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The Queer Girl is Going to Be Okay
Queer Love. Something Dawn wants, desperately, but does not have. But maybe, if she can capture it, film it, interview the people who have it, queer love will be hers someday. Or, at least, she'll have made a documentary about it. A documentary that, hopefully, will win Dawn a scholarship to film school. Many obstacles stand in the way of completing her film, but her best friends Edie and Georgia are there to help her reach her goal, no matter what it takes.
A touching and joyous story of queer friendship and girlhood set in the vibrant city of Houston, THE QUEER GIRL IS GOING TO BE OKAY will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you believe that eventually, everything will be okay.
A touching and joyous story of queer friendship and girlhood set in the vibrant city of Houston, THE QUEER GIRL IS GOING TO BE OKAY will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you believe that eventually, everything will be okay.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published November 21, 2023
26 people are currently reading
2714 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 154 reviews
July 8, 2025
happy late publication day!
there’s a lot to like about this book – the representation, complicated familial relationships, struggles of senior year of high school, etc.
it was also really refreshing to read a book with such different main characters!
– dawn is a transgender girl with a passion for filmmaking. she’s constantly on the search for love but struggles with finding someone who makes her feel loved. her mother died a bit ago and her father struggles with depression.
– georgia is lesbian and seemingly madly in love with her girlfriend, jill. she’s worried about what might change after she graduates, and even more worried that she might not get into college. her mother is a single mom and has a new guy around, simone, who georgia finds herself ... struggling with.
– edie is queer, dating ben who is nonbinary. her parents are very christian and oppose queerness, so she hides it from them. this creates issues with her and ben, which she has to work through.
the relationships were complex and all had totally different dynamics, so they didn’t feel repetitive or boring at any point. and as someone who doesn’t face the struggles that come with being queer, a lot of the feelings the characters had and the situations they found themselves in were pretty eye opening.
with all that being said, there was also quite a bit that i didn’t absolutely love about the book.
number one was the writing. admittedly, i’m not really the target audience but the writing felt very juvenile for a book dealing with complicated topics. i understand that it’s ya/middle grade but still, it felt very choppy and did a lot of telling rather than showing.
the pacing was also so .. weird. there were parts that moved really fast that shouldn’t have. at one point dawn says that she needs to take time for herself but five pages later she’s totally contradicting herself? and then there were also parts that just went so slooooow. i think this would’ve been so much better as a short story, or with quite a few pages cut out.
overall not a bad book, just not for me! it was mediocre and forgettable, despite the details that aren’t commonly seen in books. however i would probably recommend this to a younger reader wanting an lgbtq+ story – i would’ve liked this a lot more maybe six years ago.
thank you to netgalley + levine querido for an advanced copy! all opinions are my own.
there’s a lot to like about this book – the representation, complicated familial relationships, struggles of senior year of high school, etc.
it was also really refreshing to read a book with such different main characters!
– dawn is a transgender girl with a passion for filmmaking. she’s constantly on the search for love but struggles with finding someone who makes her feel loved. her mother died a bit ago and her father struggles with depression.
– georgia is lesbian and seemingly madly in love with her girlfriend, jill. she’s worried about what might change after she graduates, and even more worried that she might not get into college. her mother is a single mom and has a new guy around, simone, who georgia finds herself ... struggling with.
– edie is queer, dating ben who is nonbinary. her parents are very christian and oppose queerness, so she hides it from them. this creates issues with her and ben, which she has to work through.
the relationships were complex and all had totally different dynamics, so they didn’t feel repetitive or boring at any point. and as someone who doesn’t face the struggles that come with being queer, a lot of the feelings the characters had and the situations they found themselves in were pretty eye opening.
with all that being said, there was also quite a bit that i didn’t absolutely love about the book.
number one was the writing. admittedly, i’m not really the target audience but the writing felt very juvenile for a book dealing with complicated topics. i understand that it’s ya/middle grade but still, it felt very choppy and did a lot of telling rather than showing.
the pacing was also so .. weird. there were parts that moved really fast that shouldn’t have. at one point dawn says that she needs to take time for herself but five pages later she’s totally contradicting herself? and then there were also parts that just went so slooooow. i think this would’ve been so much better as a short story, or with quite a few pages cut out.
overall not a bad book, just not for me! it was mediocre and forgettable, despite the details that aren’t commonly seen in books. however i would probably recommend this to a younger reader wanting an lgbtq+ story – i would’ve liked this a lot more maybe six years ago.
thank you to netgalley + levine querido for an advanced copy! all opinions are my own.
January 19, 2024
i've never read a book that explains life for a queer teenager in the south better. simply a sweet read about the different kinds of queer love that exist in the world
thank you to netgalley for the arc!
thank you to netgalley for the arc!
December 4, 2023
It’s the last year of high school for Dawn, Georgia and Edie. The three girls have been best friends for years, through the good and the bad of adolescence. At the beginning of the book, Dawn is trying to finish a documentary on queer love she wants to submit to the Austin Film Festival in the hopes of getting a full scholarship to film school. Edie is the quintessential perfect student who keeps lying to her parents so she can hide her relationship with nonbinary Ben. Georgia has the coolest mom but she’s now wondering if her mom isn’t a bit too cool, as her college admission requests keep being rejected.
There’s a lot of love in this book but also lies (to others and to oneself), secrets, solidarity and hope. Be warned that there are instances of queerphobia and transphobia as part of what the characters go through but also as part of character growth, as well as sexual assault. The pacing is uneven, at times a bit slow, then rushed, but I liked that all three MCs are POC, I loved the friendship, and the ending is satisfying, especially the hope the author injects that makes all the trials worth fighting through.
Dale Walls captures the sliver of life between childhood/teenage years and adulthood with sensitivity and tenderness. The period between the end of high school and the first years of whatever comes next is delicate to navigate for most people and Walls write the ups and downs, the hardships and possibilities—especially for queer young adults—in a way that I think will feel relatable to many.
I received a copy from the publisher and I am voluntarily leaving a review.
Read all my reviews on my blog (and please buy from the affiliation links!): Jude in the Stars
January 13, 2024
Uplifting, real, slice-of-life 🏳️🌈
Best friends Dawn, Edie, and Georgia are trying to get through their senior year in Houston. Their art, relationships, and friendship together keep them busy and alive.
I adored this story. I loved ALL of the characters and they felt like my friends through the writing style. I liked that the book followed all three of their complex lives; the whole book felt like a group video call with them. The themes in the story were deep and hopeful. So happy that this didn’t disappoint because I had high expectations from the cover and title 🥰🥰
Best friends Dawn, Edie, and Georgia are trying to get through their senior year in Houston. Their art, relationships, and friendship together keep them busy and alive.
