Rating: 2.5

Unfortunately, I did something that I don't usually do and decided to DNF this book. While I was immediately attracted to the title and storyline, the actual written story was lacking and the characters didn't carry any depth. As someone who gets hooked to a book based on character growth, development, and individuality - I did not feel that in this one. After reading for a good chunk, I realized that I would rather be reading anything else. Another aspect that I am taking into consideration is perhaps this book is not the best fit for what I generally like. While I tend to love YA - I have found that I am drawn to older YA rather than teen YA. This to me feels very teen YA and so not the best fit. Based on other ratings, it seems that there are many others who love this book and I hope that there are many more who do!

Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster, by Andrea Mosqueda, follows Maggie Gonzalez, a bisexual girl who has to pick a date for her sister's quinceñera, but is torn as she finds herself having feelings for three of her friends- Matthew (her ex-boyfriend), Amanda (her best friend), and Dani (the new, mysterious girl in the friend group). Throughout the book, she struggles to sort through her feelings for all through of them through a photography project for her art class.

I did really like Maggie as a protagonist. She was relatable (most of the time), even if she made so many bad decisions that it was a little painful to read sometimes. In addition to her indecision over her various crushes, she's also worrying about her future; she's a junior in high school, and had long been telling people that she wants to go to NYU for college, but now is doubting that dream due to the cost and the distance from home. She's particularly concerned with how this will affect her relationship with her best friend, Amanda, whose dream school is Columbia, and for whom New York is a shared dream for the pair of them. Maggie loves photography, and wants to be a touring band photographer for a career, which was honestly one of the more interesting aspects of her character.

Frankly, I couldn't get myself invested in the various love interests. If there were any that I shipped with Maggie, it would have to be Amanda, who has easily the most developed and interesting personality. Matthew's main personality traits are daddy issues and a temper, while Dani is just a walking queer girl stereotype with no real personality. If I'd liked the love interests more, the love square wouldn't have wore on me as much, but I really just couldn't see what Maggie saw in any of them.

I did really enjoy Maggie's relationship with her family; her mother and sisters are easily the most interesting secondary characters in the book, but they don't get as much development and page time as I would have hoped. I'd honestly be interested in reading a separate book about either of the sisters.

It's been a few weeks since I finished the book, and I'm still not really sure how I feel about the bisexuality rep in it. On the one hand, I appreciate all of the other characters' easy acceptance of it. I really enjoyed the way that the book discusses the way the aspect of the straight girl/queer girl friendship dynamic where the straight girl can often seem to be flirting with the queer girl, and how that's something that both parties need to be aware of. I'm not wording it terribly well, but it is something that I very rarely see being discussed in books, so that was very much appreciated on my part.

On the other hand, I don't love the idea of the book perpetuating the idea that being torn between three people is some sort of unique bisexual thing, since it felt to me like it was perpetuating the idea that all bi people are sluts; there are hundreds of books featuring straight girls torn between more than one guy, so why does the fact that this girl happens to be bisexual make it a bi thing? Additionally, it had a very stereotyped view of queer culture. It felt like basically every aspect of Maggie and Dani's personalities revolved around a very uniform view of lesbian culture, which I didn't love (again with the perpetuating stereotypes thing).

Overall, I did enjoy Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster. I really appreciated the casual bisexual representation, and the story itself is fun and engaging; it's mostly just in the character dynamics that I found myself not enjoying the book. Overall, I'm giving it 4 stars, and would recommend it to any fan of contemporary YA books whose looking for some queer rep or complicated love-square dynamics.

This book perfectly speaks to messy teenage romance and feelings, and navigating friendship and romance, especially when the person you think you like is also your best friend. Maggie is such a fantastic protagonist, and I loved being a part of her journey of figuring out who she likes and wants to take to her sister’s Quince.

Maggie’s younger sister is getting ready for her quinceñera and as one of her damas, Maggie needs to figure out who she wants to take as her date. Her ex-boyfriend-returned-to-friend Matthew seems to be sending her mixed, confused signals on whether he likes her and wants to try again, further complicated by the fact he’s got a new girlfriend. Her best friend was one of her first crushes that she thinks she’s moved on from because Amanda is straight, but what if the touches and hugs between them mean more than Maggie initially thinks? And then there’s Dani, a girl who just moved to town and has her own baggage with past relationships and less-than-stellar reactions to work through. In order to figure out who Maggie actually likes, she decides for her art project to do a series of photographs on a private finsta with captions to navigate her emotions in a way she’s used to understanding the world.

