Being ace, I wished I'd had this book as a teen to see myself represented and maybe I'd have figured some things out a lot sooner.

Not a fan of the HP and Roald Dahl references. ( )

This book is definitely something I needed but didn’t know how much. This is the first time I’ve read a book with the main character being asexual. If I’d had this novel several years ago I probably would have figured out my own sexuality long before I did. It cut right to the quick about my own thoughts and feelings and insecurities and uncertainties and it made me feel seen in a way that I’ve never had in another book before. This is why representation matters so much. I am just so glad that this book exists. Plus the entire thing was just funny, sweet and cute with a wonderfully satisfying ending. ( )

Fun and fandomy fluff. The main character is heteroromantic and asexual. The ace rep wasn't great tbh but I don't really know why. What was interesting though was how the teenage siblings reacted to their parents' decision to have another child. Overall an easy and pleasant read, albiet not very memorable. ( )

teen fiction. An awesome, unexpected and clever mix of lit talk, youtube culture, and the complications of romance, set in Lexington, KY. The teens/young adults (aged 17-20 ) face big changes and have to sort out their feelings; one character is openly gay (at least to his friends) and the main character is pretty sure she's a romantic asexual. ( )

This is a perfectly good book and a “fannish YA” novel that gets fandom right, but it never quite clicked with me. I blame hype and age more than anything.

Tash is a great character. I liked seeing her struggle with the web-series and its fandom, since that’s not a world I’m very familiar with, and I liked seeing her struggle with the “real life” stuff as well—friends, family, school, romance, general life uncertainty. It’s all very YA contemporary on that end, without much to switch things up in terms of tropes and expectations. (Part of what didn’t click, I think.) I especially liked the parallel, deliberate or no, to Tolstoy’s famous line about unhappy families—so yeah, it’s reasonably deep without being depressing.

Where this fell for me was not in Tash’s fannish voice or her frequent references to Tolstoy’s life, but in her asexuality. It’s good rep! It rings true! It’s just … I’ve been seeing this book recced as “perfect ace rep, this is me, I loved it” and so I got my hopes up. Sadly, my experience and Tash’s don’t line up that well and some of her explanations felt a little bit “Ace 101″ and “issue novel.” Which is, again, fine, especially if you’re a teen and this is the first real intro to the subject, but … I’m not a teen and this wasn’t my intro. (See why I blamed age?)

tl;dr: Another solid read and recommendation but once again not one I personally enthuse over.

Warnings: Protagonist subject to ace-phobia. Several characters dealing with cancer second-hand.

7/10 ( )