I think that navigating the world of love is hard for anyone. For Zoe Kelly, a young woman with autism, it's absolutely exhausting.
Just out of high school, Zoe starts to think about dating and romance, realising that all through high school, maybe she missed the signals, so as part of a writing assignment she decides to write about her experiences, only to have a number of people respond...people who had been interested in her. Bravely, she decided to reconnect with them, and see what happens.
This book has all of the elements of a great rom com...only so much better. Zoe lets us into her world, showing us what it is to live with autism, the things that are really hard, and how she deals with them. We even learn how to talk about autism, as Zoe teaches her colleagues the same. This book is both entertaining and education, without feeling like we're being beaten over the head with the message..

I love, love, loved this book! Kay Kerr has done it again. I first fell in love with Kerr's writing with her debut novel Please Don't Hug Me, and this book was just as good. Kerr is able to create wonderfully relalistic characters that have so much heart and personality. Books with Austic characters are so important especially when their portrayal is positive. I loved Zoe's unqiue and quirky personality as she tried to navigate the world of dating.

I can't recommend this book enough!

Kay Kerr's second novel, Social Queue, is an honest and intriguing exploration of romance as a young autistic adult. This novel is full of wonderful characters with such fabulous writing that gets you hooked very quickly! Thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended! Many thanks to NetGalley for an ARC.

Where Peta Lyre's Rating Normal was an Australian novel about a teenaged girl with autism, this is an Australian novel about a college aged girl with autism. Naturally, the two of them remind me of each other, but the content in both is quite different. Almost like, if you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism.

Zoe has just graduated high school and is interning with Bubble as part of the first year of her journalism degree. The environment is amazing, and she's encouraged to speak her mind by the senior staff, even if that isn't the easiest thing for her to do.

When she comes up with an idea to write a piece on the struggles to date for the first time in her late teens, given that she's never been someone others are that interested in, she's encouraged to go ahead with it. This piece gets a bunch of replies from people she knew during high school, and the subsequent write ups form a series that is a little inspired by To All The Boys I Loved Before.

The workload that Zoe is in the middle of from the beginning of this novel seems extremely ambitious. However, there is a reasonable and perhaps expected pay off to this as the novel goes on. The only big downside for me was the very beginning, where it makes clear almost before you've gotten to know any of the characters that Zoe has had a very uncomfortable instance of online stalking that originated from an online dating app. It's even more uncomfortable still because it's written in the way that Zoe doesn't quite understand what's making her feel yuck about it and it's then explained to her by sister Harriet.

I almost put it down right then, but I'm certainly glad I persevered.

Beautifully written book with Autistic Rep…

Autistic representation is important and i feel like we need more books with Autistic main characters…

Social Queue by Kay Kerr follows the main character Zoe who is autistic. I think the way Zoe was written was done perfectly. It really encapsulated what it means to be autistic. . As an autistic person reading I felt like I related to Zoe the whole way through reading this and any other autistic readers would feel the same. I also think readers could learn a thing or two about what it’s like to be autistic. I loved how even though this book heavily focused on her disability at the same time there was an underlying romance which made the book even that more enjoyable.

What a beautiful, fun and insightful read. The characters are delightful, Zoe is Autistic and clueless about dating, What a great representation of what real life Autism can look like. Great read

Zoe has a traineeship with an online media service where she writes an article noting that, due to her autism, not only has she never had a boyfriend, she believes no one has ever even had a crush on her. When five readers dispute this fact, her editor asks her to go on a date with each of her five admirers, writing a column about the experience later.

Even though the idea/trope of going on several dates has been done a fair few times in books, I did find the ones Zoe went on in Social Queue quite unique and some outcomes were a little surprising and unexpected. I also thought the romantic pairing at the end was nicely done.

I enjoyed the setting – one of my old stomping grounds, Brisbane. I now have the urge to jump on a City Cat and head for New Farm for icecream.

