I ended up finishing this ARC after first deciding to not give it feedback.
Initially I was turned off to the book, due to the fact that the author themselves was not a transgender identifying person. After finding reviews of the books by trans people, I decided to give it another shot. I feel like I cannot accurately review a book that I am not the identity of, but I can review it based on other relevant aspects.

From my limited cisgender perspective I believe this book does an accurate job showcasing the difficulties and struggles that someone transgender may go through, especially while they are going through the regular struggles of teen life. I enjoyed the parts of the novel where they ventured out of the small town and the two main characters interacted more. I hope to read similar works in the future that have more of an emphasis on the writer being from that identity, but I can now trust that this author did her research well.

A Sweet romance about two teens dealing with their own difficulties who are brought together by fate. Chris is a trans who is trying to escape for the summer after being brutally beaten by some kids in his school Maia is trying to rebuild her life after her older sister tragically died from a heart condition. Even though they both just want to be left alone, maybe the other is just what they both need.

I wasn't super impressed with this one already, but I can't, in good conscience, rate this book highly due to some of the harmful aspects that trans reviewers have brought to my attention. There are many things I wouldn't know as a cis woman, and it's unfortunate that it seems like the author missed the mark on rep that wasn't hers to begin with. Maybe it was an issue with research, maybe something else?

I really enjoyed this one - so much so that I bought a finish printed copy! The beautiful cover is what initially drew me in and luckily the story inside lived up to it.

Something Like Gravity is not an accurate or safe portrayal of a trans teen. I believe that this should have been left to a trans author.

Even though this took me way too long to finish, this is easily one of the best young adult contemporaries I have read this year! There were some really artful and quote filled moments within this novel that I highly enjoyed. There is a trigger warning for sexual assault, but it isn’t too detailed. I loved how one of the main characters is transgender, especially since I have a transgender friend and one that wants to transition. I think it is something to be respected as well as accepted because we are born how we think we are, not necessarily how we are born in my opinion. Maia and Chris are definitely lovable characters with faults, but nobody is perfect.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed are my own.

Don't waste your time. This book was not written/edited/proofed by a trans person, It's not even well-researched and at least low-key offensive.

Amber Smith has been one of my favorite YA authors since "The Way I Used To Be", and this book did not disappoint! I love that she takes serious situations and topics and explores them through the lens of a young adult. Great pick!

I like the writing. However, some of the transgender stuff didn't feel authentic. I'm not transgender myself, but I can imagine this might be annoying for some people. Overall, it was sweet though.

my PDF reader wouldn't open this file so I wasn't able to read Something Like Gravity by Amber Smith

I LOVE AMBER SMITH!

Something Like Gravity is a book about transgender and how it affects family as well as friendships, but especially the individual themselves.
I feel Ms. Smith caught the emotions well of what it's like for a transgender person to live in today's world. The bullying they go through and how they handle it whether it be taking things with a grain of salt because you are who you are or if it gets as bad as suicide.
People are who they are and should not be judged because they are different then what others perceive.
Thank you for writing this story Amber Smith!

This arc was provided to me by Margaret K. McElderberry Books via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I can’t say that I loved Something Like Gravity by Amber Smith. I also can’t say that I hated it, either, because I most certainly didn’t. However, I'm not really certain what my expectations were prior to reading this.

Something Like Gravity follows the story of Chris, a female to male transgender teen from Buffalo, and Maia, a girl who grew up in small town North Carolina over the course of a summer. Meeting unconventionally, a friendship forms between the two and romantic interests seem to peak quickly.

Maia struggles to find her place in the world with her older sister having passed on. It is Maia's struggle, as well as her developing relationship with Chris, that primarily fuels the plot line of the novel. I really wish the author could have touched more on Chris' experiences since coming out as transgender, but unfortunately, that is not the case.

I will not lie, I don't know very much about what it is like to live as a transgender person. I don't know what transitioning, passing or dysphoria is like. I haven't gone through these experiences, nor have I done enough proper research on this topic. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert or highly educated individual when it comes to this, because I'm not. I don't know many people who identify as transgender (literally only a few, and only one of them is a friend), and I certainly don't want to offend anyone who may come across my review.

That being said, I feel as though Chris' character is poorly written due to lack of proper research. This disappoints me endlessly, as it was Chris' character that piqued my interest in this book in the first place.

