What do you think?
Rate this book
Bad Idea
Riva Corley needs a girlfriend. Not because she wants one, but because her boyfriend, Benton, is pushing her to kiss a girl in front of him. Afraid of losing Benton, Riva agrees to try, but she never expects to find a girl she actually likes and wants to kiss for her own reasons.
Daisy Mejia has stayed closeted for all of high school so far -- it seems pointless to come out for a kiss that's destined to go nowhere. Daisy also has no desire to put on a show for Riva's boyfriend. But she's had a crush on Riva Corley forever, and Daisy can't pass up this chance.
Before long, what starts out as a bad idea begins to look more like a relationship. Soon, Daisy must decide how much trouble she'll put up with, and Riva has to figure out what it means when she's falling for another girl.
Daisy Mejia has stayed closeted for all of high school so far -- it seems pointless to come out for a kiss that's destined to go nowhere. Daisy also has no desire to put on a show for Riva's boyfriend. But she's had a crush on Riva Corley forever, and Daisy can't pass up this chance.
Before long, what starts out as a bad idea begins to look more like a relationship. Soon, Daisy must decide how much trouble she'll put up with, and Riva has to figure out what it means when she's falling for another girl.
246 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 8, 2015
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
October 24, 2017
**! very disappointed with the storyline.
May 21, 2015
It has been a long time since I was a teenager. Notwithstanding that fact, it did not diminish one whit my complete enjoyment of this book. In fact, it is beautifully enlightening in retrospect and magnificently delectable as it unfolded. Teens often have to deal with extremely serious and heavy issues as they rush to adulthood. They are certainly often flooded with nascent mature emotions and major decisions as the protection of childhood flies right out the window. This was an enthralling opportunity to momentarily shed the many years separating me from those wickedly exciting teenage times. Spot-on!
Riva Corley is a rather fascinating character. She and her mother have recently moved to Florida from New Jersey. Her first and main squeeze, Benton, is coming down for Spring Break and she appears excited. He is currently a freshman in college, while she is a high school sophomore. However, he has requested a somewhat intense and possibly uncomfortable scenario for Riva to set up. Internally, she bounces back and forth about not doing what he asked and trying to do what he asked. As this project unravels for Riva, she experiences a whole slew of embarrassments, impacts, and confusions. Additionally, one sidebar untangles in regard to the major issue around Riva's sexuality. Within her world, Riva is challenged as she has never been before, generating ripples and repercussions that touch almost everyone she knows and then some. I was quite impressed by Riva. Teenage angst personified!
Daisy Mejia is a stunningly beautiful young woman. I believe it is not uncommon that within teenage dynamics real beauty comes with all manner of convolutions that sometimes brings interesting nuances to one's life, but it can also bring complications and difficult situations. During most of this story, Daisy is struggling with her need to reconcile her currently hidden sexual orientation and come out to her friends and family. She comes to terms with the fact that she is certain she is a lesbian to herself, but she is at sixes and sevens about how to manage, handle, and/or incorporate this understanding. This all happens before the issue of coming out brings an entirely new set of complexities. I really adore Daisy as she does her darnedest to come to terms with herself and her apparent love for Riva. Furthermore, in and around the personal dynamic issues, there are peer and family pressures muckin' up the works, too. Undoubtedly, it is really tough to be a teenager and I feel it is more so at the time these young women and men are attempting to traverse that age. I personally may have been oblivious to the pressures around me during my teenage years, but in retrospect I am fairly confident they were in no way as intense as what Riva, Daisy, and their friends have to go through. Guardian angels needed!!!
I am confident that this book will be entertaining for all age groups. I may be a child at heart but my actual age certainly puts me decades beyond when I was a teenager, yet I was totally charmed to pieces by this story. So to reiterate, I definitely recommend this book. Thoroughly enticing!
NOTE: This book was provided by JMS Books for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
Riva Corley is a rather fascinating character. She and her mother have recently moved to Florida from New Jersey. Her first and main squeeze, Benton, is coming down for Spring Break and she appears excited. He is currently a freshman in college, while she is a high school sophomore. However, he has requested a somewhat intense and possibly uncomfortable scenario for Riva to set up. Internally, she bounces back and forth about not doing what he asked and trying to do what he asked. As this project unravels for Riva, she experiences a whole slew of embarrassments, impacts, and confusions. Additionally, one sidebar untangles in regard to the major issue around Riva's sexuality. Within her world, Riva is challenged as she has never been before, generating ripples and repercussions that touch almost everyone she knows and then some. I was quite impressed by Riva. Teenage angst personified!
