Jamie is gender queer binding her chest and hiding her secret from her friends Levi, Nora and Eric as well as her family and brother Steve in this novel told in verse.



Over the course of the novel we witness her friends come out to mixed reactions and approval as well as disapproval too.


Jamie is a good, bold and proud character whilst also being anxious over reactions she could face. The book raises issues straight to the point around gender and sexuality and the fluidity people can have freely now. It is a good bold read and will surely open eyes to the subject matters raised.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

I loved this book. The story is told in such a personal and careful way, in such a real manner. The fact that it's told in verse makes in insight into Jamie's life that much more intimate. I highly recommend this book.

The cover has a young female body with the chest bound to look flat, but at this stage we do not know if this is a girl who wants to look like a boy, or something/someone else.

After watching a TV mini series called Butterfly about a young boy who identified as a girl. The mini series centered on his family and how they coped with the news as well as how the young boy himself felt, what he went through at school and with the "system" he had to work through to be herself.

I then noticed this title whilst browsing online and as the TV show had kind of pulled my interest to a subject I had never really given a great deal of thought to and that led to me wanting to read this book.

So I started reading this book not really knowing what was meant by the "hi-lo" terminology. So perhaps I should explain what is meant by this term first . . .I "googled it" here is the result of that search "A hi-lo book, broadly defined, is a title that offers highly interesting subject matter at a low reading level. A number of publishers have focused on producing these books, though they often take slightly different approaches to creating the products that best fit a particular market."

The central character who is the female binding her chest is Jamie. Jamie is secretly binding her chest since she was 14 years old and is scared to reveal that she is doing so to anyone in her family or friends. Jamie has a great group of friends though all seem to have their own issues and the friend can literally talk about anything and everything except their individual secrets. There's Levi who is gay and his boyfriend Evan,, neither boy has officially "come out" to his parents. Though they both decide to "come out" to their families during the course of the book. It's such a shame when one families reaction is that they do not want their gay son any where near their daughter! Eric wants to drop out of swimming but has been continuing as he feels that is what expected of him and is the way to get a scholarship to further education. There's also Nora who has to take care of her younger brother and is literally their only "parent" as her father is an alcoholic. Nora and Jamie always rush to the cubicles to get changed in gym class. Jamie is hiding her binding and Nora is trying to keep her bruises secret.

Jamie struggles with who she is, is she still a daughter and a sister? Jamie knows she doesn't want to be a boy so discovers she is "gender queer". Jamie hides

The person Jamie eventually feels she can speak to is her brother Steve. When he visits home for the weekend he notices his little sister seems quieter and as though something is wrong. It doesn't take too long to get her to confide in him. Steve immediately accepts his sisters wishes and offers to order her the correct clothing item to bind herself safely and correctly. Steve explains about a guy he knows who is gay and how hard it was for him to "come out". I guess Steve openly talking about sexuality lays the ground work for Jamie to explain how she feels, which is "gender queer". The book covers how her parents react and then how her close circle of friends accept her and support her when she reveals she is gender queer to them.

I thought the characters of Jamie and Steve were really well written and I loved how Steve reassured his sister that he loved her no matter what and that he would always be there for her. He also starts talking about the subject of gender which helps Jamie join the conversation and reveal how she has been feeling to them.

The book was an easy, fairly quick read and would be great as a conversation starter in schools, teen groups or even in an at home setting. I think it would be interesting if the other teens in the group had their own stories too. Even though Levi & Evan reveal their sexuality in this book, they could have their own book//books, and I think Nora should have her own book too. This style of book can really help teens broach the awkward subject.

My immediate thoughts when I finished the book were that the feel of the book, and it's writing style reminded me a little of Moonrise by Sarah Crossan. The subjects that Some Girls Bind places the spotlight on also struck me as similar
to Clean by Juno Dawson.

To sum up this is a great book about a group of friends who are slowly choosing their future paths as well as coming to terms with their sense of themselves. I think I actually learnt a few things from this book. Myself not being a teenager or younger person hadn't heard the term "gender queer" but I understand a little more of the subjects of LGBTQIA. I would certainly be interested in taking a look at any future books by this author.

I have enjoyed this book a lot in general and especially some parts that I had to mark. It had some shortcomings too, though.
More thorough review to come.

*RECEIVED FROM NETGALLEY

This story is sooooo powerful on so many levels. I forget how hard it is to come out to someone and yourself. It was told in verse which I thought was nice and different and it fit the topic for this story. I highly recommend this story to anyone who is coming out as genderqueer.

A poetic look at the emotions/feelings/concerns of a teen who binds their chest. While they realize that they are genderqueer, their family and friends think that they are female, just as they always have.

Jamie is having a hard time deciding how to tell their parents and friends. They told their best friend Levi about being genderqueer, but wasn't ready to tell about the binding.

I really like this book. I found the poetic presentation stripped the story down to its basics, making the issues clear. This book could be a great aid to those considering similar questions. Parents would also benefit in learning more about some of the many issues under consideration by their children and their friends.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from West44Books and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

#IndigoEmployee

3* I almost gave up on this due to how hard it is to read hi-lo verse (which I had to google).

This isn't a heavy read, but a short insight into the life of Jamie, who *feels* she's genderqueer. It shows us her family dynamics, her LGBT friends and their potential issues, her het friends their actual/potential issues and her fears about coming out.

I liked the support she had from her brother and that she had a community of friends who helped and supported her, and that her parents were decent guys. I think that in some ways, she was privileged as her parents were well off, educated and she wasn't the first child in the family, so didn't have all the attention on her. And, I don't think that this was reflective of a lot of 2018 USA. Unfortunately.

It did feel the slightest that the author used the hi-lo verse to add drama where there really wasn't much drama. If the author was trying to highlight gender issues, and in particular genderqueerness, it didn't work for me, as the tale came across as Jamie being indecisive and unconvincing, as well as unconvinced. Right now, with gender issues getting so much negative press, i.e. that people are 'choosing' to be of a gender other than the one assigned at birth, I don't think this book helps the cause. I am an LGBT ally, but it feels as if this book was a little about Jamie indulging herself in a 'I'm entitled to' way, that so many people use as their MO for life. And with this, I kind of feel that those haters might just have some ammo to back up their thoughts/beliefs, wrong as those may be.

ARC courtesy of the author and West44 books for my reading pleasure.

This book was really good. I liked how it kind of covered not only Jamie’s struggles but the struggle of others and how not everyone’s coming out isn’t a piece of cake. I liked how Jamie’s parents didn’t understand but didn’t push them away because they were different, but instead they tried to understand. And Steve is the most amazing big brother ever to be honest. Thank you for writing this!

Some girls Bind by author Rory James is a quirky YA book about gender and questions. Great book for this age and genre.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy of Some Girls Bind in exchange for an honest review.