CW: abuse, alcoholism, car accident, gaslighting, toxic relationship, homophobia, sexual content

This is the June pick for prideathon, and I had high expectations. Every one was met and exceeded, and once again, Jen has knocked me off my feet with her novel.

My favorite thing about this novel is its realism. While I’m nowhere near Emmy’s situation, I could relate to many of her core struggles: questioning her sexuality, self-doubt, unsureness, trying to do the right thing. This is one of the most accurate contemporaries I’ve read in some time, and the characters’ flaws drove that feeling home.

I’d be totally okay if Emmy’s parents and Jessie walked across a room of legos and fell off a cliff, and I want to give all of the main characters a big hug and protect them. I loved that the Queens of Geek characters had a cameo.

This book includes two other things I think make it all the better. Any book I’ve read with music in it seems to be either a character that idolizes a musician or band, or an aspiring musician. Reading about a legitimate band was refreshing, and a lot of fun. I loved the songwriting, the recording, the performances. It was all included and very enjoyable to read.

Also, I honestly appreciate Jen’s inclusion of social media and other media, and how consuming and present it is in daily life. Emmy talks about, checks, and posts to various platforms such as Instagram, Tumblr, and Snapchat throughout the book. There’s also ample discussion of media sites, of headlines and assumptions and the affect of it on reputation as well as mental health.

While this is definitely a harder book to read, it’s effortlessly diverse and I’d highly recommend it if you can.

- Emmy is bisexual
- Alfie is pansexual and genderqueer
- Ryan is Korean and bisexual
- Chloe is black, bisexual, and a nonbinary femme that uses they/them

And those are just the main characters. If I forgot anything or anyone, please let me know, as it was unintentional and I want to be as accurate as I can be.

Going off of that, there’s an f/gq slow-burn romance, a side m/m romance, and a side f/f romance. Basically, everyone’s at least kind of gay and there’s lot of drama and angst and kissing, oh my. These ships quite literally sail* and it was slightly agonizing but mostly wonderful to read.

*there’s an extended period of time where all those involved in said ships are on a yacht. I think I’m funny.

With this novel, I think it’s safe to say that Jen Wilde has become one of my auto-buy authors. This is the second book of hers that I loved, with its lovable characters and satisfying blend of fluff and tougher subjects. It’s relevant, it’s fun, and overall a great novel that I sped through in just a few hours. Very much recommended.

To end, a couple of my fav quotes:

“At least let me eat my damn Froot Loops before you start trolling me about how much of a loser I am.”

“Oh yeah, we’re here and we’re queer and we won’t slow down,
We’re here and we’re queer, white, black, and brown,”

“Don’t mess with the girl in the purple lipstick!”