Daisy Mejia is a stunningly beautiful young woman. I believe it is not uncommon that within teenage dynamics real beauty comes with all manner of convolutions that sometimes brings interesting nuances to one's life, but it can also bring complications and difficult situations. During most of this story, Daisy is struggling with her need to reconcile her currently hidden sexual orientation and come out to her friends and family. She comes to terms with the fact that she is certain she is a lesbian to herself, but she is at sixes and sevens about how to manage, handle, and/or incorporate this understanding. This all happens before the issue of coming out brings an entirely new set of complexities. I really adore Daisy as she does her darnedest to come to terms with herself and her apparent love for Riva. Furthermore, in and around the personal dynamic issues, there are peer and family pressures muckin' up the works, too. Undoubtedly, it is really tough to be a teenager and I feel it is more so at the time these young women and men are attempting to traverse that age. I personally may have been oblivious to the pressures around me during my teenage years, but in retrospect I am fairly confident they were in no way as intense as what Riva, Daisy, and their friends have to go through. Guardian angels needed!!!
I am confident that this book will be entertaining for all age groups. I may be a child at heart but my actual age certainly puts me decades beyond when I was a teenager, yet I was totally charmed to pieces by this story. So to reiterate, I definitely recommend this book. Thoroughly enticing!
NOTE: This book was provided by JMS Books for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
June 19, 2016
Angst. I found a lot of teenage angst in this book, but also found some wonderful gay characters. Not bad, not bad.
January 9, 2018
So this review has a few spoilers fyi.
I liked this book enough to get through it in hours. I loved Daisy and Terrell. I led Riva a lot and could really feel for what she was going through. Didn't really like Jo tbh. Or how she was intertwined so much into Terrell's coming out story when it would've been a great thing for him and Riva to bond over. Also not 100% sure why Emmy got chapters unless there's gonna be a follow up book tbh. She's the only one who didn't get any closure at all. But I think this is a pretty good book and would definitely recommend it.
I do feel like the character's ethnicities weren't described well. Like I legit didn't know that Terrell was black or half black (?) until he said a line about a black man needing to know something. I'm still not positively certain what Daisy or Riva was. Like i know they had hispanic/latina roots but literally the only one who was described well was Jo.
I liked this book enough to get through it in hours. I loved Daisy and Terrell. I led Riva a lot and could really feel for what she was going through. Didn't really like Jo tbh. Or how she was intertwined so much into Terrell's coming out story when it would've been a great thing for him and Riva to bond over. Also not 100% sure why Emmy got chapters unless there's gonna be a follow up book tbh. She's the only one who didn't get any closure at all. But I think this is a pretty good book and would definitely recommend it.
I do feel like the character's ethnicities weren't described well. Like I legit didn't know that Terrell was black or half black (?) until he said a line about a black man needing to know something. I'm still not positively certain what Daisy or Riva was. Like i know they had hispanic/latina roots but literally the only one who was described well was Jo.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 27, 2018
TW for cis straight male who’s an abusive, manipulative asshole.
Having said that, this is a pretty sweet story with a bunch of queer characters who are coming out, figuring their shit out and helping each other in the process.
There’s some good nervous crush energy, and the budding friendships and romances are a bit fraught, making them feel realistic.
Having said that, this is a pretty sweet story with a bunch of queer characters who are coming out, figuring their shit out and helping each other in the process.
There’s some good nervous crush energy, and the budding friendships and romances are a bit fraught, making them feel realistic.
November 9, 2020
The storyline is really pretty banal so why 4 stars? For me it is because the author really gets inside the characters heads, you really feel what each of the main characters are going through - this is what keeps you flicking (or scrolling through the pages)
I highly recommend this book.
I highly recommend this book.
March 8, 2018
Its a good book and helps people see an inside to the mind of a questioning LGBTQ+ teen. In my opinion it could've been written better.
July 2, 2019
Reviews are all over the map fro this one. I am on the upper end..4 stars and a tad more maybe and it would not be a bad Idea if you read this one.
October 8, 2020
This book is a amazing coming out story and trying to figure out where you fit under LGBTQ+ and I recommend to read it
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 7, 2016
Easy-to-read and with excellent pacing, Bad Idea will keep you reading from start to finish. It perhaps could have done with fewer POV characters, since it did tend to stray a little from the main plot, but overall the story was pretty cohesive. My favourite scene was a discussion between Riva and her best friend from back home, Casey, as they played an MMORPG. It was the most natural sounding dialogue in the whole book, despite Casey taking quotations from the internet on bisexuality. But that's what teens do when they're confused: they Google. I wish we'd gotten a little more interaction between Riva and Casey.
One thing that did bother me, although I in no way blame Yang, was that there were several major editing errors that should have been caught in post-production. In particular, there were at least two instances where the names of the major characters were reversed; Benton was referred to as Daisy's boyfriend at once point (he's Riva's boyfriend), which really tripped me up and interfered with my enjoyment. Typos happen, but continuity errors like that should have been corrected. Other minor editing issues (missing quotation marks, etc.) didn't detract from the story as much, but were not conducive to a smooth reading. Could have used a finer toothed comb in the editing process.
One thing that did bother me, although I in no way blame Yang, was that there were several major editing errors that should have been caught in post-production. In particular, there were at least two instances where the names of the major characters were reversed; Benton was referred to as Daisy's boyfriend at once point (he's Riva's boyfriend), which really tripped me up and interfered with my enjoyment. Typos happen, but continuity errors like that should have been corrected. Other minor editing issues (missing quotation marks, etc.) didn't detract from the story as much, but were not conducive to a smooth reading. Could have used a finer toothed comb in the editing process.
