When I first received an ARC for an honest review I was ecstatic, especially for a Nic Stone novel because I enjoyed her previous book, Dear Martin. But of course, they are two different books written with different plots, so my opinion is different for both.

The novel takes place in Georgia, USA with it being written in three main characters point of views. Rae, a 15 year old Irish and East Asian girl who is the new girl at school who quickly befriends Jupiter.

Courtney/Cooper, a black male cheerleader who is bestfriends with Jupiter and has romatic feelings for her despite Jupiter being lesbian.

Jupiter being lesbian doesn’t stop Cooper from trying to pursue her though and doesn’t take no for an answer (again, very wrong. No means no and here is another reason this book made me uncomfortable).

and Juper/Jupiter, a Latinx/black lesbian who is bestfriends with Cooper. She does have mixed feelings about her sexuality and often questions if she’s lesbian or bisexual. At one point, there is a scene where bisexuals are seen as the typical “Bisexual girls always end up being with a man so why should I attempt to be with one?” narrative which me VERY annoyed being a bisexual girl and having to read that scene.

As a reminder: Bisexuality is a spectrum, so not every Bisexual is bound to be with the opposite gender and that doesn’t erasure their sexuality either. The amount of bisexuality erasure just hurt me. I personally wouldn’t recommend this book to any fellow LGBTQ friends because the lack of proper representation.

The point of views seems a bit childish at times, but the way Nic writes the dialogue of each character makes it feel so realistic.

Cooper, Jupiter and Rae do become a love triangle which I’m a sucker for but each of the characters were begging for each other or other characters outside of the love triangle. It just seemed too childish for my liking.

One of the first scenes starts out with one of the main characters sexualizing his best friend which I later I realized it can be a potential foreshadowing of the entire book to tell us it will be a bunch of horny teenagers.

Right way I was excited about the Latina & Lesbian rep (I’m both Latina and Bisexual so this warmed my heart). This novel has a diverse cast, but the way Nic Stone delivers the exploration of teenagers was very disappointing for me.

I’d like to mention there were a few issues that didn’t fit right for me in Odd One Out…..for instance, the uncomfortable and unhealthy age gap of relationships in the book.

The relationship between a 15 year old girl named Rae and 18 year old guy, Cooper (which is illegal in most states even where I live). Also another character who was 16 almost 17 that had sex with a woman in her 20’s.

Although, this novel is based on self discovery and sort of a realistic take on what youth still face today it doesn’t excuse the amount of misrepresentation and the way it was delivered. I’m disappointed on the amount of hype and expectations I had for this book because the unhealthy age gaps made me quite bitter.

No matter the context, this age gaps is pretty unexceptionable to me personally and I’m still disturbed. Each scene with these characters scenes made me SUPER uncomfortable and was even difficult for me to continue reading.

Overall, I was always fond of Nic Stone’s writing style and how multidimensional characters they can be. We see many flaws in the characters which adds to the realistic and relatable they are. I enjoyed it, but wouldn’t re-read it or recommend this as my favorite LGBTQ YA book.

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I love that Nic Stone wrote this for her teen self--it is so relevant and full of truth. So many kids are figuring out their identity--sexual, gender, and personality--and Odd One Out looks at three different teens, best friends, who are all dealing with their own process.

When I read Dear Martin from this author last year, I enjoyed it and found the plot important enough to give it a high rating, but something about it didn’t quite “click” with me, so I was super apprehensive about reading Odd One Out. On one hand, I was wary that it, like its predecessor, would leave me feeling as though something was missing—on the other hand, with such a diverse cast, my hopes couldn’t help but ride high.

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Unfortunately, this was simply not an enjoyable reading experience at all. Stone’s writing voice feels so unrealistic and awkward and strange to me. I constantly caught myself thinking that the way she phrased things just didn’t make sense, and sure, that might sound like a trivial complaint, but when it happens over and over throughout the entire story, it’s worth noting. Plus, there are all these really cringe-y moments, like Jupes referring to being aroused as “feeling strangeness down in my secret place” and various other weird, overly childish phrasing. And there are a few places where the writing literally uses action quotes to depict actions (yes, as in, “**eyes bulge out of head**”—direct quote).

This book takes place in three “parts”, with each part being in the perspective of a different character. There’s Courtney/“Cooper”, the cishet black athlete and male cheerleader, who is pretty fun—not too many issues here besides some general “teen boy” horniness. Then there’s Rae, the Irish/East Asian questioning new girl in town. I couldn’t stand a single chapter of Rae’s perspective. The level of self-obsession and childishness in her narrative made me want to DNF this book so badly.

Finally, there’s Jupiter/Jupes, Cooper’s lesbian black/Latinx childhood best friend. Jupes’ perspective starts off in second person and suddenly switches to first person, which is just a tremendous pet peeve of mine. More importantly, though, she’s so hung up on her label that she treats people like garbage when she gets confused. Don’t get me wrong, we need questioning rep in queer books, but when it causes this much harm to the people around the questioning character, it’s hard to enjoy.

