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anniekslibrary 's review for:

Redwood and Ponytail by K.A. Holt
3.0

I read an eARC of this novel through Netgalley, in exchange for my honest review.

I generally adore verse novels, so when I came across a sapphic verse novel in a blogpost by Dahlia Adler, I immediately knew I wanted to read it. So I was very excited when I saw I was able to read the eARC already. And while I did mostly enjoy this novel, I have somewhat mixed feelings about it.

Let me start off by saying I think this middlegrade novel is amazing for the target audience: a verse novel for kids about two girls questioning their sexuality and falling in love? YES!

I really loved the writing style as well. It was fairly simplistic, so it won't be too difficult for middlegraders to follow, but it was beautifully written as well. I especially loved the addition of an actual choir, just like in ancient Greek poems!

It's the story in itself I'm a little conflicted about though, because while I liked the characters, I didn't feel like they were distinctive enough a lot of the time. And Kate seemed to be a lot more fleshed out as a character than Tam was, even though both of them are main characters. Because of this, the story didn't resonate with me as much as I hoped it would.

Rep: questioning/lesbian main characters, f/f romance, elderly lesbian couple.

CWs: (internalized) homophobia