Teenage Enrique is not only trying to make his way through high school, he’s also falling hard for his presumably straight friend, Saleem. This book is so much deeper than your average queer coming of age story, it also dissects the intricacies of bisexuality, the Latinx experience, racism, and mental health. As always, representation matters and this will no doubt be a a top contender for must read literature.

Sincere thanks to Simon & Schuster, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advance audio version of this book in exchange for an honest review.

First, I really loved this book—both the story and the narrator.

Second, I don’t think that the blurbs I read in advance of the book did it justice. I was expecting a “romp”, and what I got was so much more!

The title should have been more of a clue. But who does “they” refer to, and who is “us”? This book gets into so much—coming of age, coming to terms with one’s sexuality, coming out, bisexuality, Latinx teens, racism, religion vs. sexuality, mental health issues…and yet, it still manages to be a fun, compelling story. One that did bring a tear to my eye in places, but also made me smile and even laugh. The characters were amazing—so multidimensional, both teens and adults. Quique’s parents are not perfect, but they are real. And one adult in particular…but that one can’t be mentioned without spoilers.

The basic premise—how can a bisexual teenager deal with it when he has a crush on his best friend who he assumes is straight (partly because he’s Muslim)—especially when the friend doesn’t know that he’s bi? By pursuing other prospects, of course. What could go wrong?
His other best friend, Fabiola (also bi) is busy pursuing her own crush, but always there as wingman, sounding board, and all around support person—when he’s willing to let her know what’s going on.

But Quique is dealing with more than his love life—and will he let anyone know what’s going on before it’s too late?

Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ALC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

This was a roller coaster ride of a book and I think the ride was so worth it. It’s a perfect example of why queer contemporary YA is so important and why representation and #OwnVoices is so necessary.

As a bi person, this book felt so real and relatable and did such a wonderful job of unpacking biphobia, internalized and external, as well as showing the joy and fun that comes with being bisexual as well— and to get so many bi characters in one book! I loved it. As a person who has also dealt with chronic mental illness since adolescence, Quique’s journey with his mental health also felt properly and sensitively executed. I adored his conversations with Luciana and loved the perspective that she brought to the novel.

There were some moments where I found myself cringing or feeling like the writing was a bit TMI (I didn’t love the internal monologues re: penis size, masturbation, and bodily functions) but I also think a teenage guy reading this might find it really relatable, which is who this book is for, so this is obviously more of a personal preference thing.

Overall, a great novel with beautifully rendered characters and a lasting message. Funny, heartfelt, and a stellar audiobook narrator performance. Plus the cover is gorgeous!

Aaron H. Aceves' This Is Why They Hate Us is a queer coming of age story. Enrique realizes he has a crush on his friend Saleem and figures that his feelings are not reciprocated. Hence, starts his summer of conquests. His goal for the summer is to find a way to get over Saleem. Try as he might, it does not happen but along the way he learns a lot about himself and tries to find the guidance he needs to be happy and accepting of himself. The narrator does an excellent job with voices for each perspective being read and brings additional life to this story.

This is absolutely a top read of the year for me.
This lovely story about a bisexual teen exploring himself and his sexuality is one of the funniest books I've read in a long time. Queque's voice is so chaotic and relatable. The conversations about mental health were beautiful and I LOVE a pro therapy book.
If I prayed, my prayer would be that Aaron Aceves would give us a book about each side character.
Truly obsessed.

Thank you to netgalley for the arc.

DNF
I hated everything about this book. The main character is annoying and his friend is even worse. I didn't like the writing. I hated the mental health rep and the bisexuality rep. The main character kept flirting and tried to hook up with his teacher. He also repeatedly outed people who were still closeted. His friend had an inappropriate response to him being suicidal. And she hooked up with someone she knew he liked.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, Aaron H. Aceves, and Alejandro Ruiz (audio narrator) for the opportunity to read and listen to the audiobook of This Is Why They Hate Us in exchange for an honest review.