I adored this story. I loved ALL of the characters and they felt like my friends through the writing style. I liked that the book followed all three of their complex lives; the whole book felt like a group video call with them. The themes in the story were deep and hopeful. So happy that this didn’t disappoint because I had high expectations from the cover and title 🥰🥰
August 19, 2023
[Thanks to NetGalley and the author Dale Walls for providing me with an ARC copy of The Queer Girl is Going to be Okay]
I must admit that I requested this book impulsively after seeing its fabulous cover, but I stayed till the end for the meaningful content. I'm sure this book will save teenagers girls' lives, empower them, make them feel seen. This book screams "you are not alone, girl!"
This book has everything in it: a beautiful friendship between three high school girls, family issues, queer representation and relationships, school problems, but above it all, love.
Love is everywhere between these pages, and I can see how much love the author put into their book: queer love, love between family members, love between friends (let's not forget that friendship is a type of love), love for one's passions, love for one's life, body, and identity. I felt all of it.
Love is also the main theme of Dawn's documentary, which is what ties Dawn, Edie, and Georgia's stories together as we follow them in their daily life.
Since I'm in my mid-twenties, I'm not part of the target audience of this book anymore, but this didn't stop me from deeply caring for these three girls: I cheered for them and cried with them while following them along the difficult journey that is the last year of high school. Each one of them has something to learn.
Dawn has to learn that her dreams are worth pursuing and that working towards her goals doesn't necessarily mean leaving her family behind; Georgia knows she wants to be a poet and a writer but she's afraid she's not good enough and that she hasn't done enough in school; Edie has to learn to fight for herself and her loved ones, and that sometimes taking care of yourself means keeping a distance from people who hurt you even if they claim to love you.
The book structure is made of chapters each one adopting one of the girl's points of view. I loved how Edie, Georgia and Dawn perspectives blended to form a complete and detailed picture of their friendship and daily life. It made the characters feel very dynamic and real, as if I had known them in real life.
Another part I deeply enjoyed are the excerpts from Dawn's documentary about queer love: I really liked listening to all these different stories and perspectives. I think this strategy also helps the reader see Dawn's documentary coming to life as she proceeds to watching the clips and editing them.
I recommend this book to anyone, no matter their age. This is a great debut novel, and I can't help but wonder what Dale Walls might write next!
I must admit that I requested this book impulsively after seeing its fabulous cover, but I stayed till the end for the meaningful content. I'm sure this book will save teenagers girls' lives, empower them, make them feel seen. This book screams "you are not alone, girl!"
This book has everything in it: a beautiful friendship between three high school girls, family issues, queer representation and relationships, school problems, but above it all, love.
Love is everywhere between these pages, and I can see how much love the author put into their book: queer love, love between family members, love between friends (let's not forget that friendship is a type of love), love for one's passions, love for one's life, body, and identity. I felt all of it.
Love is also the main theme of Dawn's documentary, which is what ties Dawn, Edie, and Georgia's stories together as we follow them in their daily life.
Since I'm in my mid-twenties, I'm not part of the target audience of this book anymore, but this didn't stop me from deeply caring for these three girls: I cheered for them and cried with them while following them along the difficult journey that is the last year of high school. Each one of them has something to learn.
Dawn has to learn that her dreams are worth pursuing and that working towards her goals doesn't necessarily mean leaving her family behind; Georgia knows she wants to be a poet and a writer but she's afraid she's not good enough and that she hasn't done enough in school; Edie has to learn to fight for herself and her loved ones, and that sometimes taking care of yourself means keeping a distance from people who hurt you even if they claim to love you.
The book structure is made of chapters each one adopting one of the girl's points of view. I loved how Edie, Georgia and Dawn perspectives blended to form a complete and detailed picture of their friendship and daily life. It made the characters feel very dynamic and real, as if I had known them in real life.
Another part I deeply enjoyed are the excerpts from Dawn's documentary about queer love: I really liked listening to all these different stories and perspectives. I think this strategy also helps the reader see Dawn's documentary coming to life as she proceeds to watching the clips and editing them.
I recommend this book to anyone, no matter their age. This is a great debut novel, and I can't help but wonder what Dale Walls might write next!
March 30, 2025
3.5★
While the premise was intriguing, the writing and story didn't really live up to my expectations. It never dealt in deep enough with any of the characters, except for maybe Dawn, and somethings were left unresolved in the end. I also felt like the writing style itself left a lot to be desired and was part of the reason why I couldn't be completely immersed.
While the premise was intriguing, the writing and story didn't really live up to my expectations. It never dealt in deep enough with any of the characters, except for maybe Dawn, and somethings were left unresolved in the end. I also felt like the writing style itself left a lot to be desired and was part of the reason why I couldn't be completely immersed.
November 22, 2023
-Young female friendship
-Young and Queer love
-Follows Queer friends Edie, Dawn and Georgia as they navigate their final year of high school
-Dawn creates a documentary film about Queer love in a documentary film competition for a scholarship prize
-Queer women uplifting one another
-the setting takes place in my hometown of Houston, Texas
-Young and Queer love
-Follows Queer friends Edie, Dawn and Georgia as they navigate their final year of high school
-Dawn creates a documentary film about Queer love in a documentary film competition for a scholarship prize
-Queer women uplifting one another
-the setting takes place in my hometown of Houston, Texas
![Profile Image for Lee [Bibliophile Tings].](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fusers%2F1714421530i%2F162596364._UY200_CR0%2C0%2C200%2C200_.jpg&w=128&q=75)
October 11, 2023
Thank you so much to Levine Querido for sending me a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Is it wrong of me to say that The Queer Girl Is Going To Be Okay just wasn’t enough? There’s a fine line between seeing myself in a story and it feeling like life. In this case, it reads too much like life. It was ordinary and forgettable.
I know it’s realistic fiction, but I wanted something more. Something magical.
[Dawn] found herself desperate to document queer love and all its caveats and inconveniencies. She wanted to identify it, hold it, know that it could be hers one day.
Having three POVs lessened my enjoyment. While I liked Dawn, Edie, and Georgia, the book wasn’t long enough to dive deep into each story.
If I had to choose a sole narrator, I would pick Dawn. When the book started, Dawn was already editing her documentary. I would have loved to see the earlier steps in the filmmaking process.
I would have devoured this book had it been a collection of people defining queer love. The little “clips” from the documentary were so precious. That alone is a five-star read.
However…
As much as I enjoyed the documentary plot line, I didn’t always understand it.
There was a lot of name-dropping / talking about films. I have not seen or even heard of most of the movies talked about. It felt like I was outside the conversation, listening in.
Has everyone been feeling this limitless and never told her?
i love reckless adolescent love
I loved the representation. (I say that often, but it’s true, okay?) I loved Dawn’s sureness in her identity, Edie’s courage with her brother, and Georgia’s carefree free-falling into love.
