Let me get the simple thing out of the way first: this book rocks! I inhaled it!

Next, a note about the sexuality theme, in this case the Asexuality Spectrum: 2 of the last 3 (YA) books I’ve read have included this discussion. That cannot be a coincidence. And I really appreciate this topic being brought to the table, as I feel informed and educated each time.

So, Birdie’s story is great. It’s real and I loved it. And, again, I feel like I learned some stuff from the setting, the very fleshed-out characters and the story lines I don’t usually encounter. I really dug it.

Brandy Colbert has become one of my must-buy authors and this book is an example of why. Her novels are incredibly specific (their respective neighborhoods are as much a character in the books than the people in them) but at the same time, they feel universal.

Everything about this book was perfection for me. It's so clever and so heartbreaking and I just wanted everything to be OK for Birdie.

I hope there's a companion novel. I would very much like to spend more time with them.

Highly recommended.

Really excellent and contemporary YA novel dealing with race, romance, addiction, and coping with the tension between how young people see themselves and the roles their parents imagine for them. The novel doesn't resolve most of the issues addressed, but the novel still feels like it reaches a (mostly) mostly satisfactory conclusion. My only frustration was what felt like a normalization of gendered approaches to chastity (this comes up both with the matter of [Spoiler]'s infidelity and the uneven handling of how Birdie is expected to deal with her jealousy regard Booker's sexual past and Booker's unreasonable jealousy regarding Birdie's past boyfriend). In a book that otherwise clearly tried to be inclusive of gender and sexual identities, this seemed odd.