This was an enjoyable story told in verse. I loved how you get to not only explore what it means to be a teen coming out, but also what an elderly queer person went through. I enjoyed seeing the differences, while also seeing how in modern days it's more accepted than in the 50's. I liked Claire and Lena's friendship. This aspect of the story was so heartwarming. However, I do wish the book focused a bit more on their friendship and Lena's story. It would've been beautiful to read more about her experiences as a transgender girl (Lena). Instead most of the story was spent on Claire obsessing over Sophia, which started getting repetitive.

Another thing I loved was the message Gow was conveying through Lars the car. It was very meaningful and powerful. I'm sure most teens can relate to the way Claire felt in different ways. Being with Lars was Claire's safe space. It was the one place she felt like she could be herself with no judgment. She also didn't have to worry about what other people thought of her. Lars was able to take her on this journey and that's something Claire missed when it got totaled. This message was thought provoking and powerful. It truly was an ode to so much more than a car.

Overall, this is a thought provoking book about one girl’s experience of being a queer teenager. This story was an ode to friendships, adolescence, and the power of queer relationships of all ages and types. I would highly recommend this to YA readers and readers who enjoy a story told in verse.

'Ode to my first car' is a story that caught me off guard, when told the story is a novel in verse written exactly as the title suggests as an ode to Claire's first car made me think this novel would be sweet but ultimately simple but how wrong I was.

Whilst simple in premise, this book has so much heart and dimension with a sapphic love story to adore on the undercurrent and at the forefront the tales of older queer people, teaching younger queer people that there is hope. That acceptance and love and hope can all be fought for. If you told me that I'd cry at this ode, written for a car, I would have laughed in your face. But, this story was sweet, joyful and forgiving and an ultimately quick read that was by no means easy or simple. Robin Gow has quickly become a must read author, I can't wait to see what else fae produce.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

I really enjoyed this novel in verse following a queer teen grappling with her identity and feelings for her best friend, while spending the summer working at a nursing home. This was my second Robin Gow book, and while I didn't love it quite as much as their previous one, I really enjoyed the story and appreciated what a quick read it was.

The verse is moving and makes for a quick read! This is definitely a character-driven book that is more focused on relationships rather than plot. It explores Claire's relationship with her best friend (who she happens to be in love with), her brother, and the newfound friendship with Lena, an elderly woman at the nursing home.

This would be great for reluctant readers! I'll also be recommending it to fans of "Our Year of Maybe" by Rachel Lynn Solomon, "Ophelia After All" by Racquel Marie, and "Little And Lion" by Brandy Colbert.

As a fellow bisexual myself, I always love reading books about bisexual characters figuring out their sexuality and falling in love for the first time. And this book was really relatable to me. I love being able to relate to characters and the situations that they are living and so many times while I was reading this book, I read about Claire’s experiences and I just kept thinking “same”, which made this book really fascinating for me to read.

This book was told in verse, which also made it super fun to read. I’ve only been in the mood to read super entertaining books lately and the writing style of this one just really did it for me as it kept me engaged for the entire book, which barely happens now a day so I would call that a massive win.

This was just such a lovely coming of age story about figuring out who you are and falling in love for the first times and I had a wonderful time reading this book. This book just really clicked for me, in a way that no many books do and I really recognized myself in so many parts of this book.

"Ode to My First Car" is a tender coming-of-age verse novel that reckons with the pain of becoming—becoming aware of the responsibilities we gain as we shed childhood and move towards adulthood, becoming familiar with naming and experiencing queerness, becoming used to the fact that hope must be tempered more often than not, and most importantly becoming yourself.

This is a YA story that beautifully understands and depicts the growing pains of being a teenager. I love that this is a story that centers an unapologetically messy bisexual character who is constantly making mistakes and bumping up against the boundaries of her limited world in a desperate attempt to open it up. Claire doesn't always make the right choices, and I appreciate how the story offers her that freedom, especially considering that there isn't an existing framework to show Claire which choices she should make and that she can't well ask friends or family for advice when she's closeted and struggling with expressing/understanding her own queerness.

