At Certain Points We Touch by Lauren John Joseph Mini Monday Review (Spoiler Book Review)| CarenzaOnBooks

Today's Mini Monday review is for At Certain Points We Touch by Lauren John Joseph. I was kindly sent a digital copy of their latest release via NetGalley, so thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy to read. Normally, these posts are spoiler free, but I can't figure out how to talk about this book without discussing potential spoilers. It's now out in the UK in hardback and kindle editions. 

Taken from Google Images

Plot

It's four in the morning, and our narrator, a trans writer living in Mexico City, is walking home from the club when they realise that it's February 29th – the birthday of the man who was something like their first love. Piecing together art, letters, dirty DMs and memory, they set about trying to write the story of a doomed love affair that first sparked and burned a decade ago.

Ten years earlier, and our young narrator and a boy named Thomas James, long aware of one another across bars and readings and other murky late-night gatherings, fall into bed with one another over the summer of their graduation. Their ensuing affair, with its violent, animal intensity, its intoxicating and toxic power play, will initiate a dance of repulsion and attraction that will cross years, span continents, drag in countless victims – and culminate in terrible betrayal.

A riotous, razor-sharp bildungsroman, narrated with caustic wit and deep sorrow, At Certain Points We Touch is a story of first love and last rites, conjured against a vivid backdrop of queer London, San Francisco and New York - in all their colour, struggle, decadence and resilience.

Taken from Goodreads.

What I Liked

One of the few things that I liked about this book was how diverse the characters were. Our main character was trans, there were various sexualities represented, characters from all over the world and different backgrounds. I don't think I've ever read a book so diverse as this. Sadly, this is where my glowing praise for the book ends as it was basically the only thing I liked about this book. 

What I Didn't Like 

Which means it's time to talk about the things I didn't like about this book. The main relationship between Bibby and Thomas was beyond toxic. It was abusive. I despised Thomas, he was just an awful character with no redeeming qualities. Bibby was one of those characters that would never do anything to help themselves and would complain about how bad their life was. Having read a little bit about the author, there are similarities between the characters. Both were born in the UK, educated in America and went onto become successful writers in various fields. I just couldn't stand either of the main characters. It seemed they used sex to try and fix their relationship. And it was always quite graphic, brutal sex. Every time there was a sex scene, it was uncomfortable to read. Most of the reviews on NetGalley were four or five stars, and then there was mine at two stars. I probably wouldn't recommend this book as it just wasn't a good book due to the characters, plot and poor writing. Normally, I would refrain from talking about a book so negatively as I don't think it's helpful to other readers and reviewers, but I would not recommend reading this one.

What did you think of At Certain Points We Touch?? Did you have a better reading experience than me??

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston Book Review (Contains Spoilers)| Carenza Bramwell

Title- One Last Stop

Author- Casey McQuiston

Series- N/A

Published-2021 

Page Count- 417 pages

Publishing House- Macmillan 

Genre- LGBT, Romance

Rating- 4/5 stars

About the Author

Hi, I'm Casey!
I'm a writer—books, essays, books, articles, books. I live at the intersection of fun, escapist romantic adventure and smart-mouthed characters with bad manners and big hearts. I was born and raised in the Deep South, which taught me how to love a good story and a great biscuit, and now I live and work in New York City with my dog, Pepper. I’m represented by Sara Megibow at KT Literary.

Taken from Casey's website. 

Plot

From the New York Times bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue comes a new romantic comedy that will stop readers in their tracks...

For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures.

But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.

Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather jacket to save August’s day when she needed it most. August’s subway crush becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon, she discovers there’s one big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker. She’s literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her. Maybe it’s time to start believing in some things, after all.

Casey McQuiston’s One Last Stop is a magical, sexy, big-hearted romance where the impossible becomes possible as August does everything in her power to save the girl lost in time.

Taken from Goodreads. 

