Unpopular opinion time: when I think of this book, all I can think of is how nauseated it left me.

I know that You’re Welcome, Universe has connected with a lot of readers; for a lot of people, it was the first time they had seen themselves represented on the page. The power of that is not something I would ever want to take away but oh boy, this was so not for me.

My problems mainly stemmed from my dislike of Julia.

If you know me, you know that I adore flawed or morally grey protagonists. It isn't something I find off-putting. Usually. But Julia? God, Julia rubbed me the wrong way for a lot of different reasons. She was brash and rude and judgemental with little to redeem her.

I'll admit that the YP situation fucking bothered me. A lot. Maybe it hit a little too close to home. Maybe I just have zero tolerance for friendship not based entirely on trust and support. Whatever it is, I would have had no problem with Julia calling her friend YP - short for Yoga Pants - if it was a funny nickname that she was in on too. The fact that Julia does not know her friend’s real name and actively avoids learning it honestly makes me want to cry. Scratch that. It did make me cry. Irl. Which is not like me at all. I am beyond understanding how this is meant to be affectionate. Is something going over my head? It doesn’t scream friendship to me at all. In fact, it broke my heart.

The other thing that bothered me was her relationship with Jordyn. Friendship breakups are rarely touched upon on in YA so I was excited to see it unpacked. The sheer maliciousness of Julia's revenge had me rattled, though. Jordyn was not a good friend,, she was was not even a nice person but that by no means negates Julia's action. It certainly doesn't make up for it.

I know that disabled characters - when written by able-bodied and/or neurotypical authors - often get portrayed as a Sickly Sweet. I truly appreciate the stereotypes that this book tackled. I do. But overall? This book touched a couple of personal nerves for me. It isn't very often a book can get such a diverse physical range of reactions from me. I only wish they had been more positive.

🍂 Rep: Julia (mc) is Deaf and Indian-American; both of her mums are Deaf and one is Indian; Jordyn (sc) is deaf; YP (sc) is in recovery for an eating disorder.

🌻 Trigger warnings for ableism, racism, bullying, and mentions of an eating disorder.