Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

As a nonbinary librarian, I love YA books about trans teens, especially nonbinary and genderqueer teens, but this book fell short. The Mariah Carey references were pretty cloying and it had some inaccuracies regarding applications and admissions to specialized high schools.

This was such a fantastic debut for Steven Salvatore. It felt so authentic and I absolutely loved the representation throughout. I will definitely be reading more from this author!

This review was posted on my bookstagram
While I am continuing to post my regular content, the BLM movement is still going on. Please keep referring to my story and linktree to find ways to help out.✊🏻‼️
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Hi everyone! It’s been awhile since my last netgalley review, so I thought I’d better go ahead and write one for all of you!🥰
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Trigger Warning: this book does have some severe depictions of homophobia.⚠️
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Can’t Take That Away is a YA contemporary that introduces you to our gender fluid main character Casey Parker who wants more than anything to be able to bring the house down with his singing. Carey then meets Cris, a guitarist who pushes them to try out for the school musical Wicked. When Carey is cast as Elphaba everything seems to be on the right track, but some people in the school don’t agree with this casting, causing Carey and their friends to stand up for east they believe in.🥺
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This was REALLY good. I loved so many aspects of this book: the representation, the amazing teacher side character, including the awesome rep of using therapy. However, there was a little bit (in my personal opinion) of biphobia from Carey which made me, as a bisexual person, kind of uncomfortable. I also think that the romance was extremely instas-lovey. Those two points aside, this was a wonderful story, and I am so happy that we have more representation in YA.🥰
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What’s the last book you read with amazing representation? Let me know!💋
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Dm me to talk about all things book or writing related! I’ll be looking forward to it! —Em😌

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Funny, thought-provoking, and emotional. Love Carey's story and the added pronouns at the beginning of each chapter is lovely. Complex characters and emotional storyline will have teens and adults cheering for Carey along the way.

I enjoyed this story about a genderqueer teen fighting for their dreams.

Content warnings include: bullying through peers and authority figures, queerphobia, discrimination, off-page assault, suspicions of cheating, dementia, death of family member.

The book delivered on multiple levels:
On a more meta level, I liked that each chapter listed the pronouns Carey was using that day.

On the plot level, I liked that there were different threads that tied together. Even on the surface level with Carey wanting to sing, there’s several layers to it: Carey finding their courage to perform in front of people again, Carey fighting for their right to continue being the lead of the school’s musical after queerphobic backlash, and them and fellow students fighting against the discrimination they face at school through bullies, including a teacher.
On an interpersonal level, there were several threads about Carey’s relationships: his gram, several about his friends, and of course a romantic subplot.

All of these (sub-)plots had their merit, but what I especially appreciated about all of them was the communication. There definitely were some avoidable misunderstandings, but they for the most part felt like real human errors rather than just a way to create tension (though there was definitely some things that felt like teenage drama, but that was fitting for a YA book). Additionally, characters always acknowledged their wrongdoings, and communicated that freely and openly. This was aided by most developments moving pretty fast – almost a bit too fast for my suspension of disbelief at times, but ultimately I liked it better this way than the other way around.

The characters are what I probably enjoyed most about the book. There’s a lot of strong personalities, and I loved reading about so many queer teens unafraid to raise their voices and demand they be not only heard but also listened to. And they did so in a great, eloquent way, and I love reading about competent teens too!

The writing was fine – it didn’t stand out to me, but I could read the book easily. A few choices, scenes and developments were a bit on-the-noise and very self indulgent, but even I feel like a grinch for saying that because I also think that queer people, and especially queer teens, deserve books that are entirely self-indulgent and show queer teens having all the kitsch-y, over-the-top happy endings they can dream up.

The author includes a long afterword talking about the choice to write an #ownvoices genderqueer book that includes quite a lot of queer suffering, and is – while not solely so – still definitely centered around the protagonist being genderqueer. While ultimately I too would love more books where there’s no queerphobia, and the protagonist just happens to be queer, I also see the value in authors translating the pain they experience in their books, especially when it’s ownvoices.

First of all I LOVE the genderqueer rep. There are so few books that portray genderqueer characters, and I want to throw my full support behind any book that does it right.

That being said, the topic of dementia in the book was very triggering to me, and I had to put down the book for my own mental health. I read for escapism and that just drew it way too close to home. Despite not finishing the book I'm going to rate it five stars because I want to fully support this book!! I just can't authentically do that myself.

