Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC! This story has a lot going for it: humor, unrequited? love, friendships, very authentic characters, and overall a very touching story that leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy. The audiobook is excellently narrated and highly recommended.

This was such a good end of summer read for me! Enrique was just so flawed and lovely and real. I felt really drawn into the story of his social antics. There was also so much commentary that was expertly put in with a light touch. Definitely recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is Why They Hate Us perfectly encapsulates what it's like to be a teenager. Our narrator has a (possibly) unrequited crush on his best friend. To distract himself he and his best friend determine that he needs to fall for someone else. His attempts are awkward, heartwarming, realistic, funny, cringey, romantic, and racy,

This Is Why They Hate Us is a gorgeous portrayal of teenage life with all its messiness, mistakes, and, most of all, wonder.

In this story of self-discovery we follow Enrique "Quique" Luna during his summer holiday - he is DETERMINED to make this summer epic and unforgettable! The first thing on his "to-do" list is getting over a crush on his best friend, Saleem - maybe by finding one or two or three other guys to help with his heartache. What starts off as a fun and rompy YA contemporary full of awkwardness and uncomfortable encounters, soon transforms into a portrayal of a young bisexual Latinx boy with mental health issues trying to find his way in a world that is so determined to make him stumble. I laughed with this story, I cried, I jabbed my eye with eyeliner while listening to the audiobook and doing my makeup and it hurt (if you read the book, it was during that one HELLA AWKWARD encounter with his teacher after ya know *eyes emoji*).. I am sure that This Is Why They Hate Us deserves to be seen as a new YA contemporary classic, because it will help so many people feel seen for so many reasons!

I think there was something special to Quique's narration, from his funny and impulsive YOLO decisions, to deeper feelings of fear, unworthiness, and shame that came forth due to his mental health struggles - he felt REAL and relatable and I believe so many will feel seen, even if their circumstances are different from Enrique's. While he has struggled with mental health issues in the past, we are experiencing him actually trying to get better and find all the help he needs in real time. He's not there yet when it comes to completely accepting his issues but he's trying to be honest and open about them and that was wonderful to see in a YA novel. Next to Quique, all the characters were flashed out and a joy to read about (mostly. I'm looking at some selfish dudes here) - be it Saleem, his professor (that was easily one of my favourite characters, what a king. Everyone needs a teacher like this) or Fabiola with her easy banter and big heart. All the characters had their own struggles and they complemented Quique's story and made This Is Why They Hate Us even more complex and beautiful.

I also loved how This Is Why They Hate Us touched on so many important queer issues that too often get overlooked - the casual biphobia and bi erasure, how young queer boys often fall pray to older men who don't have the purest intentions and how scarring that can be, the connection between queerness and religion (and how not making assumptions is the way to go). I will gladly recommend This Is Why They Hate Us to anyone looking for a wonderful queer read that will also make you shed a few tears.

CW: biphobia, bi erasure, Islamophobia, racism, mental health struggles, suicidal ideations, underage drinking, underage use of dating sites

Got an eArc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I seldom read audiobook editions because the narrating way of some books isn't clicking for me, and I can't keep my focus on the story. However, This Is Why They Hate Us by Aaron H. Aceves is one of the few audiobooks I adore. I love the writing style, and Alejandro Ruiz did a great job narrating the book. Alejandro had me focused on listening. Aaron H. Aceves's writing and Alejandro Ruiz's narration made it perfect for a reader like me. This book had me laughing and cringing (in a good way) because of the main character's POV.

Though, I still have mixed feelings about how things ended up. So, I'll let this be an unfinished review because I need to read various reviews of this book to know if I wasn't the only one with mixed feelings.

"The thing that saved me was the knowledge it wouldn't always feel this way."

If you liked Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie as much as I did, you'll love this one just as much.

Enrique is a disaster bisexual who simply wants to get over his crush by hooking up with someone else. A simple plot that could be executed simply, instead, Aceves gives you a truly heartwarming and deeply personal story of friendship, discovery, and mental health.

Quique is such a hilarious and deeply relatable protagonist. So many times I felt as if Aceves had pulled moments from my bisexual youth. Quique's anxiety, his own heteronormative thinking, his self-esteem, and loneliness- I related to it all, and I think a lot of people will find comfort in his character. It's funny and shocking (actually a few times I needed to pause and stare at the wall for a few minutes and comprehend what the heck is this boy doing), but mostly it's raw and real. What Aceves does is capture the bisexual experience nearly perfectly.

Family and friendship are extremely prominent in this book (which I'm so happy for. I always feel family dynamics are lost in YA), as well as mental health and the pressure to be the person people expect you to be.

I just adored This Is Why They Hate Us. I wish it was longer as I feel the end was a tad rush- just by a hair but not enough to dampen my reading experience. (view spoiler) This is one of those stories I'll recommend to everyone and reread when I want to feel seen.