All in all, The Queer Girl Is Going To Be Okay was good, but not great.
Bottom line: Am I just a hater?
⸻ᥫ᭡
my blog!
Is it wrong of me to say that The Queer Girl Is Going To Be Okay just wasn’t enough? There’s a fine line between seeing myself in a story and it feeling like life. In this case, it reads too much like life. It was ordinary and forgettable.
I know it’s realistic fiction, but I wanted something more. Something magical.
[Dawn] found herself desperate to document queer love and all its caveats and inconveniencies. She wanted to identify it, hold it, know that it could be hers one day.
Having three POVs lessened my enjoyment. While I liked Dawn, Edie, and Georgia, the book wasn’t long enough to dive deep into each story.
If I had to choose a sole narrator, I would pick Dawn. When the book started, Dawn was already editing her documentary. I would have loved to see the earlier steps in the filmmaking process.
I would have devoured this book had it been a collection of people defining queer love. The little “clips” from the documentary were so precious. That alone is a five-star read.
However…
As much as I enjoyed the documentary plot line, I didn’t always understand it.
There was a lot of name-dropping / talking about films. I have not seen or even heard of most of the movies talked about. It felt like I was outside the conversation, listening in.
Has everyone been feeling this limitless and never told her?
i love reckless adolescent love
I loved the representation. (I say that often, but it’s true, okay?) I loved Dawn’s sureness in her identity, Edie’s courage with her brother, and Georgia’s carefree free-falling into love.
All in all, The Queer Girl Is Going To Be Okay was good, but not great.
Bottom line: Am I just a hater?
⸻ᥫ᭡
my blog!
July 20, 2023
This is a really good book and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes this genre.
The Queer Girl is Going to be Okay follows three perspectives, Dawn, Edie and Georgia
Edie has a very religious family and is trying to find a way to introduce Ben, the person she's dating to her parents, the only problem?, Ben is nonbinary, And because of this is finding it hard to really express herself to Ben.
Georgia is trying to get used to her mom's new boyfriend
And finally Dawn, (Who made a documentary named The Queer Girl is going to be Okay) who is trying to finally, find someone to love.
It simplifies and shows queer love in a way that it doesn't feel forced, But... understood..
Good for anyone wanting a deep, and inspiring book to read.
The Queer Girl is Going to be Okay follows three perspectives, Dawn, Edie and Georgia
Edie has a very religious family and is trying to find a way to introduce Ben, the person she's dating to her parents, the only problem?, Ben is nonbinary, And because of this is finding it hard to really express herself to Ben.
Georgia is trying to get used to her mom's new boyfriend
And finally Dawn, (Who made a documentary named The Queer Girl is going to be Okay) who is trying to finally, find someone to love.
It simplifies and shows queer love in a way that it doesn't feel forced, But... understood..
Good for anyone wanting a deep, and inspiring book to read.
November 11, 2023
My heart is so happy after reading this book
this is a book full of the ups and downs of queer love of every kind, it has such a sweet friendships at its core with a hint of found family. I would love this to be turned into a movie!
such a good book to any teen trying to navigate the world and trying to find love, and feel accepted.
There's some uncomfortable situations in this book, but they are the realities of what many people have to go through. There were also some moments that had me sitting here smiling with tears in my eyes 🥹. It's wholesome while still being impactful.
Thank you Netgalley, Dale Walls and RB media for an arch in exchange for an honest review!
Don't forget! Come back to your Review on the pub date, 21 Nov 20
this is a book full of the ups and downs of queer love of every kind, it has such a sweet friendships at its core with a hint of found family. I would love this to be turned into a movie!
such a good book to any teen trying to navigate the world and trying to find love, and feel accepted.
There's some uncomfortable situations in this book, but they are the realities of what many people have to go through. There were also some moments that had me sitting here smiling with tears in my eyes 🥹. It's wholesome while still being impactful.
Thank you Netgalley, Dale Walls and RB media for an arch in exchange for an honest review!
Don't forget! Come back to your Review on the pub date, 21 Nov 20
December 30, 2023
The Queer Girl Is Going To Be Okay has a lot of great points: queer MCs including a trans female MC and sapphic characters, talking about being queer in this world. There's a focus on friendships, sorority, which I love!
And yet I just couldn't quite get into it, I couldn't quite care so much about any of them.
Maybe the documentary plot could have been a bit more developed?
I talk about books here: Instagram / TikTok / Linktree
And yet I just couldn't quite get into it, I couldn't quite care so much about any of them.
Maybe the documentary plot could have been a bit more developed?
I talk about books here: Instagram / TikTok / Linktree
November 12, 2023
thank you to Levine Querido and Hear Our Voices Tours for providing a copy in exchange for review!
I’m getting to the point where I don’t relate to YA as much as I used to, and despite that this book had some unspeakable hold on me. I’m not from Texas but I know what it’s like to be a queer kid growing up in the South, and I can still very much relate to the quest of just trying to figure out what love in all its different forms looks like to me. This is a story of queer teens who get to be queer teens, even if there are still the all-too realistic threads of the downfalls society puts upon queer teens. Something that the author and I share is the study of art history, but something I got out of this book is a deeper love and appreciation for film through some of that lens. Dawn’s guiding voice and passion within this book is so strong, even as it's sometimes obscured by the haze of despair. Even in the inevitable flaws of a book, this book communicates something that feels so vital to my identity even as I continue to grow out of YA, and I would highly recommend it.
Undoubtedly the highlight of this book is queer love. The medium of documentary film within the text along with Walls’ prose captures something so distinct and beautiful about queer love and community. Of the beauty in its mundanity. On top of that, there’s this balance of kinds of love and also the pain that comes from it, the bond between our three protagonists and also the quiet insistence they queer girls deserve to be loved romantically. The snippets of interviews have stuck with me, even after I finished reading. There’s the side of pain and some heartbreak, but there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.
There were times where the multiple perspectives felt like it was pulling from the overall story rather than adding to it, and in some cases the parts of the girls' lives that were about their own wants and dreams felt so much more readable and tangible than the ones about love lives that weren’t fully explained. Georgia specifically has one of the best personal journeys, but her love life was negligible for me. In some ways this book acts more as a slice-of-life than anything, even with the clear plot elements. The rise and fall is less notable than the various pieces that stuck out in the interim. But sometimes it’s just enough to watch Southern queer girls love and be loved, to watch a trans girl be loved, and enjoy what may come.