To that end, I think one of the most touching parts of the story is the family dynamic, especially the relationship Claire has with her brother (who's also queer and closeted). The connection they have together as each other's lifelines is incredibly tender and a source of great comfort, and to see how they struggle to navigate the false dichotomy of "queer visibility vs. invisibility" on their own terms is one of the strongest and most emotional parts of the story.

Overall, this is a beautiful story that's every bit as heart-wrenching as it is heart-warming. With the verse structure, it's easy to fly through this read, but the brevity and heightened awareness of language also makes the story feel incredibly raw and intimate. Obviously, with shorter-form stories, there's a risk of the characters or key scenes feeling underdeveloped, and while I did experience a bit of that with this story, overall I enjoyed it, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

This sweet book feels so intimate, as if you're reading a diary entry. It's sensitive handling of several teen coming out stories is lovely.

It has been quite some time since I read a novel in verse, and I will admit that it took me a while to get into Ode to My First Car. The writing style was so unlike what I am used to in a book, that at first I wasn't sure how I felt about the book as a whole. I am so glad I pushed through the discomfort, though, because I ended up adoring the story! My favorite part has to be the relationship between Claire and Lena, as there are so few novels featuring elder queer folks and their experiences. Getting to read along as Lena and Claire connected over queer experiences from their lives felt like connecting with my own queer roots.

My Recommendation:
If you are looking to add a recently-released sapphic book with a bisexual protagonist to your Pride Month TBR (or any month's TBR, really) you should grab a copy of Ode to My First Car! I would especially recommend this book to readers who enjoy books written in verse, such as Clap When You Land.

I did not anticipate the title to be quite so literal, as this book is a novel-in-verse constructed as an ode to the protagonist’s car, Lars. We begin with Claire crashing Lars and being told it is too far gone and can only be scrapped. Suddenly, Claire is left with little else but this acute sense of loss for the summer ahead. And I think, how does it feel to ascribe so much personality and space and feeling to a car of all objects? Because, for me, though I have seen through various cars over the course of my life, they have consistently felt like a means to an end. Well, perhaps it is that I have shared every car I have had thus far with every member of my family, or that I have just always appreciated the communal charm of public transportation so much that driving feels like the thing I do to get around access I do not have... So I suppose it is the concept of an object as a symbol more than the object as itself.

Lars represents Claire’s independence, her freedom, her escape, her home. And she cherishes it, of course she does, which makes me reflect on my slog of a commute to and from work every day and how despite the traffic and the exhaustion, I still await the hours I spend in my car as a separation from the places I need to be a specific, somewhat inauthentic version of myself. I know how stifling living with your family can be when you are growing up, especially when you are in close quarters. I know how sharing a room with your brother whom you do not know how to talk to anymore goes, despite wishing you could be better, despite longing for the days you would both play games and be silly together and even the worst fights did not feel as dire as this stilted relationship you have now. I know how it feels to crave space, for yourself, for your queerness, for the crushes and changing friendships and the taste of summer you want to have. And I appreciate how much of those experiences this coming-of-age story affirmed.

The reflections on bisexuality, the intergenerational queer friendship, the softness of exploring sapphic romance, all really resonated with me, and I am glad to share this book with you all!

I loved Ode to My First Car by Robin Gow! This is a beautiful novel in verse about coming to terms with bisexuality, falling in love with your best friend, and that feeling of freedom when you get your first car. There's also a really beautiful friendship that develops between Claire and a resident at the nursing home she works at. So many parts of this book reminded me of my youth in the best way! Gow really captures that period of your teenage years where you're dipping your toe into adulthood but are still a minor. Ode to My First Car has solidified Robin Gow as an autobuy author for me!

Last year I read A MILLION QUIET REVOLUTIONS, which is also a novel in verse by Robin Gow. I really enjoyed the epistolary format in which the story is written. ODE TO MY FIRST CAR also has an epistolary feel to it since every poem is addressed to Claire’s first car, which she wrecks just before the story begins.