This novel is an excellent, quick read, impossible to put down. The writing is phenomenal and the aduiobook narrator brings the main character and the story to life.

Enrique has a crush on his good friend, Saleem, but with their differing religious views, the question of sexuality arises. Not only that, but Quique's love seems to be unrequitted. Using his summer to try and get over his feelings for Saleem, Quique tends to experiment with some other guys he knows, not really sure how to move forward. He also somewhat likes his other best friend, who is a girl, though does n't bother persuing when he finds out she has a girlfriend. Being bisexual certainly has its challenges!

Quique soon learns that trying to move his love aside using physical relationships with others might not have ben the best idea. Between thoughts of suicide and navigating senior year, Quique has a lot to learn, but its by making mistakes that learning can happen, and readers should take away that this is okay. Mistakes happen and we as people can really only learn through our own experiences. 

This book features LGBTQ representation, cultural diversity (Hispanic and Palastinian), and really delves into self-identity and how complicated it can be when one is gay or bisexual, but their religion, or the religion of someone they like, claims that it is wrong to be so. There are moments of depression and suicidal contemplation in this book that hit hard and can make those parts challenging to read, but it is also a reality that those who are LGBTQ+ have a higher risk of suicide because of their religious pressures or lack of resources and safe people to go to.

A phenomanal novel that really sends an impactful message to the reader. While it has its heavy topics, there are also a number of moments that include light-hearted fun and just the experience of being a teenage boy. An excellent read I highly recommend if you want something that you will devour in a matter of hours.

I would like to thank Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for providing me with an audio ARC.
This is Why They Hate us is an example of great concept, but bad execution. I did think that the characters were interesting. I think the characters all have a strong voice. I also really appreciated the amount of representation in this book. However, there wasn't much beyond that that I enjoyed.
I'm somebody who is fine with sex and sexuality being discussed in Young Adult books. Many teens are exploring this anyway, so I believe it's a good topic for them to be able to discuss without judgment. Especially when parents are not open about discussing it with them. And with many books in the young adult genre that discuss sex and sexuality, they are never graphic. That being said, the way that sexuality was discussed in this book is borderline uncomfortable. I understand that teens are often very interested in sex but it came across as the characters in this book being obsessed with sex. The book also goes as far as being very allonormative. It describes anybody who is not interested in having sex as being abnormal and not natural. Despite the main character and his best friend being bisexual the book also leans into bisexual stereotypes. As other reviewers have stated there was some ableist and misogynistic language used in this book.
I was really excited to read this book. But it, unfortunately failed in many areas for me. I really wanted to love this book, but past the second-half of the book, I just could not stand the characters at that point. It sounded like it was going to be a really fun coming of age story about coming into your identity, that also discusses some heavier topics. It delivered in some areas but failed in others.

CW: Su!cidal thoughts, homophobia, mental illness, biphobia, underage sexual content, racism, islamophobia, racial slurs, underage drug/alcohol use, panic attack/disorders, alcoholic parents, transphobia, vomiting, grief, adult/minor relationship, mention of school shootings


Thank you so much to Aaron H. Aceves, Dreamscape Media, and #NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.


This story is centered around Enrique “Quique” Luna, a not-quite-out 17 year old bisexual boy who is desperately trying to stomp out his crush on his best friend, Saleem. His summer is literally full of prospects (and drama, confusion, tears, the works).

I loved this book. I couldn't stop listening to it. Aceves somehow fit so many topics into this queer YA story that I thought it would be too much, but he wrote it beautifully. It felt like a perfect description of a teenage summer; a little sweaty, confusing, lustful, exploratory, and wary of the future. There were so many great moments in this book, and I wasn't always sure of what path Qique would end up on. I loved the choices the author made, down to the bi colors of the cover. This book made my little queer heart very happy.

5 out of 5 stars!