I’m getting to the point where I don’t relate to YA as much as I used to, and despite that this book had some unspeakable hold on me. I’m not from Texas but I know what it’s like to be a queer kid growing up in the South, and I can still very much relate to the quest of just trying to figure out what love in all its different forms looks like to me. This is a story of queer teens who get to be queer teens, even if there are still the all-too realistic threads of the downfalls society puts upon queer teens. Something that the author and I share is the study of art history, but something I got out of this book is a deeper love and appreciation for film through some of that lens. Dawn’s guiding voice and passion within this book is so strong, even as it's sometimes obscured by the haze of despair. Even in the inevitable flaws of a book, this book communicates something that feels so vital to my identity even as I continue to grow out of YA, and I would highly recommend it.
Undoubtedly the highlight of this book is queer love. The medium of documentary film within the text along with Walls’ prose captures something so distinct and beautiful about queer love and community. Of the beauty in its mundanity. On top of that, there’s this balance of kinds of love and also the pain that comes from it, the bond between our three protagonists and also the quiet insistence they queer girls deserve to be loved romantically. The snippets of interviews have stuck with me, even after I finished reading. There’s the side of pain and some heartbreak, but there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.
There were times where the multiple perspectives felt like it was pulling from the overall story rather than adding to it, and in some cases the parts of the girls' lives that were about their own wants and dreams felt so much more readable and tangible than the ones about love lives that weren’t fully explained. Georgia specifically has one of the best personal journeys, but her love life was negligible for me. In some ways this book acts more as a slice-of-life than anything, even with the clear plot elements. The rise and fall is less notable than the various pieces that stuck out in the interim. But sometimes it’s just enough to watch Southern queer girls love and be loved, to watch a trans girl be loved, and enjoy what may come.
November 16, 2023
This is one of those books that make me wish my queerness wasn’t repressed until I was in my 30s. The Queer Girl is Going to Be Okay is a love letter to the queer kids who are navigating the world imperfectly, while still reaching for love through all of the challenges and obstacles. It’s an exploration of queer friendship, that is a special love all in itself. It’s a reminder that you can make mistakes and survive shitty things while still deserving love. I absolutely loved everything about this book.
If you’re listening on audio, the pauses between chapters are a little long, but overall the audio is lovely as well. Each character expressed uniquely with homage to the diverse characters represented
If you’re listening on audio, the pauses between chapters are a little long, but overall the audio is lovely as well. Each character expressed uniquely with homage to the diverse characters represented
December 4, 2023
“the queer girl is going to be alright” follows three seniors as they deal with different difficulties together and separately. i thought this was well written and I enjoyed the character arcs but felt that it could’ve done with a bit more development. a few extra chapters could’ve gone a long way here. despite that, this was a quick queer read that I ended up really liking. the relationships were complex and tough at times but the progression was lovely.
thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
November 25, 2023
Thank you so much for this ARC I loved it!! As a queer female who calls Texas her home I found these stories so relatable! Being able to get a glimpse into to many different sides of the LGBTQIA+ community was my favorite part of this book. I will definitely be recommending it to all of my friends!
November 4, 2023
I was provided an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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.
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.
November 10, 2023
4 stars
This is an engaging, well-paced listen with great characters and strong narration. Readers (and listeners) will also enjoy the solid representation.
Dawn wants love, a life centered around film making, and a college scholarship, and this is the story of how she engages - or tries to engage - with all three. She's a likeable character, and her friends and acquaintances bring a lot to her story. When it comes to these characters, I really appreciate the variety of queer representation. One reason I'm excited to recommend this to students is that these characters' geographic location makes such an incredible impact on their experiences and outcomes. Without being heavy handed, there's an intriguing focus on intersectional identity that a lot of readers will find either affirming or enlightening.
I'm glad I had the chance to listen to this and will both be on the lookout for more from this author and be eagerly anticipating sharing this one with my students.
*Special thanks to NetGalley and Recorded Books for this alc, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
This is an engaging, well-paced listen with great characters and strong narration. Readers (and listeners) will also enjoy the solid representation.
Dawn wants love, a life centered around film making, and a college scholarship, and this is the story of how she engages - or tries to engage - with all three. She's a likeable character, and her friends and acquaintances bring a lot to her story. When it comes to these characters, I really appreciate the variety of queer representation. One reason I'm excited to recommend this to students is that these characters' geographic location makes such an incredible impact on their experiences and outcomes. Without being heavy handed, there's an intriguing focus on intersectional identity that a lot of readers will find either affirming or enlightening.
I'm glad I had the chance to listen to this and will both be on the lookout for more from this author and be eagerly anticipating sharing this one with my students.
*Special thanks to NetGalley and Recorded Books for this alc, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
April 26, 2024
A pesar de la nota baja quiero aclarar que no es un mal libro, de hecho está bien, pero no fue para mi.
Me hubiese gustado leerlo en mi adolescencia, porque seguimos a tres amigas queer en su último año de instituto, atravesando problemas típicos de adolescente sumados a los problemas que los adolescentes queers tienen.
Creo que es empoderador y está buenísimo leer libros con tanta diversidad (hay personajes trans, no binarios, relaciones sáficas, etc), y para un público juvenil puede ser muy positivo.
Mi problema es que me faltó profundidad en la trama, siento que se plantearon varios problemas para cada una de las chicas pero jamás se resolvieron. Me hubiese gustado saber cómo se resolvería el problema de Georgia y su madre, el de Edie con su familia y con Ben, también qué pasaría con Dawn y Collin, idk. Además el foco de la historia está en el documental, pero hubiese estado bueno más sobre eso al final.
Me hubiese gustado leerlo en mi adolescencia, porque seguimos a tres amigas queer en su último año de instituto, atravesando problemas típicos de adolescente sumados a los problemas que los adolescentes queers tienen.
Creo que es empoderador y está buenísimo leer libros con tanta diversidad (hay personajes trans, no binarios, relaciones sáficas, etc), y para un público juvenil puede ser muy positivo.
Mi problema es que me faltó profundidad en la trama, siento que se plantearon varios problemas para cada una de las chicas pero jamás se resolvieron. Me hubiese gustado saber cómo se resolvería el problema de Georgia y su madre, el de Edie con su familia y con Ben, también qué pasaría con Dawn y Collin, idk. Además el foco de la historia está en el documental, pero hubiese estado bueno más sobre eso al final.
October 31, 2023
Warning: I have snagged an ARC copy of this book through NetGalley, so I may not be reviewing the very final version.
I, of course, have no idea what it's like to be queer in the American South, so I cannot speak to how accurate that representation is. But as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and a "she/her" living in a third-world country, I do think that the friendships, the family dynamics, the trying to find out and/or wanting to come to terms with who you are and what you want did ring true. My biggest issue with most of the LGBTQ+ books I've read has unfortunately been the fact that they'd felt very forced. This one didn't feel like that, and I found that very refreshing. I did enjoy Dawn, Edie and Georgia's points of view, and the stories that Dawn told through her documentary were great. My biggest issue with the book is that most parts seemed to drag too much, and it could have been shorter. But I do feel it'll make a great read especially for teens who are questioning themselves or are trying to understand those who look/feel/act/love "different."