October 7, 2016
In complete contrast to the utter travesty that is Look Both Ways by Alison Cherry, this book is an engaging exploration of teenage sexuality that covers the entire spectrum. The characters are well-drawn and the ways in which they relate (or don't) to one another seem real and cogent. I really appreciated the discussion - internally and externally - with regards to labels and how some people are very sure of who they are while others simply don't know or don't want to define their identity.
Oddly enough, the character whose journey and evolution I enjoyed the most was Jo, the straight girl. I feel like she was necessary in order to emphasise and elucidate the way friendships can sometimes change. For me, she was the embodiment of all the teenage friends I ever came out to who didn't really understand gayness.
On a side note, I really, REALLY appreciated the liberal and easy use of the word "queer".
This book has restored my faith in queer YA fiction; it's a quick, easy read and I couldn't put it down until I was finished. Loved it.
Oddly enough, the character whose journey and evolution I enjoyed the most was Jo, the straight girl. I feel like she was necessary in order to emphasise and elucidate the way friendships can sometimes change. For me, she was the embodiment of all the teenage friends I ever came out to who didn't really understand gayness.
On a side note, I really, REALLY appreciated the liberal and easy use of the word "queer".
This book has restored my faith in queer YA fiction; it's a quick, easy read and I couldn't put it down until I was finished. Loved it.
January 18, 2017
The writing is good. I like the story too. Somehow this review is longer than one word, so that must mean something.
Most (all?) of the point of view characters are not white, which was a nice change. I'm white, so there isn't much I can say about the quality of the representation there.
At first this seemed like a fairly lighthearted book, until it became clear just what sort of asshole that boyfriend was. It's not dark either. Somewhere in between.
There are a few comments from various characters that maybe shouldn't have gone unchallenged, in light of, you know, the existence of bisexuality. Lines in the style of "Is she gay though?" when one character wonders if another character might like her. The author wrote a bisexual character into this book (used the word and everything), so she clearly knows one does not have to be gay to be interested in women??? I don't know. I'm not bisexual.
Most (all?) of the point of view characters are not white, which was a nice change. I'm white, so there isn't much I can say about the quality of the representation there.
At first this seemed like a fairly lighthearted book, until it became clear just what sort of asshole that boyfriend was. It's not dark either. Somewhere in between.
There are a few comments from various characters that maybe shouldn't have gone unchallenged, in light of, you know, the existence of bisexuality. Lines in the style of "Is she gay though?" when one character wonders if another character might like her. The author wrote a bisexual character into this book (used the word and everything), so she clearly knows one does not have to be gay to be interested in women??? I don't know. I'm not bisexual.
March 26, 2015
Enjoyable
I was hesitant at first to read this book based on the premise, however I'm glad I did. Daisy is an incredibly likable character and I loved the fact Riva is a gamer (my favorite scene probably was when discussing her identity while playing an MMO). While there were moments I wanted to shake some sense into Riva (much like some of the characters in the book), the situations she gets herself into, her thoughts and feelings are all believable in there plausibility. In general I liked how the author showed multiple different viewpoints and character growth in terms of identifying ones sexuality.
I was hesitant at first to read this book based on the premise, however I'm glad I did. Daisy is an incredibly likable character and I loved the fact Riva is a gamer (my favorite scene probably was when discussing her identity while playing an MMO). While there were moments I wanted to shake some sense into Riva (much like some of the characters in the book), the situations she gets herself into, her thoughts and feelings are all believable in there plausibility. In general I liked how the author showed multiple different viewpoints and character growth in terms of identifying ones sexuality.
Read
July 5, 2019Genre: realistic fiction, YA
2 LGBTQ main characters: Lesbian and questioning
2 LGBTQ side characters: Lesbian and gay
Importance of identities to plot: 4/5
Romance: 4/5
Coming out: yes
Notes: 1 MC is a WOC, which is talked about multiple times throughout the book. TW abusive relationships/manipulative partners, gaslighting, and adult/minor relationships.
2 LGBTQ main characters: Lesbian and questioning
2 LGBTQ side characters: Lesbian and gay
Importance of identities to plot: 4/5
Romance: 4/5
Coming out: yes
Notes: 1 MC is a WOC, which is talked about multiple times throughout the book. TW abusive relationships/manipulative partners, gaslighting, and adult/minor relationships.
February 17, 2016
I would give it 2.5 stars. Riva felt like a 12 year old hanging out with a bunch of people from high school. She didn't appear real to me. Having 5 different POVs probably didn't help.
Aside from that, the story was cute and easy to read.
Aside from that, the story was cute and easy to read.
June 14, 2015
Good
It's your typical story, crushes, fear of feelings for the same sex, what might the other thunk if the truth came out
It's your typical story, crushes, fear of feelings for the same sex, what might the other thunk if the truth came out
September 9, 2018
nice! a bit repetitive n predictable but a very pleasant read
definitely an easy read as well!
definitely an easy read as well!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews