The frustration of being unheard as a child and uprooted to a new city with no input was immaculate. I felt for Maya’s struggles, and this is probably very relatable to kids whose parents own restaurants. But Maya’s parents were leaning too hard on her—everything else I unfortunately found very lackluster and boring. 

Despite the change to a different artist, Whittle's illustrations are sleek and complementary to the story and characters. I like the fashions and the anime-like expressions.

Jessica is still a terribly vain, stuck-up child. Her popular friends are the <b>worst</b> they have ever been in this volume with bullying the new character Nora. The <I>Carrie</i> vibes are strong here! Also, ending spoiler:

I think Jessica should’ve snitched on her sister to the parents about the bullying, but it is a nice step of agency that Elizabeth apologizes on her own.

I never knew or was interested in Sweet Valley, but I hope the series is building toward character development for Jessica staying to the next book. It would be a unique turn though it will probably keep the status quo for the twin dynamic.

I really wanted to like this more, but the narrative voice just felt too heavy-handed. If you can't take strong second-hand embarrassment or impending doom, you may have to sit this one out.

The chemistry between Nora and Bear was entirely physical. Everyone can just tell they're in heat, for some reason LOL??? Like, if Nora stepped outside 'Ehmmh girl, that's why that coochie throbbing.' Or, if Bear breathed "Whoa, you really want to crack her back, huh?" How do y'all know this? Are they giving off pheromones or something? Let me feel the sexual chemistry, don't just tell me.

Pet peeve: why this man can't ever take her to an actual bedroom? out in the woods? dingy supply closets? in the backroom of a charity function? what is going on lol? also, why was Bear's skin always turning purple?

Bear didn't seem to care that Nora was viewed as a jumpoff in front of his community. every time your people see her, it's because you're bringing her into a closet.

I thought Nora mothered Bear way too much, and the majority of Bear's thoughts were just about how horny he was for Nora, which may be realistic for most men, but it left their connection feeling flat. I'm sorry, but throughout most of this I was like Bear doesn't have his life together. Clean your house before you bring another woman into this.

Yanne (at times, Nora) in particular is cringeworthy, and I understand this is probably a vehicle to introduce Abenaki/Native American cultural elements. But no one talks like this in real life. The dialogue was bloated. You're just left feeling like this is a very "special" episode. I feel this could have been weaved in more naturally. 

I get Lu's plight, but she started irking me something awful. She's the type of chick you want to physically fight, but she made valid points. Lu was ruthless and about her ends. While she did make me want to itch, I liked her too in a way. Also... 

Ending spoiler

the last hookup scene. Nora, self-respect now. How are you letting him fondle you this easily while you still think he's GETTING MARRIED to someone else? She should've been dried up, and he should've been begging on the floor.

also, they kept saying Bear was this sex god, and it didn't really seem like it. i promise I'm not trying to be overly critical, but stuff wasn't computing

On the positive, I found Yanne funny at times. Her whimsical nature and love-hard personality were fun. Nora was obviously the more straight-laced one. I felt deeply for her being on the brunt of "slut-shaming" and raggedy boyfriend. When women's sex tapes are exposed without/with their consent, society judges them ruthlessly while their male partners go unscathed. I also felt the amount of responsibility and family conflict on Bear's shoulders and liked that he was so understanding. And the hair braiding scene was nice.

Also, I liked Yanne and Brandon way more than Nora/Bear. Come on, stuffy-but accountant with the carefree wildchild? Too fun.

Overall, this story left me stressed, so I didn't enjoy it or the love scenes. But the conflict was masterful. Like, it all starts brimming up in a volcanic mess of interpersonal relationships and anxiety toward the end. I preferred the drama over the romance.

This was fun. Wonderfully dumb overall. 

There is a cliche

Act 3 breakup, but it does get resolved eventually. I also like the small bit of development Luke got

dnf @ 107 pages/ 32%

This story wasn’t suited for me, and I love character-driven stories.

Over 100 pages passed, and we were still stuck in Libertie’s DRY, wide-eyed perspective as a child, working with her ‘high yellow able to pass’ doctor mother. 

Libertie realizes the robotic sterileness of her mother and her difficulty with connecting to people. She learns her mother isn’t perfect.

Her mother had a way of helping former enslaved and descendants of the enslaved escape by putting them in temporary coma-like states. That is beyond interesting and startling terrifying, but the execution was too boring.

I didn’t even meet the Haitian man Libertie would marry because we were stuck with the child version of her. Nothing in the narrative voice was endearing to me despite the spotlight on intelligent Black women.

I gave this 100 pages to get better, but I don’t have 100 more to give.

I'm a Mr. Whiskers stan.

 I thoroughly enjoyed the portrayal of the awkward phase where every middle schooler seemingly appears interested in romance and/or relationships. At the same time, some are just focused on being a kid/feels left out of that.

Tariq, whose arrival is the story's catalyst, was a sweetie and a popular, feel-good guy. I thought the story was going in one direction, but it subverted it.

Of course, Kinsey was just a “pity date;” they cleaned that up fast. *eye roll* Really thought the story was showing that just because you’ve known someone longer or most people think you should be together doesn’t entitle you to their feelings.

I adored the art style! Everyone looked cute and stylish. The little brother character was realistic and charming because I have seen those kids who hyper-fixate on something; in his case, ants!

Overall, I liked it and would read more if this became a series. There was a good balance with characters not being black or white. Addy didn’t go the typical route nor did the story.