5/5⭐️ to Can’t Take That Away by Steven Salvatore! Thank you so much to Bloomsbury YA and NetGalley for an egalley copy to review! This was such a delight of a book, and Carey was a delight of a character! Carey is a genderqueer teen, meaning that their gender expression, identity, and preferred pronouns can fluctuate day to day. In the book, they use a colour coded bracelet system to indicate their current preferred pronouns. For the purpose of this review, I will use they/them to refer to Carey in general, as indicated by the author and the character. I’ve never read a book with a genderqueer character before, so this book gave me a great introduction to what that may mean for someone, and especially how it can impact a teen day-to-day. From the very first page, I really enjoyed getting to know Carey, their passions, and their family & friends. I loved how supportive their Mom & friends were!! We also got such a sweet romance, which I thoroughly enjoyed! There was a bit of drama and miscommunication, but that served well to keep it realistic but also kept me as a reader invested in the book. They had such an instant connection, and I was definitely invested. What was also super fun about this story was the play the school put on: Wicked! I loved all the theatre scenes, and how passionate the characters got about the production! This production leads to the most important part of the book: advocacy. Carey has already received enough harsh words & aggressions from teachers and other students at school since coming out, but when they earn the part of Elphaba, it ramps up tenfold. Carey is removed from the production, as well as their super supportive teacher from directing the musical. Little does the administration know what is coming for them. Carey’s family, friends, and their supportive classmates rally not only to have Carey reinstated in Wicked, but bring real, permanent change to their school that will truly make it a safer & more inclusive place for staff & students. Some of the things that Carey and other students had to go through is awful & ridiculous, and I’m glad they stayed strong & pushed for what they knew was right. This is so important since this is happening in nearly every school, and I hope there are many teens who read this and bring positive changes to their schools. Plus, Carey and their friends are pretty great! Definite check this book out!!

This is a powerful, emotional, and timely read. Carey Parker, who is genderqueer, does not always have the easiest time in high school, or at home where is beloved grandmother is suffering from dementia. When Carey falls for Cris, things seem to be turning around for Carey who is then convinced to try out for the role of the Wicked Witch of the West in the high school's production of Wicked. But backlash among some community members forces Carey, Cris, and their friends to decide how to best stand up for themselves. Everything about this book is great -- the characters are well drawn, the structure is very creative, the story is highly engaging. Very highly recommended!

"Can't Take That Away" is a young adult novel centered around a genderqueer musician named Carey, who meets and falls in love with someone named Cris and starts to gain more confidence about themselves after this newfound connection begins.

The story showcases some of the negative Carey is dealing with, from homophobic and transphobic remarks at school to his grandmother being sick, but also showcases them going to therapy and being open about their mental health struggles and what's going on in their life.

Another thing I liked about this book (in addition to how it destigmatizes therapy and talking about mental health) is how Carey's pronouns are mentioned at the end of each chapter.

This book does deal with a lot of heavy topics, such as grief, suicidal ideation, homophobia and transphobia, so that is something to be aware of while reading it.

I absolutely loved this book overall, and it's easily one of my favorites this year so far.

This book made me feel a lot of things, and the second half saved it. We’ll get right into what I didn’t like and save the best for last. One of my biggest pet peeves in books is when authors try too hard to make their characters sound young, when really they make them sound like they haven’t spoken to a teenager in ten years. This book unfortunately suffered from this plight. The writing as a whole felt out of touch and juvenile, which for a YA written in the perspective of a 16 year old makes sense but nonetheless annoyed me while reading. The other thing that initially bothered me was the romance which had absolutely no build up. In order for me to root for the characters I need to see how they work together before dating, but by the third or so chapter they were already on their way towards dating. I also thought that the drama between Carey and Cris was unnecessary and I finally understand what everyone means when they say they hate the miscommunication trope.

Now, for what I liked. I loved the first chapter and it definitely made me cry during class. The stereotype that queer teens are attatched to their English/Drama teacher definitely works, and I’m saying this as a queer teen who is attatched to their Drama teacher. I love that Carey had someone in the administration to help support them and who was willing to take a stand with them. I also really enjoyed the growth that Carey goes through and how the messy friendships in this story reflected lots of teenage relationships.

For a debut this was promising and I’m excited to see what Steven Salvatore writes next!

[2.5 stars]
I'm going to start this off by letting people know that I really don't like Mariah Carey nor do I like the diva-esque personality which is very prevalent in this book. I try not to let this bias my rating. (TW: this review touches on trauma dealing with death, mental health and the book is also very full of these. Please use self care and discretion with this and the book.)

This story had some good moments, but for me it was, overall, cringey.

I really liked the story of Carey dealing with discrimination at the same time as their grandmothers health issues. It makes for high stakes and draws in the reader. Stuff with Carey's grandmother was my favorite to read about. I liked that their mother was confused but determined to learn and support Carey, it's similar to how my mother is and I loved the accuracy and relatability.

The chapters are titled with how Carey identifies at the moment cycling through he/she/they pronouns which is a really cool stylistic choice that I adored.

