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A review by lizshayne
Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
If this is a three, it's a generous three and predominantly because Hibbert is doing something I don't like, not something wrong per se.
And, like getting it out of the way early, the autistic rep is overall pretty good. Hibbert is both aware of the stereotypes and willing to portray them with depth and reality rather than shallowly.
In some ways, if the individuals were less well handled, I'd be less disappointed by the other parts.
I am not, at the best of times, a fan of the drama as created by communication failures. I am, and this has been a frustrating feature of all three of these books, particularly not a fan of it when the story is about three (or six, if you count the heroes) perennially misunderstood peoplefour of whom the text eventually calls autistic and rightly so because I was low-key screaming about that in my reviews of Dani in particular. This series is an absolute goldmine of female autistic representation and then...ugh who find the people who *get* them and then...for plot related reasons, these people who are really good at relating to each other just...can't. Like, I would have loved some more external conflict tearing them apart. External conflict is great. Helping them learn to reach out to each other is great. It's so absolutely frustrating to me that the book plays up their compatibility and then has them screw it up for a romance novel trope that I don't even like.
Again, I fully recognize that this is a "me" problem and this may be some people's thing. But, like, if your heroine is neurodivergent, can't you make your plot diverge a bit too?
And, like getting it out of the way early, the autistic rep is overall pretty good. Hibbert is both aware of the stereotypes and willing to portray them with depth and reality rather than shallowly.
In some ways, if the individuals were less well handled, I'd be less disappointed by the other parts.
I am not, at the best of times, a fan of the drama as created by communication failures. I am, and this has been a frustrating feature of all three of these books, particularly not a fan of it when the story is about three (or six, if you count the heroes) perennially misunderstood people
Again, I fully recognize that this is a "me" problem and this may be some people's thing. But, like, if your heroine is neurodivergent, can't you make your plot diverge a bit too?