This was such a good read. I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed every second. It has found family vibes, diversity in many ways, and the chapter titles are actually hilarious and thematic. 

Honestly, this isn’t my usual style of reading but I had fun. It was cute, had a nice epilogue, and most of the men weren’t unbearable.  

I love anything Jenn writes and will continue to devour these books. I forced myself to wait a bit to read this so the time waiting for the next one wasn’t that long, but I am STILL going to go crazy waiting for the next one. 

This book was just the thing i needed for a quick little gay read! I will say, everyone in this book needs therapy. ASAP. The way they acted went beyond “inexperienced teens making bad decisions” but I don’t know if i can blame them if the adults in their life weren’t interfering? 
The thing I hated the most was the fact that

EVERYONE gaslight Jay into taking the blame for everything and was the only one at fault. Lu was a bad friend, refusing to celebrate Jay despite saying she would, Max broke Jay’s trust telling Tony. Albert was just trying to like a boy and got dragged into this. Also? Max told Jay it was okay to talk to Tony and Albert. Jay had NO experience, why wouldn’t he trust Max who ACTED LIKE THEY WERE A PRO DESPITE NOT BEING AS EXPERIENCED AS HE SAID?????

 

I love it when 🥰🥰. The bond that these characters built from a shitty situation is everything. As a girl who has a similar story, I truly believe these bonds are irreplaceable. I also loved how each character changed and grew into themselves through the book. 

Ari's grow, specifically, means so, so much to me.

i am… hooked. this is the second book by this author that i’ve read and it officially marks an auto-buy author. the way emill writes characters that feel so real needs to be studied because everything the characters did, said, and thought felt like it was happening. i think the reason i liked this book so much is that it celebrates black men who don’t fit the stereotypes often portrayed by the media. the main characters, Amir and Marcel, are unlike any character i’ve read before and i really liked their development as brothers and as men through the book. 

the only way i want apologies to go from now on are “My apology to you is changed behavior going forward” that line gave me chills.

 

I was truly not expecting this book to hit me as hard as it did, but I am so glad it did. Going in, I knew it included aspec representation, so i was ready to love it… but it was truly such a fantastic read. 
From the very beginning to the authors note at the end, the story felt so real and the characters felt alive; i was sad to have finished the book because i didn’t want to lose these characters. 
i’m trying to read more diverse books intentionally and this is a perfect book for that goal. as an american, i know some about native canadians and their struggles, but this book opened up a whole new layer of thinking. I’m excited to do more research into the history. 

Thank you Hannah Bird for sending me an eARC of this book. I’ve read both of Hannah’s other books and I just knew I would love this one too. 
Hannah has a way of writing emotions that make me feel them in the deepest parts of my soul. I felt like the book was happening to me, not just in front of me. And i am so excited for this to go out into the world and shed some much needed light onto such a rough topic. 

A friend of mine started talking about graphic novels and it made me want to start looking into them more. That, plus my 2024 goals of reading books by diverse authors intentionally & reading more non-fiction… this book was a perfect start to that. 
I wasnt expecting to get emotional over a place I’ve never been or a family I don’t know, but the way Laura described Wuhan and her family had me feeling like I was part of it all. It also got me thinking about the places I grew up and how those places may not seem glorious to others but they mean so much to me because of the experiences i’ve had there. 
I will be looking more into Wuhan so I can work to erase any negative connotations I have gained as an American in a post-COVID world because, like Laura said, I was unaware of this place before COVID and my knowledge is limited. I want to learn more.