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A review by axl98
Maxine Wore Black by Nora Olsen
4.0
I went in expecting a mystery novel, and ended up with a mish-mosh of a murder mystery, a coming-of-age story, an abusive relationship, and it was fantastic.
First of all, Jayla is the first transgender character in a novel where I didn't cringe even once when reading. She wasn't preachy, she wasn't perfect, and she was realistic and organic and just an overall good character. Her experiences with being a transgender woman were incredibly well done, without being the main plot of the book, and I loved it. The plot itself mostly revolved around the relationship between Jayla and Maxine, and it's evolution into becoming *spoilers* horribly abusive had me flipping the pages as fast as I could, internally begging Jayla to escape and for someone else to help.
Overall, this book was nothing like I expected, but it was still a fantastic read.
First of all, Jayla is the first transgender character in a novel where I didn't cringe even once when reading. She wasn't preachy, she wasn't perfect, and she was realistic and organic and just an overall good character. Her experiences with being a transgender woman were incredibly well done, without being the main plot of the book, and I loved it. The plot itself mostly revolved around the relationship between Jayla and Maxine, and it's evolution into becoming *spoilers* horribly abusive had me flipping the pages as fast as I could, internally begging Jayla to escape and for someone else to help.
Overall, this book was nothing like I expected, but it was still a fantastic read.