Thanks to the folks at Astra Publishing House for providing this ebook via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
SPOILER FREE!!!
***

To keep this short, the amount of things I related to in this book is HUGE.
As a queer myself, I got to connect and relate to Sam a lot. In the social awkwardness but badassery at the same time, the queer as hell presentation and over the top love for close family and friends.
I really liked them as a main character and got to care about them, their mental health and safety during this read.
I adored all the secondary characters and their arcs. Shep, Sky and Aidan are too precious.
I tend to form theories when I read these kind of mystery-y plot lines but honestly during this I was so invested I didn't even stop to think and form a theory of what had actually happened or connecting the dots. My own personal detective job. No, no. I just needed to know for real.
I loved the writting and it's so easy and smooth everyone can read it.
The queer representation is so nice as well.
Highly recommended.

Trigger/Content warnings: This book contains subjects that may trigger sensitive readers, like death, paranormal experiences, violence, abuse, homophobia and bi erasure.

This book is marketed as YA, borderline New Adult with an 18 year old main character, which I find to be a mistake. This book and its dialogue especially is very immature and would be better marketed as a middle grade. I had to DNF because it wasn’t what I wanted and personally I couldn’t deal with the outdated tumblr and media references. I’m really sad by this because the cover and description had me hooked. I could see this having an audience with queer middle schoolers, but not for an older YA audience like me

Thank you Netgalley and Publishers for an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

My upmost favorite thing about this novel was Sam Sylvester themself and their father Junius. The father-child dynamic was so heartwarming to see especially since many YA novels show the rather unhealthy side of these relationships (including in this novel with other minor characters and their parents).

The second half alone would've been closer to a five-star read but it took me a bit to get engaged in this novel. I also expected it to be a bit darker and more suspenseful like a thriller, but this was a happy balance between the suspense of the mystery of the murder of Billy Clements (30-year-old cold case) and the coming of age of Sam Sylvester based on all they've been through in their-almost- nineteen years.

What are the odds of moving states to escape the traumatic harmful town to yet another town that has drama of its own? "Safety is a social construct." is such a powerful theme in this novel and I enjoyed how it was woven into Sam's life, their father's life, and Sam's friends/classmates' lives.

Four of Five stars, Read in April 2022.

This book is FABULOUS. I really loved the rep here - autism, LGBTQ+, including a supportive parent. I'm not usually a big fan of thriller/murder mysteries, so that colored my enjoyment just a little bit, but as an autistic non-binary person like Sam, I felt really represented and was thrilled to see myself in a story.

Set in my home state and starring a character who shares many aspects of their identity with me, I was extremely excited to read The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester. The characters (main and side) were wonderful and diverse in appearance, background, and identity. Sam’s dad and their family was such a beautiful depiction of adoption and finding a home with someone supportive and loving. I thought the pacing and relationships were generally good and believable overall, and several of the pop culture references were relatable and landed well.

I did think there was a great deal more internal narration used for exposition that told us rather than showing, which was frustrating when the same information was covered repeatedly or included a discrepancy from earlier narration; between this and several instances where a sentence in the middle of a paragraph wasn't connected to the event/point of that section, I think a bit more editing would have greatly improved the experience of reading this novel.

Overall I recommend this book for YA fans, especially those looking for a passionate nonbinary character and solid queer and autistic representation.

Thanks to NetGalley for this review copy.

Back when I was a kid coming out, the only book around for nonbinary pals was I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST by Mason Deaver, which is a really boring book. (Sorry, it’s just that nothing happens in it). Now THIS book? About a nonbinary teenager solving a murder mystery? AND ALSO THEY’RE AUTISTIC? Excuse me??

Let’s pull out some bullet points:

- a little bit paranormal!
- ace spectrum
- adoptee
- a great dad!!!!
- starting over at a new school!
- new friendships!

Honestly, this is a queer cozy mystery that really just needs like, a couple more puns for it to hit four stars for me. The writing feels somewhat stilted and weird, and it never drew me in enough to ignore the fact that the NetGalley copy was a PDF, which is the absolute worst way to read an eARC. Three and a half stars, rounded up for NetGalley.

This was such a perfect blend of mystery/thriller with contemporary. I was surprised to find myself invested in the mystery and I really loved that it had to do with Sam's special interest. (Not really a spoiler but: <spoiler> in an alternate universe, Sam's connection could have had to do with their birth family. I'm thankful it didn't go there and instead made their connection to Billy happen through their special interest </spoiler>.

