This book has character growth as a cornerstone of it's story and it was so lovely.

A thing I love about YA books is that often main characters tend to be more flawed than in adult fiction. This YA book did exactly that and showed us so many fun teens slowly blossoming towards becoming an adult. The three main characters each have their own story arc with struggles, wishes and faults making all three fully unique. This moved so good through the book and ended absolutely with a banger making me have a great time with this book.

As a transmasc person I often immediately have a soft spot for transmasc people in books. I noticed however I didn't have this with Atlas, which actually made him more fun! Normally I see a lot of myself in other transmasc characters but Atlas his personality is actually very far removed form the trans person I am. This made him even more interesting to follow and see a whole different life that's in some ways close to mine and in other ways not. Towards the end I also started to feel quite proud of him. Gosh the time in this book isn't easy on him and he still makes it though. I hope I can be as strong as he is.

Ya was someone that pissed me off a bit in the beginning. And being truly honest to myself it's probably because I see some of her mistakes in myself. I also tend to "help people" maybe a bit too much without allowing them space to decide for themselves. Seeing Ya struggle with this and grow was interesting to see. Growing as a character did well and it was so lovely to see her blossoming into the friend that Ari and Atlas need.

Ari is such a lovely girl and gosh do I want to hug her. She is creative and so kind making her a sweet character to read about. It made it fun to come back to her POV and enjoy some more time with her.
At one point in the book Ari has a meltdown and I really liked the way it was written. The meltdown felt like something I could do and made me feel incredibly connected to her.

The plot of this book is also a lot of fun with so many queer people coming past. It shows how queer people stay together and work hard to make things true. I just had a great time reading it.

Concluding this YA is BIG on the character growth and has a lovely story to come with it.

Oh these kids were fascinating. The way the support and overbear was kinda hilarious. I hope they live a long happy life together

This book is the epitome of high school. Full of teenage angst, laughter, and unrealistic determination.

If you are a musical theatre person, this book is for you. The writing is realistic to the teenage experience, especially if said teenager is in unrealistically determined to put on a musical in spite of homophobes.

I loved the relationships between the characters, and the way they spoke to each other and communicated. I only wish that they were a little bit more mature, as they are older teenagers, and I would think that high-school seniors would be able to communicate better.

I especially loved the autism representation, especially experienced by a teenage girl. I related so much to Ari, especially in the way she experienced and dealt with big emotions.

Although I connected with Ari very well, I struggled to connect with Atlas and Ya for most of the book. The only time I genuinely started to root for them was towards the end.

Overall, I would recommend this book, not for those who want to read about YA romance, but those who want to read about realistic high-school students just trying their best.

A huge thank you to Kamryn Kingsberry and Netgalley to giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

THE STAGE IS SET FOR A WHOLESOME, AUTHENTIC. yet heartbreaking and heartwarming adventure as three kids go out to seek funding for an original play which aims to break the gender stereotypes and bring queer dreams to life!

The novel’s setting in Los Angeles adds autehenticity to the feels and vibes of this novel which also happens to be her breakout novel

Kamryn is certainly going to be a rising star in the world of LGBTQ YA literature and this novel certainly proves it.

Thanks NetGalley for providing an advanced review copy!

The friendship of the three MC’s definitely sold me on this story especially how they worked together to get Ari play the recognition that it deserved. Now my favorite part about this book would have to be the LGBTQIA and Autism Awareness this book showed 🥰. Definitely worth the read.

I’m all for Black Queer Representation. In a time where there continues to be attacks on queer people of color, this book is a breath of fresh air. It really hammers home the importance of finding community and how important the right kind of representation is-as well as how hard you have to fight to get it. This book follows three characters as they take on the arduous task of funding and executing, a high school play. Each character has their own inner turmoils to work through and the author expertly weaves through each perspective. I would recommend this book to everyone.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher to letting me read this ARC.

This book is such a complex and beautiful story. In the beginning I wasn’t really convinced, not gonna lie. Especially the whole auction situation made me feel a bit weird and Ya’s savior complex was uncomfortable to read at some points.

BUT the author managed to write so many uncomfortable yet super realistic scenes (yes, reality is uncomfortable, people make a lot of mistakes) and still worked through all of them and called out her own characters.
I loved that all characters were flawed, I loved that they fucked up, repeatedly, and still found their way back to each other and learned.

I’m flabbergasted that no one is talking about this book, it’s full of cute, funny and emotional scenes that make you both think and laugh and most important: while it does include realistic scenes of homophobia and transphobia it still focuses on queer and black joy.
I’m so sick of queer books centered around suffering, I understand that those are important too but especially young adults deserve happy stories with happy characters.

The fact that both queer main characters came out extremely early in their lives is also making a great point against the stupid opinion that children are too young to understand themselves. I loved that. Also writing families that 110% support their children is do fucking important because books like this will teach the following generations.
Especially the parent talent show made me tear up, it was so beautiful.

Long story short: this is an amazing story full of love and life, it’s balancing real life issues of queer and black people while building on resistance and solidarity. This is not depressing, it’s heartfelt and uplifting. If I could make everyone read one single book for pride month (or any other month but it’s June right now so it kind of fits) it would be this one.