Opinions 

My reading month in June, which you can read my wrap up for here, wasn't great. A slight spoiler for that post was that this was the only book in June that I didn't give 3/5 stars. I read Casey's other book, Red, White and Royal Blue in August 2019 in Bruges (oh what I'd give to be on holiday right now, but I'll wait until it's safe to travel again) and I really enjoyed it. Her books are summer hits, perfect to be read during the summer months. Who doesn't love a good, fluffy and funny romance when it gets warm outside? After a bleh reading month, and it also being Pride Month, I needed something fun to read and this hit the spot. I flew through it in 4 days.

That being said, I can't not mention that it was a bit predictable. As soon as it was mentioned that August's uncle vanished in 1973, I knew he was connected to Jane. It wasn't a surprise when it was revealed that they knew each other. They even had the same name! I do wish they hadn't had the same name, like something similar would have been nice. It also got a bit confusing at times, especially when I was a bit tired. Like which August or Augie am I reading about now? It was also predictable that August and Jane would end up together, with a happy ending. But it was a good predictable, the right ending. It was part of the reason why I took a star off as I like to be surprised.

Jane and August were a sweet couple. They had chemistry. I loved their banter. I've seen some comments online that this book isn't getting the same level of hype as RW&RB because it's two women in a relationship rather than two men. I remember the two leads of RW&RB having great chemistry and the same goes for this book. It was quite a natural progression of their relationship. It wasn't insta love. I liked that. They also formed a genuine connection before progressing to a romance. I'd like to read more love stories like that. Casey is great at writing these amazing LGBT romances. 

Another qualm I had with this book was that at times I struggled with the writing. Sometimes it would feel a bit description heavy. It could be that I was reading this book against a personal goal (read it by the end of the month), but there were times when I found the writing off putting. I've seen a couple of other comments like this, so I know I'm not alone. It's just a little personal preference.

Having enjoyed both of her current releases, I would 100% read from Casey in the future. She has become an auto-buy author for me. I'm excited to see what she writes next as I know it will be another fun, fluffy and amazing book.  

What did you think of One Last Stop?

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo Book Review (Contains Spoilers)| Carenza Bramwell

Title- Last Night at the Telegraph Club        

Author- Malinda Lo

Series- N/A

Published- 2021

Page Count- 394 pages

Publishing House- Dutton Books for Young Readers

Genre- YA Contemporary, LGBT, Historical Fiction

Rating- 3/5 stars 

About the Author

Malinda Lo is the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of several young adult novels, including Last Night at the Telegraph Club, which received eight starred reviews. Her debut novel Ash, a lesbian retelling of Cinderella, was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Andre Norton Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and was a Kirkus Best Book for Children and Teens. She has been a three-time finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Malinda’s short fiction and nonfiction has been published by The New York Times, NPR, Autostraddle, The Horn Book, and multiple anthologies. She lives in Massachusetts with her partner and their dog. She writes the biweekly newsletter Lo & Behold on writing and culture, and she can be found on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Her website is malindalo.com.

Taken from Malinda's website.

Plot

Acclaimed author of Ash Malinda Lo returns with her most personal and ambitious novel yet, a gripping story of love and duty set in San Francisco's Chinatown during the Red Scare.

“That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other.” And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: “Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club.

America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

"Lo's writing, restrained yet luscious, shimmers with the thrills of youthful desire. A lovely, memorable novel about listening to the whispers of a wayward heart and claiming a place in the world."—Sarah Waters, bestselling and award winning author of Tipping the Velvet and The Night Watch

Taken from Goodreads.

Opinions 

Last Night at the Telegraph Club was a book I had been really excited for. I had heard a lot of good things about it. It sounded like a book I would enjoy. A YA historical LGBT book? Definitely something I would read. I had heard good things about Malinda Lo as a writer, particularly her Ash series. I always like to support LGBT and POC writers, so I decided to get this book. However, I ended up not enjoying it as much as I thought I would. It started out strong, but ended up letting me down. I've now seen a couple of reviews that have similar thoughts to mine. 

