**I received an e-copy of this via NetGalley from the publishers in exchange for an honest review**

I loved this book! It drew me right off the back especially with the way that it tugged on so many emotions. This was a story about HIV and the ignorance of those without it, love, friendship, self-acceptance, sexuality and so much more. It was not just a fictional telling of being an HIV-positive teen but also an informational one that taught me a lot.

I enjoyed following Simone’s journey as she navigated through what seemed to be a great life at a new school after having to leave her old one when everyone found out she was positive. She has friends she adores (but who sometimes got on my nerves), a dream “job” as a student director for her school’s play, and a crush that mutually liked her too. It felt like nothing could go wrong until someone threatens to ruin everything by blackmailing her. As the story goes along there are many characters turned suspects, but I was a little surprised by who the blackmailer actually was, and I didn’t care for their reasonings as to why they ended up outing her either. I just couldn’t bring myself to sympathize with them at all.

However, it was altogether a brilliant, emotional rollercoaster of a story and if you haven’t read it; PLEASE DO!

A wonderful story that I hope to share with many students and staff. It's not often you get to read about the HIV positive experience, and I'm grateful that this voice is being shared.

I really enjoyed Full Disclosure. It covers issues that are not prevalent in young adult fiction right now.

Its not that I don’t think this story has an audience. Because I do. I just don’t think I am it.
Although I really appreciate the authors ability to talk about heavy hitting topics like HIV, teen sexuality, LGBTQ issues, etc., I don’t think I like this particular story. Which is strange considering how big of a theatre nerd I was in high school and how much I still love musical theatre. However, all the over the top talk of teens having sex was too much. I don’t mind teen sex in books. Teens have sex. A lot. However, it was a central part of not only the plot but every conversation and thought and main character had and it became very redundant. However, I do think this novel is something teens will enjoy. I think I am perhaps just not the target audience and this one wasn’t for me. Thank you net galley for the opportunity to read it!

Full Disclosure is a stunning debut that tackles self-acceptance, ignorance, and love. This queer love story celebrates questions, support, and solidarity. For Simone, sex isn't simple. Being HIV positive means that her whole life Simone has had the necessity of disclosing her health, and the chances of spread. In Full Disclosure, Garrett explores what it means to accept ourselves, to not have all the answers, and to value those who support us. Full Disclosure allows us to read Simone's perspective. What it's like to be afraid of physical intimacy because of fearing that someone will recoil from her.

Full Disclosure is full of queer characters. Not only is Simone questioning her own sexuality and wonder if she is bisexual, but her two best friends are lesbian and bisexual (and she has two dads). I barely have any notes from reading Full Disclosure because I read it in one day. I didn't even plan on it, I just looked up from reading and realized it was almost nighttime. That's just a testament to not only how absorbed I was in the story, but the way that Simone's narration sweeps you away.

Where do I start with this? This was perfection. Recently, I read The Birds, The Bees, and You and Me and while reading that, I felt like I was reading a pamphlet at the doctors office. But this book, I felt like I was in the book, while also learning a lot about... a lot.

This book did not shy away from any topic that it tackled. It was so raw and open, it was hard to read at times. I cried from happiness, sadness, and anger. I laughed out loud so many times. I felt so many emotions while reading this. I loved every minute of this book.

This is a brilliant and impacting debut. It honestly perfectly balances what would be standard contemporary elements and the emotionally driven story of having the protagonist be an HIV-positive teen.

This novel was a cute love story. I loved the character development and it had a really great, unexpected twist. But i feel like it tried to tackle too many issues in two few pages. It bounced from HIV/AIDS, to sexuality, to racism, to feminism, to gender idenity on every single page, which made it hard to keep up with sometimes. Those are important issues to address, but when you try to put them all in at the same time in a short book like this, it makes it harder for any of them to really land an impact. The HIV plot line was great, the others felt forced.

I also had issues with the gynecologist scene (where Simone’s dad accompanied her), and the idolizing of Javier Munoz who is EXTREMELY problematic in the Broadway community. Yes, he’s a Broadway actor who is gay and HIV+, so I get the connection, but he’s been known to start fights with children and just be downright nasty when people disagree with him. There are other stars (Ryan White) who would have been much better to talk in depth about.

Overall, a cute story, and great characters, but a little too jumbled and forced when it comes to the issues it addresses for my taste.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Full Disclosure is a sensitive, much-needed exploration of teen sexuality that comes wrapped in an immature high-school drama narrative. A highly mixed bag from a promising new author.

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Full Disclosure was very hard to rate.

It seems like a 4 or 5 star book wrapped in a 1 or 2 star book. I guess that evens out to three? My review policy says:

I rate with the assumption that most books in the world will be three stars. Three stars can mean “fine–some good some bad” or “well-written but not to my taste” or “very strong but with harmful elements or major problems.” There’s nothing wrong with three stars… but there’s nothing particularly good about it either.