Here's the thing. As a fairly flamboyant and loud queer trans man, I thought this book was gonna hit home for me. Even with my distaste for Mariah Carey (whom Carey is obsessed with) I was excited to read about musicals, friends, and fighting against oppression. There was just SO MANY plot points going on so I felt like I got whiplash in every chapter. With the romances, Cris's mom trauma, self harm/suicide trauma, homophobic teachers, Carey's grandma, AAAAND the ever changing friendship dynamics, I was overwhelmed and became disinterested with everyone who wasn't Carey, Phoebe, and Monroe.

(Also tbh this is personal but I think Cris and Carey had kinda awful chemistry and were fairly toxic with each other. Their romance felt very forced.)

Not only was a good portion of dialogue a little stereotypically "queer" to the point where I was feeling very uncomfortable, but Carey's original song lyrics were cringey to say the least. I got hardcore secondhand embarrassment from reading it.

While I personally did not end up loving the book I think it hits home for a queer teen audience with these specific interests presented in the book and it's still an important story about persevering throughout hate and letting love win.

This story was so beautiful and incredible and I loved every moment's of Carey's journey. I kind of really loved how the chapter titles were their pronouns at the time, that was kind of awesome and I liked how that shaped each chapter. I adored Carey and their strength and character and kindness. I adored Carey and Cris and how great the two of them were and I really loved the movement they all started at the school, the teachers who were there for them and the other students who took strength and inspiration from them. This story was just so dang wonderful and adorable and beautiful and Carey was just such a strong and incredible character. I loved how they fought for their right to sing, to be who they were, to be unafraid of the people who would tell them no.

I loved this. Casey is everything and so was this book. The authors approach to the tougher topics throughout were amazing.

Carey is genderqueer. For the most part, school is a mostly safe place. His English teacher Mr. Kelly (who is gay himself) really helps Carey find safety. However, there is one teacher, Mr. Jackson, and one classmate (and his friends) who do everything they can to belittle Carey and make them feel smaller than small.

With his therapist’s help, though, Carey is trying to build up his self-confidence to achieve his dream of being a diva, like his namesake Mariah Carey. And so Carey auditions for the school musical, Wicked, and he gets his coveted part: Elphaba. But when Mr. Jackson and a handful of parents learn of this casting choice, shit hits the fan. What will Carey and his friends —his found family— do? Whatever they decide, it’s not going to be easy, and it’s going to take a lot of courage. Can Carey find his voice for such an important cause?

This book’s protagonist is GENDERQUEER, and their story is about standing up to queerphobic teachers and school admin so that all queer kids can receive the respect they demand. SERIOUSLY, get this into your LGBTQIA+ students’ hands yesterday.

LGBTQIA+ diverse:
- Carey is genderqueer.
- Cris is bi.
- Phoebe and Blanca are lesbians.
- Mr. Kelly is gay.

Diverse reads:
- Various secondary characters are not-white, but not as many as I would have liked to see.
- Phoebe is Black.
- Blanca is Latinx.

This book was magical, heartbreaking, and so wonderfully written. I loved Carey. They worked so hard to be comfortable with who they were, and to share that person with the world. Despite dysphoria, misunderstanding, and devastating bullying, not just from other students, but from teachers as well, Carey was able to discover and live their truth.

The relationships in the novel were so well done. Carey had such amazingly supportive friends, and their mother was truly the best. The fights Carey had with their friends were so relatable in their teenage selfishness and drama. I especially loved the flashbacks to growing up with Gram, and the unfailing support she gave Carey in their dream to sing.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

The only thing I was minorly disappointed with was that the homophobic teacher was not brought down by his bigotry. Though this was purely my selfish desire for justice and a happy ending. It was an extremely realistic depiction of this kind of situation. The author did an amazing job fleshing out the entire scenario. Carey and their friends even thought about whether or not Mr. Jackson would have been fired, if not for the lack of credentials, and it was inferred that he probably would have kept his job. I was moved by the inclusion of this snippet, as well as many of the author's observations on privilege, identity, and power.

During the height of my obsession with Mariah Carey, my parents took a trip, and they left a friend of the family in charge of making sure that middle-school me survived their absence. One evening, I discovered CDs of 'Mariah Carey' and 'Emotions' just outside my bedroom door. (Does anybody remember longboxes?!) Accompanying this gift was a note: "Do we need to talk?" It took me literal decades to realize that perhaps she wasn't simply referring to the giant crush that I had on Mariah Carey.

I might be qualified to write a review of Steven Salvatore's debut novel 'Can't Take That Away.'