I really loved the mental health rep and the queer/bi rep was amazing! I think this is an amazing coming if age book and I found the book quite funny and I think the more emotional stuff was handled really well (PLEASE CHECK CW/TW) but I just kept getting pulled out of the story by how detailed the sexual content was for a YA book, if it was NA I wouldn’t have any issues but the characters are minors and it’s marketed as 14+ from what I’ve seen.

There is just more sexual content in this book then made me comfortable for something being marketed as a ya book with 17yo characters to 14+…(from what I’ve seen) yes I was reading more graphic stuff younger but something about the frequency and level of detail coupled with the constant reminder they aren’t over 18 yet and it being marketed from what I’ve seen as 14+ just felt off and took me out of the story a quite often. yes, it’s like quite true to reality from what I remember about being 17 and I mean it was only like 3 years ago... but from the way I had seen it marketed it felt like it wasn’t what I would’ve expected.


Graphic: Alcohol, Biphobia, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Transphobia, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Toxic relationship
Minor: Vomit, Drug use, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Further CW;
The narrator/MC is a 17yo boy and there is a fair amount of sexual intimacy scenes throughout the book between 17yo’s, they aren’t overly graphic but they are quite frequent and definitely not fade to black.
There is a scene where a friend of his talks about using dating apps while under age and explains how he lies about his age to sleep with older people (adult/minor relationships) and at one point Quique decides to give it a try, there is no adult/minor relations however he does go over to this man’s house and it ends up being someone in a position of power over him, again it does not happen on page and is handled well but the man is someone he knows in a position of power over him

I was granted audio ARC access to This Is Why They Hate Us by Aaron H. Aceves by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest. I would also like to note that I was approved for this title very late in August, possibly even after publication date had passed, but I truly did still intend to get my review out sooner than I've managed, and for that I'm sorry.

Okay, what the heck, it ends THERE?!

I'm going to be completely honest and say that the first couple of chapters of this book were absolutely not winning me over and I let this book fall by the wayside as my first semester back to school in several years started, but tonight I decided to finish and I must have hit pause at a critical turning point because oh my goodness the rest of this book was pure gold!

This Is Why They Hate Us is a queer teen coming-of-age story during which a bisexual boy with unresolved mental health issues he's working through decides that this is the summer to explore the full range of prospects his sexuality offers. Some of that exploration leads down dead ends, leads into danger, or leads to unexpected and unconventional friendships. (Ever heard that joke about how if you're queer you were either friends with your English teacher or your Art teacher?) Some of that exploration eventually leads to honesty and deeper connections among the friends and possibly more-than-friends already in his life. It's sweet, honest, scary, and beautiful all at the same time, and I couldn't get enough!

Beyond the exploration of relationships, this book also shines a spotlight on BIPOC, mixed-race, and immigrant & refugee voices and experiences. There's very little cis-het white representation in this book, and that means every single internal and interpersonal issue the main cast has is tangled in intersectionality. I think this is definitely a re-readable book because it has so much to say about minority experiences that it's impossible to soak it all up with a single reading.

I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about this book, so when I was offered to chance to review this I was elated. Quique is struggling with his bisexuality along with his crush on his best friend Saleem, and your typical YA pandemonium ensues. Where this finds it’s strife though, is it doesn’t shy away from actual teenage encounters and how awkward and uncomfortable it can be when you’re inside of yourself. Quique juggles a multitude of boys in this, and I wasn’t super sold on his reasoning. Saleem is an angel and should be protected at all costs. The other boys in this really are not great, but I guess they’re meant to not be to make Saleem the obvious choice. That said, this is an important book, not only because its emphasis on mental health and the damaging effect coming out can have, but also the coming out experience for the Latinx community.

