Loved the writing, the fact that there was alot of sayings/sentences in Spanish sprinkled throughout the book made it even more special. Ophelia is one of a kind teen who loves flowers, Cuban food, her parents and her friends. And until recently was boy crazy. Was known as the girl who had a crush on a different boy constantly. In this coming of age story we follow Ophelia as she navigates her way to realizing she might not only like boys. We follow her through her journey of self discovery where she realizes she is queer and learning to accept this part of her. She is finding herself and although it might be scary she soon realizes she isn't the only one. Can't say enough good things, this is such a gorgeous well told story and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Thanks to Macmillan and NetGalley for providing me a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Charming and fresh as a rose, Ophelia After All is the sweet queer coming-of-age novel your shelves have been waiting for.

Racquel Marie's examination of teen intersectionality in this graceful, loving book is sure to set your heart alight. I loved following Ophelia's unique journey to self-discovery and acceptance — with a fun, diverse cast of characters and a constantly shifting social dynamic, this book was engaging at every turn. I was particularly wowed by Ophelia's deep well of emotion, which Marie pulled from masterfully. An impressive debut, for sure, and that cover is GORGEOUS.

Definitely give this one a read! I'm proud to have it on my (digital) shelf, and I look forward to Racquel Marie's future novels. :')

*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley; opinions provided by me ;)

As a fan of contemporary queer YA stories, coming-of-age narratives, and romances, I must admit I went into this book underestimating it. I came into this book, ten years older than Ophelia, and five years older than my own ah-ha moment with my own version of Talia. Gosh, I miss that time in life when going to prom and worrying how close you'll remain with your friends after graduation is the toughest life gets, but whew, I'm glad I missed the pressure of promposals. I thought I had this story mostly figured out: in the eleventh hour of high school, our main character Ophelia starts realizing she isn't the straight, boy-crazy girl everyone assumes her to be. I was wrong. And in a way, so was our girl O. She thought she had her story mostly figured out too.

The best aspects of this book in my honest opinion are the ways these characters are forced to handle rejection. For Sammie, now's the time to learn liking someone does not equal possession of them. The way Sammie talks about Lindsay throughout the book is cringe cringe cringe!!! It takes him some time to get there but he sees the errors of his ways. And in O's case, the sting of the first queer crush and unerquited affection brings up so many feelings, including doubt. It was helpful to see her wrestle with language and identity and fit.

Cheers to your blooming, Ophelia. Cheers to the person behind her, Racquel Marie. Looking forward to see what else you unearth.

This is such a wonderful book that completely captures the feelings of questioning your sexuality--the questions of how this will change relationships with family or friends, but also how it changes your understanding of yourself. Ophelia is such a lovely character--she is sweet, loving, and pretty optimistic, while still full of depth. This is a wonderful book for anyone questioning their identity and is a love letter to queer teens everywhere. Threaded throughout is also the anxiety and relief that comes with the end of high school and friendships that felt so tangible and realistic, I felt like I was friends with the characters myself. I loved it so much!

What a strong debut! Not only was this a story about wrestling with your sexuality, but also your own self image.

This is a really important book for questioning youth. It is incredibly diverse in regards to race and LGBTQ+ representation. It is surprisingly not romance focused, but a true coming-of-age tale with honest and authentic characters. I cried throughout—tears of happiness and sadness.

Ophelia is known for two things amongst the people she holds close: her love of plants and boys. Once she starts to have crush worthy feelings for her new friend Talia, she starts to spiral. Everything she has known about herself revolved around the crushes she had on BOYS. As she spends more time with Talia, Ophelia learns that queerness is a spectrum and no matter where you fall on it, you are valid.

One thing that the author does a spectacular job with is the friend group. I LOVE a good friend group. They are messy and complicated, especially with the end of high school quietly looming. Each character really shines through within this larger friend group making it very unique. I love platonic male/female best friends and we get some wonderful duos—some that have been linked since forever (Ophelia and Sam), and others that are slowly blossoming (Ophelia and Wesley). The epilogue felt right out of the ending of 500 Days of Summer and I just loved it!