Details of Chris' transition process are difficult to piece together in order to create a clear picture, and the timeline of his transition is inconsistent. He describes his voice as being "high and light" a year ago, but later states he's been subconsciously talking low for years, "before the hormones." It is actually never clearly stated whether or not he has actually started hormones, merely that his father has "signed the stupid paperwork."

Throughout the novel, there is no instance of Chris being administered hormone shots. Chris and his aunt didn't have a discussion of where Chris would even go for his shots or prescriptions. There were no doctor or specialist appointments. The only part of his transition that is actually touched upon is Chris wearing a binder. However, upon reading this review [https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2865862369], I discovered that this is incorrectly described.

It's not enough to simply write your characters a certain way. You can't just write that your character is transgender, or a person of another race, or a person with a disease or form of disability. You must put in your research to make your character come alive, to make your character human.

If readers are looking for a book to curl up with on a rainy day to get those warm, fuzzy feelings, Something Like Gravity will fill that void. However, if readers are searching for accurate representation of a transgender person's experiences, I suggest to look elsewhere.

Thank you Netgalley and Simon And Schuster Children’s Publishing for a copy of this eARC.

If you are looking for a sweet story about a transgender male... THIS IS IT! Without giving any spoilers this story is about Chris who spends the summer at his aunt’s house in a small town to escape and recover from the bigots and hatred he experienced at home. He meets Maia who recently lost her older sister. Both of them have some healing to do and they are just what each other need.

I gave this story 4 out of 5 stars. I definitely recommend it. The writing style is good and its surprisingly a feel-good novel. I took a long time to get to this one since I lost my older sister this year and anything with the lost of a sibling has been hard to read but I’m glad I read it.

I cared for both Chris and Maia -- I would love to meet them in real life. With their own issues weighing them down, it's nice that they find confidence in each other. I'm not a big fan of romance stories but this one was okay -- I would recommend to fans of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.

WOW! This book was such a mixed ride. I was initially really excited about reading this novel, but quickly I realized this was not the book I was expecting. The characters are just....boring. I feel like a large part of this is because it is not an own voices book. It's written by a CIS author, who from my research, does not have experience in this area. The stereotyping was abundant and blatant, and the issues that Chris goes through are at times unrealistic -SPOILER - UM THAT OUTING SCENE CAME OUT OF NO WHERE OK.- as well as scenes with the binders, clothing and more. There was just... it was not well thought out, or researched IMO. You don't sleep in something that can prohibit your breathing like that! I am not transgender, I am a lesbian - and SO MANY TIMES this book read as a lesbian romance novel. Ugh -- I could continue but I am not going to. I'm just going to say that I do not recommend this novel to someone looking for a good rep. I gave this 2/5 stars.

I really wanted to love this book and I...really didn't. As others have mentioned here, this felt like a "good idea, bad execution" situation -- there were inconsistencies in the story and parts of the novel that didn't feel accurate or well-researched. I feel that the author meant well, but it just didn't deliver for me, unfortunately.

All in all, this was a mediocre book made worse by poorly-researched representation. I definitely want to try more of Amber Smith's work because, like I said, her narrative voice itself is really nice and I've heard many people say her plots and characters are usually a lot better than this. But... yeah, this one didn't do anyone any favors.

This book deals with a really sensitive topic, and I am not sure how well researched it was. There are a lot of casual things that made me go "this doesn't feel accurate" and then there were some things where I went "this is blatantly inappropriate" thus making enjoying this book hard. I understand that the author is cis, and given that this is a trans story, I think that there needed to be more people involved in the process who are trans so they could highlight these things. From the severe to the mundane.

After not enjoying this title I think it has come to the point that Amber Smith is just not the author for me. It seems that all of her books have the same issue for me. Each one starts out with this shocking twist or realization or event. But once the actual story gets going it falls apart and becomes slow and stagnate. This one had the same issue. It started out with a bang and was great for the most part. But the middle and end of the story was just kind of meh. The story and characters were ok at best. I couldn't connect with any of them and I felt like something was off.

Overall, this is just not the author for me.

Perfect. I am so grateful for YA fiction that is inclusive of the trans community. It’s so important for today’s youth to have an accessible connection. This was a quick read - though unexceptional, I enjoyed it.