This YA fantasy ticks so many boxes for me: multiple POVs, fun magical systems, queer representation & a British seaside town setting - yes please!

Steven is experiencing some odd, dangerous things when he feels strong emotions. When he kisses a boy for the first time & said boy's head explodes, he flees to Grunsby-On-Sea to keep a low profile & not hurt anyone else. Soon Steven's determined bestie Freya finds him along with her boyfriend Marcus and their new American classmate Troy. But they're not the only people looking for Steven, with the mysterious DEMA on his trail. When he meets Zachery, another 'emomancer', who claims he can teach Steven control, Steven jumps at the chance.

This adventure is silly, bonkers & sweet. Steven makes a relatable protagonist, his level of anxiety around his sexuality & his powers is similar which makes him a really believable main character. I also really want a real life Freya to have my back, she's unstoppable! And Agent Wren needs protected at all costs. My favourite scene was the DEMA building, very atmospheric.

I feel like there are parts that felt muddled, like they just needed more trimmed off. I found some of Fairburn's logs a bit overwritten, I understand the style is different to the other POVs but it could have felt more succinct.

Definitely recommend if you enjoyed Rainbow Rowell's Carry On series or the Two Princes podcast.

lots of promising things in this book - felt like it was maybe vibing with a simon snow, low fantasy, british best friends type vibe? - but the writing felt a little amateurish. failed to pull it all together.

Thank you NetGalley and Ink Road for my ARC.
I really struggled to get into this one and stick with it, sadly. However I still would recommend, as it’s well written and I’m sure would peak the interest of others.

Sadly I didn't really enjoy OVEREMOTIONAL by David Feene.
There wasn't really anything wrong with it so I would still recommend it.
I just really struggled to enjoy it and I'm not really sure if it was because of the characters or the writing style.

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for providing this ARC!
I feel like I went into this book without expectations based on the description, and honestly? It was pretty great 😂
This is a queer (achillean) coming of age story about a kid with some wild powers based on his emotions. He runs away and his friends chase him to the WEIRDEST town and they get into a ton of hot water. They uncover a weird 50’s science experiment, a secret agency, energy vampires, and a couple 👀 coming out of the closet 👀 experiences (this is very pg-13 tho obviously as it’s YA, just to be clear there is nothing uncouth).
It turns out this will be a trilogy and I’m really looking forward to it! 🥰🥰

Thank you to Netgalley and Publisher for granting me access to this E-ARC

What do you get if you cross
Scarlett Witch, Captain America, X-Men and Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children?

You get this random queer story debut.
While this has some issues it's overall a very cutesy fun read and completely British in its humour.
The action scenes are well done and fast and compelling. The cute queer love was just perfect and wholesome.
The twist at the end was slightly predictable but still done well.

Fresh, funny and fantastic read.
There were a few things that I didn't like, the big words(lol) and some of the science terminology

Can't wait to see what happens next.

This was predictable but so fun! Loved the characters, each of whom had their own unique voice. Well written and really enjoyable

This was a fun one. Creepy and mysterious. Playful and upbeat. The tone is familiar and congenial, like talking to a best friend, which makes for fast-paced, engaging writing. Even though there are some heavy subjects, the comical tone keeps the book lighthearted.

Some of writing is borderline silly, and I did notice one obvious inconsistency (which will hopefully be fixed before official release), but overall the story was cute and the LGBTQIA+ representation and diverse characters were great. There was even a surprise twist with one of the characters that I never saw coming!

Overemotional is an action packed queer fantasy about Steven, a teenager whose emotions are out of control. Steven's strong emotions cause powerful reactions to manifest from people, objects, or even the weather, around him.

Unfortunately for me, despite this brilliant premise, I didn't fully connect with the book. The story starts off as light fantasy, with a focus on interpersonal relationships and finding yourself. But about half way through things escalate very quickly. There were some plot twists that seemed to come out of nowhere and instead of being pleasantly surprised, I was left a bit confused as to what I was reading. It's advertised as a wholesome adventure, but there are some pretty intense topics we learn about all of a sudden which are skimmed over. It's a book of two halves that don't gel together for me but it is still an easy read, with sweet, passionate characters.