However, Zoe’s age didn’t really work for me. There were several references to her high school days where she was bullied, had her own crush, and excelled academically despite her miserable social life. Many times Zoe thought about how those years were long gone and way behind her and a distant memory etc etc etc. But Zoe was 18. So… As my daughter is 18 and still in school (albeit year 12), at the most Zoe would have been out of school for six months. I think Kerr should have changed Zoe’s age to her 20s at least.

Social Queue is a very worthy read when it comes to learning how to treat autistic people. Zoe’s traineeship allows her to interact with other (older) journalists whom she schools on the correct and most inoffensive language to use when writing about (or addressing) people with disabilities. My dilemma here was I felt I was sometimes constantly reading a very worthy read and I was never allowed to relax and just enjoy it as a cute romcom.

The book is definitely aimed at readers younger than myself, so it might work a little more if you are in that new/young adult target audience.

3 ½ stars

I should have known I would like this book because I really enjoyed Please Don’t Hug Me but I’m happy to admit I underestimated just how important this story is. Young people need to see themselves represented in what they read and watch and books like this are a wonderful addition to any Australian young adult collection.

Sure it’s a rom com with some great commentary on online dating but it’s also a really insightful look into misrepresentation of neurodiverse and disabled people in the media and the effects of bullying.

Zoe, the main protagonist, is such a gorgeous character and I felt every bump in the road she walked right along side her.

Get your hands on this book you won’t regret it.

Thanks to @text_publishing for allowing me to read this book via @netgalley

Zoe is an 18 year old autistic woman in her first year of University, and kicking off an internship with an online publication. After an article about her experience dipping her toes in the world of dating apps, she is given the chance to write a series exploring the signs that people had been interested in her in the past. Zoe throws herself into the challenge to find out if these people are poking fun, or had she really missed the signs.

I have to say wow. A small word with a large sentiment. I have never felt so seen or connected when reading a novel before. As an autistic reader there are often elements to connect to, but many stories are off when it comes to identifying language, the internal systems for coping. This book gave language of disability serious consideration, approaching it from a place of respect rather than political correctness.

I would absolutely recommend this young adult novel far and wide. I sat thinking for hours after I finished it, and had to stop myself from going back to the start and reading it all over again.

I loved this Australian voice and will be waiting impatiently for whatever comes next from Kay Kerr (as well as tracking down a copy of her first book - don't hug me)

This is a very positive and wholesome book that will certainly appeal to younger readers. I found it a bit too vanilla and would have preferred a bit more from the characters/story (depth-wise).

This book is absolutely exquisite and one of my all time favourites. I could not love Kay Kerr and her writing more!! I went into Social Queue with high expectations and I was not let down. This book was a total five star read for me.
There are so many elements to gush over but I think the most important two are the autistic representation and the brilliant storytelling.
I love the way the Kay develops her characters and celebrates autistic representation. I have never seen myself more accurately represented in a book and it was such a validating experience to see a three-dimensional autistic character who is the absolute hero and protagonist of their story rather than the two-dimensional side characters who I am used to seeing. She does so much for autistic representation and dismantling ableism that I hope she has many more books to come.
Her storytelling is also exquisite. This was exactly what I wanted it to be - warm, cosy and comforting. But Kay is also willing to face the darker aspects of a story even if she didn't intend to or doesn't delve too deeply. Absolutely perfect. Her calling out of the red flags some characters were giving off and her discussion of ableist language and the representation of disabled people in the media seemed effortless, powerful and honest. One of my favourite things about Kay is that she can explore these larger issues without preaching or dictating to her audiences. They are a natural part of the characters world but also something the character can evaluate and really open the discussions for readers to have outside the book.
She is an absolute treasure and so is Social Queue.

Why I read it: I was provided with a review copy by the publisher. The book is currently only available in/from Australia and New Zealand.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) ‘I thought I was nobody’s teen crush, but turns out I was just missing the signs.’

