Scan barcode
azaliz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
The story is lovely, she makes fast friends and has lovely relationships 🥰, but there's also really hard moments (transphobia, past suicidal attempts, bullying). It felt right for me to read the story now, but please be careful of your mindset while reading the book. I still recommend it for a realistic book about a trans girl who has a stereotypical highschool experience.
Graphic: Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Violence, and Outing
Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death, Deadnaming, Mental illness, Rape, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Dysphoria
bittersorbitol's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Deadnaming, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Outing, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Bullying, Sexual content, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Violence and Toxic friendship
Deals with a lot of realities of being a trans woman, includes details abouteagleshouse's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.0
The story of Amanda, a trans girl in southern USA, is incredibly important, especially coming from a trans author. The book takes on a difficult topic and faces it bluntly and head on, and goes into detail about her emotions and difficulties in being trans. These sections were brilliantly written, and made me understand and realise things that even I as a nonbinary person had not gotten beforehand.
However, I do have a few issues with the book. First and foremost, it feels very much like a Mary Sue. Amanda seems perfect. She passes perfectly, she moves and immediately everyone loves her, she is fully transitioned at the age of 18, and gets a perfect boyfriend and life. Whilst I understand that this may be the author trying to give a trans person hope that this is an option, it feels very detached from the unfortunate reality, and also creates a pretty boring main story. The story tends to ramble about how Amanda is gorgeous, how everyone is in love with her, how she's an A* student and is homecoming queen. Until the very end, where this is questioned (no spoilers from me!), it creates a bland style of writing that took me a little to power through. Had it not also been about Amanda's struggles as a trans woman, I most likely would have put the book down within the first 10 chapters (there are 33 total).
(SPOILERS AHEAD!!)
Another small issue that I had was the only openly sapphic character being the person to out Amanda purely because she wouldn't get with her. Whilst I understand that Bee was the only one Amanda felt like she could tell due to her also being lgbt+ and a "loner" of sorts, it did feel like it fell into the "bi people are slutty" and "predatory wlw" stereotype as Bee broke up with Cloe (the other sapphic character who was closeted before Bee also outed her) just for a shot at Amanda, who she had known was straight anyway, and had even said she was only dating Cloe because she felt bad for her. Bee also sexually harassed Amanda after she turns her down, kissing her without consent. I know for the storyline to progress, Bee was the only person able to out Amanda, but it still rubbed me up the wrong way.
(END OF SPOILERS)
tldr; the book is incredibly important, showing the story of a transwoman by a transfemme author. However, the story is not without its flaws, and often ends up being bland or falling into a Mary Sue style read. I still reccommend the book, as the sections regarding Amanda's relationship with her gender is poignant and informative from the perspective of an author who understands personally what she is going through.
Graphic: Bullying, Transphobia, Violence, and Outing
Moderate: Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt
babudarabu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Transphobia, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Outing
Moderate: Deadnaming, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, and Dysphoria
Minor: Mental illness, Blood, and Alcohol