A review by ashwolff
Belly Up by Eva Darrows
2.0
The synopsis tells us this is a hook about. a “queer” teen who ends up pregnant.
What I liked about this book. The character of Leaf was a nice person. That’s about it.
This is a hard review to write, because I felt mislead by the synopsis. We’re led to believe our main character is a “queer” teen who ends up pregnant. I may just be old school, but I disagree. There is literally only one line in the book, where when she is attempting to fit in with a lesbian and a trans girl, she says “she think she might be bi”. Other than that, she only has relationships,/sleeps with THREE cisgender male characters. Only talks about being attracted or sleeping with those three male characters. I also felt like the fact that every character had specific labels was waaaaaay too much. Lesbian. Grey aromantic asexual, Demi sexual, possibly bi,.....it just felt forced. I’m glad this book exists for that person who needs this specific amount of representation, but it’s not me.
Also, because of the non stop snarkiest of our MC, I felt like we never even got to know her, even though we were in her head the entire time. No one is that snarky 24/7. While the author may have been going for a Juno meets Gilmore Girls vibe, it didn’t work for me.
ARC provided by Netgalley in return for a review
What I liked about this book. The character of Leaf was a nice person. That’s about it.
This is a hard review to write, because I felt mislead by the synopsis. We’re led to believe our main character is a “queer” teen who ends up pregnant. I may just be old school, but I disagree. There is literally only one line in the book, where when she is attempting to fit in with a lesbian and a trans girl, she says “she think she might be bi”. Other than that, she only has relationships,/sleeps with THREE cisgender male characters. Only talks about being attracted or sleeping with those three male characters. I also felt like the fact that every character had specific labels was waaaaaay too much. Lesbian. Grey aromantic asexual, Demi sexual, possibly bi,.....it just felt forced. I’m glad this book exists for that person who needs this specific amount of representation, but it’s not me.
Also, because of the non stop snarkiest of our MC, I felt like we never even got to know her, even though we were in her head the entire time. No one is that snarky 24/7. While the author may have been going for a Juno meets Gilmore Girls vibe, it didn’t work for me.
ARC provided by Netgalley in return for a review