I, of course, have no idea what it's like to be queer in the American South, so I cannot speak to how accurate that representation is. But as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and a "she/her" living in a third-world country, I do think that the friendships, the family dynamics, the trying to find out and/or wanting to come to terms with who you are and what you want did ring true. My biggest issue with most of the LGBTQ+ books I've read has unfortunately been the fact that they'd felt very forced. This one didn't feel like that, and I found that very refreshing. I did enjoy Dawn, Edie and Georgia's points of view, and the stories that Dawn told through her documentary were great. My biggest issue with the book is that most parts seemed to drag too much, and it could have been shorter. But I do feel it'll make a great read especially for teens who are questioning themselves or are trying to understand those who look/feel/act/love "different."
November 18, 2023
3.5 rounded up.
A heartfelt, #ownvoices, queer YA coming of age story about female friendship, pursuing ones dreams and embracing queer love in all its many forms. Good on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Kacen Callender or Tehlor Kay Mejia. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!
A heartfelt, #ownvoices, queer YA coming of age story about female friendship, pursuing ones dreams and embracing queer love in all its many forms. Good on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Kacen Callender or Tehlor Kay Mejia. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!
February 6, 2025
Actual Rating:
3.5
I had a really hard time feeling connected to the character and the fact that this is a purely character driven book had me scratching my head in confusion. The characters themselves felt different from each other and each of their personal plots made me feel a lot of emotions but overall, it was just an okay read.
3.5
I had a really hard time feeling connected to the character and the fact that this is a purely character driven book had me scratching my head in confusion. The characters themselves felt different from each other and each of their personal plots made me feel a lot of emotions but overall, it was just an okay read.
February 19, 2025
This is a solid read. The characters are very real and it is so full of queer love. It has three POVs and all MCs are queer and one is trans. I enjoyed each of these characters and their POVs but because it was so short I think it would have been better served either as a longer story or with only one POV. Some aspects weren't as developed as I wanted, and I'm sorry but there's no way Dawn should have won. However, it was a good time and it's a nice feel good read, though it does have some darker and very real moments.
December 2, 2023
Y'all. This is one of those books where I understand its each and every flaw (more on that in a minute) but can't rate it anything but five stars. You HAVE to read this if you are a: a) queer teen, b) queer person who happened to once be a teen (which would be all of us), and c) person with taste. I am in love with Dale Walls' writing style; the way they brought me back to high school through their words (not that anyone would want to go back to high school) is pure talent. They expertly capture the teen girl experience in general and specifically the queer teen girl experience (I can't speak to the queer teen of color experience as a white person, but I imagine they expertly capture this as well). I think adults tend to forget how teen girls face complex issues (issues we might classify as "adult" issues) and all-consuming emotions, questions about a daunting, unknown future, first loves and heartbreaks, and external and internal pressures to "succeed," whatever that means. So yes, the main characters experience a lot of compounding, sometimes unresolved, issues, but this is exactly what it is like to be a teen girl. It's chaotic.
This book stars three queer teen girls of color in Texas. Dawn is an aspiring documentarian, filming a documentary (called The Queer Girl Is Going to Be Okay) about queer teens in her area, hopefully earning a scholarship to college for next year. She lost her mom as a child, and her dad is mentally ill. She, as the child, worries about taking care of him. Edie is a closeted queer girl living in an extremely religiously conservative family. She is dating Ben, who is nonbinary, and their relationship is fraught because Edie can't introduce them to her parents. Georgia lives with a single mom who she can talk to about anything. Her mom starts dating someone, who is a little... weird. She is a lesbian and dating Jill, a junior. She is not too focused on college, and she's worried about her friends leaving her behind next year because she hasn't gotten into any schools yet.
My favorite thing about this book, hands down? The queer friendships. Dawn, Georgia, and Edie are the most perfectly imperfect leads, and I loved how they unconditionally supported one another while also calling each other out on their mistakes.
EVEN THOUGH this is a five+ star book to me, there are some things I simultaneously liked and didn't like (and some things I'm undecided on). I LOVED all three leads, BUT having three leads (triple POV) is a lot. From the book's synopsis, it sets Dawn up to be the primary character, since she is the documentarian, but the book itself gives just as much "screentime" to Edie and Georgia's POVs. Going into the book, I thought it would be mainly about Dawn filming her documentary, and although each chapter starts with the number of days until the deadline and then the film festival, the book doesn't feel like it's ABOUT her documentary so much as the intricacies of their daily lives. I think Dawn finishes the documentary halfway into the book, so I was thinking, "What now?"
Some minor notes: It might be because I was listening to the audio and didn't catch all the details, but I had no idea Dawn was a trans girl until over halfway into the book (I had found this out from someone else's review before this point). I'm not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, it solidifies Dawn as a typical teenager girl before revealing she is trans (which might be mind-blowing to transphobes/TERFs), but on the other, it would have been nice to know more about her queerness. We hear about everyone else's queerness throughout the book but not Dawn's. I'm not sure if this was an intentional choice on the author's part, but I don't think it's meant to be some "gotcha" moment (which is why I don't think it's a spoiler to label Dawn as trans in this review).
Also, again, this might be because I only listened to audio, but although I could identify Dawn on the cover, I had no idea which girl was Edie and which was Georgia. I don't recall if Dale had any identifying physical traits, but I did have them switched in my head. (For anyone else who is confused, I'm fairly positive Edie is on the left and Georgia is on the right).
Finally, can this PLEASE be an actual documentary? I would pay money that I do not have to make that happen.
Notes on the audio: I LOVED the narrator, Tamika Katon-Donegal. She nailed the three POVs, which is difficult as a single narrator. She gave everyone a different voice, and I was never confused about who was speaking. She's clearly a very talented actress, and I would read ANY audiobook narrated by her. Seriously. She was THAT good.
Thank you to RB Media for the audiobook. All thoughts are my own.
This book stars three queer teen girls of color in Texas. Dawn is an aspiring documentarian, filming a documentary (called The Queer Girl Is Going to Be Okay) about queer teens in her area, hopefully earning a scholarship to college for next year. She lost her mom as a child, and her dad is mentally ill. She, as the child, worries about taking care of him. Edie is a closeted queer girl living in an extremely religiously conservative family. She is dating Ben, who is nonbinary, and their relationship is fraught because Edie can't introduce them to her parents. Georgia lives with a single mom who she can talk to about anything. Her mom starts dating someone, who is a little... weird. She is a lesbian and dating Jill, a junior. She is not too focused on college, and she's worried about her friends leaving her behind next year because she hasn't gotten into any schools yet.