About the audiobook:
Alejandro Ruiz does a fantastic job bringing Enrique to life. I completely fell in love with his voice and candace. He managed to do the funny bits excellently while adding heart to the more serious parts. Seriously, if you plan to read this go for the audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley for this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I really, really wanted to like this one. It had a lot of things going for it, including great representation! However, the problematic parts of this story tainted the good.

One of my biggest problems with this book was the over-sexualization, constant outing of characters’ sexualities, and the teacher storyline. The sexualization seemed off for a YA novel, and this needs to be told to readers beforehand. The outing and teacher parts are just gross and not okay.

I will still read this author to see if other works may be better, but I would personally be wary of recommending this one, especially to young people.

3⭐️

*4.25 Stars*

Enrique Luna wants and needs one thing: to get over Saleem, his best friend. So while Saleem is away, he makes a plan to try and get close with three guys he has light sexual feelings for. Except, nothing goes the way he imagines it, and chaos ensues.

I don't know where to start with that one. I had a lot of mixed feelings reading this. Overall, I do think it was great and I wish I would have read it when I was in high school but it made me so uncomfortable at times. I am just SO Ace and this was all about sex and sex attraction and sexual feelings, I was not expecting it.
Quique was a very interesting and layered character, I really enjoyed getting to know him. We could not be more different too and I loved that.
Part of what made me really uncomfortable was some of the reactions, Quique's other best friend, Fabiola had when he would tell her what was happening to him.
I did find the teacher a very interesting and grounding character that was well-needed.
Overall, this was truly very good and interesting and such a great debut. I can' t wait to read more from Aaron A. Aceves.

I have to start things off by saying that Alejandro Ruiz was the absolute perfect narrator for this story - their performance was one of my favorites I've listened to this year! Seeing more Latine queer MCs makes my heart warm, and the characters in this story felt incredibly real and relatable. Knocking off just one star as the relationship between Quique and his teacher made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

From about halfway through, I knew that this book was in the running for one of my favourite YA contemporaries of the year, if not all time. Aaron H. Aceves has written such a genuine and heartfelt take on being a young adult, and made it nearly impossible to put down. The characters and their environment come to life on the page, all their flaws making them feel just that much more real. Every relationship throughout the book is developed with an intense care for it and the characters, making it impossible not to root for them, even with Quique’s missteps. I wholeheartedly recommend this book, as well as the audiobook specifically!

Though this book follows Quique, our main character’s, search for love to get over a crush on one of his friends, it focuses primarily on Quique’s own growth and development. Even though I’m beginning to feel old when I read about characters in highschool (less than a year out of it), Aceves manages to make them all feel so real that I wasn’t even worried about that. Quique and I have very different journeys, though that longing for more as a queer person I can definitely relate to, but I was so invested, even in the moments I had to pause the audiobook because I wanted to tell him to make a better decision. It’s hard to express just how invested I was, how much more satisfying that made every aspect of this story, and left me wishing that Aaron H. Aceves already had a backlist I could catch up on.

One of the best aspects though, was how much this felt like a story about a teenager. Moreover, one who is able to find a community in slightly unconventional ways. Quique’s story is uniquely his and feels that way, but it also manages to feel incredibly relatable at heart. Nothing felt predictable because it all just felt like something happening in real time, making the eventual ending all that much more sweeter.

There isn’t much to sum up except that I absolutely loved this book and felt like the audiobook really helped carry an already wonderful story. I can’t wait to see what else Aaron H. Aceves writes, and I hope you’ll join me in being there to read it.

This book was everything. It gave me “They Both Die” vibes without both of them dying. That intensity was there and the pain was definitely felt, but also the joy. I also loved that we had the middle eastern representation. You don’t get to see that a lot in LGBTQ+ stories.

It should definitely have content warnings in it though because some of the topics can get very dark.

I don’t typically enjoy books set in high school, but overall this book was really enjoyable. Specifically enjoyed listening to this book and think that played a huge part in the immersion. Will be looking out for this authors books in the future!

This book was so beautifully written. I loved every moment of it. The moments that made me smile, the moments that made me laugh, and even the moments that made me cry. It had everything I could want in a story and more. I thought that the characters were so loveable and I just wanted the best for all of them, except for one, he can go away. I like to pretend he doesn't exist. I just loved this book so much and I highly recommend checking it out! Also the cover with the bi flag colors. beautiful!

audiobook specific: love love loved the narrator. Probably a new favorite of mine.

content warning: biphobia, homophobia, Islamophobia, hate crime, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt, religious bigotry, panic attack/disorder, mental illness, and probably more that I can't think of at the moment so make sure to check