So I guess that makes sense. Full Disclosure was very strong but had some major problems. By the time I finished, I almost felt like I’d read two books: one, a sensitive and powerful exploration of emerging sexuality complicated by HIV status, the other, an immature, cliched high-school drama with flat characters, cringey dialogue, and flat characters.


Let’s start with the good (the positive reviews aren’t wrong).

This book has plenty of five-star raves on Goodreads, and I can’t really argue with them. The blurb promises a “powerful and uplifting” story where “an HIV-positive teen must navigate fear, disclosure, and radical self-acceptance when she falls in love–and lust–for the first time.” We definitely get that.

Full Disclosure might be my new go-to recommendation for readers looking for sex-positivity and thoughtful exploration of sexuality in YA. It’s got shame-free discussions of female desire and masturbation. Teen characters talk frankly about preferences, new experiences, fears, wants, and questions. Along with Simone, we visit a gynecologists’ office, a free birth-control clinic, and a sex shop, which allow the book to frame sex in different contexts.

I will say that the book veers from sex-positive into sex-insistent at times. While Simone’s conservative father emphasizes abstinence, the teen characters (and the book itself) never seem to consider that a real option. For Simone, it is obvious that she’d be having sex as soon as she’s medically able. Her asexual friend is clear about not wanting sex, but assumes that not engaging in it isn’t an option in her relationship. Full Disclosure goes a little farther than “teens do have sex” to “teens necessarily have sex.” I don’t think “sex-positive” sufficiently describes that point of view. I think that’s okay–no book should be expected to include all perspectives–but it’s important to note that this isn’t the only approach out there.

But this isn’t simply a book about sexual exploration; that story exists in the context of Simone’s HIV-positive status. Garrett brilliantly places those two qualities in juxtaposition: Simone is sexually maturing and entering into a serious relationship, and Simone is HIV-positive. What do those two facts mean together? Full Disclosure is about the ways that Simone’s status changes, complicates, and intensifies her new desires and curiosities. Simone has obstacles in her sexual development that her peers don’t have, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve (or isn’t able) to explore sex the way she needs to.

And if all that weren’t enough, Garrett brings an intersectional eye to her character. Simone’s sexuality is complicated by her HIV status, which is also complicated by her race, sexual orientation, and family background. Garret never tries to write The Book About HIV Teens because she’s too busy being ultra-specific about what HIV means for this teen with these identities.



Unfortunately, this great book about sexuality is wrapped in a terrible book about high-school society.

In her wonderful Author’s Note at the front of the book, Garret says it was important to her to show Simone’s life was more than her marginalizations. She wanted to give Simone experiences “that wouldn’t have been possible for an HIV-positive girl in the /80s” and show her enjoying life.

I think that’s a very worthy goal, but I think Garrett misses in the execution. Most of the time, it results in the book being padded with high-school drama that actually undermines the rest of the book.

The poignancy of the HIV narrative is deflated by the excessively on-the-nose choice to have Simone be student director of a high-school production of Rent. When Simone “saves” the production by inspiring emotional performances with dramatic speeches about the AIDS crisis, it takes all the depth out of the rest of the narrative.

Likewise, Simone’s fears about keeping her status secret is a nuanced, human story… until it’s concretized by blackmail through anonymous notes. At that point, a sensitive portrayal of inner conflict becomes the B-story on an episode of Riverdale.

I wish the perspective was a little more mature. Simone’s voice feels wonderfully natural and young, but her perspective isn’t balanced or challenged by the world of the story. Simone is never wrong. The book is a series of encounters with lesser humans who treat Simone unfairly. This is a problem not only because that makes for a poor character, but because Simone actually is wrong sometimes.

In the only moment when Simone is truly confronted with her mistakes, her friends are upset with her for blowing them off, being dishonest, and taking them for granted. Simone responds by (and there’s no other way to put this) playing the identity card. She says she’s been struggling to label her sexual orientation. This has nothing to do with the issue at hand (Simone being a bad friend) but it immediately ends the conversation. Her friends fall over themselves to apologize and comfort her, and the issue is put to rest.

If Simone is to be more than her marginalizations, she also has to be more than just a victim. Garret’s reluctance to ever let Simone realize a mistake or feel badly for her actions undermines the character. For the book to work, Simone has to be three dimensional, but Garret can’t quite let her be real.

The rest of the cast doesn’t help. Simone’s antagonists are either cartoon-villains of adults or highly problematic renditions of the gay-villain trope. Simone has some immaturities–she’s still learning that other people are people. And that’s wonderfully realistic for a teen character, but the book seems to share that perspective. In the world of Full Disclosure, Simone is the only real person.



All told, Full Disclosure feels like a first-draft story.