I can't wait to see what else Racquel Marie has to share because with a debut as wonderful as this, it is sure to be great.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ophelia After all is hands down the best book I've read in a long time. It reminds me of the power of YA Contemporaries and the importance of telling stories.
Things I love:
- coming-of-age about diaspora, sexuality, race, friendship
- change is hard especially when everything is changing all at once
- a love of food and culture
- ensemble cast that is quirky and real
- inclusion of classics and love for literature
- characters who unabashedly love the idea of love
This book will make you cry in the absolute best way, because it is so real and vulnerable, highlighting the experiences of high school friendships and accepting change. It is an instant comfort read to remind you that love can come in any form for anyone, and it is okay to continue learning who you are every day.

An adorable, wholesome exploration of sexuality written in the perspective of Ophelia Rojas, a seventeen-year-old "boy-crazy" girl who's confused (and more than a little taken aback) by the crush she's started to develop on a certain Talia Sanchez... Every single character was so sweet and complex, I just wanted to give each of them a big 'ol hug (and to become their new best friend). Ophelia's struggle felt SO real, it was incredible how realistic Marie was able to make this book in its depiction of questioning your identity and overall teenage-hood. I loved all of the representation that this book gave, although it would've been nice to see some for trans/non-binary folks. Nonetheless, this was a FANTASTIC debut, I want to marry this cover and Marie is definitely an author I'll be coming back to!

What a sweet, messy teen coming-of-age book. I loved Racquel Marie's writing. It was immersive and she gave all the characters, not just Ophelia, space to be their messy, ruinous selves. I really loved seeing Ophelia grow into herself and the lesson of this book (not going to share because spoiler!). I saw the author tweet the other day about which character is going to be readers' favorite, and while I agree that Wes is a smol cinnamon roll that must be protected, I really did love Ophelia. She grew so much and had so much strength. I absolutely recommend you read this one if you love characters figuring themselves out.

Ophelia is part Cuban, part Irish, rose-garden extraordinaire, and mostly known for being sweet and boy crazy. But what happens when the perceptions everyone has created for her and that she believed about herself are challenged?

As Ophelia starts recognizing her feelings towards her new friend Talia might be more than platonic, she starts to wonder about her sexuality. As she explores what this means to her, her friendships and overall identity go through a rollercoaster of exploration, too.

I wish I had this book over 15 years ago and I'm so glad young adult (and adult) audiences get it now.

What I loved most about this book was not just the growth of Ophelia and individual growth of other characters, but exemplifying healthy interpersonal relationships. Raquel Marie was intentional in how she modeled healthy dialogue, self-reflection, and giving and accepting forgiveness. The story dives into and shows that it's not about getting it right, it's about learning and honoring what feels right for one self and others.

I appreciated reading a story with a range of diverse characters that did not feel forced to meet a quota, but instead reflective of an authentic group of friends and their experiences of exploring and understanding what their identities and sexuality means to them.

The added in bonuses of plantitas, Spanglish, and love for literature were the ultimate cherries on top.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc.

I had zero expectations going into Ophelia After All. I knew that it was an LGBTQ+ novel and a contemporary, which I enjoy, but other than that I went it pretty blind. The beginning felt a little chaotic to me at first, especially when we were introduced to a lot of characters in the friend group. For me, this book really picked up in the second half.

This is really a coming of age novel and the questioning of what will happen post high school and the journey of self-discovery was something that I think readers can connect with, especially if they are in a similar situation.

Overall, I am giving this book 3.5 stars. I think it ranked a bit better than just okay for me, mostly because of the chaotic start for me. I think that Racquel will have some interesting stories to tell and I look forward to seeing what other books she puts out.

✧･ﾟ: * → 𝟱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀

𝘖𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘈𝘭𝘭 is wonderfully queer coming of age novel with a latina protagonist so I assumed I would like it off the bat. Despite that, this beautifully crafted story exceeded my expectations. I requested the audio ARC on Netgalley due to it's gorgeous cover and interesting premise and got it accepted a while back. I realized that it was coming out soon so I finally got to reading it and I'm so glad I did.

