Overall, this book was a well-intentioned read that raised interesting topics, but my dislike of Daisy and her portrayal of asexuality made it hard for me to really enjoy it.
 
I really can't get over the portrayal of asexuality in this story. This is a very personal problem as I myself am asexual and am crazy about awareness; as such, I expect that most others wouldn't notice that anything was at fault and would enjoy the book nonetheless. However, a very 2D portrayal of asexuality was made, and the main character at some points pretends to be asexual. At another point, she admits that she is crushing on a boy and apologises to asexual community for appropriating their title. This is a complete misportrayal. She was claiming to be /asexual/ not /aromantic./ Contrary to popular belief, it's entirely possible for asexuals to be heteroromantic (or homoromantic or panromantic or anything) and her complete dismissal and her complete lack of desire to even learn about what the identity meant just really angered me. She uses the label for her own good without even thinking about the challenges that asexuals might face or what it would mean to be ace. I'm sure this is unintentional and maybe the author is unaware of the extent of the asexual spectrum, but I detest the information this could spread and wish that she had taken a few paragraphs to clear it up.
 
Other than that, the author did a good job of having Daisy clear up most of the appropriation she did. I really appreciated that there was a bit of talk about privilege and how even without realising it, people may have privileges they're unaware of or take for granted. I also adored Daisy's dad, and the theme of not having to be the hero of a story. I loved Daisy's friends and the members of the Alliance at her school--from a wannabe lawyer to a sweet girl who has trouble expressing anger, they were a bundle of delight to read about. I wanted to hear more about Adam, his experiences moving from New York to down south, and why the hell he was hanging around a high school junior and not out socialising with his new college friends.
 
I mainly didn't like Daisy. At all. She irked me entirely for many reasons. She has commitment issues and is horrible at following through, which just makes me antsy. She's assumptive and kind of imposes her visions of people onto them. And she doesn't stop to ask others what they think. Maybe without these traits there wouldn't have been a story; however, by the end I was ready to punch her.
 
I also felt like the plot, especially the ending, was really hard to buy into. This is set in South Carolina, which is one of many states known for being more conservative, so I doubt the whole entire country would get really enthused about one alternate homecoming when it's something very common across the country. The ending--well, I won't spoil it, but I don't buy it.
 
The topic dealt with was a very important one--a lot of people struggle with how to act as an ally and even if they're completely okay with someone belong to the "quiltbag" as Daisy's friends put it they want to express that they're okay with it and really prove it. I also found Hannah to be a really believable character in that she just wanted to be normal, something that resonated to past personal experiences.
 
There was a lot of high school drama in this book and I think if you're willing to put aside political correctness and suspend your disbelief, this could be an enjoyable read.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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I have such mixed feelings on this book.

I feel like there were a lot of unnecessary things cluttering it up, not letting it interrogate the ideas of privilege and speaking over folks and the like as much as it needed to to be really great. The romantic subplot with Adam is frankly wholly unnecessary, as is the fact that Hannah is dating Daisy's former baby bestie turned bully. The romance leads right into the parts of the ending that push it from a little unbelievable to VERY unbelievable and kinda pat. Every over-the-top with no foundation in reality promise Daisy made came true? Because her new boyfriend's brother is in a super star band? Too much. Plus it’s college guy/high school girl romance, yikes, never a fan of that. Also the dating-my-bully factor is pretty cliche and honestly weakens the jealous-someone-else-is-so-important-to-my-friend plot. Completely don't need either of those things, and all the page space devoted to them could have been used to deepen the perspective of Hannah and Nat, who I think needed it. I think the treatment of characters being accidentally outed, or forced out, needed work - in part because we never get enough of the perspective of any of the gay characters, really. Sure, being outed is bad, there are consequences, etc. But I don't think the narrative really captures the soul crushing fear and self hatred and isolation it can cause. We get what the gay characters can communicate with Daisy, which isn't usually enough, and Daisy's own conclusions, which even though she's become a better ally by the end, are still swathed in an obliviousness that you can't completely blame on her being straight. Nat at one point says she doesn't want to be pushed off a cliff and there's a lot of cliff pushing generally. Daisy backing off at the end is great, but when cliff-JUMPING happens it's narratively treated as the right thing to do in a way that makes me uncomfortable. And you know, I think accidentally outing people in potentially volatile home situations is a lot less forgivable an offense than it seems to be in the book. I guess there's just not enough understanding, even by the end, of just how devastating that can be to a person? It doesn't get enough page time and after Daisy accidentally outs Nat on national TV, she goes back to flirting with Adam within pages and is more worried about how it upset Hannah than the real consequences of the action. I don't know. It's not the worst, and it tries but because it's solely Daisy's perspective it can never capture what outing someone DOES to them, fully. Also, the treatment of asexuality seriously made me wince - I get that Daisy is clueless and her comments about how she could be asexual because she never dates anyone etc. are meant in part to show that, but it only gets push backed against once in the text and so it remains too unchallenged, which is especially glaring in the last instance since Daisy is called out on something else almost immediately after. It's made worse by Daisy's mom's "leveling up" metaphor for dating or falling in love - some people are aromantic, and they aren't "lower level" or stunted because of that, but that's the book's unfortunate implication. I am also incredibly skeptical that a group of LGBTQIA folks would accept and promote a straight person as their voice, and then agree to have them Fake It. Me and all my friends who are also LGBTQIA tend to bristle immediately when someone tries to speak FOR us, so a central conceit of the plot falls very flat for me.