The blackmail storyline, the Rent production setting, the boilerplate romance… it all felt like the first draft of what the plot for Simone’s character should be. I’m not sure it’s the best choice to bring out the themes Garret is going for.

In the marketing for, Full Disclosure, we see another example of the author still being a teen being touted as a good thing. It’s certainly an impressive achievement for that author–I’d be shouting it from the rooftops–but it’s not necessarily a selling point for the book. The fresh teen perspective comes with a lack of experience and maturity; that’s a double-edged sword. It certainly is for Full Disclosure, where the prose is lovely but the dialogue is painfully juvenile.

I feel a lot like I did reviewing Orpheus Girl, another YA debut by a teen writer about heavy material the author doesn’t quite master:

"The book has intense raw emotion, yes, but doesn’t look at a big enough picture to have any context or perspective. The writing is poetic but immature, and the supporting characters are cardboard-cutouts of baseless evil. That’s all perfectly understandable coming from a teen debut.

If a 19-year-old friend dropped this manuscript on my desk, I’d be so excited for them. It would show me raw talent, bravery, and a keen eye for metaphor. I’d tell them, honestly, that I thought they had tremendous talent and should keep writing, because their next book is going to be something special. But I would never tell them to try to get that manuscript published as-is. It just isn’t ready.“

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Thank you to Knopf Books for Young Readers for providing an advance review copy of this title. No money changed hands for this review and all opinions are my own.

First of all, thank you Net Galley and Knopf for the eARC!
An important story of a girl borned HIV+, with 2 fathers and a fear of never having intimacy. It's no doubt and important story to tell, and a story difficult for anyone to tell. A teen writing for the teen, it does feel more auhentic, but it also has its drawbacks.
The wirting itself is choppy. Yes, it's coming fro ma teen's voice, but it also felt like it was written by a teen. The word choice and the storytelling was inelequent.
And the details.
For intance, it is extremely difficult to get away with fake identities nowadays, and what is the liklihood that all friends at the age of 16 or 17 have driver's licenses? The romance was FAST, and it feels like there was no lead into it. 1 day into the book, and she already is kissing her crush?
And I can't even get started on the theater. It's....not how theater works at all. I worked in theater for almost a decade as a stage manager and actor, and theater, high school or professional, does not work in that manner.

I really tried ot like the story, I did, but everything else in her normal life was just too unbelievable. I think this book would be great for much younger readers. I'm reading this as an adult a fan of YA, but I think this is steered towards the 13-17 age range (quite literally, this time). Thank you again for the copy, I did really try to like it! Just not for me.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I can honestly say I enjoyed almost everything about this book. It was both raw and gritty and soft and sweet at the same time. Moving through Simone's journey with her as she navigates her new school after being outed as Positive at her old one certainly leaves you worried. While it's clear she's gotten a new life for herself her with friends who she absolutely adores and a crush who she wants to get closer to, there is still trauma and suspicions left over from what happened to her before. Simone struggles with whether or not she can trust herself and her feelings about those around her, while also navigating coming into both her sexuality and sexual awakening. It's clear that it's not easy, especially for an HIV positive teenage girl. Her dads love her and try to instill in her just how amazing she is, but even they seem to have apprehensions about her starting a dating life and sex. Dating and sex both come with an added weight when you are in Simone's situation. After the fiasco at her last school her dads have made it clear: Telling anyone that she is positive, whether friend, school, adults or otherwise is out of the question. Her safety comes first and it's exactly that safety that is threatened when she begins to start dating her crush Miles. Someone in her school is threatening to out her as Positive and after what Simone's been through, that is the last thing that she wants to happen.

For the majority of the story, we go along with Simone as she navigates daily high school life, the Drama clubs production of Rent, keeping her biggest secret from her two closest friends and crush, and trying to avoid being outed once again. This story tugged at my heartstrings not only because Simone's trauma and fears were so apparent, but because watching her friends and family rally around her was amazing. Everyone's experience won't be like Simone's, but it was great to see someone who had this much support. What I loved about it even more was that the author (Camryn Garrett) made it abundantly clear that just because Simone had loving family and friends didn't mean her life was perfect. Even though they tried and wanted to understand, they couldn't always and that was what left Simone feeling isolated at times.

I did manage to figure out who it was trying to blackmail Simone and they were absolute scum. When the reasoning was exposed, both the surface and underlying reasons, I still didn't feel much sympathy or empathy for the character. Having something horrible happen to you doesn't give you the right to ruin someone's else life and out them.

I'd definitely recommend picking this up when it's released and giving it a read. So glad I was able to get the reading opportunity.

You guys, READ THIS!

It's 2019, and it's still so important to take away the stigma from HIV, no matter how someone ended up positive. In this story, the main character happens to be positive, and she's a normal teenager who doesn't want her status to affect how she lives her life (besides the obvious taking pills every day, waiting for her viral load to be undetectable, and being super super careful if she has sex in the future).

