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consumed_by_mold 's review for:
All Hail the Underdogs
by E.L. Massey
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
Oh the amount of yearning in this. How the author managed to create a "will they, won't they?" romance between two immediately attracted characters without it being frustrating is beyond me. The angst feels real and down to earth between these very different teens.
Rome is poor, emotionally constipated, and lacks understanding of racism. Damien is rich, privileged and has abandonment issues. The conflict between them doesn't feel forced and it's beautiful to watch them grow and become better people together.
With many discussions about trauma, race, homophobia, privilege and adoption, this story is ultimately about healing.
There isn't much actual hockey going on, which is fine with me caus I don't know a whole lot about the sport. The writing style is easy to read and very fun. The characters are young and still figuring themselves out.
However, the book didn't talk about poverty as much as I would've liked and the problematic nature of rich people existing in the first place wasn't even mentioned once.
Rome informs himself deeply about racial issues, but Damien doesn't look into what it truly means to be poor at all. He casually waves his credit card around all the way to the end, which is extremely disappointing because being progressive is a huge part of his character and compared to Rome he never truly looks his own privilege in the eye or sees any problem with it.
Does he even know where his parents truly got all that money from? I doubt it and he doesn't seem to care, lmao. It's never an actual issue for some reason.
So yeah, while I enjoyed the slow romance and character development, it left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth by the end and I won't be reading more of this. What can I say, I hate rich people, sorry not sorry.
cw: racism, homophobia, past child abuse (off page), sexual content (no explicit sex scenes)
Rome is poor, emotionally constipated, and lacks understanding of racism. Damien is rich, privileged and has abandonment issues. The conflict between them doesn't feel forced and it's beautiful to watch them grow and become better people together.
With many discussions about trauma, race, homophobia, privilege and adoption, this story is ultimately about healing.
There isn't much actual hockey going on, which is fine with me caus I don't know a whole lot about the sport. The writing style is easy to read and very fun. The characters are young and still figuring themselves out.
However, the book didn't talk about poverty as much as I would've liked and the problematic nature of rich people existing in the first place wasn't even mentioned once.
Rome informs himself deeply about racial issues, but Damien doesn't look into what it truly means to be poor at all. He casually waves his credit card around all the way to the end, which is extremely disappointing because being progressive is a huge part of his character and compared to Rome he never truly looks his own privilege in the eye or sees any problem with it.
Does he even know where his parents truly got all that money from? I doubt it and he doesn't seem to care, lmao. It's never an actual issue for some reason.
So yeah, while I enjoyed the slow romance and character development, it left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth by the end and I won't be reading more of this. What can I say, I hate rich people, sorry not sorry.
cw: racism, homophobia, past child abuse (off page), sexual content (no explicit sex scenes)