While I didn't enjoy it, I did find this book an easy read. I could read a 100 pages a day quite easily. The information was easy to absorb. I did quite like that it wasn't too dense as I was in the mood for something a bit lighter and fun. However, the pacing was all over the place. I wanted to see Kath and Lily's relationship develop a bit quicker than it did as this was a slow burn romance. It wasn't until the last 100 pages that there was an indication that they were in a relationship. Given that this book, well the main story line, covers from September 1954 to January 1955, it took a long time to get to the heart of the action. 

A lot of people have commented on this, but I have to say that I really didn't like the random other perspectives we would get at the end of each section. They didn't really add anything to the story. I feel like they could have been removed and the story would have been fine. It felt like an odd creative decision to have five other POV moments that didn't add to the central story. 

I think the main let down of this book was that it tried to pull the reader in too many directions. The main plot was about Lily learning about the LGBT community in a time when it wasn't widely accepted. I found that the most interesting plot line, especially with some of the side characters. We then also had the communist plot line, which was interesting but took away from the main plot line. Then there were also information about the space race and a beauty competition. All of these together just felt a bit much. I think I would have liked a stronger focus on the LGBT community and Lily's passion for science. Those were the plot lines I had the most interest in. 

Despite this, I have a feeling I would read from Malinda Lo again. I am interested in reading her Ash series. I think for LGBT and POC rep, then these books are strong, but plot and character wise, this one was a bit of a let down. 

What did you think of Last Night at the Telegraph Club?     

Pride Recommendations 2021| Carenza Bramwell

Happy Pride Month! 

In case you didn't know it, June is Pride Month, a celebration of the LGBTQ+ community. Obviously, they are celebrated all year around, but this month is particularly special for them. I made a similar post last year called "my favourite LGBTQ+ books", which you can read here. This post links to a series of posts I'll be making on my Bookstagram throughout June promoting a different book for each colour of the Pride flag (including a pink book, even thought that isn't a part of the Pride flag). A lot of these will be quite popular Pride books, but I hope there are some you might not have read before. 

Red- Simon vs the Homosapiens Agenda (Love, Simon) by Becky Albertalli 

I want to start of my recommendation with an amendment from my 2020 pride post. In that post I said that Becky identified as straight. She has since come out as bisexual after a lot of harassment online. Firstly, it was wrong of me to assume that she was straight. As it literally says in her book, "why do we assume that straight is the default?". I apologise for doing that, I made a mistake and will work towards being more careful in the future. Secondly, what Becky has had to go through is truly horrible. I don't know the whole story, but I hope she's okay. 

Now onto the actual recommendation. Simon vs (or Love, Simon as I think it's now known) is a YA classic. It follows a boy called Simon who is outed as gay and has to figure out who the mysterious "blue" is, as he's been emailing him. I read this back in 2018 in one sitting. It was funny, heartwarming and did the coming out story justice. I still haven't watched the film, but I am going to. I have fond memories of this book and it would be wrong to not recommend such as classic LGBTQ+ novel.   

Orange- Trans*A Quick and Quirky Account of Gender Variability by Jack Halberstam

This is one that I haven't read, but am planning on getting to in June. I won a free copy from my uni library last year. As far as I know, this is a non-fiction books about being trans and the gender spectrum. As someone who identifies as cis, this is something I'd like to know more about. The trans community had a very difficult time last year with the whole JK Rowling controversy, so I would like to expand my knowledge on gender and be able to be an ally to the trans community. They are valid and welcome members of the LGBTQ+ community. 

Yellow- Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman

Alice Oseman is one of my favourite authors and it just so happens that she is an LGBTQ+ writer. She also writes LGBTQ+ stories. I could have done an entire Pride rainbow flag from just her books. Nick and Charlie is a novella within the Heartstopper series about the titular characters. It follows them as Nick finishes school to go to uni and where this leaves their relationship. I read it last year and enjoyed it. There was a bit too much drama for my liking, but the LGBTQ+ rep was great. 