That said? It made me cry more than once. I really appreciate the fact that privilege was brought up and I think it is important for straight kids to read books portraying allies who have to learn to step back and let LGBTQIA folks be the voices of their own struggle. The overall lessons of the novel are good and necessary and I think if you aren't living the struggle yourself, this book would be an entertaining and enlightening read. But it's kinda hard to read as a queer person. I would recommend it to straight kids, with a recommendation for a book that shows just how dangerous emotionally and physically outing a person can be at the same time to mitigate this book's faults. Probably If I Was Your Girl, since this book also doesn't even touch on trans issues at all. ( )

I liked the book, it was well written, I liked a lot of the characters. But the main kind of pissed me off, in ways that were acknowledged in the book which is good. It just bothered me that a book about lgbt ppl was written from the perspective of a straight girl. Which I guess was a theme in the book and the characters were aware that it wasn't her story. But still. Allies are great but they have to stand beside us not in front of us. ( )

The one thing I really gotta hand it to this is that it's very feel-good for LGBTQ individuals, even though the main character is straight. And - yes, this is an example of why straight allies should probably stay in their lane, but for a novel so focused on the issues that LGBTQ teens face there were some real glaring issues. What stood out most to me (as a queer ace) is the portrayal of asexuality. I felt like it was used as a joke throughout the entire novel, about how Daisy kept pretending to be ace and/or gay. And maybe I'm just touchy because there's been a lot of hostility surrounding asexuality (on the shithole that is Tumblr.com) lately, but it didn't ring well with me. Us aces don't have much representation in the first place, and to turn an entire sexuality into a joke - that really brought the book down for me. And yeah, Daisy does apologize to the ace community, but that doesn't excuse the author's choice to portray asexuality in such a manner. If Daisy had been a straight ace, that would have been fine with me, because then she would be, you know, LGBTQIA, but no, she's straight. Full stop.

I did like the variety of LGB characters (where's the T?) and their experiences, though. They were different; no one was really stereotyped. Bisexuality isn't talked about nearly enough and when it is it's hardly talked about well. I think this book did a decent job of portraying bi experiences. I have to say, this is the year that the portrayal of bisexuality is really turning around, especially in YA lit, and that makes me happy. There was just one point where a bi character was referred to as gay, which. Um. No. Also speaking as a queer Christian, I also liked that Christianity wasn't demonized and that there's a queer Christian character who can be involved both in his faith and sexuality. The talk about privilege was good too. This book was very politically focused, so sorry for having two entire paragraphs.

Onto character: Daisy had a good voice, but it frustrated me; she reads young and immature. Daisy herself acts very immature and selfish and it's pointed out several times throughout the novel. It can get annoying at points and she's on her way to being better, but just reading about how she fucked so much stuff up made me want to scream and tear myself apart. I was cringing for a lot of the book. I know Daisy is supposed to be unlikable to a point, but it was so, so, frustrating. All the other characters were fine, though.

I did find the plot a bit unrealistic because I'm not sure if things can really blow up that quickly, but suspension of disbelief and all. ( )

A comedy of errors with a well-meaning protagonist who gets on the bandwagon when her best friend comes out as a lesbian. Hijinks ensue. ( )