A review by rickireadss
If You Still Recognize Me by Cynthia So

4.75

omg, this is a new favorite YA read for me!!! i loved all the representation. i was gigging and kicking my feet at the conversations around elsie's crushes. i loved the fandom and fanfiction aspect so much (and i WISH that comic was real because i feel like i would eat it tf up). this was such a great ode to a queer coming of age and finding both your community and yourself. this definitely healed a piece of my inner child. i loved all the subplots that were woven into this story and honestly could have read 100+ more pages of these characters.

i think if there had been more on page interaction between elsie and joan,

especially at the end there when they FINALLY confessed their feelings for each other,

and the relationship between elsie and her dad was more fleshed out and explained,

we got so much with her mom, but i felt like her dad was just there,

this would have been a perfect 5 star read for me!

representation: BIsexual Chinese-British MC, Sapphic Indian-British SC, Lesbian Chinese SC, Gay SCs, Queer Biracial (Nigerian, white American) SC, Nonbinary SCs

content warnings:

homophobia, toxic relationship, racism, death, abandonment, emotional abuse, body shaming, dysphoria, xenophobia, racial slurs, panic attacks/disorders