Okay so I picked this up because I love the cover. If you want me to read something, put stars on it. It's really that simple. I fell in love with Chris's narrative almost immediately because of how much he talks about space. I love space so much. Chris does too, and I love how much he talks about existential things. I also really love how normal Chris beings trans is treated. Like yeah, he's had it rough because of bullies and his home life isn't perfect, but he is so much more than his trans identity and I've found it hard to find authors that write their trans characters like that. 

Maia was a little bit harder for me to like. She kept so much a secret and that kinda bothered me a little. I know if was her grief and that she had healed a lot in the end, but I was still bothered by her for the majority of the book. I did really respect her though for how she let Chris come out to her on his own terms and didn't force it out of him. 

I know there's controversy around if certain people should be writing marginalized stories. I can't speak for the trans community, but I haven't seen anyone have a problem with this story and I felt like it was respectful. I would love to hear the opinions of my trans brother, sisters, and nonbinary buds. 

Overall I really enjoyed this story and would recommend it to others who like sweet summer contemporary romance with some sadness and grief mixed in.

I loved this book. I had never read a story that described the trans experience so well. I do have to mention, this is coming from a non-trans person. I don't want to speak for a community that I am not apart of. I do know though, I have read some pretty bad, cliche, stereotypical books, and this one wasn't that. I feel like it did a good job of truly showing the struggle between body and mind. It really showed how much turmoil a person goes through when struggling through a transition. It also did a good job of showing a romance between a trans male and a girl, who never specified her sexuality, which was refreshing. It really showed the struggle making decisions when you really aren't sure if the person you are interested in would accept you as you are. I could go on and on. I truly enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to a teen, whether they were going through something similar or not.

Something Like Gravity was a sweet, yet intensely emotional book about a transgender boy who just came out and is dealing with the aftermath of a terrible attack. He stays in a small town during a summer escape from reality with his aunt when he meets Maia. Chris and Maia's first meeting didn't go smoothly, but they both felt an instant connection that they couldn't ignore. They both had so many family issues and internal confusion that they eventually turned to each other for support.

This story drew me in instantly and made me want to step into the pages to give Chris and Maia a hug. I loved how Amber Smith helped these characters find their voice and become stronger even though not everything went their way.

Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins Publishers for allowing me to read this book. I received this book for an honest review. All opinion are my own.

This was my first read of a LGBT+ YA book, and it was really quite good. It was a very sweet story of young love and a true statement of how much people can change and grow in a short period of time. I also think it has an important message of that the truth really is the most important aspect you can bring to any relationship. Not being truthful to yourself, or to those around you, can change everything in an instant.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys YA romance.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was very excited to receive a digital advanced copy from NetGalley. It's my first one that I requested and was granted access to so it's a big deal to me. Of course this doesn't mean I'm going to give a book 5 stars or anything, I'm still going to give an honest review. Here goes:

I was eager to read this book when I found out it would be about a trans boy who has an actual romantic and sexual relationship with a girl. The topic has been trendy in YA for the last few years but this is the first book I'm aware of that focuses on a trans BOY rather than a trans girl. Neither I nor the author are trans, I am a bisexual woman and she identifies as a lesbian woman as per her note at the end of the book. I'm mentioning all this just for context.

Unfortunately I was very bored while reading the book. It had 402 pages (but really like 380 pages of just the story) but it should have been edited down to 250 or less. There was so much ~~~absolutely nothing~~~ going on and it was not fun to read. The book was written in alternating 1st person POV with Chris (the trans guy) and Maia (the girl next door.) The POV ratio was 50%-50%.

Here's the thing, I'm not a mind reader or anything but I assume that most of the readers are picking this book up because Chris is a trans guy and we want to read about his life and his experiences. Filling half the book with Maia and her trauma felt like a bait-n-switch. To be fair, it DOES say in the blurb that the book is about both Chris AND Maia but it's not like Chris can have the romance by himself so we needed Maia to exist. I just didn't need her to exist to the degree that her boring story that I don't care about takes up half the book.

