I loved the author's note. I really appreciate that Helen Hoang felt that she got to write authentically for this book.

I think Stella is a really strong and interesting character, but some things really made her fall flat in some areas that I couldn't ignore.

It felt like a third of the book was preoccupied with Stella and Michael having sex. PUT DOWN YOUR PITCHFORKS FOLKS, I know autistic people have sex. HOWEVER, it felt like an erotica (not my genre) at that point, and it watered down the characters personalities for me! It felt like they could have been swapped out for any other character in any other book for a large part of those scenes, which to me, is not a good thing! I think if a book is going to be that explicit, it should strengthen your characters! 

Also the moment that Stella had where she tried to force herself to mask just felt pointless to me. I think this story should have let Stella not mask! I've started The Heart Principle and it seems like a story about a masking woman, so it isn't like this was the only opportunity to represent/portray a high-masking person. Esp bc masking is such a larrrrge topic with lots of depth to unpack so I think the brief aside Stella had about it didn't do the topic justice.

Jeez, that was a yap fest.

I enjoyed it a lot, Helen Hoang is worth supporting (afaik!) and we need to uplift #ourvoices so we can have more female autistic representation ♥️🫶