My overall impression is that this is a nice, heartfelt read. 3.5 Stars

The premise is that three young adults in a 1900s village in Norway create their own found family after their community basically shuns them. (Although, in reality, there are four of them. Not sure why they leave one character out of this.). Their way of life flies in the face of this traditional Christian town because none of them want to conform for everyone else's "comfort."

I really enjoyed that we get to witness each of these characters coming into their own, rather than being thrust into the midst of it. This book shines in showing personal and intra-personal conflicts. I also love that the author lovingly constructs this family where internally they accept themselves and each other, despite the town.

The story itself is simple and character-driven, and there's a lot to love about these reckless youths.

Let's address the elephant in the room: it's billed as a diverse cast, and it IS, however, it is not racially diverse. I think the representation the book does show is great, however, I also think it's important to identify or other readers WHO is being represented. Each and every protagonist (which is great, you don't see that often) is either LGBTQIA, has a physical disability, or struggles with mental illness. In several cases, there's overlap. We even get an awesome Ace character who is portrayed really well. While I think there could have been room for more racial diversity, it seems to have been a choice based on time period and location.

Also, the author shares some really interesting historical insight at the end of the book as to how she chose to represent certain disabilities, to be more correct for the time period without also being ableist. I think this is phenomenal and should be the norm for authors. It's proof that you don't have to resort to slurs just because they may have been historically accurate.

(Although I did find it weird to keep referring to the Pagans as heathens....they even called themselves that.)

All in all, it's a sweet story about marginalized teens who form deep familial bonds and support each other. Even when it's hard, and it feels like the world is against them.

It's kind of hard to put my finger on what would have made this a GREAT book instead of just a GOOD book, for me. The dual perspectives also confused me at times. However, I know this will be a great book that many people will see themselves in. I myself related to Asta on many levels.

Content Warning: physical abuse, suicidal ideation, dark humor (joking about suicide), animal abuse. All in all, fairly mild, except one of the protagonist's constant talk about offing himself did bother me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Soho Press for sending me an ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.