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lettuce_read's review against another edition
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia and Homophobia
Moderate: Sexual harassment
aromanticreadsromance's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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? Yes
5.0
Y'all. This is one of those books where I understand its each and every flaw (more on that in a minute) but can't rate it anything but five stars. You HAVE to read this if you are a: a) queer teen, b) queer person who happened to once be a teen (which would be all of us), and c) person with taste. I am in love with Dale Walls' writing style; the way they brought me back to high school through their words (not that anyone would want to go back to high school) is pure talent. They expertly capture the teen girl experience in general and specifically the queer teen girl experience (I can't speak to the queer teen of color experience as a white person, but I imagine they expertly capture this as well). I think adults tend to forget how teen girls face complex issues (issues we might classify as "adult" issues) and all-consuming emotions, questions about a daunting, unknown future, first loves and heartbreaks, and external and internal pressures to "succeed," whatever that means. So yes, the main characters experience a lot of compounding, sometimes unresolved, issues, but this is exactly what it is like to be a teen girl. It's chaotic.
This book stars three queer teen girls of color in Texas. Dawn is an aspiring documentarian, filming a documentary (called The Queer Girl Is Going to Be Okay) about queer teens in her area, hopefully earning a scholarship to college for next year. She lost her mom as a child, and her dad is mentally ill. She, as the child, worries about taking care of him. Edie is a closeted queer girl living in an extremely religiously conservative family. She is dating Ben, who is nonbinary, and their relationship is fraught because Edie can't introduce them to her parents. Georgia lives with a single mom who she can talk to about anything. Her mom starts dating someone, who is a little... weird. She is a lesbian and dating Jill, a junior. She is not too focused on college, and she's worried about her friends leaving her behind next year because she hasn't gotten into any schools yet.
My favorite thing about this book, hands down? The queer friendships. Dawn, Georgia, and Edie are the most perfectly imperfect leads, and I loved how they unconditionally supported one another while also calling each other out on their mistakes.
EVEN THOUGH this is a five+ star book to me, there are some things I simultaneously liked and didn't like (and some things I'm undecided on). I LOVED all three leads, BUT having three leads (triple POV) is a lot. From the book's synopsis, it sets Dawn up to be the primary character, since she is the documentarian, but the book itself gives just as much "screentime" to Edie and Georgia's POVs. Going into the book, I thought it would be mainly about Dawn filming her documentary, and although each chapter starts with the number of days until the deadline and then the film festival, the book doesn't feel like it's ABOUT her documentary so much as the intricacies of their daily lives. I think Dawn finishes the documentary halfway into the book, so I was thinking, "What now?"
Some minor notes: It might be because I was listening to the audio and didn't catch all the details, but I had no idea Dawn was a trans girl until over halfway into the book (I had found this out from someone else's review before this point). I'm not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, it solidifies Dawn as a typical teenager girl before revealing she is trans (which might be mind-blowing to transphobes/TERFs), but on the other, it would have been nice to know more about her queerness. We hear about everyone else's queerness throughout the book but not Dawn's. I'm not sure if this was an intentional choice on the author's part, but I don't think it's meant to be some "gotcha" moment (which is why I don't think it's a spoiler to label Dawn as trans in this review).
Also, again, this might be because I only listened to audio, but although I could identify Dawn on the cover, I had no idea which girl was Edie and which was Georgia. I don't recall if Dale had any identifying physical traits, but I did have them switched in my head. (For anyone else who is confused, I'm fairly positive Edie is on the left and Georgia is on the right).
Finally, can this PLEASE be an actual documentary? I would pay money that I do not have to make that happen.
Notes on the audio: I LOVED the narrator, Tamika Katon-Donegal. She nailed the three POVs, which is difficult as a single narrator. She gave everyone a different voice, and I was never confused about who was speaking. She's clearly a very talented actress, and I would read ANY audiobook narrated by her. Seriously. She was THAT good.
Thank you to RB Media for the audiobook. All thoughts are my own.
This book stars three queer teen girls of color in Texas. Dawn is an aspiring documentarian, filming a documentary (called The Queer Girl Is Going to Be Okay) about queer teens in her area, hopefully earning a scholarship to college for next year. She lost her mom as a child, and her dad is mentally ill. She, as the child, worries about taking care of him. Edie is a closeted queer girl living in an extremely religiously conservative family. She is dating Ben, who is nonbinary, and their relationship is fraught because Edie can't introduce them to her parents. Georgia lives with a single mom who she can talk to about anything. Her mom starts dating someone, who is a little... weird. She is a lesbian and dating Jill, a junior. She is not too focused on college, and she's worried about her friends leaving her behind next year because she hasn't gotten into any schools yet.
My favorite thing about this book, hands down? The queer friendships. Dawn, Georgia, and Edie are the most perfectly imperfect leads, and I loved how they unconditionally supported one another while also calling each other out on their mistakes.
