I was originally planning on giving this a 3.5, but this was so earnest that I upped my rating. (Especially because of the last few chapters. Those were beautiful.) I haven’t been familiar with how miscarriage affects the kids of a family, but Hazel gave me a lot of insight. The ways she would try to hide her stress or cope with it were heartbreaking but real for a kid around that age.

Becca got on my nerves, the fallout with her and Hazel was well-done but I think Hazel will have to realize later on in life that staying friends with her isn’t worth it. While I get that Becca didn’t want to be ostracized for her proximity to Hazel, and she worried about Hazel’s opinion for her liking “popular” things, I hated her excuses for being distant. Unfortunately, though, this kind of conflict is also pretty typical for kids just exiting middle school.

I enjoyed the other characters, though! Hazel’s mom and Mimi were great parents that still had their own stresses to deal with, I liked Rowan even if he worsened Hazel’s stress (tbh he was just dealing with the circumstances the best he could as a teen, and when Dinah was born, he was there for Hazel), and I liked Hazel’s friends, Yosh and Carina. (Carina especially!) A lot of the plot was emotional/interpersonal conflict, but Hazel’s school friends made the story a little more fun. (I also really enjoyed the Bernadette subplot.) 

I hope a lot of kids enjoy this! There was a lot said about unconventional families(+ a little bit the pressure to have biological children), the sometimes awkward and sad transitional period between middle and high school, and even some baby ace rep with Hazel.