And you can let your own light shine: AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES.

And They Were Roommates by Page Powars
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love seeing a book with trans representation, but wow, so many weird plot holes and odd twists here.

Charlie's dream has been to attend the Valentine Academy for Boys as a scholarship student, especially since his mom was a similar student at the Academy's sister school. But to pull it off, he'll have to be Valentine's first trans student--and keep it a secret. He requests a single room, but gets paired with a roommate instead: Jasper, an Internet-famous teen poet (seriously) who also happens to be the kid who broke Charlie's heart when he was thirteen.

Somehow, Jasper doesn't recognize Charlie, but he is incredibly inquisitive and insufferable about getting to know his roommate. He is also an Internet-famous poet at a school that bans the use of cell phones for the majority of the year (and he's not even the only social media famous teen poet from Valentine!). Honestly, it's very hard to see how Charlie ever liked Jasper, then or now. Jasper pulls Charlie into STRIP, an acronym for some sort of organization that facilities the distribution of love letters between Valentine and their sister school, with the letters written by Jasper.

Besides Charlie's secret, STRIP and the letters is the main plot, and it's very hard to care about. There are really that many teens communicating between schools via letter, and also willing to allow Jasper and STRIP to write their love notes for them? It's so strange. Apparently if STRIP isn't successful, the school dance will fall apart, and also, civilization.

The book also doesn't talk at all about if it's even safe or legal to have a trans teen at a boarding school without the administration's knowledge. Why can't Charlie just tell them (or more importantly, why doesn't his mother?)? What does this teach anyone about responsibility or acceptance?

The first half or so of this book is rather painful, and I wanted to give up, but it does get better as time goes on. If you want to enjoy this book, you'll have to fully embrace the camp and quirkiness. I love the diverse representation in this story (and some of the new friends Charlie meets), but it's really difficult getting my analytical brain past the whole plot. 2.75 stars, rounded to 3 stars here.

I received a copy of this book from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group/Roaring Brook Press and Netgalley in return for an unbiased reivew.

View all my reviews