Where were all of these stories with characters in high school and college figuring out their sexualities and making a bit of a mess in the process when I was younger? I would have loved to read these when I was figuring out my sexuality and making a mess of my romantic and platonic relationships.

I will admit, this book did feel a little messy... which could have been intentional to match Maggie as she's navigating this confusing period of her life. Maggie is emotional and young, making decisions based on what she thinks is right, what she thinks will solve multiple problems in one, and ends up making mistakes in the process. Her sexuality is represented with her being interested in multiple genders at the same time and trying to understand what exactly that means. She is wondering what love is and what it feels like with different people. She's also figuring out what she wants to do for college and where to go without disappointing her family that are so devoted in her being successful in school. Even though she is a hot mess, Maggie is loveable and I couldn't help rooting for everything to work out in the end. I wanted her to make the mistakes and learn from them. I wanted her to choose who she wanted in her love square and I wanted her to consider if it's best to be single for awhile to figure it all out. I wanted so many things for her and was not disappointed with where the story ended.

I found the story and characters interesting but it did feel geared towards a younger audience. I don't remember if a specific year was mentioned but there are a lot of pop culture references making the book seem to be set in our world. The characters listen to music from Halsey and Fifth Harmony, wear clothing with Captain Marvel on it, have crushes on fictional characters from our movies, discuss their fanfiction written on Ao3, and more that I didn't take note of. If having a ton of pop culture references in books is something you dislike, I would not recommend picking up this book.

For so many, teen and young adult relationships feel so messy, fraught with new emotions and delicate boundaries. As teens are discovering themselves younger and younger and having the space and support to pursue romance, it's wonderful to see that messiness represented hand in hand with queerness on the page. Maggie's struggles are relatable and heartwarming.

My love for Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster is split between Maggie's character and this story line. In general, all of the characters in this story are fantastic - like I couldn't pick a favorite family member or even love interest. Mosqueda does an amazing job of creating these fully dimensional complex side characters even if we only see them for a few scenes. I'd love stories for each of them because it's clear they have nuance and life to them. But even more so, Maggie is such a gem. In Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster, I empathized with Maggie's dilemmas,

Love triangles or potential love interests always fascinate me because I think they're so telling of who we are. What each person represents to us and the futures they hold. So seeing Maggie having to process her own feelings was incredibly endearing. However the method she chooses has the potential for a lot of consequences and Maggie is going to have to figure out what she will do. But as a whole, Maggie's narration is unique, fresh, and full of character.

Oooh gurl this is a messy book. Maggie is an out bisexual. She used to have a crush on her best friend, and she has an on again/off again ex, and there's a cute new girl in town. When her best friend and her ex start showing signs of feelings again when the cute new girl starts flirting with her, Maggie's world gets really confusing. Add in having to pick an escort to her sister's quinceañera, and what is a girl to do? Maybe make a finsta to work through her problems for a school project? No one will find out.

Lots of teen drama in this one, which I guess maybe I am getting too old for? But if you've got teens who are into soapy shows, I bet they will enjoy this one. A great multicultural cast and loving family in this book.

This book is such a comfort read, an ode to teenage indecision, angst, fun, and friendship. Andrea Mosqueda really captures the best part of high school (in my opinion): getting to see your friends every day and be in the same town and just be together! It was also such a treat to see an emo, pop punk loving queer protagonist in Maggie; I feel like high school me would have loved to have her as a friend! I am also a Dani and Jordan stan! Even when I didn't love the other characters or their attitudes, this felt so age appropriate as teenagers and their reactions, it was refreshing to see teens get to be teens. I also love Andrea Mosqueda's emphasis on platonic love and the importance of communication and genuine apologies and growth in all types of relationships, these are such essential discussions to normalize.

hello friends!! & happy pride month as well!! i feel like i haven’t reviewed a book in quite a while actually (or read that much tbh) but here’s a long overdue review of just your local bisexual disaster by andrea mosqueda. i read an arc of this book back in april on the plane, and now it’s june so oops for that.

