Imogen consumes queer media like I do, and I consume a LOT of queer media. Imogen, bb, let’s be friends, please! This actually wasn’t supposed to be my next book! Imogen slipped into my brain when I was in the early stages of working on a different project, and I couldn’t stop thinking about her. She was all I wanted to work on. I’d just gone through my own complicated, excruciatingly public coming out experience, and the discourse left me feeling dehumanized and exposed. Writing this story felt like my chance to reclaim a bit of that narrative. It’s hard to know precisely how it will land with listeners, but maybe it can be a reminder that there’s no single queer experience. We have to make space for our differences.

This one’s for the girls with anxiety, for the chronic people pleasers, for anyone who worries if they’re trying too hard or not enough, for the ones still figuring it out. A big-hearted, deeply-vulnerable, love-bubbly tumble through self-discovery.” –Casey McQuiston, author of #1 New York Times bestselling I KISSED SHARA WHEELER Realist, genuine, unique approach about a girl’s searching for her true identity without being described by other people’s opinions make you easily resonate with the main character. Imogen's thrilled for Lili. Any ally would be. And now that she's finally visiting Lili on campus, she's bringing her ally A game. Any support Lili needs, Imogen's all in.This book is basically what it's like to exist online these days. All the discourse, the critiques, the questioning (in mostly negative ways), it's all in here. But thankfully there's also the other side, too. The found family, the acceptance, the reassurance, and the joy. I hope readers, of all ages, find some comfort in those bits. Because they were lovely. it's about growing into yourself, the one that’s ever-evolving. about love and doubt and fear, about fluidity and uncertainty and allowing yourself the space to simply exist. that there’s no right way to be. I cannot tell how much I loved this book and I was absolutely invested in Imogen! She is layered, well crafted character, a brave voice you want to hear! I loved her inner journey! Her searching the right space in the social circle, discovering her sexuality, coming out of her shell to embrace her real self! Imogen longs to be part of the queer community, and while I’m sure there is some 100% straight and cis person this applies to in the world, it’s such a relatable queer experience. I was in middle school when I excitedly talked about looking forward to joining the Gay/Straight Alliance in high school, and how if I could choose, I’d be pansexual and panromantic. But, of course, I too was "hopelessly straight"…

Then she runs a hand through her hair, and there’s some- thing so boyish about the gesture, it leaves me a little off-balance. There are also a lot of valid things Gretchen brings up, like the concept of straight passing privilege but instead of seriously engaging with any of that, Imogen just starts crying and we're to infer from that that what Gretchen said was awful and terrible. Imogen's self discovery felt really personal to me, as someone who didn't realize they were queer until they were older. It felt so painful that she thought she was so late to figure it all out, even at only 18, and that she felt like she was even being harmful not knowing. I was in my mid-twenties when I even started questioning, and I resent the idea that it was somehow my responsibility to know these things about myself when I didn't even have the language to describe myself, as if others have any claim on our identities.This is a YA contemporary, with a strong romance side-plot, and it's beautiful. Imogen (h) is our fmc, who feels like she can't be queer because she feels like the epitome of straight girl, but also because her friends and the people have put her in the straight girl box, to the point where Imogen isn't given space to explore or question anything. Then Tessa (h) comes along, the most wonderful woman alive, just being her adorable, glorious, soft-butch lesbian self, and butterflies start fluttering in both their stomachs. Insightful prose teems with compassionate interrogations of the harms of compulsory heterosexuality and societally prescribed narratives. Via Imogen’s wryly funny first-person narration, Albertalli crafts a striking portrait of one teenager’s experience navigating sexual fluidity and the sometimes overwhelming fear of reinventing oneself." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) YA contemporary is typically not my genre of choice, but WOW, I absolutely ADORE this book. For any young queer girls who have experienced imposter syndrome in accordance with their identities; ‘Imogen, Obviously’ is a love letter to you. Reading it felt like giving my younger self a warm hug, and I couldn’t be happier that I decided to give it a chance!! there’s something beautiful there—a hand holding yours as you figure it out. knowing that when you’re ready to say the words, someone is there. Imogen is invited along to spend the weekend at her best friend, Lili’s college – the one she will also be attending when she has graduated high school.

