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hannahrogers'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
4.0
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Biphobia, Cursing, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Islamophobia
Minor: Homophobia and Sexual content
blindfox7'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
4.0
Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, and Alcohol
litoreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Biphobia, Cursing, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia
bookishmillennial's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
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, regardless if I add stars or not.
Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial
My friend Jillian recommended this and I’m so glad she did! I thought this was a beautiful explorative coming-of-age, romance & slice-of-life piece of teen fiction. 17-year-old Enrique “Qique” is exploring his bisexuality during summer break, and I am here for his messy, confusing, quick-paced ho era (affectionate!!!!)
His relationship with his parents is so sweet, and I adored the dynamic he had with his Afro-Latina best friend Fabiola, who is also bisexual! Fabiola is chasing after thick-thighed Molly, while Qique has a few contenders!
Manny — Latino tough guy exterior but sends major sexual tension Qique’ away
Tyler — white guy who shows off his package via basketball shorts & is the talk of the town; also a huge stoner & other characters call him a “wanksta”
Ziggy — buttoned-up Black student body president from school who he feels *vibes* around but everyone comments “I didn’t think he liked boys”
Saleem — his devastatingly gorgeous, short Palestinian king, his unrequited love, pining so passionately for, long time crush and best friend
Lauren — meets her at a county fair or amusement park in a group setting
What I enjoyed most about a lot of Qique’s interactions with all of his potential love interests us that he didn’t have to continually “come out” to his love interests. For the most part, they didn’t talk about their sexualities, which felt authentic to how things unravel when you’re a teenager. I also was so proud of Qique for recognizing what kinds of dynamics worked for him, how hanging out with certain people made him feel, & what he truly wanted & was searching for in these experiences.
I think Aceves did a fantastic job of layering the sex scenes in this book with commentary and introspection as to what was coming up for Qique each time. Nothing is explicit; this isn’t smût, but books like this are important for teens to investigate their own sexuality, because let’s be real. Teens are fucking. Let’s not pretend we were born yesterday. It’s important to name these feelings as they’re experiencing them, and to read about characters figuring it out as they possibly fumble through it!
Lastly, the mental health representation was immaculate — to pretend adolescence is a fever dream of solely joyful times is to deny the human experience lol. I felt for Qique so badly! I am so glad there was talk therapy in this book, and how Qique recognized that maybe he still needed these types of guided conversations. The way medication is introduced and not demonized was wonderful too.
All around, this was an excellent book and I highly recommend it to all ages, but damn, I wish I had a book like this when I was fucking at 17.
Quotations that stood out to me:
Graphic: Biphobia, Cursing, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Islamophobia, and Alcohol
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual content
fourofclubs's review against another edition
- 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
2.0
Graphic: Biphobia, Cursing, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia
pey333'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
3.5
Moderate: Biphobia, Cursing, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, and Alcohol
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, and Vomit
raiynnn'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
3.0
Graphic: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Islamophobia
imstephtacular's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Mental illness and Alcohol
Moderate: Ableism, Biphobia, Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Islamophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Classism
betweentheshelves's review
- 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
The only problem is Quique is really only out as bisexual to his other best friend, Fabiola, and a few others. And also, he's only been romantically with Fabiola (which turned out to be a mistake). As Quique tries to find love and the courage to be himself, he's bound to make some mistakes along the way. When summer really starts to heat up, Quique has to figure out if he truly has the courage to be himself.
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy of This Is Why They Hate Us to review! Can we start by talking about this gorgeous cover? I am absolutely in love with the color palette. That pink to purple fade? One of my favorite things ever.
But I digress. At first, I wasn't quite sure about this book. It jumps right into the action and doesn't look back. However, it did not take me long to fall in love with Quique as the narrator. Quique is an absolute mess of a teenager. He knows he's bisexual, but he doesn't know how to convey that to the people he loves most (i.e. Saleem and his parents). He's trying to gain romantic and sexual experience, but doesn't really know how to do that either. I just loved him as a narrator because he felt so absolutely relatable.
Yes, there are hilarious moments in this book, but man, there are heartbreaking moments too. Quique struggles with severe anxiety and depression, and we get to see him getting help for these. There are also moments where he thinks about reasons why he's so focused on dating guys as a teenager, and guys. The reasons will probably just about break your heart.
I haven't talked about the side characters! Fabiola and Quique are two bi best friends, just trying to be there for each other. I loved that they tried the romance thing, but it wasn't for them. I don't think I've seen that very often. And Quique's obvious love and care for Saleem was adorable. Everything about it was just so well done.
All in all, this is a book I think I'm definitely going to have to buy. Because I just loved it so much.
-------
Oh my god, I loved this. I wasn't expecting to love this as much as I did, but wow. Stay tuned for a full review once I can process all my thoughts!
Graphic: Mental illness and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Biphobia, Cursing, Homophobia, and Alcohol
bookstarbri'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? It's complicated
5.0
The main character, Quique, is such a wonderful character to be with on this journey. I often see pieces of myself in many characters when I read, but I rarely relate to a character as much as I did Quique. He went through so much in this story and who he was at the start compared to the end was very different, while still feeling fundamentally true to who he is at his core. Even through his ups and downs, his success and mistakes, I felt connected with him. I was rooting for him from page 1 because he was THAT relatable. I love Quique so much and I know I will need to reread this book again many times.
The love in this story was really interesting. There were multiple relationships and the romantic ones were fun, but I loved the platonic ones a lot as well. I particularly adored Quique's friendship with Fabiola and Manny. Fabiola was so funny and she brought so much to this book in her own right. Manny was such an enigma to me and I loved him. He was so chill and literally just vibed but also was an interesting character too. Like I would literally read a book about Manny 😅
Obviously his friendship with Saleem was fantastic as well and no matter what transformed between them, their friendship was always felt wholeheartedly. Even when they were apart, I missed Saleem. His presence was felt throughout this book even when he wasn’t there and that was partially what made him such a great character. That, and he cared for Quique SOOO much. It was so obvious in all their scenes. Their friendship was nothing short of spectacular.
Then there was the familial love that I also enjoyed. Quique's parents are farrrrr from perfect. They had a lot of work to do even at the end, but they felt normal, realistic. That's what I loved so much about this book. Everything didn't magically fix itself in the end. It was a true, raw representation of how difficult it is to be a queer person and a queer teenager trying to figure yourself out. There was a lot of mental health growth with Quique and a lot he still has to work through, but it was such a worthy experience to go on part of his journey with him, even when it was toughest.
I also have to talk about the bi rep. It was so wonderfully done. For starters, we don't get a lot of bi rep in novels anyway, and even when we do, I don't feel like it's always talked about at great length. We usually get crumbs, but in this, we get the whole cake. Multiple characters are bisexual and there are many moments dedicated to discussing their experience (some of them are funny, hilarious even, and others are heavier). It was just SO incredible to have that representation and it feel as genuine as it did. I felt so seen reading this book throughout and it is so important to me. Aceves captured so many things I felt and explained my own feelings better than I could and it was so wild to read this and keep thinking "oh my gosh this is me" throughout.
Obviously, I loved this book. I will be screaming to everyone to read it. Thank you SO much to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! And especially thank you to Aaron H. Aceves for writing it.
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Cursing, Homophobia, and Islamophobia
Minor: Biphobia