Green- Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

I wasn't joking when I said I could make this entire Pride post about Alice's books. I've already touched on the Heartstopper series, so I had to include this on here. The Heartstopper books are some of my all time favourites. They follow Nick and Charlie from the beginning of their relationship (as friends, then boyfriends) and how it progresses. I've read all four volumes this year and they never fail to put a smile on my face. They do tackle some quite serious topics, such as mental health and eating disorders, but mostly these are soul warming books. 

Blue- Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Another one I haven't read and am hoping to get to this month. This was on my radar at the beginning of the year and I'm very happy I picked up a copy. This is set in the 1950s as communism is sweeping America. It follows two girls, one about to be deported, as they discover their sexuality in a time where being LGBTQ+ wasn't widely accepted. I've heard a lot of good things about this, especially that it is someone discovering their sexuality, rather than someone who is comfortable with it. I can't wait to dive in at some point this month.

Purple- You Should See Me In A Crown by Leah Johnson

I adored this when I read it last year. This is about a young black girl hoping to win Prom Queen in order to win a scholarship so she can attend her dream university. Along the way, she meets and falls for the new kid who is also competing to be Prom Queen. This was a fun, summer contemporary. It did tackle some quite major these such as homophobia and racism, but the overall tone was quite hopeful. I know Leah Johnson has another book coming out this year, but it's apparently very different from this one. If you are looking for a cute, summer, female-female romance, then look no further. 

Pink- Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuinston  

Casey McQuinston also has another book coming out, but we're here to talk about her other book. I read this on holiday in 2019 in Bruges, so I will always associate this book with good memories. This follows ficticious versions of the son of the President of America and the Prince of England as they are forced to form a friendship that then evolves into a romance. I believe this is the only adult book on this list, so it does feature some more explicit sex scenes. Like You Should See Me In A Crown, this is another fun, summer romance novel. 

That concludes my list of Pride recommendations for 2021! 

Loveless by Alice Oseman Book Review (Contains Spoilers)| Carenza Bramwell

Title- Loveless
Author- Alice Oseman
Series- N/A
Published- 2020
Page Count- 435 pages
Publishing House- Harper Collins
Rating- 4/5 stars

About the Author

Alice Oseman is an author/illustrator and was born in 1994 in Kent, England. She has written four YA contemporary novels about teenage disasters: SOLITAIRE, RADIO SILENCE, I WAS BORN FOR THIS, and upcoming LOVELESS. She is also the creator of LGBTQ+ YA romance webcomic HEARTSTOPPER, which is now published in physical form by Hachette Children's Books.

Alice’s first novel SOLITAIRE was published when she was nineteen. Her YA novels have been nominated for the YA Book Prize, the Inky Awards, and the Goodreads Choice Award, and HEARTSTOPPER has been optioned for TV. She can usually be found staring aimlessly at computer screens, questioning the meaninglessness of existence, or doing anything and everything to avoid getting an office job. 

Taken from Alice's website.

Plot

The fourth novel from the phenomenally talented Alice Oseman – one of the most authentic and talked-about voices in contemporary YA.

It was all sinking in. I’d never had a crush on anyone. No boys, no girls, not a single person I had ever met. What did that mean?

Georgia has never been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush – but as a fanfic-obsessed romantic she’s sure she’ll find her person one day.

As she starts university with her best friends, Pip and Jason, in a whole new town far from home, Georgia’s ready to find romance, and with her outgoing roommate on her side and a place in the Shakespeare Society, her ‘teenage dream’ is in sight.

But when her romance plan wreaks havoc amongst her friends, Georgia ends up in her own comedy of errors, and she starts to question why love seems so easy for other people but not for her. With new terms thrown at her – asexual, aromantic – Georgia is more uncertain about her feelings than ever.

Is she destined to remain loveless? Or has she been looking for the wrong thing all along?

This wise, warm and witty story of identity and self-acceptance sees Alice Oseman on towering form as Georgia and her friends discover that true love isn’t limited to romance.

Taken from Goodreads. 