This book is truly such a delight and gave me so many feelings while reading it. I related very much to Maggie working through her feelings and trying to figure out whether her feelings for her best friend are platonic or romantic. The complicated, messy friendships were so relatable and such a highlight of this book. I also loved Maggie’s relationships with her sisters Veronica and Alyssa, as well her mom and Veronica’s boyfriend CJ. Seeing all the different relationships and how much love there is for family and community was so well balanced and perfectly told this story. I truly just loved this book and cannot wait for more people to fall in love with Maggie’s journey.

(Full review will be posted at links May 20, 2022)

Plot--

Maggie’s life is a slight mess. With her younger sister’s quinceñera looming overhead, Maggie is on the hunt for the perfect escort. The problem is that Maggie is a romantic disaster with a crush on not one, not two, but three different people. As if that weren’t enough, she’s also struggling with the uncertainty of her future as most teenagers do in high school. Where is her life going and what does that mean for each of these potential relationships? I felt all of that anxiety and worry compiled on top of her romance issues.

In an effort to work through her feelings, and nail her art class project, she decides to create a private Instagram with photos of her three crushes. But the further she delves into the project, the more confused and chaotic things get. A bisexual disaster, indeed!

Characters--

Maggie. Maggie’s character is well-written and believable. I think Mosqueda did a good job of developing a teenager who is full of self-doubt and self-discovery. Maggie is painfully aware that she’s a bisexual cliche and she’s trying to find a way to feel comfortable taking up space and being true to who she is. Despite her flaws and her mistakes, you still find yourself rooting for Maggie and wanting everything to work out for her. I think it’s difficult to build characters like Maggie without making them annoying, but the author did a good job of writing a compelling character who has a lot more to learn and work through.

Amanda. Amanda is Maggie’s first ever secret crush… and her very best friend. What I love about this character and relationship is that I think a lot of bisexual people are going to know exactly how this feels. When you’re young and discovering that you’re bisexual, platonic same sex friendships can get confusing. You start wondering if you’re actually platonic friends with the person or if you’re interested in something more. Maggie has been reading some mixed signals from her best friend lately and they’ve got Maggie thinking that a romantic relationship with Amanda might actually be pursuable after all this time.

Matthew. Matthew is Maggie’s ex-boyfriend, twice over. Her relationship with Matthew is another messy aspect of Maggie’s life. The two are attempting to be friends and have a long history with each other, but their conversations often turn flirty even as they try to pursue other relationships. It’s another question of how to have platonic friendships and the difference between a romantic relationship and a platonic one.

Dani. Dani is the new girl and Maggie doesn’t know her very well, but she is interested. Dani has piercings, wears converse shoes with dresses, and is more than welcome in Maggie’s circle of misfit friends. Dani is shrouded in the mystery of her own emotional baggage. Whereas Matthew and Amanda are people who have been in Maggie’s life forever, she sees Dani as a potential fresh start without the binds of history attached.

Other characters. This book has a ton of supporting characters- supporting literally, as they always stand by Maggie’s side regardless of any mistakes she makes. Jordan is Maggie’s best guy friend since first grade. Veronica and Alyssa are her sisters. All three of them are great for Maggie because they allow her to make the mistakes she needs to make in life, but they’re there to offer guidance and perspective when she needs it.

No Spoilers Review--

First and foremost, the bisexual main character in this book actually has interest in more than one gender. Yes, I know. I’ll give you a minute to process that. Because as someone who actively seeks out bisexual book characters, 95% of the time the bisexual character has previously dated the opposite sex and now they’re dating the same sex for the first time and coming to terms with that.

Now, make no mistake, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. But, I want to read characters that have active interest in both the same sex and the opposite sex because that’s my bisexual experience. It just feels so great to see that unapologetically represented here. Big kudos to Mosqueda.

Overall, this book is around a 3.5 out of 5 for me which is rounded up on Goodreads because you can’t do half stars there. 🙂 I thought the book was a fun hot mess to read, and I really enjoyed the development of the characters throughout the story. There’s a lot of raw emotion in this book, which isn’t necessarily the norm for a YA romance type book. The characters in this book are so imperfect that it makes them feel more realistic and relatable.