My favorite thing about this book, hands down? The queer friendships. Dawn, Georgia, and Edie are the most perfectly imperfect leads, and I loved how they unconditionally supported one another while also calling each other out on their mistakes.
EVEN THOUGH this is a five+ star book to me, there are some things I simultaneously liked and didn't like (and some things I'm undecided on). I LOVED all three leads, BUT having three leads (triple POV) is a lot. From the book's synopsis, it sets Dawn up to be the primary character, since she is the documentarian, but the book itself gives just as much "screentime" to Edie and Georgia's POVs. Going into the book, I thought it would be mainly about Dawn filming her documentary, and although each chapter starts with the number of days until the deadline and then the film festival, the book doesn't feel like it's ABOUT her documentary so much as the intricacies of their daily lives. I think Dawn finishes the documentary halfway into the book, so I was thinking, "What now?"
Some minor notes: It might be because I was listening to the audio and didn't catch all the details, but I had no idea Dawn was a trans girl until over halfway into the book (I had found this out from someone else's review before this point). I'm not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, it solidifies Dawn as a typical teenager girl before revealing she is trans (which might be mind-blowing to transphobes/TERFs), but on the other, it would have been nice to know more about her queerness. We hear about everyone else's queerness throughout the book but not Dawn's. I'm not sure if this was an intentional choice on the author's part, but I don't think it's meant to be some "gotcha" moment (which is why I don't think it's a spoiler to label Dawn as trans in this review).
Also, again, this might be because I only listened to audio, but although I could identify Dawn on the cover, I had no idea which girl was Edie and which was Georgia. I don't recall if Dale had any identifying physical traits, but I did have them switched in my head. (For anyone else who is confused, I'm fairly positive Edie is on the left and Georgia is on the right).
Finally, can this PLEASE be an actual documentary? I would pay money that I do not have to make that happen.
Notes on the audio: I LOVED the narrator, Tamika Katon-Donegal. She nailed the three POVs, which is difficult as a single narrator. She gave everyone a different voice, and I was never confused about who was speaking. She's clearly a very talented actress, and I would read ANY audiobook narrated by her. Seriously. She was THAT good.
Thank you to RB Media for the audiobook. All thoughts are my own.
August 4, 2024
“The Queer Girl Is Going To Be Okay” by Dale Walls is about a girl named Dawn who has a passion for filmmaking. She interviews her friends to make a film that contains the depths of queer love. Dawn must win the filmmaking contest to get a scholarship to a movie -making college. With the help of her friends Georgia Edie, and a sweet boy named Collin, will Dawn win? Or will her future be destroyed?
Edie- queer girl, dating Ben who goes by they/them pronouns, very smart, has very strict Christian parents who are homophobic
Georgia- Lesbian, dating Julia, has a teen mom named Frankie who’s dating a creep named Simone, has a passion for poetry and writing
Dawn- Trans women, straight, has a passion for filmmaking, takes care of her sick dad, money is tight, needs a scholarship
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I just found it hard to keep reading because I got a bit bored. Although, it’s short, sweet, and has a good storyline/well developed characters. This book does a deep dive on teenage queer love. I recommend reading this.
3.5 🌟🌟🌟
Edie- queer girl, dating Ben who goes by they/them pronouns, very smart, has very strict Christian parents who are homophobic
Georgia- Lesbian, dating Julia, has a teen mom named Frankie who’s dating a creep named Simone, has a passion for poetry and writing
Dawn- Trans women, straight, has a passion for filmmaking, takes care of her sick dad, money is tight, needs a scholarship
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I just found it hard to keep reading because I got a bit bored. Although, it’s short, sweet, and has a good storyline/well developed characters. This book does a deep dive on teenage queer love. I recommend reading this.
3.5 🌟🌟🌟
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 24, 2023
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎞️📝👩🏽❤️💋👩🏽🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Ok, like this book is everything? It's about queer friendship, following your dreams, and finding out what queer love is all about.
The three main girls are:
Dawn, is a Spanish transgender girl who has had a bad run of ex-boyfriends. She becomes a finalist in a film-making competition where she has the chance to win a scholarship, which she needs so she can help her dad who has major depressive episodes and needs full-time health care at home. The book follows her journey here of interviewing queer people and doing editing. I found her story the most heartbreaking because all she wants is unconditional love, but she doesn't think she can get it because of who she is, which really broke my heart. Thank god for her filmy best friend Collin, who she meets through the competition.
Georgia, who is a Black Lesbian and in love with her girlfriend, Jill, is really worried about college and leaving behind her girl, who is a year younger than she is. She doesn't get into most colleges she applies to, so she feels like she isn't smart enough. But she does get on the waitlist for one college, which is a writing college. Georgia loves to write and has really amazing poems, and reading her love for it makes you smile. She has a moment in her life that is really heartbreaking to read too, her mother's latest date is a creep and I thought she was really strong to realize what was happening and tell someone. No girl should have to go through what she did, but she was so worried about hurting her mother. Thank god for her friends and girlfriend.
Edie, an Asian who identifies as queer, is dating nonbinary Ben. Her parents are super religious and she finds it really difficult to come out to them, so she doesn't want Ben to meet them. This makes Ben feel like they are being hidden, and they don't want that, so they go on a break. Edie is so worried about disappointing her parents, and I felt that. Her story was the closest to mine in that way.
These girls had to go through regular high school senior stuff with college worries, scholarship hassles, and releasing that their friendship wasn't going to be the same with the three of them going to different places around the USA, but they also had their own personal struggles which make you think. I wish I had this book to read when I was at that age because it would have told me I wasn't alone.
This book is heartbreaking, joyful, and amazing to read. Dale Walls has done a great job for their debut.
Thank you to Netgalley and Levine Querido for a copy of the ebook. This review is left voluntarily.
🎞️📝👩🏽❤️💋👩🏽🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Ok, like this book is everything? It's about queer friendship, following your dreams, and finding out what queer love is all about.
The three main girls are:
Dawn, is a Spanish transgender girl who has had a bad run of ex-boyfriends. She becomes a finalist in a film-making competition where she has the chance to win a scholarship, which she needs so she can help her dad who has major depressive episodes and needs full-time health care at home. The book follows her journey here of interviewing queer people and doing editing. I found her story the most heartbreaking because all she wants is unconditional love, but she doesn't think she can get it because of who she is, which really broke my heart. Thank god for her filmy best friend Collin, who she meets through the competition.
