Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Odd One Out

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Odd One Out by Nic Stone

6 reviews

bookishkellyn's review against another edition

tense

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

3.5

This was way more messy than it had to be–even with the distraction of the Rae & Coop mystery-hunting subplot. In this coming of age story about labels (and jealousy), Coop is the only one that came out smelling like roses. I usually enjoy YA books, but this might’ve been too YA for my fully formed adult brain.

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frantically's review

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challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

1.0

The fact that this book was written by a non-straight author, beta and sensitivity read by other non-straight people and somehow this version was still the one that managed to be published is just disappointing.

I was hesitant on whether I would give this book one or two stars. The thing is, I see what the author was trying to do — it's a hard situation to find yourself in when, after years of identifying as a lesbian and making it a big part of who you are, you suddenly fall for a boy. I should know, I went through the exact same thing at the end of 2021. It's scary, thinking about having to come out once again and not knowing how people will react.

Nevertheless, there are more sensible ways to go about telling a story like this, without putting in blatant biphobia, transphobia and TERF rhetoric.

The quotes below were what personally angered me the most:

"'Nah. I was talking to this one girl, but then she mentioned an ex-boyfriend, and I had to cut it off.'
'Huh?'
'I don’t mess with bisexual girls.'
'Oh.' The cloud in the car thickens.
'It’s nothing personal, really. Enough girls leave you for dudes, and you learn to keep your distance,'" (said by a lesbian character)

“And I dunno. Being attracted to someone not cis makes me think I could be attracted to someone nonbinary. Which is why I’m not sure ‘bisexual’ is the right word, at least for me."

"My dads have only been married for a few years because before then it wasn’t legal. How dare I fall for a boy and just avoid all the shit my gay friends have to deal with?”

"A guy who has only ever been attracted to men might find himself attracted to a woman. A girl who has only ever liked boys might find herself falling for her trans female best friend." (this one from the author's note)

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bendersreads's review against another edition

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This book was… weird. I didn’t like it at all and had to put it down even though I was so close to finishing it. I shouldn’t have gone on that long. I wanted to like it so bad, but something about it didn’t click with me. Too many tropes I didn’t like.

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