I haven't been this frustrated after reading a book for a long time. It is a super quick read and the theme of serious institutional racism is very clever, but it is so poorly executed I was left scratching my head. The author has clearly worked hard on developing the premise, but it lacked significant depth in developing the story.

The first 300 pages were almost pointless. It felt like the author wrote the book for a much younger audience than the one it was targeted at, and the lack of consistency between schools in the US and UK was such a huge distraction. At the beginning of the novel both characters are made prefects, which isn't something that exists in US schools, and is absolutely nothing to do with the story. It felt like it needed a severe edit, with a push towards more real research. The author also didn't stipulate a city or give the place the characters lived in any depth, it felt like a stitched together idea with no real thought. The author is British and I still have no idea why she set it in the US, because institutionalised racism & homophobia also exists in the UK, and I think could have worked so much better for the wider story. I also wasn't sure what the twist was because it felt like it was lining up all the characters exactly how the ending turned out?

2 stars for a promising idea and the main characters, and I'm hopeful for so much more from this author in the future but this was a major let down for me.