Zoe Kelly is starting a new phase of her life. High school was a mess of bullying and autistic masking that left her burnt out and shut down. Now, with an internship at an online media company—the first step on the road to her dream writing career—she is ready to reinvent herself. But she didn’t count on returning to her awkward and all-too-recent high-school experiences for her first writing assignment.

When her piece, about her non-existent dating life, goes viral, eighteen-year-old Zoe is overwhelmed and more than a little surprised by the response. But, with a deadline and a list of romantic contenders from the past to reconnect with for her piece on dating, she is hoping one of her old sparks will turn into a new flame.

Social Queue is a funny and heart-warming autistic story about deciphering the confusing signals of attraction and navigating a path to love.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I don’t read a lot of YA – let’s face it, I’m in it for the romance. Zoe is 18 and so technically an adult but the book is very much a YA, not least because while there is a romance with a hopeful HFN ending, the main story is of Zoe’s own self-discovery and coming of age.

In her first year of university studying journalism, she wins one of three coveted four-week internships at “Bubble” an online media outlet which seemed something like a small Buzzfeed, based in her hometown of Brisbane. She’s also recently dipped her toe into the murky waters of online dating (something I have no experience with because I’m old and married) and it hasn’t gone so well. So she pitches an article for Bubble about her experiences as an autistic young woman navigating the apps. After the first article goes live, there are a five comments which seem to indicate that she’d missed prior signs from people she’d gone to school or worked a part time job with and that spurs a series where Zoe gets in contact with each of the five to find out what she missed and see if there’s a spark of something now.

Romance readers will not be surprised by who the eventual HFN is with but I will not name names here.

Zoe’s autism is front and centre in the book. At times it is somewhat didactic as she coaches one of her colleagues to stop using ableist language in her articles – this didn’t bother me at all as it fit the story and was presented more about how Zoe felt about it than as a lesson, but mostly it is about her own experience of the world. Zoe sometimes struggles to read social queues, prefers the feel of certain fabrics on her skin and hates the feel of others, has coordination and balance issues and needs a lot of quiet/alone time to recharge after the kinds of mental effort needed to put herself forward at Bubble and interact in some challenging circumstances. She can be easily overwhelmed at times and will shut down. She’s also smart, creative and ambitious. Sometimes those things don’t quite go together very well but Zoe finds a way to make it work for her.

I don’t make the mistake of thinking that Zoe’s experience of autism is universal (indeed an author’s note at the end of the book says as much) but it does give me comfort that the author is autistic herself and therefore the representation is authentic. My own experience of various neurodiverse people, young and not-so-young, rings true with Zoe in some ways and not in others (but none of the autistic people I know are identical so I wouldn’t expect otherwise).

From a social/dating perspective Zoe was, to say the least, inexperienced, – although 18 is not very old of course. But she hasn’t been on a date or flirted really yet and a lot of young people start earlier than she does. So it made sense that Zoe makes some missteps along the way. I appreciated that she took responsibility for her actions and did not seek to make excuses for herself, rather promising to learn and do better. I suppose I’d have liked her to be more specific and a little more sensitive in her apology to the person she wronged but she did face him and say sorry. I felt a bit sorry for him and I also liked him – I wonder if he will get his own story one day? (Would read.)

The story is told entirely from Zoe’s first person perspective and at times she paints a vivid word picture, such as here when she’s talking about her dad:

He bellows from the entryway and he is waving to me with his whole body, like a human labrador. ‘Morning, Z!’

I liked the depiction of loving but somewhat messy family relationships and friendships. I was a bit worried about Ariana (Zoe’s BFF who is on a gap year in London during the course of the story) at times – there felt to me like there were things unrevealed there. Some of the broader story felt a bit surface level and broad brush though.

