[TW: death of a parent, homo-/biphobia, domestic abuse, alcoholism, suicide]

I think this book suffers a bit from the hype it has received over the years - I recently saw someone get flogged over only giving this book 3 stars (which is not a bad rating, mind you!). Don't get me wrong, I think this book is a good book, and for the right person, it's surely a great book. There is great bisexual representation, wonderful exploration of queerplatonic relationships and alternative family concepts and none of it ever feels forced or like it is there to check off some sort of diversity checklist. Still, I don't think the writing and story structure holds up. The second storyline featuring the interviewer felt underdeveloped and the "twist" toward the end of the book rushed and unnecessary. I myself didn't find myself emotionally attached enough to the characters to be fully affected by any of the events towards the end of the book. This may just be me being cynical though, as I've had a rough time reading as of late, finding myself unable to fully connect to a lot of characters, so take that information with a grain of salt.

I hope the success this book has had will lead to more books that are unashamedly queer without being marketed as such. The book was definitely a breath of fresh air in that regard, but to me it didn't really stand out beyond that.