A review by cloudyowls
Ellie Pillai is Brown by Christine Pillainayagam

lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I tried to like this book. And don't get me wrong some of the songs I actually liked. And the ending was so much better than the rest of the book. But the love interest is literally going to uni next year and she is doing her GCSEs. What. Eliie Pillai might be getting groomed is a better title. You can tell there's a lot of love put into the book. But it's just not the best read. Maybe because I am currently in "high school" and it is not the experience described which like I can suspend disbelief but it's just miles off.

Also Hayley was great but the fact she seemed to only like Jess now that she came out as bi is just so odd what on earth.

But the thing is it's not a bad book, the ending is good some of the songs are catchy (it's not revolutionary material but it's good for someone her age). It's just odd. The whole thing has so many twists with no indication of them. The writer is clearly good at writing in my opinion, the book itself just needs some work. I really do like the little doodles though and it felt like a book you shouldn't read in silence even though I did anyway in the end.