I saw this one in my Audible account and it was available until October 30th, so I decided to go ahead and listen to it. And it was just ok. I didn’t really connect with Maia as she was just so… I’m not sure but poor Chris. He had experienced so much bad in life already at a young age! But really both Chris and Maia are going through losses. They are two traumatized teens who meet when Chris almost hits Maia with his car!

I had no issue with one of the characters being transgendered, we need more of those books for trans youth. But maybe they should be written by trans authors. Authors who know what these characters are going through. The author is in the community, but not trans herself, so it may have been some of the issues I felt. I did not know this about the author until I went to go write my review. I have read some books about trans characters written by trans authors and I felt what I was supposed in those books!

There is a little bit of spice for a YA novel, but nothing too much. Its two young people having their first relationship and experiences.

The narrators MW Cartozian Wilson and Sandy Rustin both gave fabulous jobs in their narration!

Overall, I give this novel a solid three stars. It was a good effort with intended love written by the author that just overall did not work for me.

It's been so long since I read this one, but I requested it because I liked the diversity and representation and I thought it sounded complex. For me, it was . . . stilted. Like it was hard to get into and the pacing was off. Then, as I learned more about the book, it came out that it was trans representation from a cis writer and, based on trans voices, not a very realistic representation. For me, that's all it took to not want to use this one. It's important to me that my students get diverse voices, but I also think it's important that marginalized people are represented in publishing and that we don't have the majority co-oping the stories of the minority voice.

The depth of this coming of age story was something I was not surprised by having read Amber Smith's other books. I am appreciative that queer coming of age stories are now ones that can be written and elevated in this way.

I don't expect people to understand what is like to be a bisexual woman, but I wouldn't want someone who isn't a bisexual w0man to write about someone like me and put in the world something that it doesn't represent me and mine at all?

I don't know, I'm not trans, so maybe I'm taking this too much at heart, but shouldn't trans people be given a chance to write stories about trans people? Just a thought here.

This was such a sweet read and definitely the first of many I will be reading by this author. I found all the characters relatable in their own way. The romance aspect was written so well.

For some reason I really struggled to get into this book and DNF it. I can’t give it a full and honest review for this reason.

This young adult novel set in a small town in North Carolina, is about two teenagers, each dealing with their own issues, who form an unexpected friendship and maybe more. Maia has been struggling ever since her older sister unexpectedly died, and her parents are so caught up in their own grief and their extremely dysfunctional relationship (divorced but still living together) that they can’t see her pain. Chris is transgender, and after a terrible year at home in upstate New York, he is coming to spend the summer with his aunt. For each of them, meeting each other means starting with a blank slate, rather than someone who has expectations about them from knowing their past.

It’s a bit on the heavy side for a realistic YA - definitely not just a teen romance. Blurbs for the book compare it to Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park and Becky Albertalli’s Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens agenda, and I think those are pretty good comparisons, so if you liked those books, you might like this one as well. It’s sad but also with a little hope.

I got this one from Netgalley in 2019 but didn’t download it in time, and my library didn’t have it so I never read it. But at long last I discovered one of my newer libraries had it so I finally read it, and I’m glad I did!

I really wanted to like this book. The synopsis held so much promise, but the book failed to deliver as much as I hoped for from it. I enjoyed it well enough, but with a few tweaks it could have been an even more enjoyable read.

I had high hopes for this one, because I always love queer contemporaries, but this just wasn't it.

The biggest thing for me was that it was just all, kind of, boring? Not much happened, and there was never much to get me into the book itself. It was largely about dealing with the past, and while books like that can be very good, this one still had so many scenes going on in the present as well, except they never really led to anything at all. There was just, not much, which feels odd considering how many emotional/relationship plot lines were actually being juggled all at once.