There was one place I was very worried about Zoe as one of the five is a Very Not Nice Guy and I’d have liked a bit more comfort that Zoe had a plan in case of a repeat in the future. I understood her reactions in the moment and she is not responsible for someone else’s behaviours but she’s also at least a little more vulnerable to a certain kind of coercion and I’d have liked her to had had some coaching maybe on what to do if a similar situation arose. (Particularly for a woman (as we all know) even though she may do nothing wrong, she may end up the victim of something and because there are awful people around who will take advantage or worse, women (unfortunately) need to have strategies in place to protect themselves. It’s not about fault, it’s about impact.)

In many ways I related to Zoe – but this particularly resonated with me:

There is nothing more nonsensical to me than being mean to someone you like. I’ve never liked ‘enemies to lovers’ as a romance trope, not if the ‘enemies’ part includes actual hurtful experiences.

I liked that the book in no way celebrated the idea of it being okay for a boy to “pull the pigtails” of a girl at school to get her attention because he “likes” her.

Ultimately, in exploring the dating scene via her articles, Zoe learns about herself, including some things she’d never even considered before and steps up to take what she wants. And she resolves some old pain and misunderstanding in ways that validate her self-worth and acknowledge that she was not at fault for not realising the subtext. (I hear you Zoe – I’m not big on subtext either.)

What else? There was brief mention of the pandemic but I guess it was anticipated it would be over by the time the book was out and things like gap years would again be possible so I had to do some mental gymnastics around that. How to address Covid in fiction is going to be a thing for a while I guess because incorporating something which is such a movable feast seems fraught.

The romance was very sweet. I could have used a little more of it but that wasn’t the story the book was telling so I can’t be too bent out of shape about it. It’s not explicit but there’s plenty of “signs” that romance readers can be happy about and a rather delightful declaration near the end there.

Like Zoe’s favourite Netflix movie To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Social Queue would make a charming film – Zoe is both endearing and prickly, kind and clueless in that way that feels real and entirely relatable and it’s written fairly episodically and framed around five or six “dates” – perfect for adaptation to the screen really, so Netflix, if you’re reading this…?
Grade: B

The story is incredible, witty, funny, relatable, and is something that lives inside of my heart now.

There is something to be said for a book that can make me cry. And this one made me cry 5 times. Not just because I related to so many aspects of this book, but because it also gave me hope, too.

Zoe, our wonderful and autistic main character, was such a joy to read about. Reading about her journey through online dating and writing about it for Bubble as well had me hooked.

I don’t want to spoil the book by saying anything more, but this will be yet another #LoveOzYA book that I will be recommending at every single chance like it’s my sole personality trait.

𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕀 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕓𝕠𝕕𝕪’𝕤 𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕔𝕣𝕦𝕤𝕙, 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕟𝕤 𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕀 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕛𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕞𝕚𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕚𝕘𝕟𝕤.
Title: Social Queue
Author: Kay Kerr
Genre: Contemporary, YA, Romance, Neurodiversity
Rating:

Thank you to Text Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange of my honest opinion


What I liked:
representation= this book was filled with amazing representation not only about people living with autism but also ones who are living with physical disabilities as well. the main character Zoe is autistic and whilst this does

Loveable characters: this book was filled with many loveable characters such as Zoe and Gabe who made this book even more engaging to read. I also enjoyed reading about Zoe’s relationships with all of the different people in her lives and how much they had an impact on her day to day life.

Relatable: this book was extremely relatable although I am not autistic, I could still relate deeply to how Zoe was feeling and her struggles with growing up and finding herself.

Articles: I loved reading Zoe’s articles as they made the reading experience more enjoyable and offered a different insight into Zoe’s mind.

Length: this book was the perfect length and therefore made for a great quick and easy read all whilst not making it any less enjoyable.

Writing style: I really enjoyed Kerr’s writing style and the words flowed easily off the pages.



What I didn’t like:
There was nothing that I didn’t particularly dislike however I thought that Maia’s articles on people with disabilities could have been fleshed out more and I would have liked to have seen what Maia ended up doing with these articles. I would have also liked to have seen Maia make more progress with these articles as she tended to make the same mistakes when addressing people with disabilities.