Recommended for YA readers looking for a fast-paced book about a teen with superpowers.

I didn't finish this because I found it difficult to get into and was struggling to motivate myself to finish it. I found the characters difficult to connect with, despite really loving the concept. I just don't feel that it was executed in the best way it could have been.

Thank you Ink Road and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. This book has such an interesting concept! Stevie has runaway to a remote location because of his inability to control his emotions. The problem is when he can’t control his emotions bad things happen. His emotions are basically super powers, he can use them to move things, become invisible, and even natural disasters. But he has to control so he figures the safest thing for his friends and family is if he hides himself away. The problem is his best friend Freya won’t let him disappear, she along with her boyfriend and their American friend Troy track him down and demand he come home. But they aren’t the only ones looking for him, it seems someone else knows about his powers and they don’t look friendly, they look like they’d want to preform experiments on him. Luckily he meets someone who says they can help him control the powers, but when he’s a cute guy will this become complicated? Especially since Stevie hasn’t figured out his sexuality. Also what about Troy? And who are these people following him and what do they want? A supernatural thriller with some mystery mixed in! Told from the teenage perspective mixing in teen angst, hormones, and an abundance of emotions! I was absolutely thrilled with this book and couldn’t put it down! There are some slow parts but they are few and far between! A story of underdogs and having faith in yourself and those you love! Highly recommend this one! Can’t wait to read it again!

As exciting and interesting as the synopsis was for this, I'm afraid I didn't love it as much as I would've wanted to. It was not horrible by any means-quite far from that.

I enjoyed the representation that it has. It didn't feel overwhelming/forced. It flowed naturally in the story. Character-wise, I'm meh about. I enjoyed most of the main cast. Did I necessarily vibe/click with them? Not really, but I don't really have any complaints thus far. The supporting cast, not so much. I found many of those characters pretty incompetent, especially ones that are part of the DEMA organization. At times it made me wonder how low were the qualifications to even be an agent of that organization. The antagonist of the story was also pretty obvious from the get-go. Also, we do get chapters from all four of the main cast, with Steven being the main one. I honestly didn't mind that we got so many POV's, as it did add depth to the characters, even Marcus, who was annoying and a prick from the beginning, but by the end, he doesn't feel like a thorn in your side anymore. I would say Steven and Troy were the best characters out of everyone.

Story-wise, it was okay to me. It has an overall interesting premise, but the more I find the story delving into DEMA/superpowers, the further my interest strayed from the story. I also didn't find myself interested in the log/reports from the DEMA organization. I pretty much skimmed through them just so I could get back to the main story.

Overall, while I didn't find myself completely invested in the story, I do see the appeal of it. Maybe it's because I'm not the targeted demographic. I still think this YA urban fantasy is still worth the read if you're looking for a young teen with superpowers.

I wanted to like this more than I did, which is a shame, but I think it was ultimately a little too much on the young end of YA. I was able to get through it pretty quickly though.

The representation is fantastic, the cover was colorful and eye catching, and the premise itself sounded promising, but overall the whole package itself just didn't exactly click for me. I wasn't too fond of the writing style, and the characters themselves just didn't click for me.

I don't think it's a bad book by any means, it just wasn't what I was expecting or exactly looking for. Essentially it's not you, it's me. Your mileage may vary, so if the premise sounds intriguing to you and you're in the mood for a slightly younger take on ya then it might be worth a look.

Thank you to NetGalley and Black & White Publishing for approving my request to read an arc of this book.

The premise of this book is intriguing, and the cover is eye-grabbing. Beyond that, well. I'm not the target age group for this book, but I have a soft spot for LGBT books and superpowers, and this didn't work for me. The writing is young so hopefully, it will appeal to younger readers more, but it annoyed me. The plot was consistent, but the switching between POVs got confusing as some of the characters have very similar voices.

I also wish we saw Steven kiss the boy, and the boy's head explode at the start. We get dropped in a week later after Freya finds him, and well, I think I was a little less invested because we didn't have any build-up to the events and get told all of the facts as facts. We don't see a mysterious person hanging about their school; we get a 'data log' about her being incompetent and Troy saying, 'Yeah, I was worried because some woman in a suit started asking questions about you'. And a few other things like that where normally we'd have reason to be invested didn't happen.

So a good premise and hook to get readers in, nice mix of diversity but not something to recommend to mature readers or readers who enjoy any prose.

"Hey did you hear? Steven Percival is a low-budget superhero who might kill you if he laughs too hard."
This is going to be a trilogy and my new obsession. Just trust me on this one guys, it's really good.(release date July 6th!)
Thank you to Netgalley and Black & White Publishing for giving me this arc in exchange for an honest review. WOW. The story is so engaging, I'm so attached to the characters, I'm so in love with this story and this world. The found family, the romance, everything was on point. The writing is so good also.

The story follows Steven after he blows up the head of a guy he's kissing. He's an emomancer (ikr cool name) and whenever he feels intense emotions, weird things happen. Fleeing to the miserable town of Grunsby-on-Sea, Steven is determined to not hurt anyone else - but he doesn't count on his best friend Freya, her boyfriend Marcus and American friend Troy following him.

I'm literally so attached to all the characters, these people are my new obsession and book one hasn't even come out yet. I NEED BOOKS 2 AND 3 IMMEDIATLEY. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. I NEED MORE OF THESE AMAZING CHARACTERS. I can not believe this is a debut novel :0

minus half a star for the swearing (especially as it's being marketed as YA). There is consistent use of "prick" "tits" and other words like that. 4.5/5 stars. Amazing novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Black & White Publishing for providing an arc of this book for review.

Overemotional was a light-hearted, fun read. The interactions between Steven and Troy were really cute and endearing. Troy is just a really cute character in general. I did however find the logs difficult to follow. The social media references threw me off a bit as well. It is a YA story, though, so I'm sure that will appeal to younger teenagers and is more of a personal peeve of mine. I also found the jumps between all four POV's a little confusing and hard to follow at points. In saying that I still enjoyed this, it was fast paced and funny even if it wasn't anything groundbreaking. This would be perfect for younger teenagers looking for superpowers and LGBTQ+ representation

Warning: their will be spoilers

This was an absolute joy to read although having 4 plus points of view in one book was a struggle and confusing as hell but it did help with the development of some of the characters like Marcus and the agents.
The data logs were a struggle to get through, they definitely could have used a bit of a cutting down to make them shorter
Stevie and Troy were an absolute joy to read and having them end up together was a very sweet ending

I loved all of the the queer representation of this book! Overall this one wasn’t really for me though

Steven has magic that is extremely dangerous... to the point where after he kissed a boy said boy’s head literally exploded. Steven’s magic is related to his emotions, whenever he feels a strong emotions things get dangerous. He’s been trying to keep his magic a secret and trying his hardest not to feel too much but with a determined best friend who won’t stop asking questions, things are about to get tricky. Especially when a dangerous organization begins asking questions about him and Freya and her boyfriend Marcus and his friend Troy also join in. They have to find a way to discover what the organization wants with Steven and how to help him. Steven meets a handsome stranger who claims that he shares the same magic as Steven and that he could help Steven control them. Can Freya and co help Steven and can Steven trust the cute stranger he meet in a cafe bathroom? This was a multi POV story featuring magic, friendship, and more. Unfortunately this one just didn’t work for me and I think it might be one of those “its me not you” scenarios. The writing style really wasn’t for me and I found the overall story hard to invest in. So while this wasn’t for me if you like queer magic stories then definitely give it a go maybe you’ll have a better time with it than I did.

*Thanks Netgalley and Black & White Publishing, Ink Road for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*