EVEN THOUGH this is a five+ star book to me, there are some things I simultaneously liked and didn't like (and some things I'm undecided on). I LOVED all three leads, BUT having three leads (triple POV) is a lot. From the book's synopsis, it sets Dawn up to be the primary character, since she is the documentarian, but the book itself gives just as much "screentime" to Edie and Georgia's POVs. Going into the book, I thought it would be mainly about Dawn filming her documentary, and although each chapter starts with the number of days until the deadline and then the film festival, the book doesn't feel like it's ABOUT her documentary so much as the intricacies of their daily lives. I think Dawn finishes the documentary halfway into the book, so I was thinking, "What now?"
Some minor notes: It might be because I was listening to the audio and didn't catch all the details, but I had no idea Dawn was a trans girl until over halfway into the book (I had found this out from someone else's review before this point). I'm not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, it solidifies Dawn as a typical teenager girl before revealing she is trans (which might be mind-blowing to transphobes/TERFs), but on the other, it would have been nice to know more about her queerness. We hear about everyone else's queerness throughout the book but not Dawn's. I'm not sure if this was an intentional choice on the author's part, but I don't think it's meant to be some "gotcha" moment (which is why I don't think it's a spoiler to label Dawn as trans in this review).
Also, again, this might be because I only listened to audio, but although I could identify Dawn on the cover, I had no idea which girl was Edie and which was Georgia. I don't recall if Dale had any identifying physical traits, but I did have them switched in my head. (For anyone else who is confused, I'm fairly positive Edie is on the left and Georgia is on the right).
Finally, can this PLEASE be an actual documentary? I would pay money that I do not have to make that happen.
Notes on the audio: I LOVED the narrator, Tamika Katon-Donegal. She nailed the three POVs, which is difficult as a single narrator. She gave everyone a different voice, and I was never confused about who was speaking. She's clearly a very talented actress, and I would read ANY audiobook narrated by her. Seriously. She was THAT good.
Thank you to RB Media for the audiobook. All thoughts are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Mental illness, and Homophobia
Moderate: Pedophilia and Sexual harassment
puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The Queer Girl Is Going to Be Okay is a YA contemporary novel that’s full of love—queer love! It’s about three high school friends: Georgia, who is dealing with her mother’s questionable new boyfriend, Edie, who struggles with hiding her queer identity and her nonbinary partner from her religious family, and Dawn, who is entering her documentary about queer love into a competition to win a scholarship to film school.
The audio version was perfect for this; it made the quotes from Dawn’s documentary sound like real documentary interview snippets. The narrator was great at giving every character a unique and fitting voice.
The book is fast paced and fun, while also dealing with some heavy topics in an ultimately hopeful way. What I loved most is that, though romance is a big part of it, the queer love that’s at the heart of this story is the friendship between the three main characters.
The audio version was perfect for this; it made the quotes from Dawn’s documentary sound like real documentary interview snippets. The narrator was great at giving every character a unique and fitting voice.
The book is fast paced and fun, while also dealing with some heavy topics in an ultimately hopeful way. What I loved most is that, though romance is a big part of it, the queer love that’s at the heart of this story is the friendship between the three main characters.
ARC review originaly posted on instagram as part of a book tour: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0JyyXMIXh-/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Outing, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, and Mental illness
Minor: Alcohol, Grief, and Death of parent
nerolireads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The Queer Girl is Going to be Okay is a fiction full of LGBTQ+ representation. The story revolves around Dawn, Edie and Georgia a trio of queer best friends in their final year of highschool. Each has their own struggles and dreams. The book focuses on Dawn, a queer trans girl who is an aspiring filmmaker. The focus on Dawn and her story, unfortunately does mean that Edie's and Georgia's stories end up feeling somewhat unfinished and underdeveloped.
A part of me wishes we'd found out about Dawn's identity sooner (because I ended up connecting to her a lot more), but on the other hand it feels like the author wanted to keep things very close to reality. Trans people shouldn't have to walk around with their identity spelled out, just for us to accept them.
All in all, a great novel with lots of queer representation.
A part of me wishes we'd found out about Dawn's identity sooner (because I ended up connecting to her a lot more), but on the other hand it feels like the author wanted to keep things very close to reality. Trans people shouldn't have to walk around with their identity spelled out, just for us to accept them.
All in all, a great novel with lots of queer representation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Sexual harassment and Transphobia
nerdybookqueen's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I received an audiobook copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I really, really enjoyed this book. Featuring three queer girls, this book covers a variety of experiences across the spectrum as the characters grow through the story, dealing with the usual struggles of high school with the added layer of being part of the LGBT+ community.
Starting with Dawn, the filmmaker creating the film that shares the name of the book, deals with parental responsibilities for her ailing father, while trying to navigate dating as a trans woman. Georgia navigates trying to get into college and her desires to write, while dealing with her mother's creepy new boyfriend. And Edie tries to figure out her relationship with her nonbinary partner, Ben, while not letting down her Christian, homophobic parents both in school and with who she loves.