This story follows Ophelia, a questioning Cuban-Irish girl, during her last few months of senior year. We see her struggle with her sexuality after only being seen as "boy crazy." She tries desperately to keep that one faucet of herself the same as the rest of her life changes. This is all a product of her crush on a girl which she didn't know what to do with.

Despite the focus on her and her sexuality, we see a lot more play into her story. We get the merging of two friend groups and the drama that unfolds. I absolutely adore well done friend groups and this was definitely one of those.. The side characters were fun and engaging. We got to see all their different relationships come into play as well. These rationships were very well done, whether they were romantic, platonic, or familial.

Realistic high school stories are hard to find, many stories like these usually just include a bunch of outdated pop culture references. I was pleasantly surprised by how truthful this book was to the high school experience. Ophelia's experience is messy and just so raw.

Overall, my praise doesn't do enough justice to how much I adore this book. Definitely go check out this book if you want a messy coming of age with a plethora of queer characters.

𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝘼𝙍𝘾 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read such a wonderful gem of a book. I am at a lost for words. This is the Ya Contemporary that I can see myself reading forever and ever. I am estatoc to add this to my library as well as recommend to others.

This book was refreshing to read. It is also a very needed book.

TLDR: Get this book!

Ophelia After All might be the most earnest, accepting, charming YA book I’ve read in years. Ophelia is such a delight to read about and see her inner struggles. Struggles with her identity, her sexuality, her friendships. I understood how confusing life can be when you’re at the cusp of adulthood. I feel like so many teens who read this will easily identify with Ophelia. I also loved all the supporting characters in the book! Agatha and Wesley were my favorites. Also it was so cool to read a unique protagonist who loves gardening. I would easily recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This book hit me in so many ways it’s a beautiful coming-of-age story about a young girl discovering herself and sexuality and omg did this book make me feel things. I laughed out loud and cried, it wasn't necessarily sad the emotion was just so raw and real it just hit me and was so overwhelming. I loved this book so much this is a story I wish I could have read in high school but I’m so happy I got this amazing opportunity to read it thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for this ARC for an honest review.

I received an ARC from the publisher and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own:
Ophelia After All caught my attention via Twitter, and I didn’t have much in the way of expectations, beyond a vague idea of what it was about and that it sounded pretty cool. To my surprise, it blew me away and spoke to me.
I have been coming to terms with my own queerness within the last couple years, so I felt seen in part so f this book. The feeling of finding yourself questioning your sexuality and how to label yourself feels very relevant to me, and I could empathize with a lot of Ophelia’s confusion in that regard. I love how it delves into how she self-identifies, as well as thinking about what her identity might mean (from her perspective) to others, as that is something I’ve also grappled with. I appreciated seeing her explore and learn about the LGBTQIAP+ community, and I saw a lot of my own journey in that as well. I wish I had found a book like this in my teen years!
I also really liked the vibrant supporting cast. Ophelia has such complex interactions with them, especially her family and longtime friends, on her journey of self-discovery, and it feels incredibly realistic. All of them are well-fleshed out, and it never felt like anyone was a cardboard cutout. I particularly liked Ophelia’s relationship with her mother, and there’s a couple of scenes they had together that touched my heart.
And while it’s not a romance, I liked that the romantic elements felt well drawn. Ophelia’s queer awakening with Talia was lovely to read. And there’s a secondary love triangle that is incredibly well executed, actively investing me in those characters and the dynamics between them.
This is an absolutely wonderful book, and I would recommend pretty much anyone read it, especially anyone who’s queer or questioning.

Ophelia has as much color and life as the roses she cares for her. It was a joy to join her as she navigated friendships, crushes and the conflict between her identity and the way the world sees her. I think a lot of teens will feel seen by this book, maybe for the first time.

Ophelia After All got me out of my months-long reading slump. The relationships were complex and three-dimensional. The characters were so easy to fall in love with, and I absolutely loved Ophelia. This is a beautiful book and I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy!