At the same time, I was disappointed with some aspects of this book. There are parts of the book that should have had more time dedicated to them where it feels like important developmental parts are skimmed over. Then on the other hand there are parts that are so thoroughly written that it starts getting really boring and repetitive. There were a lot of references to pop culture in this book, like, to the extent that it kept me from being fully immersed in the story. I loved the band references at first, but it started feeling like things were just being name dropped for effect very quickly. There are also some really cringe moments that go above and beyond normal teenage cringe.

I kind of went back and forth on whether this rating should be bumped down to 3 stars or bumped up to 4 stars. I decided to bump it up to 4 stars because I do think the teenage audience will find something special here in the struggles of Maggie and determining what makes a relationship platonic vs. romantic. I think there’s a good message here.

This advanced reader’s copy was provided by NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed how real the characters in this story felt. I'm excited to share this book with my students.

4.5 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Fierce Reads for an arc of this book.

Maggie is a mess. She's a little upset that she feels like such a bisexual stereotype, but she knows that people can be a little messy. In an attempt to understand herself better, Maggie creates a private instagram to post photography of the three people she might have feelings for so she can hopefully figure her crap out--and ace her art project. Everything gets--messy. Will she be able to sort herself out in time for her sister's quince?

This was so fun and refreshing and wild and I really loved it. Maggie is a great character! I often feel like a disaster pan/queer, and I really related to a lot of the struggles she was having throughout the book. I also really liked her friends, sisters, and other supporting cast! Maggie's photography was such an interesting feature and it felt like she was a real person that I was really rooting for throughout the book.

She definitely messed up at times, but I thought the deep-talks with her friends to really figure out what was going on were super satisfying and really showed the two sides that need to take responsibility in most arguments. Yes, Maggie was messy, but hey, all people are, and that was a great theme of this book.

I loved it! Such a fun read!

Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, and Biphobia
Minor: Pregnancy, Police brutality, Gun violence, and Drug use

I think that my more mature readers will really enjoy this story. I am always looking to add representation to my classroom library and this novel certainly has that. I will be looking into a copy for my library!

Maggie is a girl torn between feelings for three separate people- 1. Her extra boyfriend Matthew 2. Her bff Amanda and 3. The new girl Dani
Maggie decides to use her feelings and thoughts about the three of them in a project for school to help her work through her feelings. And although it helps her to come to a decision, once three of them find out about the project, everything goes haywire.
I appreciated the representation, as there do not seem to be a lot of YA books that have bisexual characters in them.

I got this eARC from NetGalley and these opinions are my own. I enjoyed this book though it was a little slow for me at times. Maggie had to pick a date for her sisters Quince but the problem is she doesn’t know who to choose. There’s her ex boyfriend who she stills has a connection who, her best friend who she’s had a secret crush on forever, and the new girl who’s a mystery! She gets the idea to do an art project in which she posts things about the three on instagram allowing her to work through he feelings without having to discuss it with the three people. Will she be able to sort through her feelings? What happens if they find out about Maggie’s project? I really enjoyed Maggie and felt her struggles with trying to sort through her feelings were so relatable! And it ended the way I wanted it to! This was a good read and I’d definitely recommend it!

I get that this’s YA but most sentences use 20 words when they could use 10 if they used less redundant adjectives and less kiddy verbs. This inflates page count fast on top of naming streets and last names we don’t need to know. The humor is two-bit, also over-explained. Ex. “yikes my dude” to a breakup is gross. The cursing is spot-on for teens though.

Too many characters with too similar names is confusing. It’s unfortunate how tropey it is for a bi/queer characters to be interested in photography though it’s cool it’s for bands. I like the alt rock scene though the bands mentioned are very dated so it’s off to hear Instagram mentioned so much alongside them. Additionally, it’s a nice change of pace the MC cares about her grades so much, unlike most protagonists.

JUST YOUR LOCAL BISEXUAL DISASTER by Andrea Mosqueda is so engaging. From page one, I felt like I was in the car with members of my own family, especially as they were discussing quinceañera dresses and the sisters were squabbling in the back. I was hooked. The main character's voice is also very strong; this book earns its description as "voice-driven YA." Maggie's friend group feels very real and complicated, which is perfect for their age, and the representation of body types and dress styles is also refreshing. I'll be recommending this to students for many reasons, including Maggie as a bisexual Latinx photographer and the vivid friend group as well as a strong, believable, imperfect family.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC!
3.5 stars
This was a great coming of age book and it tells us it’s okay to be messy and confused. I think it was a great book but there were too many gen z references that made me drop a star.

