Definitely a title that will inspire discussion and a fascinating look at identity, culture, race, socioeconomic standing, sexuality, and so much more. I loved how Staples was able to successfully interweave multiple narratives in order to provide readers with such introspective insight. Additionally, don't let its length deceive you - just cresting over 200 pages there is A LOT to unpack here. Highly recommend.

This review is based on an ARC.

While I generally liked the story and characters, and I appreciated how realistic it is, there were a few things that kept this book from a higher rating for me. The pacing is okay, but the viewpoints jumped around in a way that confused me at first. I eventually got used to it, but never comfortable really. There were a few times the text was, I assume, purposefully not aligned but I didn't really understand why. Page 132 was the one I noticed most. I couldn't figure out what it added to the story to have the text that way and it was really off-putting for me. I think with a few more edits it would be higher rated though!