Opinions

Alice Oseman has become one of my favourite authors in the past year. I adore her Heartstopper series with every fibre of my being and her fiction novels are amazing. I have been very excited for this book ever since I found out about it. For once, I enjoyed a 2020 release. I feel that there have only been three books released this year that I adored and one of those was the third instalment in the Heartstopper series. 

Alice is great at writing LGBT+ books and this was no exception. This is all about Georgia's journey to discovering she is aromantic-asexual (aro-ace) for short. I don't think I'd ever read a book with these two different sexualities discussed before, which made it really refreshing to read. I believe that Alice herself identifies as aro-ace, which meant this was an own voices novel and heavily based on her life. 

Other than the heavy emphasis on Georgia's sexuality, it also has a strong influence on going to uni. Set at Durham University, the university Alice went to herself, it focuses on the drink culture and the pressure to have relationships and so on. As someone going into their final year of university, there was a lot of content I could relate to. The scariness yet excitement of starting university. Not really fitting in with the drink culture and being uninterested in relationships, casual sex or dating. It captured a lot of what I felt in my first year. 

The relationship between Georgia and Rooney, her roommate, was one I could also relate to. Although I didn't share a room with anyone in my first year, I relate to that need to bond with people that Georgia went through. A lot of my friends from uni are the ones I met in my first week and sort of clung on to. I was very much shy, like Georgia, and the idea of having to make new friends and go out scared me. I've been friends with people who are more like Rooney, the go out party lot, while being very much like Georgia, and wanting to stay inside all the time. 

My only complaint with this book, and it is very minor one, is that at times it got a little bit repetitive. I've found with a lot of books told from the first person, you tend to get told the same thoughts over and over. After a few chapters of Georgia struggling with this internal monologue, it got a bit annoying. There was also a little bit too much drama for my liking, but that is the way with university students. Even though we're all adults, there is still a lot of issues with friendship groups and so on.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was another solid book from Alice, who never fails to write good YA contemporary. You could tell that a lot of times it was based on her life and things that had happened to her. I adored the aro-ace representation and the depiction of university life. I can't wait to see what Alice release's next.  

Carenza :) x

My Favourite LGBT Books| Carenza Bramwell

Happy Pride Month!

June is Pride Month, a whole month of celebrating the LGBT+ community. Obviously, the LGBT+ community is celebrated the whole year, but this month is dedicated to them and their achievements. I am proud to be an ally of the LGBT+ community, something I have been for many years. In today's post I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite LBGT+ books and authors. 

Adam Silvera

Obviously, I had to mention Adam Silvera's books. I have been reading them for many years now and with the only exception being his fantasy novel, I have really enjoyed all of his books. They are always guaranteed to hit you right in the feels. Adam himself identifies as a gay man and his books always feature gay characters. They are widely regarded as good books, especially for their featuring of characters from the LGBT community. I will always get whatever book Adam releases as you know you are in safe hands. 

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst 

I still can't believe that I am waiting for the sequel to this book to come out in paperback in the UK. An LGBT fantasy novel about two girls falling in love? Sign me up! I remember really loving this at the time I first read it back in 2017/18. I will have to reread it before I purchase the sequel, but I love fantasy and I love LGBT novels, so it was perfect for me. It also comes with the added bonus of it being an own voices novel, which is always good in my book. 

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

I remember flying through this back in 2018. I had heard nothing but good things about it and it did not disappoint. It is one of the few books I have see deal with LGBT issues and religion. It is a bit predictable and cliched, but it is a solid read. I would highly recommend it if you haven't read it. The edition I have also came with a bunch of LGBT books, music and films recommended in the back.  

Heartstopper Series by Alice Oseman

These are probably some of my favourites on here. The Heartstopper series is an LGBT graphic novel series that started as an online comic. It is also the only entry on this list that is by a British author and set in Britain. It follows Nick and Charlie, a young couple as the fall in love. The art is beautiful and the story is great. Anything Alice Oseman writes is a god send and I can't wait for her other two books coming out this year. 

