook.
What is it about ?
Little and Lion follows a pair of step-siblings, Suzette and Lionel. At the beginning of the novel, Suzette comes home to LA from being away at boarding school for a year and we know that she has been gone because of her brother for one reason or another. As the summer begins, it seems that Lionel and Suzette are on good terms and he needs his sister and her support as he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Suzette picks up a new job at a flower store and she starts having a crush on her coworker and it turns out that this is the same girl that Lionel is also falling for. However Suzette also reconnects with her old crush Emil and they start developing their relationship as well. In parallel, Suzette also has romantic unfinished business left at school with her old roommate.
This book is about family and friendships. It is about discovering yourself and coming to terms with who you are. It is about handling the everyday struggles of life such as trying to understand (and know if you want to label) your sexual identity, dealing with a mental illness, dealing with racism and so much more. The synopsis of this book made it sound that it was about 2 step-siblings falling in love with the same girl, but that is underselling this amazing book.
What I thought:
This book was truly great! It is mostly focused on the characters, which, once again, is something that I really love in books. There is no "major plot" driving this whole story, it is about these characters coming to terms with who they are, their secrets, their weaknesses and figuring out how to do this thing called life.
I loved the narration of the audiobook and the writing style of this book as well. But truly I loved the diversity in this novel (I will definitely forget some of the diverse aspects of the book but I hope to get as possible):
- Suzette is a black, Jewish, bisexual lady.
- Lionel has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder
- The girl they both crush on (whose name I cannot remember) is pansexual
- Emil is half black half Asian
- Many more characters identify as LGBT
- There are other characters of color in this novel.
It taught me that life isn't all black and white. Things can, and do, change and we have to figure out who we are and what we stand for in the middle of all this. It has taught me to be there for those who matter to you and sometimes that means being there in a way that they might not want you to, but you have to do what is best for them.
What is it about ?
Little and Lion follows a pair of step-siblings, Suzette and Lionel. At the beginning of the novel, Suzette comes home to LA from being away at boarding school for a year and we know that she has been gone because of her brother for one reason or another. As the summer begins, it seems that Lionel and Suzette are on good terms and he needs his sister and her support as he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Suzette picks up a new job at a flower store and she starts having a crush on her coworker and it turns out that this is the same girl that Lionel is also falling for. However Suzette also reconnects with her old crush Emil and they start developing their relationship as well. In parallel, Suzette also has romantic unfinished business left at school with her old roommate.
This book is about family and friendships. It is about discovering yourself and coming to terms with who you are. It is about handling the everyday struggles of life such as trying to understand (and know if you want to label) your sexual identity, dealing with a mental illness, dealing with racism and so much more. The synopsis of this book made it sound that it was about 2 step-siblings falling in love with the same girl, but that is underselling this amazing book.
What I thought:
This book was truly great! It is mostly focused on the characters, which, once again, is something that I really love in books. There is no "major plot" driving this whole story, it is about these characters coming to terms with who they are, their secrets, their weaknesses and figuring out how to do this thing called life.
I loved the narration of the audiobook and the writing style of this book as well. But truly I loved the diversity in this novel (I will definitely forget some of the diverse aspects of the book but I hope to get as possible):
- Suzette is a black, Jewish, bisexual lady.
- Lionel has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder
- The girl they both crush on (whose name I cannot remember) is pansexual
- Emil is half black half Asian
- Many more characters identify as LGBT
- There are other characters of color in this novel.
It taught me that life isn't all black and white. Things can, and do, change and we have to figure out who we are and what we stand for in the middle of all this. It has taught me to be there for those who matter to you and sometimes that means being there in a way that they might not want you to, but you have to do what is best for them.
marthamaereads's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars for this one.
When I first began reading this, I thought for sure it would be a 4 star read for me. However, about 1/3 of the way through I began to lose all connection to the main characters, which made me lose interest in the story itself.
I struggled to connect with Suzette (Little) which was a bummer as I liked her character overall. I am personally not familiar with the struggle of sexuality, so I cannot speak on how the portrayal of that aspect of Suzette's character is, but it still made me sad to think about people experiencing that in real life. I thought that her struggle was handled in a mature way, and it didn't seem to trivialise or stigmatise it in any way.
I wish we would have seen a bit more of Lion, but I felt that the parts we did experience with him were extremely important. His relationship with Suzette was written extremely well, and reminded me of my relationship with my sisters. The interactions between the two felt real and raw, and I appreciated that Colbert was able to present that relationship so well.
The (pseudo) between Suzette, Lion and the girl they both like REALLY annoyed me. I felt it was extremely unnecessary to Suzette's character development and made the book seem like every other YA contemporary plot. I feel this is another reason I disconnected with the book, but it is what it is.