It's in the blurb so it's not a spoiler. Maia's sister dies, which causes Maia to have some sort of depression/PTSD thing (it's never labeled in the book) her dysfunctional parents don't help. She runs around with her sister's camera doing boring things that make me miserable. What I found interesting is that she dissociated a lot and very realistically. It was never labeled as 'dissociation' in the book and I don't even know if the author knew what she was writing was dissociation. (Dissociation is basically when you go numb and your brain goes a million miles away because the world is too much right now. I mean... Google it for the actual definition, but... yeah.) Unfortunately the author did nothing with this.

Chris did not feel realistic to me. He is 17, is not on T, has not had any cosmetic surgeries or medical interventions to look more masculine, and yet passes PERFECTLY almost 100% of the time (one person mistakes him for a gay dude, which was really weird.) Chris does use binders to hide his breasts and he is a runner so we can assume he has a lean and slender build, but still do you know how hard it is for a trans person to pass 100% like that? I would have liked for people to be suspicious at least, or for Chris to make an effort to pass. he just took for granted that he will pass, he never seemed to even worry about it. He never had Impostor's Syndrome. He never worried "What if this man can tell?" He never feared for his safety. it wasn't realistic. A LOT of teen trans boys have to just navigate through their teen years knowing that no matter how they are dressed and styled, everyone looking at them sees a human who currently has a female body and some of them think he's just a butch lesbian, and some of them aren't sure if he's trans or what pronouns he wants, and some of them don't care what he is because they don't respect LGBTQ+ people (they might not be sure which letter he is, but they don't care.) Chris didn't have to deal with any of this.

Which would have been fine if it was an escapist fantasy where trans people are just treated like people, but this book also did something annoying that many trans girl and non binary books I've read do: have the MC be physically and/or sexually assaulted by bullies. I'd like to read one book where the trans/non-binary person isn't a victim.

There was a sex scene. Honestly I found Maia's reaction unrealistic as well. She never had an "OMG am I bi? Am I pan?" kind of reaction before, during, or after she was touching Chris's vagina. I'm bisexual so I don't know how straight women feel about touching other people's vaginas so it's just confusing for me. I also wasn't sure that Chris would want his vagina touched in that way or be aroused by that (especially because he didn't want his breasts to be touched?) I felt like the author didn't feel comfortable about exploring those topics so the book and the characters felt very superficial to me. Like the kind of book where no one poops.

Complaints aside, when I was a kid, there were no books like this for kids like me. I had to sneak around the adult section and usually all there was was weird literary stuff about old white gay dudes. Finding a novel about two women was tough, and finding a YA book about two girls my age was literally impossible. Kids these days have the internet and Youtube but it's still nice to know that they have books written specifically for them too.

Something Like Gravity tells a journey of coming to terms with yourself and what you may find along the way. Chris and Maia's story is a whirlwind and heart wrenching but uplifting and promising. There's so much real, raw emotion, you can't help but want only the best for them.

wow. i really liked this book.

i loved the trans representation in this. the characters were so well done and we got to see both of the main characters as well as many supporting characters grow into better people throughout the course of the book.

i also loved seeing the consent between the main characters. they were constantly asking the other if this was alright or if that was okay, and it's so important to show this in YA books.

i liked seeing the chapters from the POVs of both maia and chris, and the writing style was captivating. the romance didn't feel rushed like i see in a lot of other contemporary books, and i really liked that. overall, i would definitely recommend reading this.

3.5 Stars

Small town North Carolina makes an excellent, atmospheric setting for this story about two teens falling love over one summer. Each has a secret, but when is the right time to let the other know? What will happen if they do?

Amber Smith writes characters that are fully dimensional and that the reader really cares about. I was invested in what happened to both Chris and Maia, as a couple and as they each explored their identities. I understand the ending was realistic. But really? REALLY?