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuinston

This book took the bookish community by storm last year and rightly so. It is a what if novel about if the son of the United States of America fell in love with the Prince of England. It is NA, New Adult, so it is a bit more explicit than your average YA book. It was another fun and fluffy contemporary. I believe Casey is writing another LGBT book and honestly I can't wait, if it's anywhere as good as RW&RB.

Angles in America by Tony Kushner 

I'm technically cheating with this one as it's a play, but it is my favourite thing in the whole wide world. Angels in America is an LGBT play set in 1985 New York and follows a group of people affected by the AIDs crisis. With elements of Magical Realism thrown in, it takes you on an epic journey. I will never stop talking about this play and what it means to me.

Honourable Mentions

I was unsure if I should include these two on my list, but I decided to include them in this little section. The first is Simon Vs the Homosapiens Agenda, or Love, Simon by Becky Albertalli, as it's now known. It is a well known LGBT novel about a boy called Simon who gets outed as gay at his school. It was turned into a film adptation, which I have yet to see. I was hesitant to include it as it is written by a straight author, however it is an excellent LGBT novel.

The next book I was unsure to include are the Gentlemen's Guide series by Mackenzi Lee. Mackenzi Lee has been revealed to be highly problematic, featuring racist and transphobic content in her novels. That being said, I did really enjoy the first Gentlemen's Guide book and saw it as a solid LGBT novel at the time I read it in 2018. 

Those are some of my favourite LGBT novels. What are some of yours?

Carenza :) x

Book Review Monday- History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera- Spoiler Free| It'sCarenzaB

Hey Guys!
How are you?

Today I am going to be doing my first spoiler free review as the book I am reviewing doesn't come out until tomorrow in the US and on February 9th in the UK. The book I am reviewing is History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera. I was lucky enough to win an ARC of this book through Maximum Pop Books in November 2016. I read it as soon as I got it and loved it so much it made it on to my favourite books of 2016 list (books that weren't published in 2016 list). In this review I am going to be talking about the things I like that aren't spoiler related. I hope you guys like this review and you should all go and read History Is All You Left Me.

History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera- Spoiler Free

Cover Chat

So this is the cover for the UK ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of HIAYLM. If you google the final cover, you will see that they are quite similar. I really like how simplistic the cover is. 

 Plot

When Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he’s been imagining for himself has gone far off course.

To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson. But no matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin’s downward spiral continues. He’s losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he’s been keeping are tearing him apart. 

If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heart breaking piece in the puzzle of his life.

As always, this plot is taken from Goodreads.

Opinions

I gave HIAYLM 5/5 stars. I had known that this book was going to be emotional and that it would probably destroy me. It was a beautifully written book, told in an unusual style and deals with the issues of grief really well. It also deals with relationships and learning to move on. It is the first book I have read that has a Gay main character. It has inspired me to read more diverse books as I really enjoyed this.

As I have already said, this book deals with grief really well. In my 2016- A Reflection post, I talked about the isolation I felt after my Gran's death. This book captured perfectly what I felt. It talks about how different people have different coping mechanisms to deal with death. As my Gran's death was the first death in my family (that I could remember), I really didn't know how I was going to act. What I am trying to say, in a very long winded way, is that I found myself relating to this book a lot and I really wish that I had had this book earlier.

Another thing this book deals with is relationships. Not only romantic relationships, but friendships, which is something that gets over looked in YA. The friendships in this book are as strong as the romantic relationships. Adam Silvera builds really strong character relationship and that is something I love about his books.

Probably my favourite thing about this book is that it was an LGBT book. Griffin is gay and as I've already said this is the first book I've read that has a gay main character. I found it really interesting reading from someone of a different sexuality. It deals with sexuality in such an amazing way, I don't think I can but it into words how much I love this book.

So that is it for my non-spoiler review, I will be posting a Spoiler review closer to the UK release date in February. Let me know if you've read anything by Adam Silvera.

Love,

Carenza x