emily_mh's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
Yasmín and high-school me have shedloads in common. She was such a relatable character, and I just wanted to give her a big hug. I felt so called out and kind of loved how I could recognise my own personal development by seeing what I used to be like in Yasmín. I wish I had had this book during high school as I think it would have made me question my priorities and normalised some of the experiences I was having. I loved how flawed Yasmín was, how she didn’t have all the answers at the end of the book because she’s literally a kid and not supposed to.
Through Yasmín’s journey, a wide variety of themes were explored. Toxic friendship was a focus, specifically how hard it is to recognise you’re in one and to navigate changing how you relate to one another. Another major aspect was looking at being an people-pleasing overachiever and how narrow that mindset is, how you do things for achievement and not enjoyment, or being with other people, or learning. But so many more complex topics were discussed, including toxic family dynamics and the pressure to sacrifice yourself to make things easy; the morality of gossip culture; queer self-discovery; and navigating what being Catholic means. I will always love a book when it covers such a dearth of topics in such a balanced way, because it’s such a realistic depiction of life. You’re never just faced with one challenge, one learning curve.
Found family was another favourite part of this book for me. The dynamic of the lower brass section was to die for. I love that Meriano took the time and space to show casual interactions between the members; it was such a natural way to prove the comfortability they shared.
The story also perfectly encapsulates that American high school feeling you get from watching movies like High School Musical. So few pieces of media capture this feeling for me nowadays, so I was having a whale of a time. Also, this book says it’s about marching band and it is ABOUT marching band. Marching band and music is at the forefront throughout the narrative. The reader gets details about learning an instrument and practicing by yourself, as a section, and as a band. Meriano describes the emotions that come with practice and performance and effortlessly illustrates the insular culture of band. I thought it was so well done.
And of course, this book is queer! There was fantastic questioning aroace rep in Yasmín. I really appreciated that the story wasn’t focussed on her developing a non-platonic relationship with Bloom; it was about her self-discovery, about doing things at her own pace, and also about showing the diversity of the aroace spectrum and the complexity of attraction.
I just really enjoyed reading this book. It was the type of story that you anticipate picking back up, and I’m really interested to see what else Meriano puts out!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Confinement, Cursing, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Ableism, Sexism, Transphobia, Sexual content, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Drug use, Homophobia, Vomit, Racism, Xenophobia, Misogyny, and Colonisation
Moderate: hurricane (in the past) Minor: disordered eating, climate changemelaniereadsbooks's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Thank you to Penguin Teen for a finished copy of this book!
Yasmin has goals to not just rock marching band, but also to beat out her best friend as first chair flute for her sophomore year. But when she reports something at a party and ends up getting almost the entire low brass section kicked out of band, "Hurricane Yasmin" is determined to do whatever it takes to fix her mistakes, even if that means learning the tuba.
This was so cute! It had a bit of a slow start and I was kind of annoyed with Yasmin for a while because she is SUCH a people-pleaser. I was so frustrated with the fact that it seemed absolutely no one understood why she reported what happened at the party and even Yasmin kept saying it was a mistake. Luckily, this changed later in the book when she realized she did the right thing! Thank god.
Yasmin has a lot of character development throughout this book. My favorite parts were her quasi-found-family dynamics with Bloom and the rest of the brand new low brass section. I loved them supporting her and having her back without question later in the book. It definitely made me tear up a time or two!
There was a short but well done discussion on asexuality and a tiny bit on Bloom's gray-romanticism. I really loved this part but wished it had been developed more later in the book!
Overall I really enjoyed this queer band story!
Yasmin has goals to not just rock marching band, but also to beat out her best friend as first chair flute for her sophomore year. But when she reports something at a party and ends up getting almost the entire low brass section kicked out of band, "Hurricane Yasmin" is determined to do whatever it takes to fix her mistakes, even if that means learning the tuba.
This was so cute! It had a bit of a slow start and I was kind of annoyed with Yasmin for a while because she is SUCH a people-pleaser. I was so frustrated with the fact that it seemed absolutely no one understood why she reported what happened at the party and even Yasmin kept saying it was a mistake. Luckily, this changed later in the book when she realized she did the right thing! Thank god.
Yasmin has a lot of character development throughout this book. My favorite parts were her quasi-found-family dynamics with Bloom and the rest of the brand new low brass section. I loved them supporting her and having her back without question later in the book. It definitely made me tear up a time or two!
There was a short but well done discussion on asexuality and a tiny bit on Bloom's gray-romanticism. I really loved this part but wished it had been developed more later in the book!
Overall I really enjoyed this queer band story!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, and Bullying
Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, and Sexual harassment
More...