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A review by just_hebah
Color Outside the Lines: Stories about Love by Sangu Mandanna
4.0
I really like the idea behind this collection of stories--a diverse array of interracial teen love stories that explore issues that come up and also show that those differences can be things that are enriching as well as sometimes complicated. However, I'm not sure love stories necessarily make for fulfilling short stories. Shorter pieces felt more like vignettes than full stories, or little more than meet-cutes--crushes, not love stories.
The stories I enjoyed were the ones that had longer to develop both plot and character. Tara Sims' "Death and the Maiden" was a f/f Hades/Persephone retelling that was absolutely darkly gorgeous. Samira Ahmed's "The Agony of a Heart's Wish" is set in 1919 India and lingers over the connection between a young Indian woman and an Irish soldier who bond over a shared love of poetry. They're among the longer selections and have time to develop true conflict and characters.
One last thing, though, was that I was expecting a bit more LGBTQ+ representation than the books actually had, which is unusual for a young adult collection, usually leagues ahead of adult publishing in terms of representation. What was here was good, for example, Sims' story mentioned above, or Adam Silvera's adorable meet-cute between two fantasy-loving readers in a bookstore, or even L.L. McKinney's "Your Life Matters," where the pressure facing the f/f relationship in it stems more from the matter of one girl's racist father than it does from them being queer. I wasn't unhappy with what was here; I just wanted more intersectionality because it would have made for even richer stories.
The stories I enjoyed were the ones that had longer to develop both plot and character. Tara Sims' "Death and the Maiden" was a f/f Hades/Persephone retelling that was absolutely darkly gorgeous. Samira Ahmed's "The Agony of a Heart's Wish" is set in 1919 India and lingers over the connection between a young Indian woman and an Irish soldier who bond over a shared love of poetry. They're among the longer selections and have time to develop true conflict and characters.
One last thing, though, was that I was expecting a bit more LGBTQ+ representation than the books actually had, which is unusual for a young adult collection, usually leagues ahead of adult publishing in terms of representation. What was here was good, for example, Sims' story mentioned above, or Adam Silvera's adorable meet-cute between two fantasy-loving readers in a bookstore, or even L.L. McKinney's "Your Life Matters," where the pressure facing the f/f relationship in it stems more from the matter of one girl's racist father than it does from them being queer. I wasn't unhappy with what was here; I just wanted more intersectionality because it would have made for even richer stories.