Landing somewhere around 3.5 stars, this book was kinda a mixed bag for me! I really enjoyed the messy bisexual representation and the storytelling, but I found the writing to be lacking in places and entirely too much in others, leaving me skimming through some scenes.

I really liked the main character, and found her to be a really unique protagonist compared to most YA contemporaries. Aspects of her personality were extemely accurate to the average Gen-Z kid and little aspects of her like the fact that she's a stoner made her feel much more real than other YA protagonists I've read about. I thought her relationships for Amanda (her best friend) and Matthew (her ex boyfriend) were really well developed. This makes sense give Maggie has known Amanda and Matthew for much longer than she knew Dani, the third love interest, but I found that I didn't really feel connected to her and Dani's relationship at all because it felt underdeveloped and lacking chemistry.

I was really enjoying the book as I went along, and then out of nowhere would come a SUPER clingy pop culture reference that really wouldn't fit the vibe of the story. Stuff like the main character calling herself "emo trash" and a conversation between Maggie and Dani where they come out to each other and proceed to do the whole... Girl in Red listener lesbian and flannel with cuffed jeans bisexual thing which was just... really something. These moments were pretty minimal, but evoked such a visceral reaction of cringe inside me that I could feel my star rating decreasing every time it happened.

I also think the book could use a bit of editing down in places with different details (fleshing out her relationship with her parents and Dani for example) being expanded upon. By the end of the book I felt like I was really just skimming to get to the end because I was a bit sick of reading the book. I think with about 10K words less this book would be a lot more grabbing and pleasant to read!

Overall, this book was mostly fun to read and I loved some of the relationships represented, However, other times the book really fell into YA cliches and a lack of development that could keep me engaged. I would recommend this to people who read a lot, but probably wouldn't recommend it to casual readers as there are better books out there.

I'll be honest, I requested the arc without even reading the synopsis. I just loved the title so much I felt I needed to read it.

And turns out I did, but not because it was fun or hilarious. Which it was, but I enjoyed it for a completely different reason. I loved how the characters felt so raw. Figuring out the difference between platonic, romantic, and sexual feelings for someone is a confusing and essential part of the queer teenage experience that doesn't get talked about enough.

I honestly felt that Maggie had a lot more maturing to do before she made a final decision to be with Dani. But her relationship with her best friend, Amanda, was handled very well. Their conflict ended with healthy communication in a way that felt organic and realistic to how teenagers act, especially with their specific characterizations. Mathew and Maggie are able to move on from their breakup in a way I wanted to root for. Their friendship needed work to be put into it after their breakup in order for them to stay in each other's lives, and I was so happy to see they put in the effort. My only problem is that I wish she would have taken more time for herself before jumping into a new relationship.

I really related to Dani. I saw my flaws in her, and just as I recognize I need to work on them regardless of how hard it can be, so does she. She was easily my favorite character. Something that I really liked that is often done wrong in teen books is character's growth and personalities and changed just to fit the plot the author wants them to go. But honestly it didn't feel like the author was pushing for something, their personalities and depth made every plot point feel like organic human reactions.

I feel this is a story older teens will need. Teen in (or entering) that stage of high school where you know adulthood is approaching and you feel a pressure to both make adult decisions but embrace your last chance to be a kid. I really enjoyed this book and I think many other people will as well.

I really didn't love this book. The characters aren't very likeable and the plot just isn't interesting. I struggled to get through it. I didn't like the writing either. I was disappointed because I was excited for a bisexual main character of color, but it just didn't work for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The minute I saw this book’s title, I knew I had to read it, and I am so glad I did. This book was a very fun ride that made me extremely nostalgic for my own teenage bisexual disaster emo punk days.

The characters were fun and relatable, and the story, while at times predictable, was still a good time. I’m definitely going to need a copy of this one on my personal bookshelf!

This book was so good. I wish I had it when I was younger. I loved the art and music scene. The friendship in this book is very realistic and I related to Maggie so much. Some parts of the story was slow but didn't take away from the story. Definitely would recommend.

Personally I felt that the writing was so juvenile and informal that it is not a book I would necessarily recommend (the main character at one point says she "feels like a fuckboi"). The characters all get thrown at you at the beginning with little development and so I had no reason to care about what happened to them. However, as a teen librarian, I would still buy this title for my library because I think it would appeal to teens with the gripping title and cover. I just personally didn't feel like there was any literary merit to it.

