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A review by gggina13
Love & Resistance by Kara H.L. Chen
4.0
I love delusional main characters who liken their lives to abnormal situations just to survive
Olivia is really into military strategy, and she specifically applies "isolationist politics" to her own life. She moves around a lot with her mom, changing schools, and she just blends in and stays quiet in order to stay out of drama. Things at her most recent school aren't different, until she gets into it (accidentally, of course) with a racist bully, and is thrust into her sights.
An underground group of misfits seeks her out - they call themselves the NerdNet, and they want to take popular Mitzi down.
So not only do we see Olivia and her group take steps to dismantle the hierarchy at their school, we also see Olivia make close friends and even find a crush in Griff, who was one of the first people to acknowledge her at school.
I think there were some really special conversations about racism. There was also some humanizing of the bully, which Olivia was initially (and validly) not very open to, but to eventually realize that they can deserve compassion for what they're going through at home even while not deserving it for how they treat others is a really poignant message!!!
The romance was super cute, the little pranks and plans the NerdNet had were a little silly, sort of like when Janice Ian tried to take down the Plastics, but yeah I think this is a super fun read for high schoolers and it has some important stuff to say too!
Olivia is really into military strategy, and she specifically applies "isolationist politics" to her own life. She moves around a lot with her mom, changing schools, and she just blends in and stays quiet in order to stay out of drama. Things at her most recent school aren't different, until she gets into it (accidentally, of course) with a racist bully, and is thrust into her sights.
An underground group of misfits seeks her out - they call themselves the NerdNet, and they want to take popular Mitzi down.
So not only do we see Olivia and her group take steps to dismantle the hierarchy at their school, we also see Olivia make close friends and even find a crush in Griff, who was one of the first people to acknowledge her at school.
I think there were some really special conversations about racism. There was also some humanizing of the bully, which Olivia was initially (and validly) not very open to, but to eventually realize that they can deserve compassion for what they're going through at home even while not deserving it for how they treat others is a really poignant message!!!
The romance was super cute, the little pranks and plans the NerdNet had were a little silly, sort of like when Janice Ian tried to take down the Plastics, but yeah I think this is a super fun read for high schoolers and it has some important stuff to say too!