Even though I didn't LOVE this book, there were things I loved about the book. I loved how Colbert handled the diagnosis of the bipolar II disorder. It was explained extremely accurately and was presented in a way that made it feel real and not stigmatised. At points in the story, the description of symptoms Lion was experiencing did become extremely textbook, but I felt this was necessary to help people with no educational (or personal) understanding of the disorder to get a grasp of the seriousness. Colbert handled the way in which bipolar affects not only the patient, but those closest to them, so gracefully, and I couldn't have asked for it to be handled in any better way.
All in all, this was a decent read. I would recommend it to people who are into the genre, and also to people looking to understand the affects of mental illness more.
When I first began reading this, I thought for sure it would be a 4 star read for me. However, about 1/3 of the way through I began to lose all connection to the main characters, which made me lose interest in the story itself.
I struggled to connect with Suzette (Little) which was a bummer as I liked her character overall. I am personally not familiar with the struggle of sexuality, so I cannot speak on how the portrayal of that aspect of Suzette's character is, but it still made me sad to think about people experiencing that in real life. I thought that her struggle was handled in a mature way, and it didn't seem to trivialise or stigmatise it in any way.
I wish we would have seen a bit more of Lion, but I felt that the parts we did experience with him were extremely important. His relationship with Suzette was written extremely well, and reminded me of my relationship with my sisters. The interactions between the two felt real and raw, and I appreciated that Colbert was able to present that relationship so well.
The (pseudo) between Suzette, Lion and the girl they both like REALLY annoyed me. I felt it was extremely unnecessary to Suzette's character development and made the book seem like every other YA contemporary plot. I feel this is another reason I disconnected with the book, but it is what it is.
Even though I didn't LOVE this book, there were things I loved about the book. I loved how Colbert handled the diagnosis of the bipolar II disorder. It was explained extremely accurately and was presented in a way that made it feel real and not stigmatised. At points in the story, the description of symptoms Lion was experiencing did become extremely textbook, but I felt this was necessary to help people with no educational (or personal) understanding of the disorder to get a grasp of the seriousness. Colbert handled the way in which bipolar affects not only the patient, but those closest to them, so gracefully, and I couldn't have asked for it to be handled in any better way.
All in all, this was a decent read. I would recommend it to people who are into the genre, and also to people looking to understand the affects of mental illness more.
summer_winter's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars
I really enjoyed this book and I knew I would as it discusses themes quite close to me and I felt very invested on the characters and the story.
I haven't read many books with bisexual female roles. I never really understood peoples need to feel like they relate to something within a book but after reading this I see why as it feels good to see someone experience similar things to yourself. But Suzettes discovery throughout the book is so honest and I really enjoyed that
This book got real personal for me at times as I have someone I'm close to on my life who suffers from bipolar and at times it brought me back to when these things were happening within my family but it also shows that it is an accurate representation of mental health and what it's like living in a family with someone who suffers from mental health and how it can affect that person and the people close to them.
I feel like this book has so much diverse representation in it and every topic is accurately portrayed. I would really reccomend this book especially to anyone dealing with discovering their sexuality or learning how to best help someone close to you with mental health.
I really enjoyed this book and I knew I would as it discusses themes quite close to me and I felt very invested on the characters and the story.
I haven't read many books with bisexual female roles. I never really understood peoples need to feel like they relate to something within a book but after reading this I see why as it feels good to see someone experience similar things to yourself. But Suzettes discovery throughout the book is so honest and I really enjoyed that
This book got real personal for me at times as I have someone I'm close to on my life who suffers from bipolar and at times it brought me back to when these things were happening within my family but it also shows that it is an accurate representation of mental health and what it's like living in a family with someone who suffers from mental health and how it can affect that person and the people close to them.
I feel like this book has so much diverse representation in it and every topic is accurately portrayed. I would really reccomend this book especially to anyone dealing with discovering their sexuality or learning how to best help someone close to you with mental health.
yikesbmg's review against another edition
4.0
Ok I haven’t read YA in a long time. All the stuff I read in high school was about basically white well-off heterosexual girls, so I loved this book for simply having an interesting, distinct plot. It touches lightly on interracial families and religion, and heavily on exploring sexuality, sibling dynamics, and mental health.
I don’t know how accurate the representation of bipolar disorder is, but was happy that Lion wasn’t portrayed to be a caricature of someone struggling to figure out their mental health. The author did a good enough job of incorporating texting/phones/the digital world into the character’s’ lives, and I feel like I got a sense of LA (though not sure if it’s accurate, because I’ve never been). The portrayal of social pressure and bullying in schools was realistic and honest, though the while the tough conversations about racism with friends and fucking up around parents was less so. Even though the latter was more idealistic to me, it’s still good to read something and see alternatives to how sympathetic and understanding parents might be. This is also a work of fiction so I don’t even know if it needs to be realistic when it comes to fiction or parent-kid relationships or anything else.
