I'm so proud to be a part of UQP & AusYABlogger's Australian review tour for the Aussie release of We Are Okay. For all the info and tour stops, be sure to check out the schedule. My blog post with an aesthetic moodbaord can be found here

2019 has been a strange year for me in terms of reading. And March? It’s probably been the strangest reading month I’ve ever had. I’ve barely read, despite being sick and having more time on my hands than normal. I’m in a slump, major time, so you can imagine that when We Are Okay arrived in the mail, my excitement was tainted with some slight nerves.… but I didn’t need to worry.

What I Loved:

Miran. God, I love her. I desperately wanted to reach into the story to make her a cup of tea and give her a bear hug. It was difficult being in her head at times, damn difficult, but the experience was so cathartic. The unrelenting rawness of LaCour’s writing pulled me back into 2017 Rachel’s mind and it was such an emotional journey. Those sort of guttural connections with a character are so personal they can be difficult to convey but Miran story just spoke to me in so many small ways. I know she will be a character who sticks in my heart for a long time.

“But sometimes two people have a deep connection. It makes romance seem trivial. It isn’t about anything carnal. It’s about souls. About the deepest part of who you are as a person.”

Miran & Mabel’s relationship. Mabel was such a special character. Stories exploring relationships between two girls, whether they be romances or friendships or a mix of the two, are some of my favourites and LaCour gave her everything to develop this complicated, messy relationship.

Gramps. I want all the grandparent relationships in stories, please and thank you.

“I used to cry over a story and then close the book, and it all would be over. Now everything resonates, sticks like a splinter, festers.”

The unapologetic queerness without a romance or coming out themes. I didn’t even realise how much I needed more stories like this until now,,, but wow. There is absolutely no denying this is a queer story; it’s soft but there, laced into the very fabric of the story. Mabel & Miran’s relationship plays an important part in Miran’s story as a whole. LaCour didn’t shy away from that; their history was never cast aside or dismissed, but it also never become more of a focus than any other elements. Just like Miran’s queerness was a part of her, it was a part of her story. One facet. The story didn’t play favourites, never putting her trauma and queerness at war, and I love it for that.

…. which ties into No Love Cures All. I know that by 2019 this should be a bare minimum. I know that, you know that, but in reality, we all know we’re not quite there yet. Every time I read a book that centres on a character coping with a tragedy like Miran’s loss, I get a little nervous, but Nina LaCour? She didn’t just avoid the Love Cures All trope. She actively had Miran face it as part of the story. Despite some external pressure from Mabel, Miran says maybe someday she’ll want to be in a romantic relationship but for now, she’s just working on finding a way to be okay. It seems like such a little thing but maintaining that balance, having Miran’s queerness as an intrinsic part of the novel as her healing without a romance was so important to me.

The writing. This is not my first book by Nina LaCour. I read Everything Leads to You a few years ago and one of the most standout things about both of these books is her writing. It’s simple and quiet but the atmosphere she creates so easily is breathtaking. Her characters. The plot and pacing. It’s all so effortless and fluid and wonderful. I want to read all of her backlist immediately.

Overall?

From the first page, I knew We Are Okay was something special. It made me bawl. It made me smile. It reminded me so much of some of my own experiences. It was an emotional gut punch that left me hopeful. It deserves the awards. It deserves to be shouted about from the rooftops. It might be a sad story but at its heart, We Are Okay is a nod to the enormity of surviving tragedy and the difficulty of allowing yourself to be loved. Pick it up. You’ll thank me.

✨ A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

🌻Trigger warnings for grief depiction, depression, suicide, drowning, death of a grandfather and mother, and alcohol consumption.

🍂 Representation: Miran (mc) is queer; Mabel (sc) is queer & latinx; f/f romance.

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