Reviews with content warning for Racism - Frank e o Amor

I have a lot of thoughts on this one, but overall I did enjoy it.

This book suffered from a lot of the same things other YA novels struggle with. It tried to be creative with structuring and narration in some parts, which I found distracting and unnecessary. It could have been a shorter and still been the same (or even better) story. The female characters were kind of one dimensional. There was a lot of key concepts that were repeated throughout, like thoughts on racism and race in general.

Despite that, I enjoyed it. I liked Frank, I loved Q, I liked his crazy racist parents. I felt he was the most realistic depiction of a teenage boy in YA. He made some really shitty decisions which hurt people's feelings. He was impulsive. He did things I think a lot of adult readers would find really self centred and harsh. The thing is, he's a teenage boy, he's allowed to be self centred. He's allowed to make mistakes and break some hearts and make people really angry at him. He's allowed to feel grief and heartbreak and cry it out to his best friend. He's such a beautiful, fully fleshed out, alive teenage boy I didn't want to say goodbye at the end of the book. For that, I give the author huge props, and it saved the story for me.

Is this book overhyped? Hell Yes.
Should I still read it? Yes, but with a grain of salt. It won't be the best YA romance you've read. To All the Boys I've Loved Before is probably better and cuter and all that. But I think this one is worth a read.

This novel also opens up a lot of interesting and important topics for discussion. Immigration, racism, and race are all very heavy topics. I think a lot of younger readers would get a lot out of these discussions. I think it's also worth noting a lot of the humor in this is extremely juvenile and immature. I actually think some pre-teens would get something out of this book, and would recommend it for younger readers (there is sex in it, but nothing graphic at all, just some general discussions of virginity loss and such.)

I recommend this to anyone who likes a YA romance.

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taliabasma's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

The messages about immigration and first generation Americans were great but Frank was meh. Everyone else was more nuanced than he was but I don’t know something else about it felt off and I just couldn’t enjoy it entirely. Also I thought this was a romance (that what so many people referred to it as) not a fictional novel with a fake dating trope. Due to this, the novel went on forever and ended (well no spoilers) not how I expected. I had to force myself to finish but I probably won’t be reading this authors work as it isn’t romance which I what I wanted 🙃

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turnthepagesbooks's review against another edition

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4.75

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allthingsnerdy's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I loved this take on the "fake dating" trope. I thought it was done well without relying too heavily on lying and sneaking around. I also loved being in Frank's head and life, which was a totally different experience from my own, and having similar realizations and feelings while reading that he had in the book. My only complaint is that I would have maybe liked Frank to talk about himself a little less and give more space to the other characters in the book, but I don't think that took too much away from the story. Would highly recommend!

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annabella's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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bookeandoyeso's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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plumpaperbacks's review against another edition

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I got just under 50 pages into this and decided it wasn’t for me. Normally I’d try to get through another 50-100 pages, but I’ve got several more library books to get through in about a week. There’s nothing wrong with this book; I just don’t feel like reading it and am too short on time to waste any meandering through books I’m not loving.

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hmann's review against another edition

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funny medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Funny and heart warming

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