Reviews

The thing about this book is that it's a slow-moving, pensive story of the main character Elsie's final summer before university and her journey throughout that summer. And the thing about me is that I couldn't stand the main character, so by the halfway mark, I was considering DNFing and powered through until the end. Elsie seems incapable of learning any piece of information about anyone else in the world and not making it all about her, and this sense of everything being all about her and what she would do and how she felt was the impetus of basically every plot point in the book. She has a pie-in-the-sky commitment to tracking down this woman her Internet's friend's grandmother knew in the seventies (pure delusion that reminded me of Camp and made me think these people should get a restraining order against her) and is generally a bad or just tepid friend to all the fantastic people in her life. There are so many interesting stories circling the central one, from Elsie's mom and uncle and grandparents to her love interest to even her best friend. Yet nothing can ever be about any other person. All the stories are ultimately solely about her, leading her to act or react in frustrating ways, and all these people forgive her instantly whenever she does something questionable or just plain invasive. And of course this is her story, but her story seems to be made up only of meddling with other people's lives!

The book itself was well-written enough - there weren't glaring issues with the plot structure or character writing, per se, and I'm talking myself into upping this a quarter-star because the actual writing was fine. The MC was just so deeply unlikable to me and the story seemed so focused on making sure that she was always forgiven and never asked to change in any meaningful way.

ivet28's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

4.5

Wow. This little book managed to contain so much comfort, love and as warm as beloved friend's hugs words I can't even count properly. Its a very simple story, about love to other people as much as live to your family, about understanding emotions and unraveling yourself from the mist of past. There isn't much happening, so if you're looking for action-packed YA novel you may feel disappointed.But characters' creation is stunning, and the writing is something absolutely wonderful. I loved it with all my little heart. This book was written for me. I'm literally not lying. With every new character and every new development was something new that resonated with me so deeply I almost refused to believe this book was real.

olivesandashes's review against another edition

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5.0

the summer before starting university, Elsie decides to impress her internet friend and crush with a grand gesture. and then she runs into her childhood best friend, who ignored all of her letters and emails after moving away. there's also making new friends, reconnecting with her family (including the grandmother she hasn't seen in years), getting her first job, and figuring out the reason her family hasn't gone back to Hong Kong in 8 years (which no one wants to talk about)

i haven't read nearly enough sapphic novels so i was looking forward to this, but i didn't expect to love this book so much. this is definitely a coming-of-age story, one of exploring your identity and figuring out who you are - not just for Elsie, but for her friends and family as well

there are so many queer characters, i love it! the cast includes bisexual, lesbian, gay, nonbinary, and asexual (which is always appreciated!) characters, including some older queer individuals and people of color. i also appreciated that despite this being a romance novel, romance was far from the only thing going on. there are so many important messages in here about society's expectations, homophobia, gender roles, the importance of friendship, etc. nothing stood out to me as negative, distracting, or something i didn't like

sulphuric's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted sad 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

4.0

may870538's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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

3.75

kappareads's review against another edition

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3.5

EARC from NetGalley. All opinions my own.

If You Still Recognize Me is about Elise, a bisexual British-Hong Kong teen, just trying to make it through the summer between secondary school and university. There is a lot going on in her life as her grandma is visiting for the first time in eight years, she’s trying to find a job, crushing on her fandom friend, and her childhood friend reappears after years of radio silence.

I really enjoyed this book! I felt it was able to juggle all of the aforementioned plot points really well and all contributed to Elise’s character development. I did want more between Elise and her friend, Ritika, because I feel some things weren’t fully hashed out.

I loved how queer so many of the main characters were and how they all are queer in different ways. Each character is at a different stage in their queer journey; there are old and young queer characters and some are completely out to family, some aren’t at all.

I enjoyed this book and rated this book 3.5 stars!

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