Throughout the story, I loved watching these women support each other, come together to deal with the problems they were facing and overcome their difficulties. And honestly I would kill to actually get to watch the documentary they make. This book is full of queer struggle but more importantly queer joy.
My one small grievance is that, as an audio book, it was at times very hard to follow whose POV I had. This may be unique to the netgalley copy, but having something in the chapter head that I could reference to see who I was listening to would've been very helpful, instead of just hoping the name would be mentioned again.
I really, really enjoyed this book. Featuring three queer girls, this book covers a variety of experiences across the spectrum as the characters grow through the story, dealing with the usual struggles of high school with the added layer of being part of the LGBT+ community.
Starting with Dawn, the filmmaker creating the film that shares the name of the book, deals with parental responsibilities for her ailing father, while trying to navigate dating as a trans woman. Georgia navigates trying to get into college and her desires to write, while dealing with her mother's creepy new boyfriend. And Edie tries to figure out her relationship with her nonbinary partner, Ben, while not letting down her Christian, homophobic parents both in school and with who she loves.
Throughout the story, I loved watching these women support each other, come together to deal with the problems they were facing and overcome their difficulties. And honestly I would kill to actually get to watch the documentary they make. This book is full of queer struggle but more importantly queer joy.
My one small grievance is that, as an audio book, it was at times very hard to follow whose POV I had. This may be unique to the netgalley copy, but having something in the chapter head that I could reference to see who I was listening to would've been very helpful, instead of just hoping the name would be mentioned again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Pedophilia
Minor: Death of parent and Sexual harassment
bookishmillennial's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
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? It's complicated
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial
This was a lovely teen fictional coming-of-age debut novel from Walls! So cool to find out they’re living in San Francisco 😍 (I am from the SF Bay Area too!) This book, however, takes place in Houston, TX!!! This story takes place over the course of 31 days, as it begins with a countdown to a film competition deadline, which Dee is accepted to compete in!
Dawn (D) is a trans girl who lost her mother, while her father has depression. Her two best friends help her with this project: Edie, who is queer & exploring romance with Ben, who is nonbinary, but Edie’s parents are extremely conservative, so they must hide their relationship from them. Georgia, who is lesbian, lives with her single mom, and struggles with the new man in her mom’s life.
We get third-person limited POV from all three besties, and I did feel invested in them all equally! I really enjoyed the overall messaging of Dawn’s documentary: love! Walls displays so many kinds of queer love in this novel, and it felt so incredibly hopeful. I loved the friendships that these young women had!!! Found family is so magical.
I think Walls has work to do relating to pacing, but overall, I thought this was a sweet, empowering young adult novel. I’d read from them again!
This was a lovely teen fictional coming-of-age debut novel from Walls! So cool to find out they’re living in San Francisco 😍 (I am from the SF Bay Area too!) This book, however, takes place in Houston, TX!!! This story takes place over the course of 31 days, as it begins with a countdown to a film competition deadline, which Dee is accepted to compete in!
Dawn (D) is a trans girl who lost her mother, while her father has depression. Her two best friends help her with this project: Edie, who is queer & exploring romance with Ben, who is nonbinary, but Edie’s parents are extremely conservative, so they must hide their relationship from them. Georgia, who is lesbian, lives with her single mom, and struggles with the new man in her mom’s life.
We get third-person limited POV from all three besties, and I did feel invested in them all equally! I really enjoyed the overall messaging of Dawn’s documentary: love! Walls displays so many kinds of queer love in this novel, and it felt so incredibly hopeful. I loved the friendships that these young women had!!! Found family is so magical.
I think Walls has work to do relating to pacing, but overall, I thought this was a sweet, empowering young adult novel. I’d read from them again!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Transphobia, and Religious bigotry
nerdysread's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-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
3.5
Thanks to NetGalley I was able to read this book in exchange for a honest review. This book has flaws, your can’t deny it. But it’s a really beautiful story with a lot of strengths like the characters and how it talks of love and the different kinds of love. So yeah, not the perfect book, but it’s a debut novel, and I really want to see what the author will write next. Because I thing they will write beautiful stories
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Transphobia
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Dementia
Minor: Pedophilia, Gaslighting, and Child abuse
missrosymaplemoth's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to love this book and went in with high hopes. The subject matter isn’t the problem, but the book itself is hard to follow. The pacing is odd and frequently changes and it was difficult to discern the timeline or what was happening and when. I didn’t feel like enough time was spent on any of the three main characters and didn’t find myself caring too much for either of them. None of the stories but Dawn’s was wrapped in in a real or satisfying way. Some of the plot points are handled poorly as well, with Dawn getting over a traumatic experience too quickly to be realistic. The writing itself seemed juvenile, even for YA. Overall I think this book had potential but squandered it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Transphobia, Death of parent, and Homophobia
Moderate: Deadnaming, Grief, and Pedophilia
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