- Y'all, OPHELIA AFTER ALL is one of the sweetest, queerest books I've ever read.
- This book so beautifully explores discovering new sides of yourself, and grappling not only with coming out generally, but with how earthshaking it can be to understand yourself differently, and to worry about changing the set image of you others have in their heads.
- A range of queer identities are shown, from lesbian to asexual, and most of the characters are people of color as well: just wonderful to see a book about a group of queer teens that isn't primarily white.
- I did feel that it got a little bogged down in Big Teenage Relationship Feelings in the middle, but every character was so lovely I was willing to keep going in hopes of finding them happy and loved at the end.
- On a personal note, my family has always grown roses the way Ophelia does, and I loved seeing the names of hybrids I know and love given the appreciation they deserve.

OMG! this book!!! aaaah. 5/5 stars, all the feels, and so much pride and joy!
so i first found out about this book on booktwt after seeing racquel's video of getting her books and crying (it was so wholesome!). and then i saw it on netgalley, so i had to request it, and unbelievably my request was granted, and i finished it in two days! i really, really, really loved this book. as someone whose sexuality journey has also just started like ophelia, i felt totally seen! all the discussions about bi/pansexuality, asexuality (i REALLY appreciated that rep, especially because i feel like there is still so little on the ace/aro/aspec community generally), queerness and being Not Straight were just so wholesome and supportive and what every queer person deserves. i was really proud of ophelia's growth and commitment to being her own unapologetic queer self and loving that self by the end of the book, and the ending, while it was definitely something i didn't expect (i thought it would end like the typical queer rom coms i read!), it felt completely right and refreshing (sorry, this is vague, because i don't want to spoil). i also love how she had such a great relationship with her parents and friends and while obviously she went through many relationship issues in the book they still stuck by her and unconditionally loved her. nobody's love for ophelia was ever in doubt in the book, which i appreciated, because so many times in queer stories there is disproportionately queer pain, but this book only brought me queer joy which is what we need more of. i also loved the conversations ophelia had on her biracial diasporic identity, and not feeling authentic enough for either culture, and how there was such a diverse cast of characters!!!! wesley was such a wholesome cinnamon roll!! i really loved how ophelia and his friendship strengthened and how he introduced her to the queer center. sammie i liked less, probably because he was more tempermental and too caught up in lindsay, but i liked how he ended up at the end being willing to go to therapy (i don't see many men in books doing this, especially if they are presumed to be straight, which sammie was, until the end, at least). i LOVED agatha. i spiritually VIBED with that woman. she is the best and ophelia kept being like oh we're not best friends my best friend is sammie, but like girl, AGATHA is your person. don't diss her!! i also love how she was plus sized and did plus size inclusive fashion. i know to many people it will seem like a small line, but it really made a difference to me to see that, just like all those mentions about having a eurocentric education. lindsay i was kinda meh about the entire way through, and i think that's just simply because i hold my friends to a high bar and lindsay seemed the most flaky and like she didn't see ophelia as an equal being the popular one and ophelia being part of agatha's package. in the end, i think they patched it up, but if lindsay were a real person, i probably wouldn't want to be friends with her given the lukewarm way she treated ophelia through most of the book. i loved talia, and i was really surprised when the thing that i thought was going to happen DID NOT! but go talia, for being your unapologetic bisexual self with zaq. zaq was cool, probably the most minor side character, and i highkey thought wesley and him were gonna be a thing, but nope! i am really glad ophelia ended up in the relationship status she did because the point of this book is that you can have a full life without romantic love and take time for yourself to understand your sexuality and all. so many rom com esque novels always give the MC a happy ending by putting them in a romantic relationship with someone, and i'm glad the message of the book was able to be felt powerfully without that (perhaps even more powerfully without that). anyways, this was a joyful read and i'm so happy i got to read it before pub day!!!!!

Overall: Absolutely consumable and I need to read the next thing that is out by her ASAP.

Pros:
Realistic. This story is a true-blue coming-of-age story and hits the exact beats I wanted.
Characters. The characters are so enjoyable, Ophelia is absolutely someone I would love to see on the big screen someday.
Writing Style. It is pure and simply, consumable and I need more of it.

Cons:
Story-Line. You may not enjoy this if you want more out of your coming-of-age stories what the plot has to offer in this one.