The representation in this book made my heart sing. These characters are living as much as of their full selves as they can, loving themselves and each other in their queerness, Trans identity, and neurodivergence. Atlas, Ya, and Ari are a strong trio and I wish I had this book as a young person. That said, I found this book difficult to finish because the inconsistent pacing. Some scenes felt drawn out, some were cut off, and the constant bouncing between narrators made it hard to feel grounded in character development. For a shorter book, I wanted the arc of developing the play to have more meaning, or for it to be intentionally set aside for character development. The book was balancing a lot, sometimes successful, sometimes not. I am so grateful this book exists though.

Star Fruit is a vibrant, heartfelt story that explores identity, culture, and the sweetness of first love. Kamryn Kingsberry’s lyrical prose and richly drawn characters make this a beautiful, unforgettable read that celebrates the power of connection.

This group of kids worked so hard for what they believed in and the parents are supportive. I really loved this and how good it felt to read this.

This was a fun read with very vibrant characters and lots of diversity in a variety of ways.

This is a book that many of the young people I teach would love - it's engaging and discusses gender and sexuality in real, affirming ways alongside the navigation of honest, teenage years and high school politics.

The multiple POV were a lot to content with at times, especially remembering who was related to whom and who used which nickname, but your favourite characters called to you regardless.

One I would definitely recommend for complex teen explorations and relationships - fun with lots of serious undercurrents.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This book had all the ingredients for something special—queer joy, a theater backdrop, a swoony romance, and conversations that matter. It promised so much heart… but unfortunately, it left me wanting more.

So many scenes started strong, building tension or emotion—and then just stopped. Time and time again, just when something big was about to hit, the moment would fade out or skip ahead. It felt like we were brushing past the story’s most meaningful beats instead of sinking into them.

The romance between Ari and Taylor, while full of potential, didn’t quite land. We're told they’re each other’s “dream girls,” completely head-over-heels—but it was hard to feel that spark on the page. There weren’t enough of those grounding, intimate moments that show why they connected. I wanted to root for them, but I didn’t fully understand what brought them together beyond surface-level attraction.

The theater aspect, which could’ve added so much texture, felt more like a background setting than a living, breathing part of the story. The actual process of putting on a production—the teamwork, the messiness, the passion—was mostly missing. It was mentioned, but not really felt.

There were powerful themes at play—transphobia, homophobia, and the complexity of allyship—and I appreciated the effort to include them. But these moments often stayed on the surface. The story leaned heavily into Ya’s journey of becoming a better ally, which sometimes seemed to overshadow the voices and experiences of the queer characters themselves.

At just 249 pages, the book felt a little rushed. It had big things to say, but not enough room to fully say them. Still, the foundation is there. The heart is there. With more space to breathe and more time spent developing its core relationships and themes, this could’ve been something really memorable.

There’s promise in this author’s voice, and I’m definitely curious to see what they do next.

This follows three kids in school - Atlas, his cousin Sonya and their friend, Ari. Each of them had their own POV, as they fight to put on their play that bigots have planned to fight against.

I loved the representation here. Atlas goes through his experiences as a trans boy, Ari as a lesbian and autistic, and Sonya trying to be a good ally to them both and support them. I believe all three are Black, as well.

What I loved most was their messiness. Teenagers in general are expected to reach standards that most adults are unable to achieve, but those standards are even higher when they are queer and racialised. Atlas has feelings for Ari and he doesn’t handle them in the best way, Ari has her struggles being autistic and navigating her friendship with Atlas and her blooming romance with Taylor, and Sonya is trying to be a better ally to her friends and do what she can to support them.

I also loved the flashback scenes to their childhood and how their friendship has evolved through the years, and the mistakes they have made and forgiven each other for. Love was at the root of everything they did, it was very wholesome and lovely.

It had a subplot of parents attacking the school and the children for being openly queer and wanting to put on a play. It wasn’t wrapped up in a way I felt was satisfying, but I thought this was realistic, although not the most hopeful.

I was never one, but this was such a love letter to misfit theatre kids. I hope this gets all the attention and hype it deserves.

Unfortunately I found this lacking. Every time a scene would start and something big was about to happen the scene just ended...unresolved. I felt like I was missing big chunks of moments that didn't feel realistic to me for those scenes. I was frustrated more often than not with the characters, not believing the romance especially between Ari and Taylor as we kept being told they're crazy for each other and they're each other's "dream girls" but I was confused as to why? I never saw any actual moments of bonding before they were already together to understand why either would have a crush on the other besides their looks. It felt like this book had a lot to say but no time to do it in with only 249 pages, this could have easily been another 100 more that would have better fleshed out the issues. Not even to begin on the theater side of things, because as a theater kid myself, like where was that? Producing a play takes so much more involvement and time and it felt like none of the actual steps to play production were there other than "raising funds" when there's nothing happening in between except a brief mention of building sets (which how do you do when you don't have any funds?????) there were just a lot of plot holes and moments I couldn't suspend disbelief long enough to let myself enjoy the rest of the story.

