This book was not what I expected. My original thought was this was young adult and while it’s about young adults, the writing was so good and felt like it was written for adults. 

If character development is more your thing, then I highly recommend picking this book up. It’s atmospheric and lush in its descriptions of 50s queer San Francisco. The book focuses on Chinese American Lily as she enters her senior year and realizes she’s not like the other girls. She begins to explore that side of her in the midst of the Red Scare and McCarthyism. 

The book takes its time and lingers in moments. It allows the reader to walk with the characters and see what they see. That being said, there’s a tension that lingers between/c it’s the 50s and we know how that period was for queer people. It takes awhile for the main drama to happen and when it does, it isn’t as stressful as I thought it’d be. Lo handles it with grace. 

A complicated book about a complicated time. Worth a read.