Toby is 15 years old. She lives with her grandparents in a small Ontario town. It's the 90s. And when Toby was 10, she found her mom dead on the floor of their apartment. She had overdosed.

This trauma has haunted Toby ever since. She never met her father, since he took off before she was born. But now, her father is coming to visit. She's only heard a few stories about him. She doesn't know that he's a Drag Queen.

Without being heavy and horrible, this book was a very powerful read given the difficult themes and subject matter that it was based around. I think it handled mental health and coming of age in a very graceful way. A word of warning because there are two passages with descriptive suicide scenes, so if that is a trigger for you, please be aware. The author writes this story well, and I would read more books by him in the future.

This is a book about acceptance, both of one's own self and of others. It's a book about family and community, and the different forms that can take. And the characters are all very lovable in their own quirky ways.

I loved the small-town 90s setting, because it discusses LGTBQ+ issues in a time when social media wasn't existent and this community felt even more marginalized then they do now. I think this was a great choice of a setting and timeline on the author's part.

I would definitely recommend this book if you are looking for YA fiction that handles tough mental health issues in a sweet and graceful manner.