The contemporary aspects were lovely. This features the best LGBTQ parent out there: Sam's father (who is aroace btw!) is so sweet and supportive. The friends Sam makes are such lovely people. And the little romance that happens in here--the most wholesome, sweet, and pure pairing to ever exist. I'm obsessed. I need fanfic/a spin-off novella stat.

I really loved the representation here. Sam's autism is such an integral part of their life and experience. From growing up non-speaking to having an IEP, stimming to trouble with "social cues" and figurative language, this book shows, in my opinion, an accurate portrayal that goes beyond stereotypes. Additionally, the gender dysphoria and the anxiety Sam felt around being misgendered were so real. I can tell their author likely is building on their personal experiences, and it really worked to create a character that felt so dimensional and real.

If you can't tell, I absolutely adored this book and I don't know if I will be able to shut up about it anytime soon.

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester by Maya MacGregor is a young adult paranormal mystery. There's a sinister plot underneath the thirty year old death of a teenaged boy and Sam, a nonbinary teen trying to make their way through high school, may be the key to unlocking the mystery. I was very intrigued by the premise of this book, but was left a little disappointed in the end.
Sam has a special interest in collecting the stories of kids who died before their 19th birthday. Billy is one of these kids, and Sam just moved into his old house. With their newfound friends at their new school Sam is trying to figure out who is sending them threats, uncovering their secrets, and how Billy really died.
I loved Sam a lot. They are a nonbinary, ace-spectrum, and autistic adoptee living with their supportive dad. The side characters are also amazing and diverse. Shep was my personal favorite and I loved how she and Sky provided an excellent support system. However, the characters that are set up as villains aren't well rounded and are just there to be mean.
There was just enough that made this not a four or five star read for me. The initial premise is rather stereotypical, with Sam starting over at a new school where people will respect their pronouns, unlike their old school where something bad happened. The paranormal elements were also not that scary, and very subtle. I liked what paranormal activity there was, but because it was sparse and spread out it made the story drag for me. Also I kept wondering how much Sam's tattoo cost and there was no explanation of that either, even though it had to have been well into the hundreds of dollars. It's definitely cool, but dropping several hundred dollars as a reward for passing a class doesn't sound like a usual parental reward. Maybe my parent just wasn't as cool as Junius. I had to pay for my tattoo myself.
Overall, this is a good book with fantastic rep. It just didn't have a story plot that was engaging enough for me, leading me to enjoy this less than I enjoyed the premise.

An absolutely lovely book filled with so much heart! Very intriguing and kept me reeled in from start to end. I can't wait to see more of Maya MacGregor's work.

the plot was predictable and the writing often felt stilted. aside from that, the autistic representation in this book was some of the best i’ve seen.

As an autistic nonbinary person, the moment I heard of this book I knew I wanted to read it, and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to read an early copy. I don’t necessarily know what I expected, but this is a beautiful, complex story. It does a perfect job pushes the edges of logical knowing and instinctive knowing, and I love the not-exactly-paranormal elements with Billy’s spirit seeming to help Sam, Shep, and their friends learn the truth of his death 30 years ago.

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester is a compellingly readable story and I loved the cold case mystery element, needing to know what had happened to Billy. I also found many elements of Sam’s experiences, particularly their experiences as an autistic person, relatable and shown in a way that I hope others will also find relatable or help them get a better understanding of some autistic experiences.

I wouldn’t say this book is a favorite or even one I’d necessarily want to reread, but it is a good, compelling story. It does a really good job balancing the softness of new friendships and new romance with the horror and trauma of past near-death experience and trying to learn the truth of a death that still affects Astoria 30 years later. The revelation of the murder and the resolution of the story was satisfyingly done and leaves me with warm, hopeful feelings.

Overall this is an interesting story that blends a contemporary story of a teen learning to heal from their trauma while also trying to figure out the truth of a “tragic accident” 30 years prior. I really enjoyed the characters and the autistic representation, and hope many people who need this story are able to find it and see themselves reflected.

I thought this was a lovely queer mystery novel, and I greatly appreciated the nonbinary representation! I always could use more cozy queer mysteries in my life, and the small town vibes, the amazing group of friends, and sweet romance was everything to me! I think it would've been nice to see some of the mysterious vibes earlier on in the book, but especially as things got more intense, I was very drawn in. This story definitely made me emotional at times, and I cared so, so much.

This book!! This book! Where to even begin? This book was so beautifully written, so intriguing, so lovely! I want to be Sam’s friend so badly! A story of pain, fear, unexpected love, strength, and a bit of mystery tossed in for fun, I cannot wait to purchase this book for my own library!