I also just, ended up really disliking, or well despising, Maia. It's honestly really hard to get me to dislike a narrator in a book, because I usually find myself understanding them on some level, but I just couldn't handle her. She's actually just a pathological liar, and couldn't tell the truth ever, basically, but when this is brought up in the book, it's just a quick drop of it and then the story moves on? Like please, get help??? I also just wasn't just finding her compelling, even before I started disliking her, and found her sections the most bothersome to get through, even though I liked her audiobook narrator.

I don't feel like I can really speak on the trans rep, but overall, I don't know how well this was done overall. I've seen many complaints in other reviews, and there were definitely so many triggering scenes that could have been done better/less graphically. There were also many things I wish could've been expanded on more, especially when it came to Chris's relationships with his mom and Mai. It was an almost 400-page book, where not much really happened, and yet this all still managed to feel glossed over? This aspect of the book was definitely what made me request this book in the first place, so I was frustrated with how it overall was handled.

Overall, this really just wasn't the book for me, and I do wish I had DNFed when I first realized, instead of spending the rest of my afternoon finishing it.

A beautiful, bittersweet young love story that examines the challenges of grief and otherness that face teens. This novel opens up human experiences and teaches compassion and understanding throughout its pages.

Amber Smith has made this a tough review for me to write.

This book is standalone and follows the story of Chris, transgender and recovering from trauma, and Maia, who isn’t sure how to move forward after her sister’s death.

There are a few content warnings: Assault, death of a family member, gaslighting

This novel starts amazing and the characters are written beautifully. If I were doing a review of the first 30-40% of this book - we’d easily be around 4 stars. However, the more that Maia developed and was written, the more I was upset and the stars dropped for me.

I do think this novel is well written. Yet, I don’t like how the ending was concluded and/or handled. Items started to be upsetting around 60% of the book. Maia has no consequences for her actions. Her behavior is atrocious with her lying and gaslighting. I’m sure some won’t see it this way but her continuous lying to Chris is appalling. Additionally, her reaction when she’s found out is APPALLING.

There is no ‘wrong’ way to process grief. That being said, there is also a wrong way to treat others. Lying to them about who you are as a whole and taking advantage of them via love is not okay. Grief or not.

Chris is an amazing character. He’s written beautifully and I adore his internal reflections and his interactions with all the side characters. The growth he experiences in this book is wonderful. Chris is the reason I’m giving this book 2.5 stars.

Overall rating: 2.5
Plot: 4
Character Development: 2
Dialogue: 3
Writing: 2

This book was an emotional roller coaster and I will say I was invested. Even though it took me a while to get through due to the scenario.

Huge thank you to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Happy Reading,
Ash

There was just something about this book that I couldn't connect with. I just found myself not caring about any of these characters or what was going to happen to them so I stopped reading. There wasn't anything specific that I didn't love, but just not the book for me.

I'm currently clearing out all of the books that were published in 2019-20 from my title feedback view!

I like Amber Smith's writing style, so I knew I would most likely like this book as well. This was one of the earlier books I read where an MC was transitioning. I think it explored good topics of sexuality of teens who are transitioning and body dysmorphia. TW: there is mention of assault of one of the MC characters who is transitioning.

However, downsides to this book were that a character was spied on while changing. Not okay scenario, regardless of gender. Definitely should not be used when trying to create stories where transgender youth are being represented more. Many of the other reviews I have read regarding this book are based on Own Voices and how the trans-youth is portrayed in a cis-view. I cannot attest to the accuracy, however, to get the feet in the right direction, I think this book did an okay job in creating stories where trans-youth are brought to the forefront and not as a side character.

I love contemporary YA because we tackle all kinds of themes but still are able to 'close the book' with some takeaway or productive discussion. Something Like Gravity was no different.

Chris and Maia are both real, flawed teens. I rooted for them both.

If you're a crier like me, get your tissues ready.