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review

TIWTHU is the story of a Latinx boy as he explores his queerness during his summer break with different love interests while also struggling with his mental health.
I really wanted to like this book but it just didn’t work for me, I felt the author tries to balance a serious tone for the mental health part and a fun tone for the exploring his love interests but the juxtaposition was jarring and at times it didn’t make sense with what was going on. It would have been better if the author had leaned towards one or the other but not try to balance both tones in one story. I also had the feeling that the main love interests were unidimensional and never understood where they were coming from or that they did something just for the benefit of the story but not according to the character.
I also had some difficulties with how his mental health was addressed by his best friend and family members, especially coming from someone that has had depression (Wondering if Quique actually has bipolar disorder because there are several mentions of manic episodes). When he tells his best friend about his depression and suicidal ideation her response is like oh how would you have killed yourself and “oh-ho gnarly” like sounding excited about the scenario that Quique had in his head which is extremely problematic and one the worst possible way a friend addresses someone suicidal ideation.
The writing style and dialogue was very juvenile, super cringy at times, oversexualized and at odds with what was happening. I almost DNF but wanted to know how it ended (silly me, I’m a romantic at heart)

I received an ARC from the publisher through Netgalley. This is my honest opinion

“I feel like I’m no longer carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders, but I’m at least carrying all of the oceans.”

This story dives deep into the queer self-discovery experience, specifically through the life of Quique Luna, a bisexual Mexican-American teenager, trying to make the most of his transformative summer. How his summer turns out is chaotic and messy, and so full of character and life. The diverse cast of characters each have distinct voices, that are all entertaining to say the least. Very rarely could I predict what was about to happen next. (and the audiobook narrator did a wonderful job reading this story!).

I wish I had looked up content warnings prior to reading this, though I didn’t find any available on the book’s Goodreads page, nor the author’s website. The downside of reading an ARC of a book is you can’t always depend on other reviewers to provide content warnings, if not many have read it yet. While Quique’s mental health experiences are part of a story that needs to be told, I personally wasn’t ready to hear some of it.

Incredibly relatable and beyond horny as well as bisexual high school kid Quique, née Enrique, has a huge crush on his best friend Saleem, and worried those feelings might not be reciprocated, he decides that the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else. He's got three choices: smarty Ziggy, stoner Tyler, and sexual Manny. One of them has to pan out, right? Never mind the fact that Quique isn't really out to anyone save for his other bestie Fabiola. It's gonna be one heck of a summer!

As previously stated, I think that Quique is incredibly well-written, and it's very easy to relate to him. I never once felt like he was far away from me as a reader. He seemed so much like a real person. The story is good, albeit way too sexual for a YA book. I prefer my YA books to have either zero sex or begrudgingly closed door stuff. I know realistically teens are all about that, but I don't want to read about it, especially when it was so graphic like in this book. Also, I felt like the relationship Quique developed with his teacher, albeit not sexual, was still inappropriate. I didn't really like Fabiola. She felt like a caricature to me. In fact, there was only one good female character, Quique's mom, and she had so little page time.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. Alejandro Ruiz not only beautifully brought Quique to life, but he breathed great life into the other characters too.

This book was something else, I really don’t know how to describe it without spoiling it, I really liked that it felt very realistic, all the situations Quique went through were things a gay depressed teen boy could deal with.
As a hispanic it felt very real how the parents acted and reacted to Quique.
I think kids will relate to it and parents can learn a lot from it.

I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

This book is marketed as a "Fun, Irrelevant Summer Romp", and i feel like the marketing team did not read this book. Though this is a book that takes place during summer and it is full of funny moments at times, i would not place this in the "romp" category. To me, it seems this book was marketed as a fully light hearted novel, where it does have very dark and emotional scenes.

Enrique "Quique” is a young, bi, high schooler who is trying to spend his summer meeting potential romantic prospects and getting over his crush he has on his best friend Saleem, while Saleem is away for a family Vacation.

Quique is an emotional mess, he struggles with anxiety and depression, he has low self esteem, and though in better understanding himself and his sexuality. The Way that Quique and side characters explore and communicate about their sexuality is refreshing and honest. Though, this book does have some sensitive teacher-student relationship that happens. It is handled well, and thoughtfully.

This book strikes a mix of funny and uncomfortable moments, that we all had growing up in high school and trying to understand who we are, who we love, and how we fit into our world. This is very much an Upper YA novel, with some mild sexual content throughout. When I was in High School, i wish there were more books like this one.

When I finished this book, I had conflicting thoughts about it. I found Enrique as a character so interesting. He was a flawed and complex teenage boy trying to find his place in the world. He didn’t always make the right decisions, but that’s what made him so relatable. I also loved how the conversations around mental illness were handled.

However, I felt like the story was, at times, a little all over the place. I didn’t connect with the main relationship, which made it difficult for me to be invested in the story at times. In addition, I personally found the storyline between Enrique and the teacher very weird and it definitely influenced this rating.

The narrator did an excellent job at bringing the characters to life.

Overall, I do recommend this book to everyone who likes queer coming-of-age stories.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for providing me of an audio arc in exchange for a honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was incredible and so wonderful! Quique is a wonderful main character and I adored him throughout the book. His journey through this book was wonderful and witnessing his growth as a person was the best part of this book. This book was such a great read and I highly recommend because this could be a beneficial book to younger readers who are trying to find out what their identity is.