Another book where the queer dies and it's an uplifting lesson for everybody else. Narrator not likeable. Just way too much crammed into this ridiculous thing.

It's pretty readable, which is why I'm giving it more than one star, but the plot is obnoxious. ( )

This is not my favorite YA book in the world, but it is valuable for the discussion of hate crimes against homosexual teens. Unfortunately, there is so much else going on in the book that there isn't a really clear statement made about the crime itself, except that it's very, very bad. It is suggested that there is no black and white when it comes to hate crimes, and it's true that the perpetrator in this book had only a shadowy motive at best, but for young adults I think this ambiguity might be translated as boring. ( )

with her mom and beautiful sister, Deirdre, in New Jersey. Their father left them and now lives with his new girlfriend. When their 14-year-old cousin Leonard comes to live with them, Phoebe is bothered by how connected he seems to other members of her family. And, she’s mainly bothered by his flamboyance and the confidence Leonard has in himself as a young gay male. One day, Leonard disappears; as Phoebe and her family search for him, family secrets come to the surface.

I'm struggling with what to say about this one. For 75% of the book, I thought it was phenomenal. Great, believable, and engaging characters with powerful, worthwhile themes and scenes. Fantastic writing and pacing. I couldn't put it down, and didn't want to.

And then, in the last portion of the book, that shifted. All of a sudden, it felt like the story was being pulled in a lot of different directions, and the pacing was more frenetic and rushed than engaging. I also got less comfortable with the story--it was believable, but what had felt so natural to the first half of the book felt almost... left behind? As if what the reader cared most about and most engaged with was being pushed aside as less important. It's difficult to write about this without giving away the plot, which I don't want to do, but I can only compare it to the feeling when you're watching a beloved tv show, and all of a sudden the focus leaves one of your favorite characters behind in order to focus on someone else who you find a lot less engaging, interesting, or worthwhile. It's not that the turn isn't believable, but it's a certain weighting of priorities that might come across as annoying, or might, as it does here, come closer to feeling slightly offensive.

There's no other way to say it than for me to state simply that I was uncomfortable with the direction of the ending, and the way priorities/themes were showing up. It wasn't that it all wasn't believable... but it was disappointing.

At the same time, for 75% of this book, I couldn't get enough, and I'm sure others will read the ending differently (and more positively) than I did. I'll absolutely read more of Lecesne's work, and this book will stay with me for a while. ( )

3.5 stars ( )