1quillb 's review for:

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

4.75

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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

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This only thing that prevents me from rating this 5 stars is the (annoyingly) heavy emphasis placed upon keeping Poppy’s identity a secret—I didn’t, and continue to not, understand why not telling everyone that she’s trans is an issue. But seeing as this is written by the mother of a trans kid, I guess I can understand why it focused so much on the effects of “hiding” her identity. I just don’t personally see how it could be a problem.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Transphobia, Medical content, Outing

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Cursing, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Dysphoria