just your local bisexual disaster is definitely one of the best books i’ve read this year. it was a fun and enjoyable read, but also there were parts that really resonated with me and i got kind of emotional. i highly recommend and i also think it would be a quick read that would definitely help with a reading slump too.

the main premise of the book is kind of a love triangle (more like a square though), and usually i dislike love triangles but this one felt more realistic and each of the three love interests are interesting people on their own. one of the things i thought that made the triangle work is that there’s a compelling reason to root for each of them, and it’s not like it’s super obvious from the beginning which ship is going to sail. also the main character maggie is bi, and i really appreciated that the book depicted that her interest in more than one gender on page as well as the book (and maggie) being self-aware about bi stereotypes and the discussions about biphobia.

also even though the book is primarily about romance, there’s also a pretty big focus on family and friendship (i especially liked the emphasis on female friendship and the incorporated discussion about boundaries) in addition, i felt that it also was pretty realistic in how it depicted teenagers, the college struggle, and the pop culture references :)

thank you to @macmillanusa @fiercereads for sending me an earc :)

This book follows Maggie Gonzalez, a bisexual Chicana, and her experiences with love, heartbreak, and friendship. I really loved how realistic and relatable this book was and I bet that this book is one that a lot of bisexual girls growing up will be able to relate to. I liked how the relationships in this book weren't all cookie cutter and there were moments where the characters fought and made up since that made for a much more realistic story. Also, I absolutely loved Maggie and Dani's relationship! It was the most adorable thing ever and there were so many parts where I audibly squealed. Especially towards the end. I don't want to spoil too much about the romance in this book and who Maggie chooses in her love triangle (love square?) but all of them felt very well thought out. I also really liked how Amanda's character was written since she was a very accurate representation of how female friends of bisexual girls act so I hope that her character will bring some more awareness to the little things people say that are extremely irritating and stereotypical. Overall I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

As someone who identifies as bisexual, I was very excited to see this title. However, I am not big on romance and the whole "I can't decide who I love" trope just isn't my jam. After not really enjoying it, I took a break, read some other stuff, and came back. But even then, I just couldn't get into it. I feel this representation is important, I just don't think this book was my cup of tea.

A classic YA vibe, but with a minority voice that the industry doesn't have enough of! I really enjoyed the coming of age and self discovery themes. And it felt much more modern than a lot of other YA books lately.
A great contemporary for summer rom-com readers!!

Disclaimer: I am 44 years old and not this book's target demographic.

The title tells you what you need to know about Maggie. She is a disaster because she becomes cliché after cliché after cliché. I don't know if making her music obsessed is supposed to make me giver her a pass for her complete and utter ignorance of pop culture tropes; but I do not forgive her. The plot summary warns you of her three love interests, but doesn't tell you all you need to know.

<spoiler> Amanda, her best friend and forever crush is in a relationship; as is Matthew, the ex-boyfriend, has a girlfriend. The only viable option (because she is single) is clearly Dani.

However, Maggie dismissed the relationships and embarks on a photographic journey to determine who she should be with. She does this by creating a Finsta account where she uses different filters to represent each of her love interests and caption each photo with what she is feeling at the time. Two people know about the account: another friend, Jordan, and the art teacher. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the Finsta is Maggie's final project for class.

I was supremely upset that neither of these people told Maggie that this was a bad idea--although to be fair I don't know if the teacher knew who the three love interests were because Maggie only used initials in the captions. However, when the project concludes the teacher tells Maggie the worst piece of advice. I just checked on my digital ARC and it's not there--I ended up borrowing the audiobook from my local library--but it's something along the lines of that it's not possible to love someone the wrong way. What kind of advice is this?!?! What about people who inflict psychological and physical abuse on their so-called loved ones? Nope, that was it for me </spoiler>

Maggie Gonzalez needs a date to her sister's quinceañera. Coming to terms with the fact that non of her relationships or plans are as simple as she may had hoped. Between her low simmering crush on her forever best friend Amanda, her messy breakup with her ex Matthew, and a confusing new girl Dani, Maggie is forced to confront the complexity of her emotions tied to all of them.
I LOVED every second of this. It felt authentic and real and honest. Every character was developed and complex, every issue was real and thought out. I find YA can sometimes feel forced, and though there were a lot of pop culture references which usually I can find 'try hard' these were authentic and felt very accurate to a teenager.
Loved loved loved this book, will be recommending it to everyone. This is the book I wish I had when I was a teenage bisexual disaster.