It felt really easy to understand Claire’s feelings and needs. Even though I didn’t always agree with her, I still totally understood where she was coming from and what led her to conclude certain things. I also really liked her brother and the relationship that develops between them.

Her relationship with Lena was really great, too. I feel like I have seen a lot more stories featuring mentorship lately, whether that comes in the form of a teen having a mentoring relationship with an adult, or a teen having a mentor relationship with an older teen. It’s a cool element to see in books, and those are often some of my favorite relationships. I liked that Lena isn’t a grouchy old lady (though I love the stories about those, too!). She’s a little bit closed up, and obviously has some wounds in her past, but I loved the gentleness in her approach to Claire and in the way Claire kept showing up for her, even though Lena didn’t want to intrude into her life.

All in all, I think I might like this one even better than A MILLION QUIET REVOLUTIONS, but I think they’re both really well done.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

It is the summer before senior year, and Claire has built up a list of all the things she can’t wait to do this summer; most of which involve spending time with her best friend and longtime secret crush, Sophia. But when she gets into a minor car accident from which her beloved car, Lars, does not survive, her plans are turned upside down. When she has to find a summer job to pay off the fine from the crash, she begins working at the nearby nursing home. However, she soon finds connection with Lena, a lesbian with dementia living at the nursing home. Over the course of the summer, she will also navigate her relationship with her family, her feelings for two girls, and her own future goals.

Ode to my First Car is the first book by Robin Gow I have read, and I was drawn to it because of the bisexual representation and the description of Claire's connection with Lena. As with most books told in verse, I found it to be pretty easy to read, and overall enjoyable. However, it is much more of a quiet novel which spends a lot of internal time on Claire's feelings than the fun summer romp I had expected.

While Ode to my First Car is largely about navigating crushes and first love as a queer teenager, it is not a romance. It is much more about Claire’s feelings toward Sophia than the relationship between the two girls. However, I don’t think this is a bad thing, you just need to have the right expectations going in. I thought Gow did a great job of portraying the feelings of teenage crushes and confusion about love. It can be messy and complicated, because teenagers are feeling these things for the first time and don’t necessarily know how to navigate it; especially when they are queer and there are so few examples for them to follow.

In fact, I thought the strength of the book was really in how powerfully it conveyed Claire’s feelings and emotions. In addition to her romantic struggles, Claire has complicated feelings about her relationship with her parents. She feels she must perfectly meet their expectations  all the time, and is mourning what feels to be a growing distance between her and them. And while she knows what she will be doing for the next year, she does not have any idea what she wants to do after high school, although she dreams of fostering queer communities. Gow’s verse really allowed me to feel Claire’s emotions as she navigates all of these things.

I also really enjoyed Claire’s relationship with Lena and the emphasis on the importance of queer elders. That being said, I do wish more of the book was dedicated to their friendship and Lena's story, and less of it had been spent just on Claire obsessing over Sophia, which began to feel repetitive. I think the book shined when it explored and emphasized platonic queer relationships, and it could have reveled in that more rather than shifting to the romantic ones.

Ode to my First Car is a subtle, thoughtful book about one girl’s experience of being a queer teenager in America. It is an ode to queerness, teenage girlhood, and the power of queer relationships of all kinds.

Ode To My First Car is a story about coming out, and the scary part of not knowing how your family will react. It's a story of exploring one's sexuality and all the uncertainties with it. It's a story of belonging and finally being happy and comfortable with who you are.

At first I couldn't understand why the first few poems in this book are all dedicated to her car. Yes, it was her first car but I realized it was much more than that. Lars was not only Claire's first car, it was her comfort, it was the one place she felt the most like herself without having to worry about what other people will think about her.

There were a few moments in this that I really loved, but it was generally underwhelming. I really wanted more of the focus to be on Claire's friendship with Lena. I also don't think that this being in verse really added anything to it.

CW: car accident (minor, no injuries), homophobia, dementia

This was a very enjoyable novel in verse. I found it unique that for the majority of the novel the main character was writing to her car. I loved the elder queer characters and the friends to lovers storyline. A lot of the ups and downs to get there felt very realistic for teens. I do wish that there had been just a little bit more.

