#1) Not Your Sidekick ★★★★☆
#3) Not Your Backup ★★★☆☆

quick thoughts:

• i'm so disappointed
• bells is one of my favourite characters but i realllllly didn't like the plot
• the first 40% of this book is a recap of the first book from bell's pov. it was so unnecessary and made the story repetitive and rushed the ending
• i also just .... didn't ship bells & emma that much
• bells' voice felt really passive. jess had such a clear, unique voice so i don't know what happened
• the fact that bells' transness was so central to the story was wonderful. he talks about how shapeshifting affects his gender dysphoria and practising giving himself t-shots when he goes away for training

➸ Trigger warnings for

gender dysphoria, ableist language, needles mentioned, hormone replacement therapy mentioned, physical assault, kidnapping, human medical experimentation, explosion, imprisonment, fire, and disappearance of a loved one

.

▷ Representation: Bells (mc) is a (bi?) Black trans boy; Emma (sc) is Latinx, questioning aroace & has two mums; Jess (sc) is bisexual & Chinese-Vietnamese; Abby (sc) is a lesbian; Brendan (sc) is gay (?) & Chinese-Vietnamese; queer, hijabi, & bipoc scs.

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