Thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!
I liked the last 20% of this book for the most part. However, it was pretty slow in the beginning, and there seemed to be a lot of little moments that didn’t make much sense. Ash’s family seemed very flip-floppy and seemed to do a complete 180. Ash wasn’t too interesting as a narrator, and I found that I didn’t feel connected to him as a character. This book was extremely slow at first but then all of a sudden the character was saying a year had passed— the pace was strange and didn’t really check out. There were some parts where the story was pretty interesting but also some where it was very draw out and boring, and I was never able to adjust to what I was reading because there were so many changes in the storyline so suddenly. All in all, this book was okay, and it was pretty well written, but it just wasn’t for me.
Extra points for this being set in Salem, as I’ve frequented there often. It was cool to hear about some history of my state and read about a character who felt connected to it. This was one of the aspects of the book that I found more interesting.

Just Ash is a wonderful young adult story about an intersex teen. This Sol Santana had me gripped from the start.

Good god, Poor Ash. His body causes so much pain and heartache for him, just because of people being so damn judgmental.

Omg, this book. There's so much going on for Ash, as puberty is changing his body. With his female parts starting to develop further, his family is pushing him to be a girl, both mentally and physically.

Add in issues with his friend who he likes romantically, a whole lot of homophobia and racism, and the hits just keep coming.

And it's all as emotional and intense as you'd expect.

I appreciate the way the author approaches this difficult subject matter. Everything is written with care and compassion. I enjoy the layers, mystery, and intrigue throughout.

Just Ash is the perfect choice next time you're in the mood for a serious tale exploring the life of an intersex teen.

Tw: child abuse, sexual and physical harrassment, homophobia, racism, conversion camp

Just Ash by Sol Santana was an incredible find for me. The writing style was beautiful yet also heartbreaking, and I could truly feel Ash’s frustration with the entire world. I myself may not be intersex, but the anger inside Ash was relatable to my own fury at people who do not accept and love me for who I am.

In this novel, Ash tries to become something he is not, and in doing so, begins to slowly, but steadily, destroy himself. One element I loved in this book was the connection to his ancestor who was similarly silenced. The added historical reference of the Salem Witch Trials made this book all the more impactful, showing how, despite all the progress that has been made, we can still find traces of the horrible past in our present and future.

Sol Santana has brilliantly displayed the struggles of intersex people, a group that I did not have much knowledge about prior to this novel. “You will keep silent,” said his ancestor Bridget, and for a period of time, Ash did, but I was proud when he started to speak out against the injustices toward himself. This is a book I believe all people should read, to learn about the fight that intersex people go through and become excellent allies along the way.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group for the ARC of #JustAsh!

I think everybody needs to read this book. Whether it's typically their type of read or not, this book provides crucial education in a relatable fashion. I can't imagine reading this book without feeling compassion and empathy in spades for Ash and his REAL friends.

My only critique of this book is that I found the ending to be... abrupt. I don't think that's really the word that I'm looking for but I wanted more resolution from Michelle's storyline.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, Lerner Publishing Group and Carolrhoda Lab ®, for the chance to read and review this book.

TW: child abuse, emotional manipulation, sexual harrassment, misgendering, homophobia, lesbophobia, racism, bullying, conversion camp

Ashley, "Ash" is a guy, he loves soccer, he has a crush on his best friend Michelle and he's intersex, born with both male and female genitalia. For him it never felt like a big deal, until he gets his period and everyone at school starts to see and treat him differently, above of all his mother who convinces him to "try being a girl".
Forced to be someone he's not, to dress like a girl, to be separated from his best friend and treated differently, he starts to feel more and more like his ancestor, Bridget Bishop, who was executed in Salem for witchcraft.
Ash refuses to be silent, to be hurt and abused and decides it's time to fight back.

I really liked reading this book, the story was powerful, often hard to read, because it is so well written it's imposible not to love Ash and fight for him. He is a compelling main character and his story was written so skillfully I could almost feel his pain, his anger and hopelessness, his rage and determination, his will not to be cancelled and his desire to be who he is, to see his own existence seen and recognized.
Jush Ash, through his painful experience, both being a man and then forced to dress and "try being a girl", deals with many important themes, showing how differently men and women are seen and treated, gender stereotypes and hurtful ignorance. It deals with parental abuse and how those who are supposed to protect us are, sometimes, those who hurt us more, forcing their own children in their boxes and hurting them if they fight back. But it's also a book filled with love and friendships, hopes and new beginnings, fighting back and justice.

If sometimes the story feels a bit rushed, it is only a minor thing I didn't like. Reading this book opened up a world to me and the way it was written was so captivating, so beautiful I was angry, upset, hopeful and I followed Ash in his journey, cheering him on, hoping for this freedom to be who he is. Mixing history and present, love and abuse, changes and growth, this book is beautiful, raw and so well written, I can't recommend it enough.