I recommend this book for fans of Kay Kerr’s other book Please Don’t Hug Me and for fans of good light hearted books.

Ps how cute is this book cover?

This was such a heart warming and fun read. It definitely delivered what the synopsis sold.

I loved Zoe’s character and found it easy to root for her. I can quite easily get bored with monologues but I found Zoe’s thoughts pretty fun to follow. She was a refreshing and quirky character.

Zoe’s relationships with the people around her (beyond romance) was a delight to read. I loved getting to know her sister. I didn’t enjoy the romance as much as I had expected. It’s not to say, I didn’t like it, I just wasn’t that invested in. However, that didn’t diminish my enjoyment for the story, I still cared a lot about where Zoe’s story went.

I was really happy with how the social anxiety portion of this story was handled. It felt honest and authentic. Personally, this was such an insightful read. I haven’t read a young adult book with autism rep (mc) before, so I’m glad we’re getting more neurodiversity.

I really liked the writing style. It was easy to read and enjoy. There was a great balance of dialogue and monologue. There were some moments that tugged at my heart strings and did make me emotional. They were probably some of my favourites.

If you’re looking for a refreshing coming of age story that tugs at the heart, I highly recommend this one.

This was just such a delight to read, it was honest and insightful, funny and romantic, and utterly captivating!
I loved reading Zoe’s articles - her voice felt so authentic and real. I haven’t read a lot of books with autistic characters, but I’ll definitely be looking out for more, especially if they’re own voices, like this one is.
I also really enjoyed the glimpses into the other characters and their relationships with Zoe, especially her family. And Peaches the cat? Perfection.
This was such a wonderful book, I can’t wait to read more from Kay Kerr!

Social Queue is a stand out, coming of age novel which will resonate with many. The book follows the journey of Zoe, an eighteen year old on the spectrum, through some of the highs and lows of her social interactions with past acquaintances over a short period of time. Told in first person, it is heart warming reading experience and makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside once you turn those final pages.

Blurb:
'I thought I was nobody’s teen crush, but turns out I was just missing the signs.'
Zoe Kelly is starting a new phase of her life. High school was a mess of bullying and autistic masking that left her burnt out and shut down. Now, with an internship at an online media company—the first step on the road to her dream writing career—she is ready to reinvent herself. But she didn’t count on returning to her awkward and all-too-recent high-school experiences for her first writing assignment. When her piece, about her non-existent dating life, goes viral, eighteen-year-old Zoe is overwhelmed and more than a little surprised by the response. But, with a deadline and a list of romantic contenders from the past to reconnect with for her piece on dating, she is hoping one of her old sparks will turn into a new flame.

I flew through this book in a couple of hours. The writing, while simple and easy to read, had me hooked and wanting to find out what was going to happen next. While some of the events were predictable, Kerr made them exciting and the way Zoe reacted was often unpredictable (a trait of being on the spectrum). Many of the YA books are focused on teenagers in the final year of school and how they learn to cope. It was refreshing to read a book that was set after the protagonist had completed their schooling, learning how to navigate the challenges of the ‘real’ world. Delving into the world of journalism was a hit as well, as this is something that has always piqued my interest.

The emphasis of this book was on the characters, and they did not disappoint. Each character had their own clear personality traits and could easily be distinguished from one another. Zoe was an extremely relatable protagonist, attempting to shed the awkwardness of high school with her writing while trying to find herself in the process. The concept of meeting up with love interest from high school was interesting, and watching Zoe and her interactions with them made for both some laugh out louds and some oooing and ahhing. Each of the ‘love interests’ from the high school days were entertaining in their own right, each suitor being completely different. Zoe’s family were loveable and while they did not feature a huge amount, still had great impact. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Zoe’s growth over the course of the text, and how much she learnt about herself along the way.
As a twenty something year old on the spectrum, I found this own voices text to be very relatable. There are not many authors who are able to write about disabilities in an authentic way, many overrepresenting it or completely missing what the experience is like. The representation of anxiety in situations out of her comfort zone and the somewhat unusual reactions are a first hand experience of mine. This text doesn’t shy away from the realities of living with ASD, bringing them into the light and providing an insight into what life is like for those living with it. It is a part of your being, and not something separate.
Social Queue is a breath of fresh air in the Australian young adult scene. It provides readers with a realistic protagonist, who faces the overwhelming task of believing in herself with some interesting experiences along the way. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a book that will make them laugh and cry along the way.
Social Queue is released in Australia on the 28th of September