Georgia, who is a Black Lesbian and in love with her girlfriend, Jill, is really worried about college and leaving behind her girl, who is a year younger than she is. She doesn't get into most colleges she applies to, so she feels like she isn't smart enough. But she does get on the waitlist for one college, which is a writing college. Georgia loves to write and has really amazing poems, and reading her love for it makes you smile. She has a moment in her life that is really heartbreaking to read too, her mother's latest date is a creep and I thought she was really strong to realize what was happening and tell someone. No girl should have to go through what she did, but she was so worried about hurting her mother. Thank god for her friends and girlfriend.
Edie, an Asian who identifies as queer, is dating nonbinary Ben. Her parents are super religious and she finds it really difficult to come out to them, so she doesn't want Ben to meet them. This makes Ben feel like they are being hidden, and they don't want that, so they go on a break. Edie is so worried about disappointing her parents, and I felt that. Her story was the closest to mine in that way.
These girls had to go through regular high school senior stuff with college worries, scholarship hassles, and releasing that their friendship wasn't going to be the same with the three of them going to different places around the USA, but they also had their own personal struggles which make you think. I wish I had this book to read when I was at that age because it would have told me I wasn't alone.
This book is heartbreaking, joyful, and amazing to read. Dale Walls has done a great job for their debut.
Thank you to Netgalley and Levine Querido for a copy of the ebook. This review is left voluntarily.
November 13, 2024
Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest rating and review.
3/5
This was a really nice story following three queer girls as they each navigate their senior year of high school. I loved the representation in this novel! We got a real look at various forms of queerness, mental health struggles, financial struggles, single parentage, and so much more.
The pacing of this novel was a bit tough, though. It was extremely fast-paced, which I usually love. However with three main characters, it was really difficult to keep track of who was who, who was dating who, whose parents belonged to which girl, etc.
The emotions and feelings in the book were very real. I just wish I’d had the opportunity to slow down and get to know the characters a little better.
3/5
This was a really nice story following three queer girls as they each navigate their senior year of high school. I loved the representation in this novel! We got a real look at various forms of queerness, mental health struggles, financial struggles, single parentage, and so much more.
The pacing of this novel was a bit tough, though. It was extremely fast-paced, which I usually love. However with three main characters, it was really difficult to keep track of who was who, who was dating who, whose parents belonged to which girl, etc.
The emotions and feelings in the book were very real. I just wish I’d had the opportunity to slow down and get to know the characters a little better.
November 21, 2023
I loved this book! The Author does a great job of storytelling for the main characters of the book. You can’t help but to fall in love with the friendships shown. It’s so good that I’m ready for a follow-up or spin-off, there’s so many ways that Dale can go! Great debut book!
January 14, 2024
Tied between whether to give this a 3.75 stars, or an exact 4.0! Settling on a very positive 3.75 rounded up, for now.
This was good, actually!! I liked how the author decided to actually write in details about Dawn’s filmmaking, and include some interviews from her footage. It made it feel immersive. I also enjoyed the core three’s dynamic, they felt like teenagers I could actually see in public and overhear in the hallways of some high school. Easily their interactions, unconditional support for each other, and shared bond over being female and queer was the highlight of this novel. Female friendships were handled really well???? I liked every POV, not once dreading a return to a particular one, which is rare for me.
While I get people who went into this with little knowledge being surprised at Dawn’s transness(even though she has that cute necklace with the trans flag colors in the cover art!), her relationship struggles—particularly her ones involving romance and her yearning for it—felt very specific to a transfemme experience of dating men, even before the confirmation of her identity. I really felt for her.
A couple gripes I have, though. Firstly, I kind of wish this was given another once-over by the editors, because there were a few issues in formatting. There was the occasional punctuation issue(mostly with run-on sentences, though), but the one part of that influencing my opinion of the story comes from two POV switches…first at Georgia’s house in the part where Edie visited, it switched from Edie to Georgia’s thoughts without a break in-between, and it threw me off. Secondly, the part at the beach was a little unclear in whose third-person POV it was being told in, because we ricocheted from girl to girl…it took me a few paragraphs to see it settled on Georgia’s POV for that part. (But other than those two parts, there wasn’t any confusion in the switches. I’ve read “Light From Uncommon Stars” and spoke of it highly, so I’m used to third-person POVs. Especially if they switch mid-chapter.)
Last gripe I have is that the writing feels a little too on-the-nose(juvenile) at times. While some issues and plot elements are handled with elements of complexity, character emotions are distinctly not. There’s a lot of Tell Not Show, which grated on me after a while even if the metaphors for those emotions were good.
But overall, this was a good time!! “The Queer Girl Is Going To Be Okay” maintained a balance between emotionally charged topics, and queer joy. I initially thought this would end up working more in a short story format than the 250 page book we got, but I thought the bit of time dedicated to after the film submission deadline was just as narratively important as the time before.
This was good, actually!! I liked how the author decided to actually write in details about Dawn’s filmmaking, and include some interviews from her footage. It made it feel immersive. I also enjoyed the core three’s dynamic, they felt like teenagers I could actually see in public and overhear in the hallways of some high school. Easily their interactions, unconditional support for each other, and shared bond over being female and queer was the highlight of this novel. Female friendships were handled really well???? I liked every POV, not once dreading a return to a particular one, which is rare for me.
While I get people who went into this with little knowledge being surprised at Dawn’s transness(even though she has that cute necklace with the trans flag colors in the cover art!), her relationship struggles—particularly her ones involving romance and her yearning for it—felt very specific to a transfemme experience of dating men, even before the confirmation of her identity. I really felt for her.
A couple gripes I have, though. Firstly, I kind of wish this was given another once-over by the editors, because there were a few issues in formatting. There was the occasional punctuation issue(mostly with run-on sentences, though), but the one part of that influencing my opinion of the story comes from two POV switches…first at Georgia’s house in the part where Edie visited, it switched from Edie to Georgia’s thoughts without a break in-between, and it threw me off. Secondly, the part at the beach was a little unclear in whose third-person POV it was being told in, because we ricocheted from girl to girl…it took me a few paragraphs to see it settled on Georgia’s POV for that part. (But other than those two parts, there wasn’t any confusion in the switches. I’ve read “Light From Uncommon Stars” and spoke of it highly, so I’m used to third-person POVs. Especially if they switch mid-chapter.)
Last gripe I have is that the writing feels a little too on-the-nose(juvenile) at times. While some issues and plot elements are handled with elements of complexity, character emotions are distinctly not. There’s a lot of Tell Not Show, which grated on me after a while even if the metaphors for those emotions were good.
But overall, this was a good time!! “The Queer Girl Is Going To Be Okay” maintained a balance between emotionally charged topics, and queer joy. I initially thought this would end up working more in a short story format than the 250 page book we got, but I thought the bit of time dedicated to after the film submission deadline was just as narratively important as the time before.
