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A review by fpgreviews
Nobody in Particular by Sophie Gonzales
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I adored this book!
The characters all felt well-rounded and realistic (even the antagonist, unfortunately their behavior was also fairly realistic) and the relationship between Rose and Danni developed in such an adorable way.
It felt similar to Red, White and Royal Blue, which I've watched the movie of, and I'm so glad that a sapphic royal romance was published. I also like that the gay characters referred to themselves with specific identity labels like bisexual and lesbian, as I really do feel like there is an under-representation of lesbians as sympathetic characters in media these days.
The unique issues that gay people experience, such as bisexual people being assumed to be non-monogamous and gay people overall being outed against their will, were explored well in the book as well. It was also interesting to see the book touch on deportation.
This book wasn't only a romance, it felt like a book that touched on serious issues as well. I didn't anticipate the grief and alcohol/drug use to be such a significant theme of a book like this, but that was also handled well. I think it was also realistic that teenage intimacy was depicted a little bit, since it's not like sexual attraction suddenly shows up when someone turns 18, and attraction to other females can especially be stigmatized. It was tasteful, and certainly not particularly more explicit than what is depicted between heterosexual couples in YA. The emphasis on sexuality and drugs and alcohol definitely puts this book in the upper YA category for me, although some reviewers have confusingly said that it is young for YA. That doesn't make sense to me, since the characters are all fairly mature both emotionally and in their behaviors with drugs and alcohol.
The characters all felt well-rounded and realistic (even the antagonist, unfortunately their behavior was also fairly realistic) and the relationship between Rose and Danni developed in such an adorable way.
It felt similar to Red, White and Royal Blue, which I've watched the movie of, and I'm so glad that a sapphic royal romance was published. I also like that the gay characters referred to themselves with specific identity labels like bisexual and lesbian, as I really do feel like there is an under-representation of lesbians as sympathetic characters in media these days.
The unique issues that gay people experience, such as bisexual people being assumed to be non-monogamous and gay people overall being outed against their will, were explored well in the book as well. It was also interesting to see the book touch on deportation.
This book wasn't only a romance, it felt like a book that touched on serious issues as well. I didn't anticipate the grief and alcohol/drug use to be such a significant theme of a book like this, but that was also handled well. I think it was also realistic that teenage intimacy was depicted a little bit, since it's not like sexual attraction suddenly shows up when someone turns 18, and attraction to other females can especially be stigmatized. It was tasteful, and certainly not particularly more explicit than what is depicted between heterosexual couples in YA. The emphasis on sexuality and drugs and alcohol definitely puts this book in the upper YA category for me, although some reviewers have confusingly said that it is young for YA. That doesn't make sense to me, since the characters are all fairly mature both emotionally and in their behaviors with drugs and alcohol.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Grief, Lesbophobia, Outing, Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual content
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation
the sexual assault is sort of debatable. It's called sexual assault in the narrative, but the characters were both drunk and one of them was confused and thought the other one was flirting with her, so I'm not sure how serious it is as sexual assault especially since it's sort of forgiven in the end.