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qace90's review
2.0
I received an advance copy from the publisher via Netgalley for review purposes. This in no way influences my review; all words, thoughts, and opinions are my own.
Content notes:
Content notes:
littlemissstar55's review
1.0
I received an e-Advanced Reader Copy from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. This did not impact my views.
Content warnings include: bullying, homophobia, repeated outing of queer characters against their will, cheating, toxic definition of queerness, religion, homophobic authority figure threatening queer teen, TONS of public humiliation and second hand embarrassment.
I actually DNFed this at 41%
I couldn't get passed the disgusting homophobia, the constant outing, the unsavoury remarks, etc. And the fact there was a "cleansing fund" set up for the students to cleanse themselves after being around Mack, the main character.
The "tropes" in this are so horribly outdated, and a lot of the focus is on how bad/disgusting/sinful being gay is.
I was expecting a nice lesbian/queer/wlw story where Mack gets a girlfriend on the cheerleading squad and is happy and gay and positive. Because far out, us gays need that FAR more than we need yet another story filled with rampant homophobia telling us how bad and gross we are.
0.5/5 stars. This was horrific to me.
Content warnings include: bullying, homophobia, repeated outing of queer characters against their will, cheating, toxic definition of queerness, religion, homophobic authority figure threatening queer teen, TONS of public humiliation and second hand embarrassment.
I actually DNFed this at 41%
I couldn't get passed the disgusting homophobia, the constant outing, the unsavoury remarks, etc. And the fact there was a "cleansing fund" set up for the students to cleanse themselves after being around Mack, the main character.
The "tropes" in this are so horribly outdated, and a lot of the focus is on how bad/disgusting/sinful being gay is.
I was expecting a nice lesbian/queer/wlw story where Mack gets a girlfriend on the cheerleading squad and is happy and gay and positive. Because far out, us gays need that FAR more than we need yet another story filled with rampant homophobia telling us how bad and gross we are.
0.5/5 stars. This was horrific to me.
gracew's review
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Oooof. Look I'm not as mad about this as some other reviews have been. It's... It's fine. It just reads like middle school fanfiction instead of a published, fully realized novel. The writing style, the plot, the characters, they are just all a little too simple, a little too obvious, a little too on the nose. It's cute, it's fine, it is just that "fine" is about as nice a word I can come up with. There's not much meant in the story plus the homophobia displayed by the majority of the school is also a little... outdated. It reads more like when I was in high school than what I've seen today. Not that homophobia isn't legit still a thing, only that schools, even private catholic schools, can't really get away with that level of it anymore. IDK it's more or less a CW tv show put in a book but with more canon gays. Not for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
synth's review
1.0
In all honesty, I think quite a number of people might like this, it reads entirely like a basic Netflix romcom à la Half of It (but more romantic) or Love, Simon. This was a list of cliché after stereotype, with a main character that reads like a romcom teenage boy.
She is self-centered and selfish, and has both low self-esteem and the compensating cocky arrogance, which all translates to using girls disrespectfully, and as props to her ego, in the name of... I don't even know what, fun or revenge or self-acceptance. Everyone praises her and seems to like her despite her being this awful.
And of course it all ends well with a stupid prom scene where everyone "unionizes" around her,standing up and saying they're gay so she doesn't get expelled , while they had no issue laughing at her when she was outed and mocked. And okay it's hard to stand up to your friends and to a whole school on your own, but then we see none of the work necessary for any of them to do that, the only explanation we get is the MC acting impulsively in anger and "just doing her thing" somehow translating into positive action (which includes cockily claiming she'll steal all the cheerleaders from their boyfriends, and no one questions the misogyny of it, and the MC keeps insisting you can't convert anyone to gayness as if she didn't just imply that with her anger-induced self-imposed challenge and as if she doesn't actively try to do so for a big part of the book *eyeroll*).
She is self-centered and selfish, and has both low self-esteem and the compensating cocky arrogance, which all translates to using girls disrespectfully, and as props to her ego, in the name of... I don't even know what, fun or revenge or self-acceptance. Everyone praises her and seems to like her despite her being this awful.
And of course it all ends well with a stupid prom scene where everyone "unionizes" around her,
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