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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
So grateful for a rom-com that thinks "outside the box"... Although it ended a bit too abruptly for my liking, I loved that it featured a headstrong, black female lead who was confident in both her [healthy] larger body and her Queer/polyamorous identity.
I loved the small town summer vibes and the whole annual royalty engagement thing. I adored Winnie and her relationships with Winston and Sam. Sibling relationships give such joy because they’re one of the most important bonds to me personally. I loved the movie quoting thing that Winnie and Winston do. I feel like a lot of people I know (including myself) quote at each other.
I didn’t fully comprehend Winnie and Kara’s relationship, I’m not sure if the reader is supposed to or not, what’s important is that they’re queer and they care deeply for each other. Seeing Dallas get brought into the group was a lot of fun too. His movements with Winnie made me happy. It brought me a lot of joy to see them connect and understand each other so well, especially Dallas understanding Winnie’s anxiety and physical touch cues.
I didn’t fully comprehend Winnie and Kara’s relationship, I’m not sure if the reader is supposed to or not, what’s important is that they’re queer and they care deeply for each other. Seeing Dallas get brought into the group was a lot of fun too. His movements with Winnie made me happy. It brought me a lot of joy to see them connect and understand each other so well, especially Dallas understanding Winnie’s anxiety and physical touch cues.
3.5 stars
I love a book with a fat protagonist who isn’t trying to lose weight. Plus she is a queer woman of color. All of these things are part of her story, but not all of her story.
I love a book with a fat protagonist who isn’t trying to lose weight. Plus she is a queer woman of color. All of these things are part of her story, but not all of her story.
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
Claire Kann's books are filled with so much love of types that you don't typically see in YA, and I will probably read all of her books until she stops writing them
The narrator of this audiobook was constantly mispronouncing words to the point of distraction. The ending of the book fell a little flat for me.
I think I just read my first book about a throuple. And I think I kinda dug it. Surprised me, too. I love the fat girl self love and the interesting and wholly separate yet well-developed relationships with each of the other characters. Love me some Dallas. And Winston. Cool book. 🤓💜📚
Thanks go Netgalley and Macmillan for the advance Kindle copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for this one. I thought it was going to be a fluffy summer romance, but it turned out to be an exploration of identity and complex family bonds. Winnie spends every summer staying with her grandmother and working at the diner she owns. This summer is no different, except that with high school behind her, she finds herself at odds with her grandmother, who seems to want to control more of Winnie’s life than she’d like. Some of the plot seemed to try to be more complicated than it needed to be, but I love how inclusive the cast is, and think my older middle school readers will appreciate it. And um, CAN I GET A SEQUEL? It left off on a total cliffhanger.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for this one. I thought it was going to be a fluffy summer romance, but it turned out to be an exploration of identity and complex family bonds. Winnie spends every summer staying with her grandmother and working at the diner she owns. This summer is no different, except that with high school behind her, she finds herself at odds with her grandmother, who seems to want to control more of Winnie’s life than she’d like. Some of the plot seemed to try to be more complicated than it needed to be, but I love how inclusive the cast is, and think my older middle school readers will appreciate it. And um, CAN I GET A SEQUEL? It left off on a total cliffhanger.
I enjoyed this one and I had been wanting to read it for a while, sadly I didn't love it as much as I wanted to. It was alright, but chances are I'll forget about it pretty soon. There was a lot happening too, between the beauty pageant and the cooking contest and the diner, it was a bit much for my taste, but I would still recommend it. It was fun for the most part.
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I really didn't like Cara, in my opinion she was quite toxic, they way Winnie had to apologize for not talking to her at an event but she didn't even apologize for basically blackmailing someone into not being near her like a psycho, I mean... nope, sorry, that's too much for me. But aside from that everything was ok.
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I really didn't like Cara, in my opinion she was quite toxic, they way Winnie had to apologize for not talking to her at an event but she didn't even apologize for basically blackmailing someone into not being near her like a psycho, I mean... nope, sorry, that's too much for me. But aside from that everything was ok.
3.5
I KNOOOOOW I keep doing these half ratings but UGH
I have very nuanced opinions okay?
Now, why did this get three stars when it's a 3.5 and others have gotten 4?
Because I almost stopped reading this like three times. Almost DNF. Which never fucking happens.
It was just annoying to read. It wasn't my taste. It was way too expository for me, there was something about Winnie's stage fright that I didn't like, it just made the first couple chapters hard to get through. I skimmed a lot. A lot of the internal monologue just wasn't particularly interesting to me, I don't really feel like it added anything.
It did pick up and I did really like what it did and how it went, but not enough to really push it to the rounding-up portion of a 3.5. I still skimmed things right up to and including the last chapter, which I feel like ended kind of abruptly. But there was a denouement so I can't complain too much.
BUT LET'S GET INTO THE GOOD SHIT
This is the first book I've read with a Queerplatonic relationship as its central focus. And it was so good. It didn't feel like a love triangle, I didn't feel like I wanted Winnie to pick one partner over the other, and it felt very natural and healthy the way everything was talked out. I love how this relationship was shown to be something normal and like something that can work as long as everyone holds to their commitment to communicate and be clear about expectations.
I kind of hated the 'un-girlfriends' thing. I had a minor hissy fit on Twitter about it but I won't
show the tweets because they do not represent my best self. I liked how they DID say the word 'queerplatonic' and had that bit about Googling it because, they're right, it's not something they should have to explain to everyone they meet. Google is free. I just KINDA wish that THAT bit of exposition had happened a bit early in the book because 'un-girlfriend' REALLY pissed me off.
Overall, though, this book filled a niche that I haven't ever seen explored before and I like how well it was handled. A good library read, for sure.
I KNOOOOOW I keep doing these half ratings but UGH
I have very nuanced opinions okay?
Now, why did this get three stars when it's a 3.5 and others have gotten 4?
Because I almost stopped reading this like three times. Almost DNF. Which never fucking happens.
It was just annoying to read. It wasn't my taste. It was way too expository for me, there was something about Winnie's stage fright that I didn't like, it just made the first couple chapters hard to get through. I skimmed a lot. A lot of the internal monologue just wasn't particularly interesting to me, I don't really feel like it added anything.
It did pick up and I did really like what it did and how it went, but not enough to really push it to the rounding-up portion of a 3.5. I still skimmed things right up to and including the last chapter, which I feel like ended kind of abruptly. But there was a denouement so I can't complain too much.
BUT LET'S GET INTO THE GOOD SHIT
This is the first book I've read with a Queerplatonic relationship as its central focus. And it was so good. It didn't feel like a love triangle, I didn't feel like I wanted Winnie to pick one partner over the other, and it felt very natural and healthy the way everything was talked out. I love how this relationship was shown to be something normal and like something that can work as long as everyone holds to their commitment to communicate and be clear about expectations.
I kind of hated the 'un-girlfriends' thing. I had a minor hissy fit on Twitter about it but I won't
show the tweets because they do not represent my best self. I liked how they DID say the word 'queerplatonic' and had that bit about Googling it because, they're right, it's not something they should have to explain to everyone they meet. Google is free. I just KINDA wish that THAT bit of exposition had happened a bit early in the book because 'un-girlfriend' REALLY pissed me off.
Overall, though, this book filled a niche that I haven't ever seen explored before and I like how well it was handled. A good library read, for sure.