- Book
- Young Adult
- By Sophie Gonzales
- Reviewed by Valerie
The following are out of 5
Racial Representation: 4.5
LGBTQ+ Representation: 5
Disability Representation: 3.5
Body Size Representation: 4
Gender Representation: 4.5
Socioeconomic Representation: 0
Mental Health Representation: 4
Religious Representation: 0
Own Voice: No
This is a really cute gay love story about Will and Ollie. Ollie is the main character and Will is the love interest who is Venezuelan American. One of the only disappointments this book had for me was falling victim to the “white main character and person of color love interest” trope. There aren’t enough main characters of color in these kinds of stories but I’ll move onto the next categories.
Ollie’s Aunt Linda is going through chemo and the book explores how she is dealing with it as well as how much her young children understand about their mother’s declining health. I gave disability representation a 3.5 because even though Aunt Linda was a really developed character, her cancer seemed a tiny bit like a plot point.
One of Ollie’s friends is an aspiring plus-sized model, a popular boy at school has a crush on her, and she has to deal with comments from other girls about her weight. Almost all of Ollie’s friends are girls, and they all have roles outside of being his friend, including one being an accomplished clarinet player.
There are a lot of themes around mental health as the family reacts of Aunt Linda’s cancer, and the struggles of being out in a conservative area. There aren’t really any examples of socioeconomic or religious representation in the book.
Sources:
Diversify the Media Narrative 