This was one of the rare times where I was extremely excited about a debut novel written by a white author. At the back of my mind, I did have reservations but I was nonetheless thrilled to come across a very sex-positive YA contemporary and hopeful that it would illustrate its themes effectively.

The Birds, The Bees, and You and Me is a very well-meaning novel with wonderfully excellent messages about safe sex and consent, but the feminism it advocates... made me feel uncomfortable. Although several good points were made, I observed some... inconsistencies, especially with respect to intersectionality. A lot of elements still screamed THIS IS WHITE FEMINISM. And don’t think I didn’t notice that none of the characters were explicitly described as people of color.

Full review to follow.