I'm struggling with my thoughts on this because while I feel like it was at times a poignant, introspective memoir of a trans person there were some messages I didn't agree with in the book.

I felt like the author wanted this to both be a memoir relatable to trans people and also a "trans 101" for cis people. Maybe these two can coexist but I wish Coyote would have chosen a more clear route, either make a memoir/educational book for cis people or write a poignant trans memoir and limit your audience to only trans people, although the audience already is limited with this one.

I disliked some parts in this trying to educate cis people about trans people, particularly public bathrooms came up a lot, where I felt like the author was trying to get cis people to "accept" that trans people existed instead of doing the work to be an ally, but then would counteract these messages while describing their own trans experiences. I was confused on the intended audience and some of the takeaways, but still found parts relatable and sometimes amusing. The writing style wasn't so much my personal taste but still engaging and had moments of great authenticity that I really appreciated. Being as vulnerable about the trans experience as Coyote is in this book is an admirable thing, and I'm glad I can read books like this one even if I don't fully agree with everything in it.

Unironically great YA literature, this was one of the first complete series I read as a teenager and I'm excited to revisit it this year

Read this for class and I'm really glad I was able to do a close reading of it... Taught me so much and gave me new perspectives! I loved the way Lorde wrote about human connections

4.5 ⭐ loved the art and the vampires :3 and even the romance!!

I learned a lot from this - it's a very blunt look at being a Black gay man during the AIDS epidemic. It has incredibly sad and poignant moments, it's funny, it has a rich cast of characters. But it's extremely dialogue heavy, the story picks up then slows down a lot, there's very little descriptive language, I didn't like what they did with the (1) lesbian character, and the characters actions and motives are inconsistent. The MCs past is often mentioned but explored with no depth. The ending is abrupt and supposed to be sad, but lacks the emotion to be impactful. That being said, the amount of research to make this book detailed and accurate must have been insane. 2.5-3 ⭐, still deciding

3.5 ⭐