Me holding you and you holding me: NOBODY IN PARTICULAR.

Nobody in Particular by Sophie Gonzales
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an enjoyable one - I mean boarding school setting + royalty + queer characters? What more do you need?

I will say this book felt long to me. There was just *a lot* going on.

Danni is headed to Bramppath College, a boarding school, thanks to her Mom's new relationship. Danni didn't have the best of luck at her old high school in Colorado, so she's not sure about moving across the globe to a new school, let alone one as elite as Bramppath. But at Bramppath, she makes friends, including Princess Rosemary of Henland. She learns her new friends are grieving from a terrible incident last year, which greatly affected Rose's public reputation. She and Rose also become extremely close--starting a relationship that they must keep secret, or face the wrath of Rose's parents and the entire nation of Henland.

I loved the premise of this story, including the importance of being yourself and coming out on your own terms. Rose has grown up realizing that she can never fully be herself and be Queen. The story does an excellent job of showing her grappling with this difficult idea. Further, there's delicious tension between Rose and Danni, which is wonderful (setting aside the fact that they are high schoolers). They are both smart, witty, strong young women who come into their own as the book progresses.

A very dark and awful event hangs over much of this book, keeping this from feeling like a total light and breezy rom-com. It also feels somewhat pushed aside in the final quarter, which is strange after it looms over so much of the story.

Still, this is a lovely story and often quite humorous, despite the serious topics. It's unabashedly queer and will make you cheer out loud at times. 4+ stars.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books in return for an unbiased review.

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I used to think that we were forever ever: NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER.

Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Maya and Skye are going on the reality show Second-Chance Romance for various reasons. The show centers on Jordy--a "royal" by a few degrees thanks to his sister marrying a prince--who is going to reunite with his exes on television. Maya is hurting since she and Jordy dated; he went to Canada and cheated on her with Skye. Skye, a worldly traveler who is typically cautious with her own heart, had no idea about Maya, but still feels pain from her own breakup with Jordy.

This was a strange one. I always want to get behind any sort of LGBTQIAP+ story, for sure. This is billed as a teen/YA story, but it focuses on a bunch of girls on a reality show trying to win back their ex--all of which seemed a little old for YA, even if these girls were fairly young. There's already the ick factor of a bunch of women trying to win back a vapid guy who clearly has a bunch of exes and who doesn't seem like a particularly good person.

I wanted to root for Skye and Maya to get together, of course--who doesn't love the idea of the women falling for each other on the show instead of the featured cad? Sadly, there isn't a lot of character development in how the two develop their relationship. At first, they hate each other due to misunderstandings. Then they are together due to proximity. Then, viola, a relationship? Maya is tough to empathize with due to her focused hatred on Jordy and desire for revenge; I liked Skye a bit more. Jordy came across as almost too much of a 1-D villain. There wasn't a lot to work with here. The other girls competing had their moments, but it was hard to tell them apart sometimes. There was so much drama about Jordy that I found myself rolling my eyes.

I am a huge sap, so I liked the ending, which is why my rating is bumped up a little. Still, I wished I had seen more growth in Maya throughout the story.

I received a copy of this book from Wednesday Books and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.

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All this time I lived inside a memory: IF THIS GETS OUT.

If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

The boy-band Saturday is huge and beloved by their fans. But behind their carefully crafted image is four real boys (Ruben, Zach, Angel, and Jon), who are starting to resent all the handling and smoothing that goes into what makes Saturday tick. Eighteen-year-old Ruben is gay, but unable to come out under Saturday's management. Angel is starting to crack under the strain as well, increasing his partying ways. On Saturday's European tour Ruben and Zack grow closer than ever, sharing a moment that makes each of them question their friendship and Zack to wonder about his sexuality. They also realize that if they want this moment to turn into a romance, there's no way Saturday's management will ever allow it. How can Ruben and Zack ever live their own lives and be in the band?

I loved parts of this book and found other parts to be eh. I took me a while to get into this story and honestly to get to know the boys and to be able to tell them apart. The story felt very YA and juvenile and it seemed like you needed to be a boy band fanatic and care about what boy bands do to get into the story. While I sympathized with the band parts of the story, I could take or leave a lot of it. I didn't care for the drug use, the partying, or even all the discussion of the treatment of celebrities.

What I did love was Zack and Ruben's friendship and relationship and the book's exploration of bisexuality (via Zack), closeting in the music industry, and just its delicate look at a budding relationship between two boys. In that case, this was a sweet story of two people falling in love, with the added element of having to hide it. I would have liked to get to know Zack and Ruben's characters more (the whole band, really, but especially Zack and Ruben)--we learn a bit about Ruben's controlling mother and Zack's own mom, but I never felt like I truly knew them and what got them to this place.

This was an interesting story, and I enjoyed Zack and Ruben, even if I wished there had been more character development. I can see this being a big hit with YA music lovers. 3.5 stars.


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I don't wanna go down any other road now: PERFECT ON PAPER.

Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A cute teen love story

Darcy Phillips is excellent at doling out relationship advice. So good, in fact, that she secretly runs locker 89 at her high school where her fellow classmates drop off letters asking for help and Darcy answers them (for a $10 fee). But her secret identity is challenged when Alexander Brougham catches her at the locker after school. So Darcy reluctantly agrees to help him get back together with his ex-girlfriend, Winona. At a hourly cost, because Alexander is loaded and Darcy's a rare scholarship student. And after all, if everyone finds out she runs locker 89, not only will her secret be out, her best friend/crush, Brooke, will realize she's done some questionable meddling in Brooke's life via the locker. All she needs to do is help a rich, entitled guy win his former girlfriend back? How hard can it be?

"Why was it so much harder to answer my own relationship questions than everyone else's?"

This is a really cute and fun read. It totally stressed me out in places. I'm not good with lying, and here we have Darcy not only fibbing about "being" locker 89, but then she's using the locker to meddle with her friends' relationships? Ahh! Cue my blood pressure going up.

But I couldn't help but feel fondly for this girl who so meticulously researched her letters, who so desperately wanted to help others, but was afraid to take risks in her own world. She's starry-eyed in love with Brooke, but too scared to say anything. Who hasn't been there?

Gonzales gives us a huge handful of diverse representation--such an excellent set of queer characters. Darcy is part of the Queer and Questioning Club at her school. There's an episode at the club covering bi-phobia that made me cheer out loud and honestly is worth the read alone. I love the trend of all these YA books with such strong, positive queer messages. I could have used this as a teen, for sure. Now if we could normalize bisexuality in literary and contemporary fiction!

There's some melodrama in this one and Darcy's self-centeredness and angst got to me, at times--perhaps this book could have been just a bit shorter. But, it was probably a fair representation of the turmoil teens experience.

Overall, this is an easy read covering both serious and fun (romance! Disneyland!) topics. It offers an excellent cast, lots of cute moments, and some strong insight into bisexuality and other LGBTQIA issues facing teens today.

I received a copy of this book from Wednesday Books and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.

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