Like when Lili drops a tiny, queer bombshell: She’s told all her college friends that Imogen and Lili used to date. And none of them know that Imogen’s a raging hetero—not even Lili’s good friend Tessa. I love everything about this,” I say, settling onto Lili’s bed. “Ha—thanks.” Lili plops down beside me. Then she stares straight ahead for a moment without speaking. “Okay, we gotta talk,” she says finally. Imogen’s thrilled for Lili. Any ally would be. And now that she’s finally visiting Lili on campus, she’s bringing her ally A game. Any support Lili needs, Imogen’s all in. I praised Going Bicoastal for having a character who is already openly out of the closet and proudly bisexual at the start of that book, but I think there's still definitely merit too books where the main character is discovering their sexuality. a lot of what imogen struggles with internally sometimes felt like i was reading about myself. even though i’m ace, i’m not queer. i’m straight, but i’m ace. regardless, sometimes i feel like there’s something about me missing for me to claim a spot in the community. is this not enough? should asexuality count? does asexuality count? but if i’m not attracted to my own gender or other genders besides male, does that still make me different? add in to that how i primarily read mm romance/lgbtq+ novels. i think it was all necessary and valid, showing a complex range of vivid emotions and thoughts. the struggle is a long process of coming through with how you feel, and having these moments of doubts and reassurances is always common. we’re taught from an early age what is right and what is wrong, putting ourselves in a box of one certain label, as if the rest aren’t okay.I promise I’m not. I’m just saying, you have a right to be kind of unsettled by this. I don’t even mind if you blow my cover. I mean, I mind. But if you want to set the record straight, we totally can. I get it.” Smith’s genre-bending companion novel to the beloved Hearts Unbroken is a deliciously spooky adventure teen audiences will devour. Hughie Wolfe (Mvskoke) is volunteering at a new spooky show and Halloween attraction called Harvest House. But after he learns that it features a character described as the vengeful spirit of an “Indian maiden,” he becomes unsettled by the organizer’s stereotypical and offensive choices and tries to figure out when to speak up. All the while, strange things are happening near Harvest House, and Hughie and friends decide to investigate whether a haunting is truly taking place.

I was so excited for them to get together, and because of the way the book was set out, it didn’t feel rushed or anything. Which is also fantastic. the romance in this is one word: soft. imogen starts having these feelings for tessa, which she finds difficult to interpret at first because it’s towards another girl, but she comes to grasp them and unconsciously accept them. the development felt smooth and natural enough. it’s teenage love, after all, but i found myself hopeful. it’s sweet and emotional, tender due to the first experience imogen is having. there’s a few doubts, a little bit of misunderstanding, and a heap of love. the shy glances, tentative touches, and uncertainties felt so open and vulnerable. i loved seeing how imogen came to accept her feelings, even if she started doubting and questioning towards the end. tessa is respectful, consenting, and in no rush. while she’s experienced, she understands the situation imogen is currently facing. i don’t blame imogen because i, too, have a crush on tessa. because this is ya and has more than romance focusing on the story, there isn’t anything graphic, but i can’t begin to state my appreciate and adoration for this girl.How do you know—how do you really know if someone likes you? Especially with girls. It gets so blurry sometimes. Two girls will hug each other right in front of you, and you’ll have no idea if they’re girlfriends or besties or what. Unless they’re actively making out, you need floating heart emojis and a movie score to interpret it. Harriet and her historian father have transformed the old plantation in Louisiana where they live into an enslaved people’s museum, and the pair run tours together. While the loss of Harriet’s mother is still fresh, it’s the arrival of another mother that throws her world into chaos — that is, a mother-daughter duo with big plans for the property next door, including turning it into a wedding venue. And when her school announces it will be the new location for prom, Harriet is ready to use any power she can to cancel it. McWilliams is an expert at character building, and Harriet is a wonderful and welcome addition to YA. Her invalidation of Imogen’s sexuality, and literally anyone else who didn’t fit her rigid structure is harmful. And I know that Gretchen is the epitome of every single person – queer or not – out there who says and does these things to queer people to invalidate them and their feelings, but gosh did it make me want to just shake her shoulders and tell her to chill out. Despite that, this was still a very good story. Discovery and understanding of self can be exciting if done in the right context, with the right people surrounding you. This book was full of support, even if one very un-supportive person seemed to take the spotlight most of the time. Imogen worked through a lot, and I feel like it reflected a lot of my own struggle with who I am, and who I want to be. It was enchanting, and entertaining, and full of love for finding a base in your own life to follow. This sequel to the stellar Ballad & Dagger is joining an already epic bibliography, considering Older is one of the best fantasy authors writing today. After the revelation that Mateo and Chela are both gods in human form, the pair discover that raising their community’s sunken island home, San Madrigal, was just the start. In Brooklyn, Mateo is watching the diaspora community fight each other, while San Madrigal is playing host to both Chela and armies of creatures fighting to survive.