This one is somewhere between a 3 and a 4 for me. I enjoyed the second half of the book much more than the first. Lots of great representation and metaphors for bisexuality that were both entertaining and hilariously accurate. There was lots more God/faith talk than I expected, which wasn't my favorite. But I really enjoyed the ending and overall would recommend this one to my teens.

quique my wonderfully chaotic bisexual son!!

this is why they hate us was one of my most anticipated books of the year and i'm so in love with it. this was so authentic and heartfelt. what a gorgeous portrayal of the messiness, mistakes, and, most of all, wonder of growing up and finding yourself and your footing in life.

i can't wait to see what aceves writes in the future, but i'm betting right now he's going to be new fave author material.

I feel like there is a lot to unpack about this book. First, I loved it for the most part - the story and the characters were great. The only reason this book isn't 5 stars for me is that it felt as if Enrique broke the 4th wall sometimes in the book unexpectedly and that drew me out of the story.

What I really liked:

* This book felt both like a romance and not a romance. A lot of books that are just romance don't keep my attention. While Enrique was definitely looking for love (or at least to fulfill his lust) he did a lot of growing in other areas of his life too.

* Realistic representation of coming out and not coming out: I know in an ideal world we'd all come out right away and everyone would be okay with it. That's not the world we live. While I do like stories set up where coming out doesn't need to happen - this book handled it well. His parents' reaction left me in frustrated mode for a while because it was too close to how one of my parents reacted. (I'm not saying what they said because of spoilers)

* A wide range of characters with drastically different life experiences. For me, I have to like or at least be invested in the fate of at least 1 character when I read a book. Otherwise I don't enjoy it - for this one I wanted Enrique and his friends and 'prospects' all to end up happy. Except Tyler. Screw that jerk! Though, everyone who dates guys has met someone like him before. So, still realistic.

* The mental health representation in this book was on point for me. As someone who has dealt with anxiety for as long as I can remember this book hit home hard but was handled with respect and reality. I hate books where 'love' is the magic cure for anxiety or any mental illness and thankfully - blessedly this book isn't one of those and I think that's what really made it so great and Enrique such a relatable/likeable character even when he's about to do something stupid.

Overall, I enjoyed this one and would recommend it to anyone who likes a good coming of age story with a wide range of characters and accurate mental health portrayal.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me an arc to review.

Ultimately, this book is all about Quique. How he feels so much, is dramatic, horny (I wish there was a better word for this but it's true), bored and lonely (it's summer), struggling with his mental health and, probably because he's a teenager and spends so much time thinking about himself, surprisingly self-aware.

I found myself getting and relating to Quique in a lot of ways. Being a teenager is hard - I could totally remember some similar drama, loneliness and longing that saturates Quique's story. As well as the way that everyone seems like a prospect when you're feeling like that.

The bi rep is outstanding - and a nice change of pace from the more common bi-awakening stories - with some great critical conversations about bi-phobia/bi-erasure. Quique's tortured, imperfect metaphors to explain his sexuality to people are my favourite parts of the book. I also loved the idea of the gay lit archetypes of the "every gay" protagonist and "better man" device.

The secondary characters are all pretty well drawn, while somehow being amalgams of the kinds of kids we probably all knew in high school: the quiet sweet guy, the sassy girl, the stoner kid, the rough guy etc. I also enjoyed the narration - there were a lot of voices to cover and with a couple of exceptions, they all stood out really well. I also really liked Quique's relationship with his parents - somewhat complicated but loving. And the important reminder of how hard it is for parents to know how to support/manage the mental health of their kids and how especially hard it is for people who are living closer to poverty to find the time and energy to navigate that stuff.

A few things about this book that may not work for people: The book got a bit repetitive but I think it's still quite well done for a debut. Although it's not very graphic, it has more on-page steam than any other YA book I've read and the teenagers in this book are as vulgar as many teenagers are in real life and it was a bit of a surprise to hear. Also, there was a smidge more objectification than I prefer to read. I thought the author did a decent job of weaving stuff into the narrative, but some readers may feel a little bit like they are being preached at or being taught lessons at times.