The topics on transphobia and homophobia were important but again, just felt surface level and not anything really new. It honestly felt most like Ya's story with struggling to be a good ally took more of the forefront of the story than the actual queer narratives. I just am disappointed overall for something I was really looking forward to.

Overall I really enjoyed this book! I think that narrating the events from the different perspectives of Ari, Atlas, and Ya helped to flesh out the story more fully. I also appreciated the representation of a character with autism as I feel like that isn’t well represented in YA. I also liked how each of the characters had things that they struggled with throughout the book, and we got to see how that affected their relationships with others in the story. I would definitely recommend this to a friend!

I'd like to first thank the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC to this book.

Unfortunately, I DNFed it at 37%.

The blurb to this book really drew me in because I love YA about queer friend groups and it was especially interesting to me for the POC autistic representation, as someone who's also autistic and Black.

Unfortunately, there were a few things that put me at discomfort during the read. One of the most major is the use of the puzzle symbol, which has extremely negative connotations and history and is not used nor appreciated by the ASD community. I'm a firm believer in the fact that authors writing about marginalized communities — whether they share this identity or not — need to do good research about those communities. Information about the harmful ideas associated with the puzzle symbol have been widely shared in ASD communities for a long time and I worry that the inclusion of it here is a sign that there hasn't been sufficient research done. The purpose of the robots Ari's parent are building also made me a little bit uncomfortable but that might be more personal than anything.

I'm also really annoyed at Atlas's thoughts towards Ari. I understand attraction isn't always something we can control but we can at the very least respect and honor someone's identity without feeling entitled to a certain kind of their attention just because we have feelings for them. Yes, being a teenager can be messy like that but it really just makes the read tough to go through for me.

The writing is also not quite to my tastes, there's too much dialogue, a lot of "tell" instead of "showing" and it's also often very buzzword-y in a way that feels a bit too caricatural of the teenagers it wants to portray.

However, I believe most of these things can be fixed through editing. The story itself has the potential to be fun and interesting, I also really like Ari and Taylor, they're so sweet and adorable.

This is one to watch out for, truly. Encompassing a diverse friend group from a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds as well as individuals of different sexual and gender identities. One of our lead characters Ari is actually autistic and i fell in love with the representation we got with her as the struggles with overstimulation were so realistic for those who experience this ourselves.

While most of our friend group is queer or transgender, we do have one character who goes by Ya, who is a cis straight female ally. It confronts how when allyship is done poorly it can present as more of a saviour complex and risk doing more harm than good regardless of intentions.

The way it subtly normalises neurodivergence and queerness is so powerful and we need more books like this to be published. It's the perfect read for theatre kids as it revolves around fundraising to put on one of our characters scripts, a powerful and diverse performance and the struggles experienced doing so from homophobic trolls online to hateful parent groups on campus. It leaves a message about how important it is to establish equal rights and how fighting for change can leave a lasting legacy for the next generation.

LGBTQIA+ Rep
BIPOC
Cast
Healing
Acceptance
Friendship
I dont know where to begin! I enjoyed this so much and I love how it reads. You follow each character’s POV and it’s realistic to how high school seniors are. From how they talk to what they may be up to after school. The representation was amazing! Trans! Lesbian! Austistic! Queer culture in general! It shows the possible (and very real) realities of being part of the LGBTQIA+ community. It also hits on the difference between being a savior and being an ally. You also walk through each character’s issues that have to be worked out. Highly recommend to YA readers and those wanting to see LGBTQIA+ rep.

My first ARC review! I absolutely adored this book. the writing was incredible, I loved each character so much and I could feel the love and care put into writing it in every word I read. This amount of character development in such a short book was amazing. Every conversation between Atlas, Ari and Ya where they had conflicts with one another felt so genuine and relatable but I found myself still rooting for everyone involved even when they were being hostile. I could tell the characters would learn from their mistakes throughout the book and it led to an incredibly sweet and satisfying story. I cant wait to get a physical copy of this when it's released on 1st June!

I thoroughly enjoyed Star Fruit. All three Main Characters brought their own perspective and a deeper dimension to their individual personalities and core friendship.

Ari (Arielle), is the quieter of the 3 friends and she's the most artistic/creative. Ya (Sonya), is the most head strong and she loves and fights for those she loves with all her being. Atlas, is the most selfless and the most sensitive is all the best ways. A lesbian, an ally and a young transman all three so different yet fit together like the best puzzle.

I love how all 3 of them ae on their own individual journeys of self discovery while also being there for each other in the ways they know how. Ari learns to speak up for herself and defend the things she is passionate about. She also puts on an amazing production and faces her fears a lot of her fears in dating and in going for what she wants. Ya learns that she doesn't need to fix everything for everyone and sometimes its okay to let people take of her and of themselves. Her parents leaving her in the states left her with some abandonment issues which I was happy to see her acknowledge and work through. Atlas learns that there is no right way to be a man but to be the man he wants to be. He has the most supportive parents and I'm glad he finally realized other people see him for all he is and accept him.

I loved the themes in this book. I loved that it captured teenagers going through teenage issues. The communication with all characters was beautiful to read. The parents and other adult figures that showed up and showed out for these kids was amazing I felt like I was at he parents talent show. Loved it