A review by therainbowshelf
What Makes You Beautiful by Bridget Liang

lighthearted medium-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I enjoyed this book and recommend giving it a read despite my low rating. It was a fun read and I never disliked it. The characters were sweet, and the book was very much a feel-good story. It captured the feeling of being an LGBTQ teen and being welcomed into your first LGBTQ+ friend group and safe space. The cast was delightfully representative, with trans characters, nonbinary characters, characters with diverse sexualities, Asian American and black characters, and autistic characters. I hope to see more work from this author in the future! 

I have this book a low rating for a few reasons (and I should note that I don't always enjoy general fiction, and absolutely hated YA general fiction when I was a teenager, so some of these things might not bother someone who enjoys this genre): The characters felt underdeveloped. The way characters talked about LGBTQ+ issues established an expectation that everyone is familiar with LGBTQ+ terms and experiences, which may feel alienating for anyone (LGBTQ+ and others) not familiar with it. The conversations often felt awkward and forced. The main character's identity exploration seemed to go from resistant to transitioned way too quickly for the complex feelings that had been established early on. The fight in the music room and the outcome of the fight felt really contrived to me. The obsession the main character had over a crush made the sudden developments at the end of the book feel forced and super weird. Everyone's reactions to the casting of the play felt super weird, and nothing wound up happening with the play, so the whole situation felt like it had a lot of potential and fizzled. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings