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bowlsofpasta's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Infidelity
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Lesbophobia and Homophobia
psistillreadyou's review against another edition
Reviews deterred me from finishing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
jay_da_bookworm's review
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-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? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Infidelity and Homophobia
Minor: Alcohol
nightlight_reader's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A coming of age novel that is sweet and wonderful.
Biggest warning is that it will backhand you with homophobia/racism without warning. You’ll feel very safe as a reader and then get whiplash as things are suddenly said or done and it’s pretty abrupt.
Otherwise, this is a cute book, there’s such a niche interest of poetry going on here that I really really loved. Sana was such a messy teen protagonist, and I really enjoyed watching her stumble and catch herself as she learned and grew.
Biggest warning is that it will backhand you with homophobia/racism without warning. You’ll feel very safe as a reader and then get whiplash as things are suddenly said or done and it’s pretty abrupt.
Otherwise, this is a cute book, there’s such a niche interest of poetry going on here that I really really loved. Sana was such a messy teen protagonist, and I really enjoyed watching her stumble and catch herself as she learned and grew.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Infidelity
Moderate: Biphobia and Homophobia
Minor: Alcohol and Classism
venice_the_vampire's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
a lot better than i expected, loved the way they wrapped up the families experiences but truly wish they would have fleshed out the actual main relationship of the story better. did have some unexpected beautiful moments, though
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Racism, and Homophobia
Moderate: Lesbophobia and Outing
Minor: Alcohol
thebookvali's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity and Racism
bookishmillennial's review
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- 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
- contemporary young adult coming-of-age set in the SF Bay Area, California, told in first-person POV
- 16-year-old Sana moves to California from the midwest & begins to realize how much racism she used to let slide in her hometown
- Sana meets Jamie, a Latina queer teen, & finds herself torn between Jamie's Latinx friends & her new Asian American friends
- Sana also suspects her father of having an affair
- the way these topics is handled is a bit sloppy & frustrating; my least favorite book by Misa unfortunately
- cw: racism, homophobia, outing, infidelity, annoying ignorant ass kids lmaoooo
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Outing, and Infidelity
ember_is_gay's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
medium-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
2.5
i was super excited for this, I thought it would be a cute little YA lesbian falling in love story with an appropriate amount of drama (like coming out) but there were just so many issues. and issues that never really got addressed.
there was a lot of racism, that the main character was called out on but never really seemed to address, and really kind of expected everyone to forget and move on. like she couldn't see the issue with what she had said or done. i could understand her lack of awareness as a character coming from a predominately white area to a diverse area, but she didn't seem to want to listen or grow. i can appreciate that this is an important issue, especially racism between minority groups, but i do think if it was something that wanted to be addressed to should have pulled more of the focus and have been addressed well. for example, the resolution of sana's racism didn't seem to be that she grew and researched and understood; i have seen others mention that this may have been because of the amount of storylines that were going on that there was a lot to attempt to resolve. i think dropping one of the other storylines to focus on this storyline would have been a lot better so that it could be fully fleshed out and addressed.
the racism from side characters was also not at all addressed aside from small internal comments from sana. what could have been a learning experience was just ignored.
the amount of homophobia and lesbophobia from sana's friends was ridiculous. again, there wasn't really any resolution to this, her friends didn't apologise, sana didn't call them out. it was just accepted. again this could have been a result of trying to resolve multiple storylines, but i think there should have been an appropriate resolution; sana calling them out, explaining, them growing or her cutting them off for not understanding her. like, the literally told her she should date guys despite being a lesbian because she might actually be bi, or she might not have found the right guy yet. and sana just went with it (which then caused a massive issue with the one person who was actually kinda a good friend to her). her friends pressured her into kissing a guy (which she had already done and hated) and then encouraged her to cheat on her girlfriend with him, which she just did. i am not sure if we were supposed to think that sana was questioning her sexuality more than she was written to be, which is fine, people figure their stuff out at their own pace. but she seemed so sure in her identity up until then and seemed to be doing it just to please her friends (weird, and she should have ended the friendship). it just felt generally lesbophobic for a literal lesbian character to go along with cheating on her girlfriend with a guy; like are we not past this stage at this point. if you are going to have characters make this suggestion, at least make it clear that it is not okay for them to do that.
i do think if the cheating hadn't happened i would have been more onboard with sana and jamie getting back together, because what we did see of them was cute, and sana trying to resolve their relationship at the end was sweet. however, i just think the cheating storyline ruined it for me and it wasn't super believable that they got back together because of a couple poems.
also the thing with the dad was just another storyline that was a lot, but at least that one felt resolved and everyone was on the same page and okay and they all spoke about what was happening.
overall, the rep was there and it could have been so good, but honestly there seemed to be too many storylines and too little resolutions, and a lot of unnecessary lesbophobia that was harmful; it was a horrible storyline and the author seemed to think it was acceptable.
the racism from side characters was also not at all addressed aside from small internal comments from sana. what could have been a learning experience was just ignored.
the amount of homophobia and lesbophobia from sana's friends was ridiculous. again, there wasn't really any resolution to this, her friends didn't apologise, sana didn't call them out. it was just accepted. again this could have been a result of trying to resolve multiple storylines, but i think there should have been an appropriate resolution; sana calling them out, explaining, them growing or her cutting them off for not understanding her. like, the literally told her she should date guys despite being a lesbian because she might actually be bi, or she might not have found the right guy yet. and sana just went with it (which then caused a massive issue with the one person who was actually kinda a good friend to her). her friends pressured her into kissing a guy (which she had already done and hated) and then encouraged her to cheat on her girlfriend with him, which she just did. i am not sure if we were supposed to think that sana was questioning her sexuality more than she was written to be, which is fine, people figure their stuff out at their own pace. but she seemed so sure in her identity up until then and seemed to be doing it just to please her friends (weird, and she should have ended the friendship). it just felt generally lesbophobic for a literal lesbian character to go along with cheating on her girlfriend with a guy; like are we not past this stage at this point. if you are going to have characters make this suggestion, at least make it clear that it is not okay for them to do that.
i do think if the cheating hadn't happened i would have been more onboard with sana and jamie getting back together, because what we did see of them was cute, and sana trying to resolve their relationship at the end was sweet. however, i just think the cheating storyline ruined it for me and it wasn't super believable that they got back together because of a couple poems.
also the thing with the dad was just another storyline that was a lot, but at least that one felt resolved and everyone was on the same page and okay and they all spoke about what was happening.
overall, the rep was there and it could have been so good, but honestly there seemed to be too many storylines and too little resolutions, and a lot of unnecessary lesbophobia that was harmful; it was a horrible storyline and the author seemed to think it was acceptable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Lesbophobia and Racism
paigelamoureux's review against another edition
emotional
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Abandonment
sophie42's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Infidelity
Moderate: Homophobia and Outing
Minor: Alcohol