*ARC provided by Netgalley for my honest review

Although I really want to read this book, I am unable to do so because it won't download. It is not available in kindle format and the alternate recommended app is not working. This book sounds like a wonderful, headtwarming, and socially relevant YA title. I appreciate being given an advance review copy, but the protected pdf format is not working for me.

3.5 stars. A timely novel that many teens will be able to relate to. Smith always does an excellent job of tackling strong subject matter with sensitivity and nuance. Definitely worth a purchase.

The story's OK and the characters are cute, but nothing much happens and I'm not sure how I feel about a cis woman writing about a trans male. I guess I'd support it more if it was an own voices book.

For fans of Rainbow Rowell and of Smith's previous book, The Way I Used to Be, this book does not disappoint. This is a story that shows something good can come from a bad situation, no matter how unpleasant. The characters feel like an extension of yourself or your best friend in high school, and the story just swallows you up whole and keeps you young at heart.

This is a sweet, fairly quiet YA contemporary about a trans boy and a cis girl who fall in love over the summer while hiding secrets from each other. Both main characters were well fleshed out, with the plot giving them more than enough breathing room to develop. There was a little too MUCH breathing room now and then--at 400 pages, the story felt a little overlong, and I felt like a few scenes could have been cut or combined without negatively affecting the pacing. However, these characters were both pleasant to spend time with, which made the pacing much less of an issue.

The author is not trans, and there were a few scenes and lines that made me hope she or the publisher incorporated feedback from at least one trans reader along the way. I'm not in a position to judge those scenes either way, and given their sensitive (and occasionally brutal) nature, I hope someone who IS able to do so was consulted. I appreciated the author's note at the end, and the fact that, according to the acknowledgments, she consulted with at least one LGBTQ expert.

This is the story of Chris, a trans man who is sent to spend the summer with his aunt in a small town 10 hours from his home after he has survived a vicious attack. He has recovered physically from the beating, but his parents pulled him out of school and home-schooled him out of fear for his safety. With the parents dealing with their own issues of acceptance, they pretty much throw up their hands and give him over to Isobel.

It is also the story of Maia, who is dealing with the sudden death of her older sister. Her parents (and even the dog) are trying to come to grips with it, too, and have their own crap going on.

Chris and Maia meet and fall in love over the course of the summer and have to learn how to be honest with each other and with themselves. There is no clear resolution to any of the issues, and I can see some readers being disappointed because of this.

I liked the story and the characters. Chris felt much more fleshed out than Maia, who kind of came off as nothing spectacular (but that's maybe the most real thing ever for a book character?). The parents were super self-involved, but all were going through a lot and I think this happens. Adults don't always act like adults and kids have to figure stuff out on their own.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This story about heartbreak, loss, pain, and first love is absolutely grand and amazing and I loved it a dang lot. Chris and Maia are both going through difficult times when they run into each other, and they help one another learn to live again, learn to love again, learn to be themselves, fearlessly and with all the wonder they deserve. Their adventures together in the small town of Carson are adorable and I love how they show the world to one another. They were both really great characters, but I felt as though everyone around them was a little one-dimensional. Both Chris' bestie Coleton and Maia's girlfriends, Hayden and Gabby, are all THERE for them, but they're not really much more than that. Both sets of parents also felt a little off? I know they're all going through STUFF, but I still felt as though the parents, on both sides, needed to be there more for their kiddos. I wish we could have gotten more of Isobel, because she was the only side character with some real life, and I would have liked to have gotten to know her better. I did like Chris and Maia, though, and how easily they accepted one another broken and rough edges, how they always made sure the other was comfortable and okay with whatever they were doing, how they always tried to be there for one another. It was a cute summer romance story with a characters a little more heavy and interesting than the typical ones as a result of what they have both just gone through.