Ultimately, I found this book relatable and unputdownable. I was really eager to spend time with Quique and see how his story turned out. I felt like I learned a some new things and got a fresh perspective on a few things and would definitely read future works by the author.

CW: suicidal ideation, homophobia, biphobia, Islamophobia, slurs

*3.5 rounded up*
<b>AudioARC provided by Publisher in exchange for an honest review.</b>

I would like to thank Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the copy of this AudioARC. I am honored to read Aceves debut and cannot wait to see others rave about it.

<i>This Is Why They Hate Us</i> examines a full range of emotion and hurtles we tackle in or formative years. Learning responsibility, experimenting our sexuality, understanding our emotional and mental responses, as well as friendship and what it means to be yourself completely with others. This book felt like I was transplanted into the mind of a teenage boy and while at times it was hilarious, *cough*Quique Jr. *cough*, at others it was incredibly insightful of the societal pressures put on young men and how outside forces often drive their decisions based on how others might perceive them.

At one point I was concerned about where the teacher storyline was going, but was so happy that Quique found a supportive role model who refused to entertain his notions, and enforce respectful boundaries. Enrique found friends and allies in unlikely places and I loved how each person guided him on the proper path to truly being himself, and being honest with those he loved.

The voice of the book at times wasn't one I could necessarily connect with which is why I gave 3.5 rather than four, but this book will be an honest exploration and heartfelt for many. To the right audience, I couldn't recommend this book enough.

Audiobook was perfection!
However, I don't think this story is for me. It was very angsty which makes sense since it's a teen boy just leaving high school trying to get over his crush. Which is his best friend. It was just all the angst that got to me. But I did appreciate a different point of view in the bi-sexual world seeing what a boy goes through compare to a female. That I did appreciate 100%

Aceves wrote one of my favorite books of the year, and getting to experience it in this new way is nothing less than perfection. Alejandro Ruiz makes the characters I already loved come alive, and I felt every emotion Quique went through even more viscerally hearing it read out loud.

Absolutely one and I will listen to over and over.

CW: suicidal ideation, homophobia, biphobia, Islamophobia

This book didn’t really work for me. There is a lot of good stuff in it, but overall, I didn’t love it.

I think the reason it didn’t work for me is because Enrique (the POV character) just wasn’t relatable to me. For a YA book there was a lot of sex, and talking about sex, which is fine, I’m am 100% in favour of sex-positive YA, it just felt like <I>a lot</I> to me, and maybe not entirely realistic. It’s just so far removed from my experiences as a teen, it felt excessive.

I appreciate that there is mental health rep, and while I can only speak to my own experiences, it felt like the mental health stuff could have been explored further. Like, there were discussions about depression and anxiety, but then there were some other diagnoses and symptoms (I don’t think that’s the right word, but will work) that were just kind of briefly mentioned and it kind of felt like they were thrown in after, or as an extra? Certainly not bad rep, just could have been more fleshed out.

What I liked is that this book is pro-Palestine. I have NEVER read a fiction book that actually talks about Palestine in a real way and actually has a Palestinian character. And while it was pro-Palestine, it didn’t feel anti-Israel. Certainly it’s critical of how the Israeli state was founded, critical of school curriculum that doesn’t discuss Palestine, etc.

I also liked that Enrique was confident in his bisexuality, even when he only seemed interested in guys. I liked the way he described it, and that when it brought up his own internalized biphobia, he was able to question that.

Another bit that I liked was the discussion about Call Me By Your Name. It’s a book that I think a lot of folks come to early when looking for queer lit, because it’s been around for quite a while, it’s been adapted into a film, etc, but it’s quite problematic.

I think that for the most part this just didn’t work for me because of a lot of the reasons that YA doesn’t work for me these days. In addition to not being able to relate to the characters, there was just so much drama around coming out and figuring things out, and I’m kind of past that.