"'Thanks so much, Zoe. I feel like every newsroom should have, you know, someone with firsthand experience on staff.'
'A disabled writer, you mean?' I ask.
'Is that what you'd call yourself? Not "differently abled"?' She says all of this in a half-whisper, as though she is swearing and doesn't want everyone to hear. It takes me by surprise, but then again it absolutely doesn't.
'No, there's no need for euphemisms. "Disabled" isn't a dirty word,' I say.
'Of course not,' she replies, averting her eyes.
I try not to be irritated by her reluctance to use the word disabled. I fail.'

CW ableism, restraints, police violence

Zoe starts an internship with news org Bubble, and writes an article about her experience (or lack thereof) with romance and autism and how no one has ever crushed on her. But the comments blow up and five people from her past declare their previous feelings, and so she reconnects with these people to learn about communication and, more importantly, herself.

This was a brilliant book. I went into it without expectations, and there were so many moments that were either hard-hitting or that I resonated with. I started typing them all out and ran out of characters, so I think I'm going to have to go through this with a highlighter for my own sake.

I didn't know this was romance (no expectations!) and while that's usually not my jam, I did like how Kerr gave agency and the power of being a protagonist to an autistic girl, someone from such an underrepresented demographic. Women with disabilities are so often robbed of agency or assumed to not be sexual, and women with autism are underdiagnosed and excluded from the cultural narrative.

(This book will be in my disability highlights as that's how the character identifies. Not all autistic people do though)

Out on the 28th of Sept. Thank you so much @text_publishing and @netgalley

This was such a great book! Really charming and funny, I loved Zoe as a main character, and she felt very authentic to me. I could imagine myself and my friends thinking and saying the things that happened throughout the story. Diversity of representation is extremely important in literature, and having an autistic main character, written by an autistic author is so fantastic. This book can teach us a lot about inclusivity and ableism, about the work we all should be doing to make the world better. It makes my heart cheer (and shed a little happy tear) to think about putting this book in the hands of readers that will love it, and that young people that might not usually see themselves on the page will find a mirror in this book.

This had all the elements of a great rom com - plenty of hijinks, humour and swoony feelings. So fab!

"The sensation sends shivers down my arms. It's like sinking into a warm bath on a cold evening. It is the smell of lavender when you water it in the sun. It is Peaches purring on my heart, only it is my heart doing the purring."

Social Queue is a charming and touching coming-of-age story for fans of Sophie Gonzales. Our protagonist is Zoe, an 18-year-old autistic writer doing an internship at an online media company. When her article on her non-existent love life goes viral, Zoe reconnects with past acquaintances to see if she previously missed the signs and if love was waiting for her after all.

First, when I saw a quote from Helen Hoang on the front cover, I knew I was in for a great read and I was correct!

Zoe is such an endearing and relatable character - I instantly felt a connection to her and her dating woes. I also loved her complex personality and how she told senior staff in the office what words and angles to use in their disability-angled articles. This book definitely shines a light on the challenges and prejudices autistic and disabled people face daily.

Other things I liked about Social Queue: the Brisbane setting (one of my old stomping grounds), her family (they're the BEST) and Kerr's fun and honest writing style. It will 100% captivate you and you'll struggle to put this book down.

I highly recommend Social Queue to fellow YA enthusiasts.

Thank you to Text Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for this honest review.

(This is an #OwnVoices novel for its portrayal of autism by an autistic author).