'Can't Take That Away' is not a "coming out" novel; everyone at Sunnyside High School knows that protagonist Carey Parker is gay and genderqueer. Well, they understand the gay part, but genderqueer...perhaps not so much. Within the first few pages of the novel, it becomes clear that, though Carey is out, they are dealing with a significant amount of trauma. That trauma serves as the backdrop of the novel, influencing how Carey negotiates their relationship with their two best friends (twin sisters), dating the cute boy with the guitar, and working to achieve their dreams of being a singer. Carey wants to prove that there's room enough in this world for two divas named Carey, and the path Carey chooses to get there is auditioning for the role of Elphaba in the school's production of 'Wicked.'

There's a fascinating mix of the familiar and the much less familiar that plays out in Salvatore's novel. We see the slings and arrows brought on by homophobic students, the understanding English teacher, and the ridiculously cool best friend—your standard coming-of-age queer narrative starter pack. What's clever, though, is that Salvatore uses these more established elements to ground the reader in order to introduce the less familiar elements of the novel. You think all English teachers are super cool? Think again! How about a bigot with tenure? And about those twin best friends: On the one hand, we have Monroe, the super cool manic pixie punch-you-in-the-face-if-you-call-her-dream girl, who is bound for FIT. Okay, sure, you expected that, but did you expect that Carey's best best friend is actually Monroe's sister, Joey, the tall blond girl who is bound for the WNBA? You didn't, and that's okay. You can't always predict how these things go. You might even ask yourself at some point in the novel, "Are there really that many LGBT+ people out there?" (By the way, the answer is "yes.")

When I write and teach about young adult/adolescent fiction, I talk a lot about the importance of reading to better understand the world. To create characters like Carey is to show readers that people like Carey exist in the world. Put this book in the hands of a genderqueer adolescent, and maybe they feel a little more accepted or a little more seen or a little less alone. Put this book in the hands of someone who thinks they've never met a genderqueer person, and maybe that someone will be a little more accepting of people who are different than them. Sometimes, it feels like the work of making this world a less threatening place, a place where people who want to create light rather than destroy it can be who they are, is too much. When I finished 'Can't Take That Away,' I felt hopeful. For 2021, that's no small thing.

It's not possible for me to be objective about 'Can't Take That Away'—I loved it. I'm still on the fence about Cris (there's a lot of "acoustic guitar dude on the quad" energy there), but I wish I had had friends like Carey, Joey, Monroe, and Phoebe back in high school. I wish I had had novels like 'Can't Take That Away' when I was in high school. It's kind of amazing how far we've come since I was in high school back in the nineties. (Does anybody remember Rickie Vasquez?) I went to the "arty" high school, and I can count on one hand the number of people who were "out." (Fair warning: If your best friend has ever come out to you just as you have almost worked up the courage to confess your love for them, be prepared for those memories to surface when you read this novel.) We need more novels like 'Can't Take That Away' out there, and I'm glad Salvatore is doing the work. We're all better off for it.

You don't have to be a fan of Mariah Carey to enjoy 'Can't Take That Away'—but it helps. Regardless, what you'll get from Salvatore's debut novel is a coming-of-age story that balances teen rom-com sensibilities, real discussions of adolescent LGBT+ trauma, and a call for acceptance. I'll be recommending this novel a lot.

In case you're wondering, I stopped listening to Mariah for the most part after 'Daydream.' I just didn't like "Honey." Halfway through Can't Take That Away, I put the book down long enough to put on 'Butterfly.' After listening to it all the way through for the first time, I can't say that my mind has been changed. Perhaps I'll talk about why another day. However, Salvatore has convinced me to move beyond Mariah's early career and explore the rest of her discography.

This heartfelt and emotionally charged novel tells the story of Carey, who identifies as genderqueer who dreams of being a diva and living out their life as their authentic self. Facing bullying in school and a host of problems at home, During what seems like the darkest time Carey meets Cris and soon a new world opens up for them. Carey begins to develop confidence and lean into their support network and friends and family in a way they never have before. Words can't describe the beauty of this novel.

This made my heart burst and I want to hand it to ten people, both those who want to know more about the genderqueer experience and those who just love joyful coming of age stories, musicals, and Mariah Carey.

I have complicated feelings about this book. In general, I feel like the writing quality does not live up to the hype I've been seeing for this book. Particularly, I had problems with the pacing; there was a point about 50% of the way in that it felt like I was reaching the climax. I personally have no experience with questioning my gender/gender dysphoria/etc., but I feel like that part of the book at least was represented truthfully and empathetically. However, there were no other non-cis characters, and the lack of discussion of trans issues/trans community felt very odd. Additionally, I did not like how much queer pain there was; it honestly felt overwhelming for a book that's been marketed as pretty upbeat/uplifting with romance. Huge CW for suicidal ideation (great therapy sessions in the book, though, I did appreciate that). But there is a happy ending, I found myself nostalgic for theater while reading the audition/rehearsal scenes, and I can see how it could be a valuable read.