On top of that, while Jupes has some great internal monologue surrounding labels and how nuanced sexuality is, there are some moments that made me, as a bi woman, extremely uncomfortable. I don’t want to go into it all here, because I think this is one of those things where some people will be hurt and some won’t, but the casual bi-erasure in the first half, and constant questioning of whether or not bi people are “allowed” to be attracted to trans people in the second half, was exhausting. Oh, and can we talk about the lesbian character who literally states, “I don’t mess with bisexual girls … Enough girls leave you for dudes, and you learn to keep your distance” AND ISN’T EVEN CALLED OUT FOR IT? NOT EVEN FOR A SECOND? This is hurtful and the least you could do is challenge it in the text.

Finally, the last thing I want to talk about is a little bit SPOILERY:

SPOILERS START HERE:
We are led to believe through the entire book that there’s going to be a polyamorous relationship by the end of it, but that falls flat in the end. Despite all three kids spending the whole freaking book whining about how they’re each in love with the other two, in the end, two of them pair off while the other one goes off to do their own thing, and it felt so freaking queerbaiting for polyam rep that I was stunned. I mean, all of the characters even have their own respective fantasies about them all being together in the end, but it’s not even considered as an option! I don’t know, it just felt poorly done and gross to me.

SPOILERS END
All in all, this was just such a disappointing read for me, and all of the fantastic diverse rep in the world couldn’t save it from hurtful moments, a forced and uncomfortable ending, and really unlikable writing from start to finish. This book will absolutely have its fans, but I can’t say I’m one of them, nor will I likely be recommending this book to any friends seeking out good queer rep in the future.

ETA:
I forgot to mention in my original review, but the last issue I want to point out is that this book has some pretty unhealthy age gaps in the relationships. Rae is 15, while Cooper is 18, which isn’t even legal here in Georgia, where the book takes place. Another character is 16, almost 17, when she decides she wants to sleep with a woman in her 20s. The older woman refuses her over and over and the 16-year-old BEGS her and wears her down through pleading, whining, etc., until the woman finally gives in and they have sex. Again, super not legal, super creepy.

Content warnings for homophobia, slurs, kissing without consent, biphobia (not always challenged)

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Crown Books for Young Readers for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I received a finished copy from Penguin Teen and my review is 100% honest.

Odd One Out is told in three different parts: Cooper’s part, Rae’s part and then Jupe’s part. All three of these characters are connected. Cooper is in love with his lesbian best friend Jupe, but also attracted to the supposed bisexual character Rae. Rae is attracted to Jupe, but also Cooper. Jupe is attracted to Rae, but maybe Cooper. It’s a complicated mess that comes together in a sort of full circle with Nic exploring the act of questioning your sexuality at a young age.

Plot/Setting
I believe that this book is going to be known for its messy structure, but that is what it makes unique. I’m sure that Nic did this on purpose because the whole plot is messy with the characters questioning their lives and where they stand with everybody. The LGBTQ+ rep is amazing in this book and incredibly explored, so much that I haven’t seen it before like this. I was already reading this book in its e-book format, so I was really excited to get a physical copy because I could not put it down. One thing I liked about the structure was the chapter titles. They started out as just a sentence to the next paragraph and didn’t really connect with what the chapter was about, but I could easily see that this was Nic’s point. I’m just saying that the whole messy structure was my favorite part of this book, along with the incredible diversity and rep.

Characters
I think everybody has questioned their sexuality in life. I felt connected to Rae on that part. She has never been with a woman before, but her confusion is highly evident the more time she spends with Jupe. She is just confused and it becomes a major part of her character arc. I’ve questioned my own sexuality before, so it felt nice to have that connection with Rae when I’ve never had it with another character before. It just made me feel understood and it also made me wish that Rae’s conclusion had been a bit better instead of just left out there. I wasn’t really crazy about Cooper. I just wanted to shake him by the shoulders because he would not stop getting aroused and going after Jupe even though she likes girls. He was just annoying and I felt bad for Jupe. More so, because she was internally struggling with her sexuality. She likes girls and tries to make it clear, but I do think she was still struggling to come to terms with who she really was. It doesn’t make it any easier when she gets thrown a bunch of curveballs that nearly knock her out of her own loop. All in all, though, I think the winners of the book are Rae and Jupe. Cooper can just…whatever. When it comes to representing questioning rep and navigating a complicated life, Rae and Jupe earn the top prize.

If you’ve read Nic’s Dear Martin, you know that she tackles the hard topics in a beautiful and complicated way that fits together. I know questioning rep is not entirely present all the time in the young adult genre and I hope that changes in the near future, especially with this book. I really hope this doesn’t get swept under the rug and forgotten. This book can be the one thing that changes someone’s life.

Iif you want to read a book about love and friendship and what it means to be loved and to have a support in the same time,this is the book for you. It will make you laugh,it will make you cry,it will make you swoon.
If you want to read the book that will show you that you're not alone and that someonem,somewhere understands you,then I'm sure this book will blow your mind. This book is important. You are important. And don't let anyone say otherwise.