Thank you to Lerner Publishing Group and NetGalley for access to this digital advanced copy.

Wow. Once I started this book, I couldn't let the day end without finishing it.

The topics covered in Just Ash are so important and so well described and investigated, especially through the conflict in the first half of the book.

I was angry and sad for Ash while this was going on, and then happy and relieved when things started turning around for him later in the pages.

I wish the second half of the story had slowed down, and went more in-depth in some places. It felt a bit rushed and I would have loved to have had more time with the characters and concepts at the end.

I really enjoyed the bits of history about Salem, Massachusetts dropped in throughout the book.

Books like this make me wonder if people can really be this horrible to each other in real life - but I know they must be and that's exactly why we need these books.

Thank you to the author for writing so eloquently about an experience not many of us have had first hand experience with in a book I could not put down.

I was a bit conflicted about this because the first chapters were a solid 5 stars but after that I just... Idk

At some points I found the pacing to be moving faster than I expected and wanted

I didn't like the love interest (wow shocking everyone who knows me is aware that I don't like any love interest)which brings me to the ending of the story. I found it a bit... ridiculous?Not fitting? Idk *** spoilers****

them creating a "Contemporary witches of Salem" seemed kinda off even if a part of the book mentioned and had to do with the witches of Salem.

Despite all of that, I appreciate that this book sheds light to Ash's story, an intersex person's story, and helps us understand his struggles and wishes and life in general. ALSO really appreciate the fact that he gets rid of his misogynism by the end of the book.

The topics addressed in this book are so important, but the characters are flat and uninteresting. The main character, Ash, is not entirely likeable, even though I know we're supposed to root for him as he comes to understand and deal with his intersex identity. The author doesn't give us enough to feel a connection to Ash, and instead focuses on making his family look so horrible that they become stereotypes. Dad is an abusive alcoholic, mom is weak and willfully blind to her child's medical needs. They've driven Ash's lesbian sister away, which is a convenient plot point because then Ash can track her down when Ash needs a sympathetic ear and a place to stay. There are some characters that help Ash, including a teacher at his new school, and Ash's best friends. But the majority are evil caricatures - the adults in his life who should be helping him, like a judge, his doctors, teachers, etc. - who instead work against him or ignore his concerns.

This book is a quick read and it does address the horrible way intersex individuals are treated. There's a lot of good information about intersex differences and support groups as well. Overall, it's a good read, but it's not one that will stay with you after you put it down.

Almost a 5* tale til the end of the tale, when lots seemed to get skipped.

This book was unputdownable - I devoured it pretty much in a couple of hours.

It's a tale that cannot fail to move the reader, and there's a lot to be angry and sad about, as well as happy about from about 2/3 of the way through, when some people came through for others. That part of the tale was heart-warming and made me smile and sigh in relief, but at the same time, I ended more than a little irritated that the author seemed to truncate the tale for no reason. There was still so much to tell, so many obstacles to be overcome and it felt like a cop out, tbh, and would possibly put me off reading anything from her again - I mean, I'd become vested in not only Ash, but the host of secondary and tertiary characters.

Once again when reading this type of tale where people are 'different' it saddens me that those who're meant to protect and love those under their care do anything but. The parents in this tale weren't worthy of the monikers. Ash had the patience and fortitude of a saint, and that he was able to find his sister who'd been forced away by their parents due to her sexuality, was one of several good old dollops of icing on the cake. That an older fringe character was prepared to take Ash on trust and do the right thing where a mutual loved one was concerned, was even more icing, this time with a cherry on top. The end of the tale promised so much more and I turned over, not necessarily expecting to have a blow-by-blow summary of the remainder of the leads' lives, Jackie Collins style, but at least to know what the outlook looked like for the, only to find that the author unsatisfyingly summarised - actually, truncated - everything and ended the book with me wondering what would happen to the leads. I don't think it was laziness, just that perhaps now that the plight elements of the tale were done and dusted, everything else that came might end up anticlimactic. Up until that point, the tale had been a 5* one, but unfortunately the ending cheated the leads, their allies, their loved ones and all the associated characters I'd been reading about, as well as me, the reader.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group, for my reading pleasure.

An insightful, educational book with a bit of history sprinkled throughout? Count me in.

This book is well-written and very obviously done so by someone who knows what they’re talking about—who has not just learned these hardships but lived them. I found myself feeling actual anger on Ash’s behalf repeatedly throughout. Why can’t we just allow people to be who they are? Why can we not just trust that people know themselves best?

As someone who will never truly understand what it’s like to have your existence or identity denied, I relish reading works written by those who’ve been in the trenches—and those who still are.

It can be frustrating reading about the way some people treat their fellow humans, but the only way to expand your horizons is to open your eyes and ears. On that note, I cannot recommend this book enough.