February 10, 2024
This book feels very personal to me. When I had first heard about it, I was amazed by how familiar this story felt to my own life: a queer latinx aspiring filmmaker looking for queer love by way of documentary making. Is this book about me? This book became a very anticipated read for me, and I couldn't wait to start reading it as soon as I got my hands on it.
I resonated a lot with the characters because of the issues they faced in this story. Each character faces their own set of issues —all very much aligning with the coming of age theme: getting into college, feeling like a failure, coming out, searching for love and ultimately finding your place in the world. I really loved the portrayal of everything these characters were feeling, and being at a similar point in my life, I could relate to a lot of it. The issues are very real and stand true for so many queer teens,, including me.
"No matter what happens, you will use your hands and your heart and your huge brain to make great movies. You could go home and take care of your dad, and write scripts or develop documentary ideas. At the end of the day, you are a star who will make incredible things happen. Look what you've already done. You're going to be okay, no matter what." (pg.219)
This kind of hopeful writing made me feel like what was being said was for me, the reader, as well as the characters. It was beautiful and I had so much fun reading it for that aspect.
Unfortunately where the book fell flat was the storytelling. The foundation for the world, characters and story was no where near built. Though, the challenges the characters faced were very real and well portrayed, if you took those away from the characters, there wouldn't be anything else to look at. There was a lot of telling instead of showing. The characters are best friends, because the author told us so... but there was no substance to back this up. And it was like this with so many aspects of this book, where things weren't very well though out. This was such a shame because Walls is a FANTASTIC writer. I highlighted so many passages of this book where I was touched. The writing was BEAUTIFUL, and Dale is such a promising writer, it was really upsetting that the story didn't share the same property.
At the heart of this book, is a story about a girl searching for queer love. Dawn spends the whole book looking for a definition for queer love, she wants to know what it is and she wants it in her life, she just can't quite figure it out. We follow Dawn as she begins, frustrated by wanting queer love, to know what it is and never being able to get it. In the end, she is left with a whole new perspective on queer love and how it had found its way into her life before she even knew it.
I resonated a lot with the characters because of the issues they faced in this story. Each character faces their own set of issues —all very much aligning with the coming of age theme: getting into college, feeling like a failure, coming out, searching for love and ultimately finding your place in the world. I really loved the portrayal of everything these characters were feeling, and being at a similar point in my life, I could relate to a lot of it. The issues are very real and stand true for so many queer teens,, including me.
"No matter what happens, you will use your hands and your heart and your huge brain to make great movies. You could go home and take care of your dad, and write scripts or develop documentary ideas. At the end of the day, you are a star who will make incredible things happen. Look what you've already done. You're going to be okay, no matter what." (pg.219)
This kind of hopeful writing made me feel like what was being said was for me, the reader, as well as the characters. It was beautiful and I had so much fun reading it for that aspect.
Unfortunately where the book fell flat was the storytelling. The foundation for the world, characters and story was no where near built. Though, the challenges the characters faced were very real and well portrayed, if you took those away from the characters, there wouldn't be anything else to look at. There was a lot of telling instead of showing. The characters are best friends, because the author told us so... but there was no substance to back this up. And it was like this with so many aspects of this book, where things weren't very well though out. This was such a shame because Walls is a FANTASTIC writer. I highlighted so many passages of this book where I was touched. The writing was BEAUTIFUL, and Dale is such a promising writer, it was really upsetting that the story didn't share the same property.
At the heart of this book, is a story about a girl searching for queer love. Dawn spends the whole book looking for a definition for queer love, she wants to know what it is and she wants it in her life, she just can't quite figure it out. We follow Dawn as she begins, frustrated by wanting queer love, to know what it is and never being able to get it. In the end, she is left with a whole new perspective on queer love and how it had found its way into her life before she even knew it.
November 22, 2023
(PS this audiobook was really good!!)
This book follows a trio of queer girls who are best friends as they face their last semester of high school and everything that comes with it! They are:
Dawn, a filmmaker, who is making a documentary in hopes of winning the grand prize in a film festival - a scholarship to film school. She's a caretaker to her aging, depressed father, and is relying on financial help to allow her to leave the household, let alone go to school. She is dealing with a string of boys who don't respect her. She's also trans, which is "revealed" pretty far into the book, which I actually found to be a really natural and subtle introduction to that part of her character.
Georgia, who is trying to get off the waitlist at her one remaining college she didn't get rejected from. She wants to be a poet, but doesn't have the most confidence in her work at the beginning of the book. She's happily romantically involved with a girl named Jill. She lives with her mom, just the two of them, and when her mom's new boyfriend starts being very inappropriate with her, she's really torn on what to do.
Edie, who lives in a really traditional and religious household. She's dating Ben, a nonbinary person, and Ben wants to meet her parents, because they are kind of like, in love with Edie! But Edie really wants to keep her lives separate and it's definitely beginning to be detrimental on her relationship with Ben. She's good with school, almost too good, because it has resulted in her believing it's the only thing that makes her of value to her parents and is obsessed with their perception of her.
They support each other throughout all of the aforementioned issues and stressors, and they just reflect the queer love, platonic this time, that the book is themed around. The representation is beautiful, the friendships are so strong, the life circumstances are realistic, and yeah, I just recommend it!
Thanks to Hear Our Voices Tours for having me on the book tour both here and on Instagram!
This book follows a trio of queer girls who are best friends as they face their last semester of high school and everything that comes with it! They are:
Dawn, a filmmaker, who is making a documentary in hopes of winning the grand prize in a film festival - a scholarship to film school. She's a caretaker to her aging, depressed father, and is relying on financial help to allow her to leave the household, let alone go to school. She is dealing with a string of boys who don't respect her. She's also trans, which is "revealed" pretty far into the book, which I actually found to be a really natural and subtle introduction to that part of her character.
Georgia, who is trying to get off the waitlist at her one remaining college she didn't get rejected from. She wants to be a poet, but doesn't have the most confidence in her work at the beginning of the book. She's happily romantically involved with a girl named Jill. She lives with her mom, just the two of them, and when her mom's new boyfriend starts being very inappropriate with her, she's really torn on what to do.
Edie, who lives in a really traditional and religious household. She's dating Ben, a nonbinary person, and Ben wants to meet her parents, because they are kind of like, in love with Edie! But Edie really wants to keep her lives separate and it's definitely beginning to be detrimental on her relationship with Ben. She's good with school, almost too good, because it has resulted in her believing it's the only thing that makes her of value to her parents and is obsessed with their perception of her.
They support each other throughout all of the aforementioned issues and stressors, and they just reflect the queer love, platonic this time, that the book is themed around. The representation is beautiful, the friendships are so strong, the life circumstances are realistic, and yeah, I just recommend it!
Thanks to Hear Our Voices Tours for having me on the book tour both here and on Instagram!
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