Personal/Parent Thoughts- This is the book is so honest and relatable. It is definitely for young adults due to typical teen language/cursing. Honestly though, it's still representative of what I hear daily at the middle school level. It should be perfect for high schoolers since the MC is 16 and younger sister is turning 15. I love the Latinx representation, especially that of one whose parents didn't teach them Spanish. Honestly, the only thing keeping me from rating this a 5 is I can't separate my bias: is it a book for everyone to read and relate to, or were there so many references I related to (like Blessthefall) but not necessarily everyone else would get?
Only thing explicit in the book is the amount of cursing. But, again, it fits with the intended audience. The most romance shown is kissing.

Mind of a student- Great bisexual representation, especially since it addresses the common stereotypes. Always love a romance that's sweet enough for middle-grade. Only concern is some kids may not feel comfortable checking it out due to the title in fear of being "outed" or unsupportive family/peers.

Teacher/Librarian Brain- No-brainer for a high school library, class and school, collections. We have enough LGTBQ+ students and plenty of students 14+ yrs old to justify it in our middle school library collection. Easily likable. Not super lengthy or overly difficult to understand. Some references may be too specific to certain cliques (emo/scene kids).

This was a really quick endearing read that touched on important topics of today without being too intense or in-you-face. Maggie is a teen self described "bisexual disaster" who has stumbled into the unlucky situation of crushing on three people at once. Her bff Amanda, ex Matthew and a mysterious new girl at school. And now it's crunch time, with only a few weeks left before her sister's quince. Which of course she needs a date to.
Maggie's project to pick a date is heartfelt, funny and at times appropriately cringe-worthy. Add in the color and personality of her outspoken, loving latinx family and you have a great read. Easy 4 stars.

This was a really fun read. While I was iffy on the premise of Maggie liking three people, I did enjoy that she took her time to see who she connected with. The way she went about it... well... everyone is young and dumb at one time, right? And isn't that what high school is all about? Drama?

Additionally, when it all hits the fan, things aren't automatically okay after. It takes time for the characters to heal and face each other. In a lot of books, they're just automatically friends again the next day. Not here, and I really appreciate that. It made the characters seem a lot more human.

THE 411...

Maggie Gonzalez gave me a serious case of nostalgia as she helped her sister get ready for her quinceañera, picked a partner to accompany her to the quince and sorted through her messy (relatable) romantic feelings. Growing up in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, Maggie dreams of one day becoming a music photographer. She's one of three girls to a single mom/small business owner, they're bonds with one another are pretty tight. With college right around the corner, we see Maggie struggle with mixed emotions over leaving her family as well as guilt over how expensive a college education can be. Her love life is just as complicated, Maggie is a bisexual teen who is trying to sort out her feelings for her BFF Amanda, ex Matthew and new girl in town Dani. Along the way there's discussion on stereotypes Bisexual people are met with and the boundaries Maggie learns to set for herself. 

WRITING & FINAL THOUGHTS...

Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster delivered Latinx queer characters that embodied the messy chaos that is being a teenager in love. This is a character driven story where the relationships are well fleshed out. This has led to some reviewers feeling like this could've been shorter but personally I enjoyed seeing the history behind these connections. Maggie is Gen Z (even with some pop culture references that were out of place), she smokes weed with her friends, has a Finsta and is exploring hobbies/passions that can turn into a future career. If you enjoy stories with a focus on family bonds, Maggie and her sisters are pretty tight knit. Everyone helps out in the household and family owned business, they know their mom works hard and in many ways the oldest help raise the youngest. What to look forward to? seeing Maggie's family come together to organize the Quinceñera, Maggie trying to pick an escort to the very special birthday/rites of passage, and LOTS of complicated feelings and blurred lines. I happened to also get a copy of the audiobook and thought the narrator did a good job with the friend group, even the obnoxious temperamental ex 🤷🏻‍♀️ I also can't end this review without mentioning how yummy this book read haha!  but seriously you've been warned, the mention of tacos and other foods is very likely to set your tummy rumbling 😉

Review go live date: June 13th 8am EST

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for the electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Maggie Gonzalez is feeling the pressure. She and her friends are looking ahead to college, and everyone has high expectations of her. But more immediately, her sister’s quinceanera is coming soon, and she doesn’t have a date yet. She has narrowed it down to three possibilities—her ex-boyfriend Matthew, her best friend Amanda, and new girl Dani. When a teacher challenges her class to come up with twelve works of art to tell the journey of their last 12 weeks of senior year, she decides to use the project to help her make her decision. Maggie is a photographer, so she takes photos of her candidates, and assembles them into any unpublished instagram account with captions. No one is supposed to see them except her teacher.

As the date of the quinceanera nears, the decision isn’t getting easier. She’s getting mixed messages from one candidate, and she doesn’t want to interfere with another’s current relationship. And as she begins to reach a conclusion, she just wants to be honest. But are her friends ready for that kind of honesty?

A really wonderful and realistic story about being a high school senior and a sister…and also bisexual.

In Andrea Mosqueda’s Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster, Maggie Gonzalez, a high school junior with dreams of becoming a music photographer, finds herself torn between three potential escorts for her sister’s quinceañera, and when a school assignment urges her to do some self-exploration through a creative medium of her choice, she decides to use a new Instagram account as a diary to work through her complicated emotions. The longer this goes on, though, the more she realizes her inner turmoil is not just the result of her mixed up feelings for her three different crushes—she’s also second guessing her original plan for her future and dealing with insecurity, internalized biphobia, and the crushing guilt of daring to be uncertain about her life as a teenager.

While there were many promising aspects of this novel, I think it would have benefitted from a bit more revision. The characterization is inconsistent and often underdeveloped. I couldn’t make sense of Maggie’s feelings for her best friend, Amanda, and I didn’t believe that she actually had a crush on her because there are so many moments where their relationship does not even make sense on a platonic level, let alone a romantic level. Amanda is portrayed several times as vapid, inconsiderate, and self-centered—something Maggie is more than aware of—so with Maggie’s very apparent frustration and dislike of Amanda as a human, I did not understand from where the crush could even stem. Given a bit more attention and perhaps a few more pages, this relationship could have been such excellent representation of how straight girls can take advantage of queer girls and how toxic friendships that have this dynamic can be. The foundation is already there.

Dani, the new girl and another of Maggie’s three crushes, is not developed nearly enough on her own, and her relationship with Maggie even more so, so their moments together fall flat and the chemistry between them is lacking. In contrast to the other two crushes, Matthew and Maggie’s relationship as exes who might still have feelings for each other is rich with their long, complicated history and unfolds on the page in a compelling way. I would have liked for all three relationships to feel as vivid and complex as theirs did. Outside of these three love interests, the ensemble cast of side characters felt too numerous, and trying to tie everyone into the story and keep them all relevant to the plot made the book feel a bit messy.