This book has an awesome cast of characters. Even the antagonist who shall not be named isn't just an asshole, there's some depth to ~why~.

But mainly though, Simone, the protagonist is enjoyable to read about. She's just a normal teenager dealing a lot more than a normal teenager should have to deal with. This book is well-written and even though it's YA, readers will learn a lot.

Pick this up when it comes out! It's so good!

.I’ll be honest I’m scared to have this review online just because I am putting myself out there. Now not a lot of people in my personal life know this tidbit information about me but I felt like it needed to be known if I was going to review this properly. I am finally seeing me in a book – a black girl born with HIV. I am over the moon! Thank you, Camryn Garrett, for putting these words on to paper. With Full Disclosure you follow Simone to some of her doctor appointments and I loved that aspect. With this being set in the 80s you get to learn more about HIV, how its contracted, how you can keep your t-cells at bay and ways to protect yourself if you wanted to have sex. Just because you have HIV does not mean you have to be scared of love

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett follows Simone, an HIV-positive bisexual teen, navigating sex, relationships and directing her first school play, all while dealing with someone trying to blackmail her about her status.

I really enjoyed this book. The dialogue felt realistic for the teens (hard to achieve and kudos to this teenage author for pulling it off!) and a lot of the situations felt true to life. I don't know anything about growing up HIV-positive, but I feel like I got a glimpse from this book.

I struggled with a bit toward the end where Simone and her friends have a falling out. It seems like every YA contemporary has to have a bit toward the end where the MC has a fight their best friend/friend group. I didn't feel like it was super necessary here, but it wasn't a deal-breaker for me. I still really like this book and would recommend it.

3.5 stars
- This has such awesome rep!! A black bisexual main character with HIV, MC is adopted by two gay men (one black, one Hispanic), one of Simone’s best friends is asexual & a lesbian while the other is bi, and a black love interest.
- There were some minor writing/plot issues - for example, there were several parts where it felt like lines had been cut out and the moment jumped ahead - but considering this is a debut novel written by a seventeen year old (!!!), these things were easy for me to ignore.
- Author made a point in the authors note to say that this wasn’t a story about tragedy but I really felt like it was - a majority of the story was devoted to the secret threatening notes & Simone worrying people would find out she had HIV. I almost wish this was more Emma Mills-esque - more slice of life-y with really fleshed our characters and relationships with Simone being HIV positive still obviously playing a role in that. I would have loved to hear more about Simone’s dads and their family, her two best friends and their relationships, and see her relationship with Miles really blossom.
- While I didn’t love this as much I hoped I would, I still think it is a really important read and will definitely be interested in more of Camryn Garrett’s work in the future.

Full Disclosure is a Republicans parent worst nightmare. It should be required reading for all high school students and not just in progressive states. This book discusses all of the immediate subjects that teens and young adults are going through today.

As an adult, I couldn't get into the book. I didn't find the protagonist likable and the plot was trite. Overall Full Disclosure felt too contrived. I joke that Garrett had a checklist of controversial topics she had to check off while writing: gender identity, sexuality, racism, feminism, equality. Why are teenagers with no job, and no bills harping on housing prices in SanFran? It was just too much. I would only recommend to young adults.

This is an essential book for teens. The romance is lovely, the family relationships and friendships are well-developed and delightful, and Garrett explores territory rarely if ever handled in YA lit. It's well-written, vivid, and thoughtful and I'm thrilled to be able to put it in the hands of teens.

This was a very informative and impactful story about an HIV positive teen, and it’s a viewpoint that we rarely ever see. I’m so glad this story is out there to share with the world. While the book itself may not be my favorite because of some issues with the writing and the plot, I can’t bash it. I’m looking forward to more from this author in the future.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Children for providing and ARC of this book for an honest review.

This book takes place in this day and age where HIV and Aids is still around and we know more about the disease but people are still scared to be around people who have it. When Simone is transferred to a new school all she wants is to be normal and keep her secret. Then she is fast falling for a classmate Miles and she struggles with telling him the truth or keeping her secret. Then a mysterious letters start showing up in her locker and it says I know your secret. Leave Miles alone or else I will tell him.

I enjoyed this read. It was something different than other YA books you read out there. I loved the representation of her two dads. One Hispanic and the other one African american. Overall it was a good read.

I thought this was just your typical young adult novel and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was so much more. I took a bio class on HIV and AIDS in undergrad and it was such an illuminating class that really helped me understand HIV and all the stigma around it . This is my first time reading about the lived experience though.

Simone was an excellent main character, she was relatable while still having her flaws. I thought this would end up some gossipy tv show type of novel with the blackmail and secrets but it wasn’t that at all. It was a very realistic look into disclosure and living with HIV.