A review by luananki
Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

i don’t know how to put into words that i absolutely love this book. there wasn’t a single page i didn’t fall in love with. i did not want the story to end.
there is so much representation and not only queer representation but also the struggle of being an interracial child, i related to ophelia a lot.
her not being able to open up and basically pushing everyone away even though she clearly needed someone to talk to and her being scared of destroying the “perfect” imagery her friends and family created of her in their heads and her feeling like she doesn’t truly belong with any culture.
i get her, on almost every level.

wes is (like the author mentions in the acknowledgments) a precious cinnamon roll. i’m so glad he became friends with ophelia
and supported her even though they didn’t even really know each other in the beginning.
he also sounds like a very comforting person to be around. the development of their relationship was one of the thinks i enjoyed the most throughout this book.

i had fun with every single character. their friend group made so much sense. all of them felt real because they all had their own ongoing struggles and flaws to deal with. the emphasis on healthy communication, saying sorry and that queer relationships are about more than having sex, as well as friendship and that no relationship is more important than the other make me so happy. 
sammie and agatha are amazing and also lindsay (i appreciate the relationship between her and ophelia so much, it’s sort of painful but also very real) and o’s parents and the youth center and the unexpected aro and ace representation - loved it

i was expecting it to be a full on romance book but i’m even happier it turned out the way it did. the ending fits the story perfectly.
this was a treat in so many ways. i wish i had this when i was younger. 

i will hopefully come back to this one day and decide to reread because good queer latine representation is really something i need more of.
thank you racquel marie for writing this story and thank god for booktok for getting this on my fyp <3
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