The most fascinating, heartfelt look at the scene I’ve ever had the joy of reading. This thing reads like a conversation among some of your closest friends about the people whose music you screamed until your lungs gave out. 

Bands I spent countless hours listening to describe the rise (and sometimes fall) of their careers with such frank openness it was sometimes hard to read. They don’t hold back and it was amazing to see.

This is the college textbook for Emo 101 and I loved every single minute of it.

onny garza villa, i will fight you in a whataburger parking lot

Okay, but actually:

Beautiful and devastating, Garza Villa is an expert at making their characters feel like friends I didn't know I was missing. The love and warmth of these characters shines off the page. Genuinely, this is a perfect book and it's going to be hard to top it for my favorite of the year. 

It's the perfect look into first love, the transition into adulthood and leaving behind everything you know for what you really want, and how awful and cruel the world can be for people just trying to exist. I wept the entire last 20% and I can't get over how bitingly honest this story is.

A favorite that I'll be thinking about for a long time to come.

My heart. 

At my big age, I found Sparrow's struggles to be so relatable. I was (essentially) the oldest daughter in my house and my growing up looked a lot like Sparrow's childhood. Seeing such a honest, open look at how "just a kid", as Sparrow says, had to be the strong, responsible one for their parent hit me right in the chest. Having them take on responsibilities they had no business taking on and trying to hold it all together really was nice to see on the page, and I think so important for younger kiddos to read.

Sparrow's journey to find themselves was so pure and still so emotionally raw that I couldn't help but root for them. Finding yourself is tough, and watching someone actively fight finding themselves to make others happy is just as tough, but Sparrow figured it out in the end. And the setting! I would have given anything to grow up in a place like Rainbow House with all it's beautiful queer, accepting residents. The house was one of my favorite parts of the entire story. Aunt Mags is a whole saint. 

This was such a magical, affirming & reassuring story that's honestly going to change young readers lives. It's informative without being preachy or bashing, and I just wanted to hug the whole book several times. I loved it.

You ever read a book and just silently cry throughout the whole thing?

I'm the perfect age for this book to bring up so many memories of late nights spent on message boards, live journal (I'm old old), myspace, and chatrooms forming friendships with strangers that understood me on levels people in my life to this day probably don't.

This book had such a nostalgic feel for me, and it made my heart ache in the best way. I'm a sucker for found family forever and always and the family Suwa and Santi build for themselves in this book is so, so special. I mentioned Myspace already and my emo heart will never fade, so the song lyrics and music aspect of this story also felt very close to home and familiar.

This book just feels special. I loved it