Overall I would recommend this to YA fans and fans of novels in verse.

Thank you so much Robin Gow, Fierce Reads, and Colored Pages Blog Tours for sending me an E-ARC and an early copy!
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Ode to My First Car is written in verse which is something I didn’t know before going into it. And as someone who doesn’t enjoy reading poetry, I loved this book! I have only read one book written in verse before and I enjoyed it but I really loved this one! Ode to My First Car flows in such a way that it's easy to read and understand if you don't typically read poetry. It fascinated me the way all these little poems connected in a way I got a full story similar to a traditionally written novel. I absolutely loved our MC, Claire, and related a lot to her and her thinking. I also love the sibling relationship in this book and wished I had that with my own brother. This was such a good read with a happy ending. I think this is a perfect read for summer. Also, there is trans rep in Claire’s best friend Sophia that I wasn't expecting and loved its inclusion. I also love how certain Claire is in her bisexuality even though she isn't out. I think this is an important aspect of queerness that needs to be portrayed more. You don't have to be out to be confident in your sexuality. Overall, I really loved this one and can see myself coming back to annotate it in the future. So if you are hesitant about reading because it's written in verse, I would suggest you give it a try!
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🌈Rep: Bisexual Female Main Character, Trans Female Side Character, Gay Side Character, Elderly Lesbian Side Character, Sapphic Side Characters.

Trigger Warnings: car accident, internalized biphobia, coming out, church, toxic relationship, dementia, sex

Representation: Bisexual, Transgender, Gay, Lesbian

Ode to my First Car is a young adult contemporary romance told in verse about a bisexual teen girl who falls in and out of love over the course of one fateful summer.

It’s a few months before senior year and Claire Kemp, a closeted bisexual, is finally starting to admit she might be falling in love with her best friend, Sophia, who she’s known since they were four. Trying to pay off the fine from the crash that totals Lars, her beloved car, Claire takes a job at the local nursing home up the street from her house. There she meets Lena, an eighty-eight-year-old lesbian woman who tells her stories about what it was like growing up gay in the 1950s and ’60s.

As Claire spends more time with Lena and grows more confident of her identity, another girl, Pen, comes into the picture, and Claire is caught between two loves–one familiar and well-worn, the other new and untested.

I always forget how much I enjoy a book written in verse! The short snippets of the character’s story are perfect bite size chunks to digest and process, while still providing a full story and world for us to dive into. This book is soft and sweet, a perfect summer read and I’m so glad I read it now! I will always cheer for a book with older lesbians! I absolutely adored Lena and her adventures with Claire. This is a great coming of age story and incorporates coming out so well! Overall a fantastic read!

I think I'm not a fan of novels in verse. I am not the audience for this one but I did enjoy the premise of the story, as it was fun and perky.

Such a cute queer story told in verse, I love the way the author ties the story together! My favorite part is the way feelings are developed and the friendship between them!

I was unaware when I requested this book that it was poetry. I’m not the biggest fan of poetry, I will avoid it because it’s not my cup of tea. Since the book wasn’t at fault for me not checking fully what type of novel this was I decided to still give it a go.

I got ten percent in when I knew I couldn’t finish it. Like I said i don’t really read poetry to begin with so it’s hard to say if the structure problems I had were because it’s poetry so things are different or because there were genuine structure issues. The storyline bounced around a lot and it was hard to grasp everything that was being tossed around.

Clair focused a little too much on Sophia being trans but not having her sexuality being stated. The comments of “Sophia’s family is accepting so obviously Sophia can’t be bi or she would’ve said so.” That felt weird and I wasn’t a fan of how that was talked about. Just because you have an accepting family doesn’t mean it’s not scary to come out. And sometimes accepting your sexuality takes awhile because it’s an internal acceptance you go through first. Maybe that was talked about better as the story progressed but after those comments were made it was hard to connect.

Maybe if I had finished the novel I’d have a better idea if the relationships were done justice but from what I read nothing was really clicking for me.

I hope others will enjoy this novel but unfortunately it wasn’t for me.