I specifically chose this story because I myself am autistic, and look out for autistic representation in comics. I think this book is a decent informative resource for autistic children and those seeking to understand them, primarily when it comes to differences socializing.

I appreciated that Ben's family and teachers accept that the fair thing to do is to alter some of the ways they speak to Ben and explain things to him, and to have patience when he doesn't respond to situations the way they'd expected.

However, I would have really loved to see the people around Ben gain an understanding of what stimming is. Most autistic people have been treated poorly for stimming behaviors, so seeing Ben experience backlash for them was unfortunately very relatable. This portrayal isn't very validating though since the negative treatment Ben receives is never contrasted with any sort of empathy or apology later on. I worry this may send a wrong message to people that rudely telling an autistic person to suppress their stimming is okay.

My other main issue with the book is that the term 'Asperger's syndrome' is used instead of autism. Yet I'm willing to look past that in this instance since the original book this graphic novel is based on was written years before Asperger's and autism were officially grouped together in the DSM-5. 

Overall I think this is a well written story that can be used effectively to teach young people about how autistic and allistic people have different ways of thinking and experiencing the world. It could have definitely been longer and gone more in depth, but I was glad that the story ended on a happy note with Ben feeling understood.

I really loved this story. I don't typically read romances so I wasn't sure I would get invested in it, but Chloe and Red's dynamic was so sweet and electric that it was easy to feel interested in their relationship. 

My primary reason for picking this book was because Chloe lives with fibromyalgia, similarly to myself. This is the first story I've read where the protagonist has fibromyalgia, though it hopefully won't be the last. I felt my own pain and exhaustion and fear easily reflected in Chloe's. The most impactful passage in this book for me was

when Chloe described how she'd gone years undiagnosed, and had to develop her own unhealthy coping mechanisms, which mainly revolved around learning to avoid anything that risked worsening her symptoms or emotional pain.

I've been living my life with the same philosophy since my mysterious aches and everpresent tiredness began as a preteen. Reading Chloe's frustrations and worries reflect my own was as validating as I'd expected, but I wasn't prepared for how rewarding it was to read about her being properly accommodated and comforted by Red. I really hope people as loving as him are real, I feel like I decided they must not be at a very young age. 

My ties to the subject matter aside, I thought this book was generally written well. The descriptions made the characters' world easy to envision, and the dialogue between them felt natural and real. Most of all I loved how the characters were described so lovingly and with almost a magical quality. It made me want to start looking for the lovely ordinary traits in the people I know.

All around this was a rewarding story to read, and I highly recommend it to anyone who'd like to understand more about what it's like to live with fibromyalgia, or for anyone who just likes to read about love between imperfect people striving to improve their lives.

My brain is too fogged to write a good review right now but I know I'll forget to later. I feel like this is the first story I've ever read that solidly understood what I needed to take from it. There's so much that people don't understand about chronic illness, and so much it changes about your understanding of yourself. As Priya later realizes, the symptoms, and the grief they cause, happen to you over and over, always. You have to move on with your life while knowing you'll never feel fully welcome in your own body again, and having to accept that's okay.

I think this story really reminded me that we're never as alone as we may feel, and it's still worth trying to build a life we want to live, even if it feels tentative and fragile. I really loved these characters, they felt like my friends as I was reading the story, and reminded me how healing it is to reach out and build stronger relationships with the friends and family I have in my real life, even when they don't always understand what I wish I could hear from them. Stories and their carefully chosen wordings are meant to soothe those aches for us instead.

I do agree with reviewers of color that a white author doesn't have the personal knowledge to write a character of color as a protagonist as well as they could be written. Race and disability intersect in ways white people aren't made to think about until we listen to our disabled peers of color, and in ways that O'Neal didn't elaborate on in Priya's narrative. In this way her story felt somewhat hollow, and it's what prevented me from rating the book a full five stars. 

I did like that the book was fast paced and partially written in chatroom text. That made it much easier for me to focus on and motivate myself to read. I think this is the first fictional book without pictures I've finished in the last two years. The dialogue flowed well between every character, and sounded like words real people would really say.

I think that's all I can write right now, but I'm sure I'll be thinking of this story long afterwards. It has a significance in my life now that will probably go unparalleled for some time.