This was a really cute, really enjoyable contemporary, and I thoroughly enjoyed the themes that were explored with it! I desperately needed a palate-cleanser after my previous reads, and that's exactly what I got - an easy, breezy, heartwarming read!

Liz Lighty is our very spunky protagonist, and you can't help but root for her throughout this novel. She has a clear set of goals that she wants to achieve at any cost, but she slowly realizes that nothing is truly worth losing yourself for, which I think is a great lesson. I loved her friendship with Gabi, Britt and Stone, I really liked the dynamic between her and her family, I loved the way in which she and Jordan were able to become close again, and I loved her romance with Mack (the switch from Mack to Amanda was immaculate and something that I DIE for every time!!)

That being said, while I really did enjoy my experience with this, I feel like the main area that it lacks in is the writing. As this is a YA and I am clearly not the main intended audience, I can't - and won't - judge it too harshly because of it, but I have to mention a couple of things that really stood out to me.

First, the pacing was entirely too fast and off-balance for my liking. As the chapters were generally kept very short, everything unfolded at the speed of a bullet train, and as a result, the story felt a little underdeveloped to me. We're moving so quickly through scenes and events that we barely have any time to process what just happened in the previous chapters. While this did end up creating a Lighty Fast (HA) reading experience, I do feel like the novel would've benefitted from more pages and more time dedicating to fully developing the story and the characters.

Secondly - and again, I'm not judging the book too harshly because of this, because it was not written for me - I was also very off-put by the constant pop-culture references. I enjoy them when done in moderation, but when you have them on essentially every page, it makes the book feel a bit too tacky for my tastes.

This feels like the book I would've needed when I was in high school myself, or just about to enter it. It's got a very feel-good story, inspiring characters, and a message that little girls (little Black girls, especially) need and deserve to hear - that they are everything, just the way they are, and that they are always worthy of good things. Personally, though, it didn't have as much of an impact and fell a little flat - but if 15-year old Clau would've had a story like this, especially a QUEER story?? She would have been in LOVE!! And any book that teaches kids how incredible they are just by being themselves is a very worthwhile book to experience, I believe!