In any case, this was a great book, I want a sequel, and I intend to recommend it to my little cousins and sister.
I don’t know how accurate the representation of bipolar disorder is, but was happy that Lion wasn’t portrayed to be a caricature of someone struggling to figure out their mental health. The author did a good enough job of incorporating texting/phones/the digital world into the character’s’ lives, and I feel like I got a sense of LA (though not sure if it’s accurate, because I’ve never been). The portrayal of social pressure and bullying in schools was realistic and honest, though the while the tough conversations about racism with friends and fucking up around parents was less so. Even though the latter was more idealistic to me, it’s still good to read something and see alternatives to how sympathetic and understanding parents might be. This is also a work of fiction so I don’t even know if it needs to be realistic when it comes to fiction or parent-kid relationships or anything else.
In any case, this was a great book, I want a sequel, and I intend to recommend it to my little cousins and sister.
thenextgenlibrarian's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
“‘They were better when they were alive.’ ‘Aren’t most things?’”
👧🏾
Suzette, aka Little, is headed home to L.A. after a year at a New England boarding school. She left because her stepbrother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and her mom and stepdad felt it best she was safer somewhere else while Lionel, aka Lion, got used to his new normal. Now that she’s back, things are different. Suzette was with her female roommate at school, but is crushing on her childhood friend, Emil now. She’s struggling with identifying her sexuality, while also crushing on her brother’s new girlfriend and her coworker. Between all of that Suzette also has the weight of carrying the secret that Lion is off his meds. She tries to figure out her life and protect her brother at the same time.
🧑🏻🦰
What I liked: amazing representation with the Black, Jewish, bisexual main character, her boyfriend who has hearing aides, and Lion’s mental health struggles. The frank way the teens discussed racism, sexuality, and one character’s experience with religion and abortion was probably very ahead of its time when this released in 2017.
What I didn’t like: Because this was probably one of the first books of its kind, there were a lot of bi stereotypes and comments that rubbed me the wrong way. Also I felt like the book was trying to cover soooo many topics that some of the points Colbert was trying to make got lost a little bit. 3⭐️
CW: homophobia, bullying, abortion (discussed), anxiety, racism, homophobic slurs, bipolar disorder
👧🏾
Suzette, aka Little, is headed home to L.A. after a year at a New England boarding school. She left because her stepbrother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and her mom and stepdad felt it best she was safer somewhere else while Lionel, aka Lion, got used to his new normal. Now that she’s back, things are different. Suzette was with her female roommate at school, but is crushing on her childhood friend, Emil now. She’s struggling with identifying her sexuality, while also crushing on her brother’s new girlfriend and her coworker. Between all of that Suzette also has the weight of carrying the secret that Lion is off his meds. She tries to figure out her life and protect her brother at the same time.
🧑🏻🦰
What I liked: amazing representation with the Black, Jewish, bisexual main character, her boyfriend who has hearing aides, and Lion’s mental health struggles. The frank way the teens discussed racism, sexuality, and one character’s experience with religion and abortion was probably very ahead of its time when this released in 2017.
What I didn’t like: Because this was probably one of the first books of its kind, there were a lot of bi stereotypes and comments that rubbed me the wrong way. Also I felt like the book was trying to cover soooo many topics that some of the points Colbert was trying to make got lost a little bit. 3⭐️
CW: homophobia, bullying, abortion (discussed), anxiety, racism, homophobic slurs, bipolar disorder
caseyjwied's review against another edition
5.0
5/5 stars!
This was an incredible book. I've read books with representation before, but nothing like this book. Colbert writes beautifully about the struggles of figuring out sexuality and to read through Little's struggles, was like reading through my own.
With writing about mental illness, the writing for bipolar was so phenomenal. Knowing what it's like to live with someone who has been diagnosed, it was like Colbert had opened a window into my life and had seen what I had been through and put it into a story.
I would definitely read this again and I recommend to everyone
This was an incredible book. I've read books with representation before, but nothing like this book. Colbert writes beautifully about the struggles of figuring out sexuality and to read through Little's struggles, was like reading through my own.
With writing about mental illness, the writing for bipolar was so phenomenal. Knowing what it's like to live with someone who has been diagnosed, it was like Colbert had opened a window into my life and had seen what I had been through and put it into a story.
I would definitely read this again and I recommend to everyone
steph01924's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars, I think. I finally got to read a full-length book from Brandy Colbert! I think her writing itself was great and I loved little bits of this book so much, but I think overall I wasn't in the headspace to a) deal with the love triangle (I was also having some flashbacks to her short story in the love triangle book where the nice, sweet guy got shafted for the bad-boy BFF in jail and I worried for Emil) and b) deal with the subject matter. I did love Suzette's family situation and her parents rocked, and it flowed together really well. I definitely need to read more from Colbert!