Something Like Gravity was a captivating young adult contemporary novel. The two main characters were each dealing with a harrowing and traumatic event. Chris, a transgender, was severely assaulted by three classmates. Maia’s older sister, Mallory, died unexpectedly. Both thought they had moved on from the past, but unresolved emotions needed to be dealt with before they could move forward and live in the present.
This was a great story for teenagers(and parents) on two accounts: helping trans relate to characters that were dealing with similar problems such as ignorance and hate, and coming to terms with the sudden loss of a sibling. It was also about being who you were meant to be and being accepted as such.
Something Like Gravity should be a part of the school library and is highly recommended.

3.5 stars rounded up. This book was very sweet and a quick, engaging read. The characters were well developed and I really cared about them. Their relationship built in a very authentic, relatable way. I also appreciated the feminism and themes of enthusiastic consent that were woven into the story. At the same time, I didn’t fall head over heels into the story the way I do with some really compelling books (like Eleanor and Park), and while I appreciate what the author was doing with the transgender perspective, I always hesitate over someone who isn’t actually part of a marginalized group trying to write from the perspective of a member of that group. Particularly when Chris is grappling with what it means to be a man and how that feels to the women around him - I just wasn’t sure, because I haven’t lived that experience myself, and neither has the author. I know from the acknowledgements that she consulted with LGBTQ experts (and, I hope, with actual trans people) but it still gives me pause. Overall, though, a thought-provoking and enjoyable book.

Finally, a FTM main character that doesn’t spend the whole novel ruminating about their self-hatred! I feel like that’s a theme especially in AFAB (assigned female at birth) trans YA novels and have no idea why. It’s definitely not healthy for cis or trans readers. Chris was a lot more comfortable with himself. I think that’s important to portray and gives a lot more nuance to the typical stories written about trans characters.

Also, I liked that Chris’s entire story didn’t revolve around him being trans. It is a huge part of his identity, but he’s also interested in getting to know Maia and helping her come to terms with the loss of her sister. Sometimes, a trans character’s gender identity overpowers YA books to the point where there’s no other plot points or characterization. This book does explore how many trans people feel and what it’s like to be attacked for choosing authenticity. This book is not an easy read because Chris and Maia are both going through hard things, but their relationship gives them a person to talk and empathize with as they go through the healing process.

Me 10 seconds after I finished this: pretty sure my heart just got torn into like 300 pieces.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I mean I feel like it’s obvious that transgender representation is great, but I know there are already some and probably will be more once this book is published. The fact that this book is written by a cis woman, and I get it as much as I can (coming from a cis woman.) but I think having just about any (obvi not putting anyone down or in a negative light) transgender representation is a good thing. We’re getting better at those things becoming more of a norm and not weird or unacceptable.

I also love (obviously it’s sad) the realistic story of grief we have from Maia. That yes, unfortunate as it is, this stuff happens. People pass away unexpectedly, and grief is a THING, it doesn’t go away in two months and people truly react in different ways even though it may not technically be in the “right way” but grief and one’s mind does not care.

I loved The Way I Used To Be, haven’t had a chance to pick up The Last To Let Go yet. But when I found out I got approved for Something Like Gravity, I was so happy cause the summary sounded great+I knew I liked this author already. Highly recommended to pick it up once it is published. 😊

A beautiful summer romance story that goes way beyond romance. Main characters Chris and Maia think that they're meeting at exactly the wrong time. Chris is recovering from a brutal attack and beginning to transition, and feeling like his mom hates him. He's in Carson to get away from it all, definitely not to fall in love. Maia is working through her grief and bewilderment and guilt over her sister's sudden death, everything in her life, her folks, her friends, everything, seems to be falling apart, definitely not good a time to go head over heels for the new boy in town.

The writing is superb, the characters take on life beyond the page, readers will be right in there with them, hoping and having hopes dashed, hurting and healing and learning and growing right along with Chris, Maia and their loved ones. The story will resonate with readers on multiple levels, from LGBTQIA+ folks, to their loved ones and allies. A must read for those who enjoyed Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and It's Not Like It's a Secret.