It's hard for me to articulate but a lot of things about this one really rubbed me the wrong way. The writing was good, and at first I liked these two characters and their interest in each other, but there was an increasing amount of stuff that seemed to edge toward fetishization. I don't mind a certain amount of mess in my fictional relationships—there's a lot of mess in real life—but this seemed like it could have gone through some more sensitivity reads.

This book was really uncomfortable. Both characters were lying liars, they both really needed a therapist and while I am not transgender, I really feel like the representation in this book was just poorly done. LGBT people do not always need to be plot driven in the form of trauma. There were no consequences for anyone's actions and neither of the characters learned a damn thing. It's also not a romance but don't even get me started on that. I didn't much like this book.

I could not get into the book and DNF around 15%. I had high hopes for the book but was disappointed. Maybe I picked it up at the wrong time.

"Something Like Gravity" is beautiful in its rawness and authenticity.

To say that Chris and Maia, each in their own way, has had a horrible year is a massive understatement. Maia's older sister, Mallory, dropped dead at school, dying of a heart condition no one knew she had. Maia's parents are divorced, but they cannot afford to live separately, so they still live together, her father in the basement, but they pretend the other one does not exist, with Maia as the buffer. Mallory's sudden death made an uncomfortable situation even worse and many months later, the family is still broken. Mallory was an artist and photographer. Maia is not sure who she is or who her sister really was, but when she unexpectedly finds herself staring at graffiti that Mallory had captured in a photograph, Maia decides to try to find the locations that Mallory photographed and put herself in the same position as Mallory when she took the photo in an effort to understand what Mallory saw or who she was, and maybe figure out who she (Maia) is in the process.

Chris was named Christina at birth but he had never felt like a Christina. He dressed like a tomboy when he was younger and he told his parents he liked girls when he was in seventh grade. However, when puberty started and his body became more feminine, his sense of unease greatly increased. He came out as transgender, which his parents struggled with, especially his mother. If that was not enough turmoil for an adolescent, one afternoon while running on a local trail he was attacked and brutally beaten, nearly killed, by three classmates who did not approve of Chris "pretending" to be a boy.

If was the ramifications of this assault that would lead to Chris and Maia meeting. Following the attack, Chris had a prolonged healing process and then he was homeschooled. His home life was tense, especially the relationship with his mother. She had always been his strongest supporter, but coming out as transgender and then the attack had changed everything. What Chris did not understand at the time was that his mother's reaction was fear of what might happen to him and grief over the loss of her daughter. Chris arranges to spend the summer with his Aunt Isobel in the small town of Carson, NC, where his parents grew-up, and where Maia lives.

Chris and Maia meet for the first time when Chris nearly hits her with his car. Their paths cross later and they strike up a friendship. Other than Aunt Isobel, no one in Carson knows Chris' background and so he can just be himself. As Chris is new to town, he does not know Maia's past and so Maia can be freer with herself. However, Chris sees Maia with her sister's camera and assumes Maia is a photographer, a lie she goes along with, and only deepens as situations arise where she sees the locations that Mallory had photographed. As their friendship deepens and hints at something more, both Chris and Maia know that they need to reveal their secrets. When Chris reveals that he is transgender, he finds an acceptance he did not believe possible. However, Maia's secrets are not revealed on her own terms, and everything shatters.

One of the most beautiful parts of the book is Maia's acceptance of Chris as transgender and the romantic/intimate aspects of their brief relationship. Chris and Maia are also rather interesting and complex characters aside from their secrets, and the author crafts some funny, heartfelt, and profound interactions and conversations between them. I would definitely recommend this book.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

I loved this book. It is the first book I have read where there was an openly trans person involved and dealing with the fall out of being out and being who they were meant to be.
This book is complex, it is gonna dive into relationships and "talks" that teenagers have at an already trying time in their life when they are trying to figure things out.

The only thing that could have made this book better in my opinion was being clearer about the path Chris took to transitioning, I know from friends and other readers that there were a few discrepancies that they found difficult to enjoy the book with but for those with no clue it isn't as big a deal.