The book begins with Charlotte telling Frankie the salient points of the book she's reading, and Frankie goes, 'aaand then the mother dies.' 'No, in this one it's the brother. I mean, *shrug* what do you write a novel about? Not about me and my boring life. I read a lot of books about children and teens who aren't growing up like I grew up: who come from afar, or live in poverty, or are haunted by the ghost of a vengeful classmate in 1919. In the parlance of 'windows' and 'mirrors,' I read a lot of 'window' books. I'm disappointed in you, and really unhappy to feel like a favorite middle grade author hates me. Not a good way to make me finish your book, dude. I'm abnormal because I'm a lesbian and I have depression. But of course, they can't be anything other than white and straight, because then they wouldn't be normal, right? This book is marketed as a book about normal teens. also, gay girls are not always thinking about sex, and I just. And then there could be a discovery scene. 'You know what would be really good? If one of us was gay and like, dying of secret lust for the other. There is some real anger in this chapter, and I think it's worth questioning where that's coming from. This feels like an author who's really pissed off about diversity in ya. Can you tell me where you found the depressed Iranian lesbian in YA lit? Because I gotta tell ya - she doesn't exist in any YA I've read.Īnd far more importantly, making fun of rape, incest, homophobia, and self harm, all at the same time. if you're going to write a YA parody novel, please do yourself a favor and read YA. Okay, so here we are with the obligatory 'being gay, or being iranian, or having a mental illness makes your life more likely to be represented in ya' rhetoric. she sees a gorgeous Iranian girl with oh my god, scars on her wrists.' 'Rape, incest,' said Frankie in a bored tone.

'And everyone thinks she's hot but she doesn't care, because she has a secret. Context: they're making fun of common ya tropes. This is from the second and third page of the book. But guess what? I checked today, and the quotes didn't change from the arc. I only didn't quote because I had an arc, not a finished copy. the existence of diversity in YA, I guess?

But I'm going to be honest: I have a feeling she's tried and failed at YA before. This is the author's breakout ya novel after her popular MG Ivy + Bean. I was actually only asked to read this to figure out whether it could be considered MG. Y'all, I'm sorry, but the first five pages of this book are utter and complete trash.

Author annie barrows