Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl

I love this book so much! It's everything my queer autistic self didn't know I wanted. This was such a cute and funny romcom. At the same time, it was such incredible representation. It felt amazing to read a book where the main character was a (well-depicted) autistic girl, where we saw her everyday struggles, but also where that wasn't the focus of the story and where it was never portrayed as a bad thing. I just love absolutely everything about this book and really hope the authors write many more books together

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dododenise's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Simple, sweet and heartfelt. The two MCs are adorable together. Just wish the extended cast of characters was given more depth, but the focus was on Abbie and Margo’s relationship.
Really enjoyed it.

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tinysierra's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

4.25

It’s so important to see neurodivergent main characters in books. Especially in a contemporary romance where they actively seek out relationships and sex, dispelling the notion that disabled/autistic people aren’t capable of wanting sexual intimacy. I’m not autistic, only a disability advocate, but I think the autistic representation was really well done.

This book is laugh out loud funny. At least, I found myself chuckling at different points.

Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl takes place in a red state (Florida) and mentions the Don’t Say Gay bill.

Throughout the book, Abbie is struggling with her parents dysfunctional relationship with each other and distant relationship with her. She’s also dealing with her biphobic best friend, who ends up making an ableist comment about Margo later. Meanwhile, Margo’s coming out

goes well, but there’s a moment where her best friend basically says “Oh yeah, I knew all along.” This was such an important scene because it demonstrated that that phrase can be unintentionally harmful. Margo is hurt, because it comes off like everyone else somehow knew her more than she knew herself.

I would call it slow burn. After a while it does get kind of annoying hearing about how “Margo/Abbie isn’t my type. She doesn’t like me” but eventually they get over it.

In the end, Margo does figure out that there is no right way to be queer. But before that, she gets a lesson on queer history and stereotypical gay behavior. It’s interesting to think about how queer people can be so similar yet so different.

There are important conversations about gay sex, consent, boundaries, and how intimacy with your partner is what you two personally make it out to be.

Margo does get the girl… so that means that there is sex and also mastrubation.

One thing I didn’t understand was the John Mayer references? Guess it must be because I’m a Swiftie >.>

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lim's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

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lit_with_lauren's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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quasinaut's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Cute and funny! I loved seeing Margo and Abbie navigate social and school dynamics. Absolutely adored Margo's family; it was especially nice seeing how Margo could turn to her sibling for advice, and that he gave such clear older-brother vibes - supportive, but also an adult doing adult things.

There were some continuity issues that bugged me - often little things that felt like they could've been fixed with another editing pass. Like, one character would refer to something that we hadn't seen them learn on-page. I wouldn't be surprised if these things happen with two authors co-writing, but it was enough to take me out of the story a few times.

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ezwolf's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl is, well it's about Margo Zimmerman getting the girl. The summer before Margo's last year of high school Margo discovers that she's a lesbian. In a bid to learn more about the queer community and how to fit in she strikes a deal with openly bisexual, Abbie, who agrees to teaching Margo in exchange for AP US History tutoring.

I am very split on how I feel about this book.

First, I loved that it was queer Jewish rep, but without really any homophobia or antisemtism. I think this is only the second book I've read with Jewish characters where 'G-d' is used, it's also one of the ways I knew that they were Jewish before the line that confirmed it (I would have been very surprised if a character with a brother named Mendel wasn't Jewish).

I also really liked Margo on the whole as a character. She was very relatable in a lot of ways and I always appreciate that. On the flip side, I had a hard time with Abbie. She was was quick to be angry with Margo often and a lot of her "flirting" just came off mean so it was harder for me to take that as any build up to them having a relationship. Abbie has a lot of character growth and not all characters need to be nice, but they also kind of do when the story wants me to root for her to get together with another one. I did think that they had good communication though. This was most notable at the end of the book during what would usually be the "yay we're finally together, oh no! miscommunication, look we've made up, the end!". Instead we get them together and then Margo does not let that miscommunication happen, which was fantastic!

I thought Mendel was an interesting character, but it felt completely blindsiding for Margo to just "oh yeah my sibling is non-binary/agender/genderqueer" when you're 80% of the way through the book. That's something the audience should be told at the beginning.

A lot of things felt incredibly dragged out, but especially the back and forth with both Margo and Abbie denying feelings/she's not my type while very obviously actually having feelings. It felt like we could have come to the conclusion sooner or at least done more to show the building of feelings past thinking the other was hot. I'm not denying either of them having a crush, but Margo claiming to love Abbie by the end felt like about a hundred steps were missing on the way from crush to love.

Charlie. I really hated Charlie. I know that part of Abbie's growth came from realizing how terrible of a friend that Charlie was, but Charlie was a truly terrible friend and part of the queer community. Again, I know that was the point and I think it gave a good jumping off point for Abbie to realize the way she was telling Margo she had to do things like stand, sit, walk, dress to be taken seriously as queer was wrong.

The sex scene at the end was waaaaaaay more explicit than I was expecting out of a YA book and I realize I am not the intended audience of this book but it still felt like it pushed the YA grouping just a bit.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

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