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anxiousrainbows's review
- 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
overall, i really loved this book and i totally recommend picking it up!
Graphic: Homophobia, Islamophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
wastingtime1994's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Homophobia and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Toxic friendship
b_robinson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Minor: Homophobia
pey333's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Homophobia, Death of parent, Outing, and Alcohol
Minor: Racism, Sexual content, and Islamophobia
piperclover's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Homophobia and Islamophobia
Moderate: Grief
The homophobia and Islamophobia are by background characters but they are parts of the story and important. Nothing too bad, just typical crap but handled well and discussed wellsarahmichelle30's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Outing
Moderate: Death of parent and Toxic friendship
anintrovertrambles's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Homophobia, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail
melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
When Luca has an accident that ruins his future career as a ballerina, he is forced to change schools and feels like he's starting his life over. Along comes Jordan, the pretty (probably straight) face that Luca is able to pin his hopes on.
I really liked this book. Luca and Jordan's relationship very much gave me Nick and Charlie from Heartstopper vibes. Luca's journey is very interesting. He is not a super likable character, but he does experience a lot of character growth and develops into more of his own person throughout the book. The discussion of what it means to lose your perceived future is really good, and I also liked the discussions around coming out.
I really liked the narration in this and definitely recommend the audio! Luca's new friend Amina is truly the MVP of this book!
Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Bullying, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Hate crime, Sexual content, and Medical content
snowydaze's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Biphobia, Bullying, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, and Alcohol
dobbsthedog's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book! It had a great, diverse cast of characters, and it felt like the main side characters were really well developed. As frustrating as I occasionally found the MC, Luca, I still really liked him and the frustrations definitely comes from him having a bit of a life crisis.
Luca is a ballet dancer, hoping to attend the Australia Ballet School, but a misstep has him tumbling down a flight of stairs, horribly fracturing his foot. This isn’t a spoiler, it happens in the first chapter. I really enjoyed reading about a male ballet dancer, as there aren’t even that many books about any ballet dancers. I did ballet for a number of years as a kid and again as an adult, and I do love it. I think my appreciation has grown now that I’m older, I didn’t love it as a kid.
So, this fractured foot hugely impacts on Luca’s life, as he’s been doing ballet since he was 3 years old (now 16). Because of it he loses friends, makes new friends, meets a cute boy at the occupational therapists office, and has to make some tough decisions and realizations about where his life is going to go if he can’t dance professionally.
I listened to the audio of this and really enjoyed the narrator, I think he did a great job. I’ve hardly listened to any audiobooks narrated with Australian accents, so this was a nice change. There was an author Q&A at the end, with the narrator, and hearing the narrator’s natural/normal voice, really showed how much range he has, as I don’t think that any of the book was narrated with his natural/normal voice.
Very good book, excellent debut, definitely recommend, especially if you enjoy ballet.
Graphic: Homophobia and Islamophobia