Thank you, Feiwel & Friends, for allowing me to read Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster early!

The first thing the hit me about this book was the fact that the word "bisexual" is in the title. I'm pleasantly excited about having the chance to share such a vibrant title with students who are bisexual and who can see through this book their lived experience represented, at least partially. Andrea Mosqueda is a fantastic debut writer and her words enthralled me since the very beginning. I loved reading this book and seeing Maggie navigate her feelings, both new and old.

Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster will touch your heart in more ways than one. I felt seen, I felt represented, and I felt touched on every single page of this book. Andrea Mosqueda took my heart and broke it into a thousand pieces, and then stitched them all back together. If there was one book I would die for, it would be Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster.

Characters -
Mosqueda allowed her characters to make mistakes. In their development, she made them imperfectly perfect. Magdalena, or “Maggie,” is the main character, and she is put through quite a bit of emotional turmoil and tough decisions. It was clear that Mosqueda did what she could to get across that Maggie is a teenager, and teenagers make decisions that seem silly or stupid. Teenagers are stubborn, too, and Maggie was. I loved that Mosqueda was obvious in how much she pushed through Maggie to teach readers that mistakes are inevitable–it’s how you fix and make up for them that determines your outcome.

When it came to the side characters, I loved them just as much. Alyssa and Veronica were the sisters I never had, the sisters I wish I had in my life. They were by Maggie’s side, even when she was at fault, and they pushed her to be a better person. They contributed so much to the story that, without them involved, I feel like this book wouldn’t have been what it is.

Matthew was a bit difficult for me to like, and for good reason. He’s Maggie’s ex-boyfriend, so I feel like that’s a bit explainable in and of itself. But he’s a messy character. He has a lot of flaws, and he’s starting to realize it. He leaned on Maggie as a friend, even when he reminisced on them as a pair. I especially adored his development, even when I thought he was a horrible match-up for Maggie.

And Amanda was the person I easily pictured her to be. Amanda is Maggie’s best friend, but she’s given our main character so many signals that she might not be as straight as she’s claimed to be. Her character was one I could easily picture in people I’d previously had in my life–ones who were still learning what the difference between loving someone as a friend and loving someone as a significant other was all about.

And then there was Dani. Dani who was hurt in the past, Dani who was scared to open up to something new, Dani who knew she had a problem she needed to work on but was still stuck in a bad habit. Dani who I rooted so much for and was happy to see get the development I knew Mosqueda would deliver. Her character was truly one I think a lot of people can see themselves as, even as a side character. She wasn’t fragile, but she was scared–and so was Maggie.

Overall, I couldn’t speak any higher about the character development, that as I read, I loved more and more.

Plot –
It was easily noticeable just how well thought out and hard-worked on this plot was. Even the smallest of details became recognizable, and it was made to feel like you’re watching a movie. The scenes played out so easily in my head with little static or fog, and I kept yearning for more. There were no inconsistencies, no backtrack-wayward throws. Everything meshed into the story so well that it was hard to let go by the ending.

Writing Style –
Andrea Mosqueda’s writing style feels like that “welcome home” you’ve been waiting to hear. It comes with the warm, fuzzy feeling, and she knows just how to enrapture her readers with her words. I found myself completely immersed and entranced into the the book within the first few paragraphs, and I fell more in love as the book went out. The emotions and feelings she was able to portray through her writing felt as real as they would be if you were experiencing them for yourself, in person.

World Building –
Like I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, I normally don’t touch on world building in non-fantasy novels. But in the case of Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster, Mosqueda built for us a place that we could picture, touch and feel all within the confines of our imagination and her provided detailing. I felt like I was physically following Maggie into her family’s little store–doubling as a home, and I could fully picture the town that she and her family lived in and frequented. Mosqueda’s attention to detail, even in the smallest ones, was there and obvious on page, and it made the reading experience all the more special.

Overall –
I adored and loved this book with every fiber of my being. Maggie was the perfect main character for this story, and I loved being able to follow her through her trials of love and learned lessons. You could truly tell that Andrea Mosqueda wrote this for the bisexual teens–--or even the bisexual adults who struggled during their teens–that needed this story. I needed this story, and I’m so honored to have had the chance to read it. For that, I rate this book 5 stars. I highly recommend this novel, and I look forward to reading more from Mosqueda in the future.