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elentari7 's review for:
If It Makes You Happy
by Claire Kann
This is book made me happy :) I enjoyed Claire Kann's first YA, but this one's a dream of a book. It's got strong sibling relationships, aromantic and bisexual rep, a queerplatonic relationship front and center, a quiet summer overturned by Shenanigans, figuring out life and identity and how to work through relationships and when it does more harm than good to keep trying, and a beautiful fat Black girl at the center of it all. Winnie's voice is so engaging, and her growth in handling her relationships / desires / family / ill treatment by authority figures is so satisfying. As is seeing a 3D aro-ace character on the page in Winnie's ungirlfriend Kara--their relationship isn't a perfect idyll by any means, but they work on it and support each other and know that they each put the other first, and it doesn't matter what that makes people think of them. The work also involves negotiating Winnie's romantic crush on Dallas, which while also not without its bumps in the road, is a sweet, earnest, and honest relationship. Winnie's familial dynamics are equally important to her life, from her inseparable brother to her younger cousin who needs her to her parents who both lecture and validate her to her granny, whom she adores and resembles. Her asserting her needs amid all these ties of genuine love is not entirely painless, and very relatable. I'd recommend If It Makes You Happy to any reader of contemporary YA; it's just a lovely reading experience.
Content notes: fat-shaming, some in a medical context (Winnie won't stand for it), panic attack, an asthma attack, betrayal of trust in a committed relationship
Content notes: fat-shaming, some in a medical context (Winnie won't stand for it), panic attack, an asthma attack, betrayal of trust in a committed relationship