Maggie’s internalized biphobia and self-hatred, among other things, could have used several extra beats to allow the story the space it needed to give weight to these moments and bring them to a proper, satisfying conclusion. In the novel, as the title suggests, Maggie believes she is giving bisexuality a bad name and living up to the awful stereotypes surrounding bisexuality because she has three simultaneous crushes. There are several moments where she seems repulsed by her own sexuality and views her attraction as predatory and creepy, and she also refers to herself as a slut several times. This sense of disgust and shame towards one’s own sexuality is such a prominent feeling queer youth have to unpack and unlearn; it’s a really important theme the novel aims to address, but the moments where Maggie’s internalized biphobia come through are so jarring and disruptive to the narrative that they need to be acknowledged and resolved more clearly. As it stands now, without giving these moments enough significance, attention, and resolution, they feel forced in and heavy-handed, like a tool to make a point without any subtlety. The novel is clearly seeking to challenge these cruel stereotypes and show the negative effects they have on young bisexuals, but I don’t think it quite succeeds in doing so realistically and authentically.

There were some absolutely breathtaking passages in this novel, like many of Maggie’s Instagram captions and the first little vignettes that lay out Maggie’s feelings for each of her crushes, but the writing and voice never seem to commit to one cohesive style. For every stunning turn of phrase, there would be a sentence that felt clunky in how hard it was trying to sound lyrical and another sentence that abandoned any sense of poeticism altogether in favor of incorporating Gen-Z slang and pop culture references in a way that didn’t feel natural.

All of this, combined with the forced and overly dramatic conflict that initiated the climax (which I won’t go into in detail to avoid too many spoilers but needed to be mentioned in some way because it truly baffles me), made pushing through to finish the book a bit difficult. It had so much potential but did not quite hit the mark for me personally.

3.5, rounded down.

Don't get me wrong—this was good and entertaining, but I found myself skimming through quite a bit of it. I felt it was too long and not the book for me, which is 100% on me for continuing to read YA contemporary when I was in the mood for speculative literary fiction (#moodreaderproblems).

However, this is DEFINITELY going to be the book for other people, and it probably definitely would have been the book for me when I was a teen and super duper closeted bisexual (I was so fucking closeted I didn't even realize it myself).

There is a lot to love in this book. Amazing rep, for starters. A cute subversion of the "bisexual who can't decide" trope/stereotype. A supportive (and messy) friend group. A fantastic set of siblings. A mom who had just the right amount of guidance while being real herself (and also messy). And a lot of (actually contemporary for today's teens) music...although there was mention of Weezer, Blink 182 and some other band I grew up with as a teen a bajillion (going on twenty years ago is a bajillion in teen years) years ago, so maybe that loses some cred there. Also there was a lot of flannel and converse. Is flannel a thing again? Because if so, my wife will be thrilled.

YALL this book was so good!!! You know, when I first began reading young adult books as a teen, I wasn’t a big fan of contemporaries. Probably because I couldn’t really identify with white kids living in the suburbs. But now, with all of the books coming out featuring BIPOC characters, I’m finally enjoying and even loving contemporary books more. And Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster is one of those. We follow the Gonzalez family, composed of three sisters; Verónica, Maggie and Alyssa, and their mom, who live in Rio Grande Valley, and are in the midst of the preparations of Alyssa’s quinceañera. Maggie has to get a date for the big event, but she has conflicting feelings with three of her friends; Matthew, her ex, Amanda, her BFF, and Dani, the new girl of the group. This book was so messy and real, it made me have flashbacks of my time as a teen and even my own quinceañera. I loved the characters and I loved seeing how the author developed their relationships as well as them as persons. I felt right at home following their stories, and connected with some of them. The popular culture references took me out because I completely resonated with them (yes Maggie, I fell in love with Kuvira too) and it’s honestly so fun to find little things that you recognize in a new book. Overall, you have to read this book because it is wonderful and Andrea really threw it out of the park with this story. If you love books like No Filter and Other Lies and Ophelia After All (two of my faves!), then you will love JYLBD.

I enjoyed this book a lot! I think Maggie, who is the main character, is my favorite character. I really enjoyed her voice throughout the novel. I wasn’t super into or attached to any of the side characters. This is a quick and easy read. Also, a love triangle that I was genuinely invested in! Obligatory readalike for Ghost Wood Song, without all of the ghosts. Same color scheme though! Four stars.