I read four chapters of this book, written by a cis author, and with a cis narrator, featuring a trans character. I am a trans bookseller, PhD student, and LGBTQ health researcher. In four chapters, the trans character was portrayed antagonistically as a parent, transphobic language was used, and health information was portrayed incorrectly. This book has the potential to actively inflict harm on trans readers, and should not be promoted. ( )

Really well done YA story about a girl who discovers that the person who she thinks is her mother is really her birth father after transition.

Excellent because Verdi does a sensitive and empathetic job telling Mellie's story, and framing the conversation over time. Less excellent -- boy, is it hard to like the tennis-obsessed Dara at times -- but in a way that is excellent, too, because she has friends that call her on the less attractive, money-focused side of her personality, and because her single-minded identity as a tennis player and the choices she makes to facilitate that offer a counterpoint to her mother's journey.

Interesting, engaging book. Very teen, and there were some romance moments that were just ugh to an adult reader, but that are no doubt authentic. I also had a really, really, really, really hard time with Dara's sense of outraged entitlement that her parent was using some of "their" money for private purposes. Sorry, kid, this is the real world. The person who earns the money decides where it gets spent. (I do understand that Dara's outrage was more about information withheld than about feeling like she should have been consulted on the money expenditure, but that set of moments just really bugged me.) Anyway, good resolutions, good character growth all around. ( )

teen fiction (LGBTQ interest: teen who finds out her mom is transgender and was technically her biological dad)
Dara is majorly geeky about tennis, so first off I don't have a lot in common with her. When she finds out that her mom is trans, she's totally angsty and not very supportive at all of this person who's worked hard to raise Dara as best she could. I only read to page 52 (Dara's initial flip-out), and I'm assuming Dara becomes more understanding with time, but it was frustrating trying to sympathize with this ungrateful teen.
The author is cisgender, but as part of the LGBTQ community has tried her best to gather insight from transpersons and to represent their views and experiences as faithfully as she could in the writing of this book. ( )

Very good story - I enjoyed the fact the story was told from the point of view of a trans person's daughter rather than directly from transgender person themselves. ( )