Cover Image: The Queer Girl is Going to be Okay

The Queer Girl is Going to be Okay

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Member Reviews

This documentary is about representation but it's also about a lot more than that. It's About making queer people human. It's about youth, It's about a universal feeling. Everyone knows what love is. It's nice because the definition is so different from person to person. That's what i'm interested in. The difference. The variation. The ways love can exist in the world from a kiss to an orange peel."

[Text might be different compared to final version]

One of the most important things for our youths is the opportunity to see themselves represented authentically, and across all forms of media. When it comes to love, relationships, sexuality, body autonomy - the youth need to see that in a positive light.

Although I am not the target audience for The Queer Girl is Going to be Okay I still enjoyed this book because of the message that it shows and the representation that effortlessly flows off the pages. I feel that a lot of young readers are going to find themselves in this book, are going to relate heavily with these characters and the struggles and beauty that they have in their lives.

I love the friendship in this book, how they were all supportive of one another and the sense of community and love that they built with each other.

I enjoyed the discussions of identity and how vulnerable our characters were.

Overall, This is a book that I highly recommend if you have a young reader in your life. Or if you just want a book that has a positive representation and strong friend group.

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The Queer Girl is Going to Be Okay is a deeply relatable read that explores many important themes. It has the potential to be a positive influence on the lives of young queer readers looking for a version of themselves between the pages of the book. Queer Girl boasts relatability but doesn’t manage to set itself apart with particularly unique or consistent writing. At the end of the day, it is a thoroughly enjoyable book that will make you feel stressed at times, but ultimately warm because we can be comforted with the knowledge that the queer girl is going to be okay.

Special thanks to HearOurVoices Book Tours and Levine Querido for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

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This started out slow but then got better about a quarter of the way in.

We follow 3 people, Dawn who is a transgender girl, Georgia who is lesbian, and Edie who is queer. Each one has their struggles with family, relationships and getting through applying for colleges. Dawn has the opportunity to get into her dream film school by creating a documentary. We got clips of the documentary and they were heartwarming.

I loved that we got the different perspectives into different lives.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I thought the writing style was good for a YA book. I also love that there is a book of this depth out there for the young adults going through the same things.

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This book was delightful. It read younger than I expected, but hopefully that means that this message of queer love and friendship will be received by those who need it most. Getting to know Edie, Dawn, and Georgia as individuals and as a trio, readers will really appreciate the strength that girls—especially queer girls (and queer girls of color!) who might live in places that aren't truly accepting—draw from each other and their bonds with other queer girls.
This is a love story in multiple ways: we see love between families, between friends, between a person and the work they find fulfillment and passion in, and between romantic partners. Queer love is so deeply entwined in this story, showing many of the endless facets queer love contains, without being simplified or cheapened.

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Georgia, Edie and Dawn are three best friends. In the last year of high school, the three of them struggle with family relationships, romantic relationships and college prospects. Dawn was elected to be part of Austin Festival for her documentary and she has to win to provide for her dad. She just really has to. Edie is dating Ben and she loves them but she's not willing to tell her parents. Georgia has to deal with college rejections and her mom's new boyfriend... But together, they'll figure it out, they have to.

I liked this book overall. I liked the main characters and their friendship. I liked how they loved each other unconditionally but still called each other on their bullshit. I had a little issue, however, with the storylines. They were a bit too many and in the end, most of them were a bit rushed through. This was quite a short book and I feel like it could have, should have been longer. I did really enjoy the whole plot line about the film and the festival. And, honestly, I liked all the storylines, the others just didn't feel as complete. I was also very interested in the family dynamics and the romantic relationships but they didn't always feel as layered as the main friendship was.
Overall, though, I had a good time and I'll be keeping an eye out for more books by Dale Walls. This was their debut and I'm excited for what they'll write next.

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The Queer Girl Is Going to Be Okay celebrates queer love in all of its forms - from messy romantic encounters with strangers to complicated relationships with parents. But the one form that never falters over the course of this book is the close friendship between Dawn, Edie, and Georgia. Their dynamic as a friend group was sweet and entertaining, and their love for one another is apparent from the very first page.

In terms of the story itself, the plot felt like it stretched out much longer than it needed to, in general, the characters were very forgettable. Still, it was a sweet story for what it was.

Thank you to NetGalley and Levine Querido for the arc!

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I liked the idea, but the plot seemed to go nowhere for most of the book. The last 25 % were interesting, but before that, I struggled.

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I really loved the writing of the characters and the representation (LGBQ+ and POC). t's about love, queer love, the beauty of queer love and as a queer person I really appreciated that. The friendship felt like a found family, it was really good. This coming of age story is also about other important topics such as relationship with family, growing up and acceptance. It's an easy read, the pace is fast and that's what I needed at the moment.

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Dawn, Edie, and Georgia are a group of friends that are finding their way in the world. Dawn is finishing a documentary that will give her the ticket to her dream college, Georgia is learning to trust again in love and Edie is struggling to find her place between her queerness and her family values.
Her friendship above all is going to be the love that glues their motivation and fight above all obstacles.
The characters are flawed but are so likeable and they make you root for them!
Please give it a read if you'd like to read a coming-of-age story about queer love, fighting for your dreams and friendships!

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This book would’ve been so instrumental for me in high school when I came out. To see so much of myself in each of these characters was heartwarming. I love that kids today have books like this.

Knox was a POS for how he played Dawn. The “bra” scene made me want to choke him. Dawn and her father remind me of Imogen and her father from Degrassi, how she had to take care of him because he was forgetting things, ending up in places randomly, etc.

I so wanted Georgia to be able to speak up for herself or at least scream the first time Simone came into her room and put his hand under her shirt. Men are weird and gross, and that’s not to say women aren’t like that either.

I felt bad for Edie when she tried to come out to her mom and her mom said she wasn’t gay. When I came out, my mom lost her shit, and I hid in the closet from her for over 20 years until I said eff it. I hope that Edie doesn’t do that. I hate that because of her parents and their views, she and Ben broke up, but I understand Ben’s reasoning. It took them a long time to finally live in their truth, it wasn’t right for Edie to try to make them go back to hiding and lying.

Edie and Georgia are the best kinds of friends for how they helped Dawn, and even included Collin. I’d love to see Collin and Dawn’s friendship blossom. What I also loved about this book is it was set in Houston, where I live. I am very familiar with many of the places and events mentioned although, everyone knows that Bucees is the number one test stop between Houston and Austin/San Antonio, no argument.

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The writing felt a little middle grade compared to the content, but all the characters were very real and believable, including all the cringe-level high schooler stuff. It was fun, it was a good queer romp, and I was really rooting for Dawn to have a good ending the whole time

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Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

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I really wanted to enjoy this book, the blurb was right up my alley and the cover art is so beautiful.
Unfortunately for me it fell short of my expectations.

Most of the characters were one dimensional, I wasn’t overly invested in them or their relationships, though I did have a soft spot for Collin.

I felt there was a lack of exploration into what it means to be trans and in a relationship. The scene between Dawn and Knox felt surface level and with Dawn being a near adult we could have delved deeper into the emotions she may have been feeling at the rejection of her identity by a potential partner.

The main narrative of the story was lacklustre, I think it may lose readers attention in the arc as it didn’t build enough suspense to keep me entertained.

The Queer Girl is Going to Be Okay was enjoyable enough of a read but it only scratched the surface of what it could have been.

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I really wanted to love this book but something about it just didn't click for me. Everything felt much more drawn out than necessary and the characters felt very one dimensional. Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. :(

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This was a lovely teen fictional coming-of-age debut novel from Walls! So cool to find out they’re living in San Francisco 😍 (I am from the SF Bay Area too!) This book, however, takes place in Houston, TX!!! This story takes place over the course of 31 days, as it begins with a countdown to a film competition deadline, which Dee is accepted to compete in!

Dawn (D) is a trans girl who lost her mother, while her father has depression. Her two best friends help her with this project: Edie, who is queer & exploring romance with Ben, who is nonbinary, but Edie’s parents are extremely conservative, so they must hide their relationship from them. Georgia, who is lesbian, lives with her single mom, and struggles with the new man in her mom’s life.

We get third-person limited POV from all three besties, and I did feel invested in them all equally! I really enjoyed the overall messaging of Dawn’s documentary: love! Walls displays so many kinds of queer love in this novel, and it felt so incredibly hopeful. I loved the friendships that these young women had!!! Found family is so magical.

I think Walls has work to do relating to pacing, but overall, I thought this was a sweet, empowering young adult novel. I’d read from them again!

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Loved this book!!
for me it represent so well the young members of the LGBTQ+ .
obviously is a good book but the reason why i rated this book 4 stars and not five is that for me this book could have been shorter.

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This is a book centering around three queer friends in high school and the ups and downs in their lives. One of the girls is making a documentary called "The Queer Girl Is Going To Be Okay" in hopes of getting a scholarship to college and financial support for her family. All the characters were so realistic and acted like how teenagers would act. Their friendship was so sweet and it was nice to see queer women uplifting one another. I enjoyed reading this book. If you want a YA book with queerness being at the center of the plot, then check this out.

3.5 Stars.

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This story has a lot to recommend it and also a few shortcomings, especially wrt pacing. It offers an unusual insight into the lives of three non-cisgender individuals/relationships, and explores their engagement with each other, with their significant others, and with their friends and family.

Dawn wants to document queer love in all its forms and to get into film school; Georgia wants to be a poet, but isn't sure of her talent; and Edie wants to live her life and be accepted for who she is and who she loves.

The storytelling has the ring of authenticity about it. Not least because a lot of it is about day-to-day life events rather than dramatic happenings. That is, of course, not necessarily a bad thing. I suspect a lot of young women with similar sexual orientations will be happy to see themselves in these characters.

The book was not a standout for me, but it was a good effort. The best part by far involved the snippets from the documentary. Overall, the characters were easy to care about, and the events reminiscent of the challenges and choices that many teenagers face at that age (in addition to the specific issues related to gendered identities). Worth a read if you are in the target age group and/or just interested in finding out more about diversity in its many forms.

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I picked this up because of the title. Lots of us are probably doing that. And it does live up to that title, all three queer girls are okay at the end. I really enjoyed this and was glad I had that promise up front, because there are absolutely difficulties and hurdles that the three main characters face. There are a lot of instances of cruelty around these kids who are struggling to define themselves as they finish high school as well as their queer identities. Multiple bad things happen: emotional abuse, forced closeting, aggressive mis-gendering. This book is like a novel version of the idea "It Gets Better".

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The Queer Girl is Going to Be Okay, left me struggling as I wanted more of a story. Where the found family can be an incredible trope when employed correctly, I think the novel could have gone through a few more rounds of editing, and it could have been something steller.

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