Oh. My. Gosh.
This book is so good. As a homeschool graduate who grew up Catholic, this book was so relatable at certain parts. No, my religious upbringing has never been as strict as Valerie's, but there were so many parts I related to.
Hiding queer books from your parents? I do that to this day.
I wish I had Valerie's confidence to just up and leave. Unfortunately, I am still stuck here in my household, highly closeted.
I loved the librarian in this book so much.
Books seldom make me cry, but there were a few points where this book did exactly that.
This is definitely a heavy book, and if you are interested, definitely don't skip the trigger warnings. For those with religious trauma, this book could definitely be triggering.
But this book is so, so needed. And I'm really glad books like this exist for the YA audience. I hope more are made like this because the experience of growing up homeschooled, religious, and queer can be incredibly isolating.
I absolutely love this book. The romance is very simplistic and quick to form. But that's because of all the material it had to cover with Valerie's religious upbringing and trying to unpack all of that. This is definitely on my list of favorite books now, and I'm so glad I read it.
The audiobook was an amazing experience.