This book is about an autistic non-binary teenager who moves to Astoria, Oregon with their father after a traumatic violent incident in an old school. The main character, Sam, has a special interest of teenagers who have died before their 19th birthday and has created a scrapbook of their lives. By a twist of fate, they end up moving into the house of one of the young people in their book, Billy, who died over 20 years ago, and they begin to investigate his death, believing it to not be an accident as it was ruled to be so many years ago. Sam is reckoning with the violent incident of their past, making new friends, being out in a "safer" space for the first time, and how their obsession with Billy's death means accepting the things that have happened to Sam as well.
This book meant a lot to me as a non-binary autistic person and I really appreciated that the author said they wrote this because they didn't have books like this when they were younger and wanted to supply it to younger readers. Sometimes that's the joy of reading YA for me; giving myself stories that I wish I had when I was younger, and I think they did a really great job with this book. The mystery was enthralling enough to keep me interested, Sam's own story was equally important and even more importantly, I loved Sam as a main character, which often doesn't happen with YA main characters for me.

This was a fun mix of Now and Then meets Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (if I had to pick things to draw from, but it's hardly fair because this was unique) and I highly recommend it!

I knew from the minute I saw the cover (how stunning is it?!) and description of this book that I was going to love it.

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester written by Maya MacGregor follows 18 year old Sam, a non-binary character with autism, trying to start a new life in Astoria after experiencing a traumatic event. After moving in to their new house, they find out that their living in the bedroom of a boy who mysteriously died in the 80’s and it becomes their mission to solve the so called ‘tragic accident’.

Although it was slow to start, I loved the mystery aspect and pacing towards the end of the book. This novel was the perfect combination of mystery, paranormal and queer romance. The representation was definitely a major highlight for me, with the main set of characters being non-binary, neurodiverse, queer, lesbian, bisexual, asexual and aromantic.

Thank you to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The falls right at a 2.5 stars for me. The friendships and relationships between children and their parents were portrayed excellently, but the story dragged at some points and could’ve still been a great mystery without the paranormal aspect. Kudos to MacGregor for writing what they know and speaking on their own experience as queer and autistic, but unfortunately those added details sometimes came across as forced.

Sam is nonbinary and on the autism spectrum. This makes them an unusual protagonist, but that is a good thing because we need literature with neurodivergent characters, especially positive portrayals. Sam is up front about who they are, and in their words, thoughts, and actions, Sam displays how they see the world and the obstacles that causes, as well as the opportunities it presents. Sam is probably one of my favorite literary characters.

Sam is also convinced they are going to die at age nineteen. There was no rationale reason for this belief when it first manifested; Sam had become fixated on the lives of people who had died young (before nineteen), learning their stories and memorializing them in a notebook. However, prejudice and fear nearly resulted in Sam joining the list of those who died too young. That is why Sam and their dad, Junius, left Montana and moved to Oregon, where they ended up in the small town of Astoria, and moved into the former home of Billy Clement, one of the kids in Sam’s notebook; although Sam did not realize it was Billy's house at first. One of the first classmates Sam meets, Shep, believes that Billy’s death thirty years ago was not an accident. He died of an allergic reaction to peanuts, but he and his family had always been excessively careful about avoiding any potential exposure to peanuts. Astoria is a small town and many of the residents had connections to Billy, who was a very popular student. The principal of the high school used to be Billy's next-door neighbor and best friend. Sam feels an otherworldly connection to Billy, and they will help solve the mystery of Billy's death, but this will come with significant consequences for a number of characters in the story, including Sam.

The mystery of Billy's death makes for a good subplot, and it ties in well with the story of Sam and their fixation. However, part of me wishes that the subplot was not involved, as Sam is such a dynamic character that a story focused solely on them would have been quite good. Sam's addition to the high school will bring on some jealousy, hate and prejudice (though not as extreme as what happened in Montana), but their presence and actions will also enable some of their classmates to think deeper about who they are and how they identify, and result in the development of new friendships. The interaction between Sam and their dad is quite good, especially considering the circumstances of their relationship. There are so many good things about this book. I highly recommend it.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

3.5 Stars!

I'm not usually a YA reader, but when I saw that the MC was nonbinary and had autism I definitely knew I wanted to read this one. The rep in this book is A+! Sam was such a real character with the best Dad ever (like really, if I had one wish it would be that all LGBTQIA kids had a supportive parent like this), an extremely hard past, and new friends who were all over the rainbow and just so amazing. The mystery/paranormal aspects weren't the strongest, but honestly I felt the light touches were perfect for this story. It's more a character driven story than a plot driven one, but as stated I loved all the characters so I really couldn't put this down. I am not nonbinary nor am I on the spectrum, so as always grain of salt, but the author does identify this way and I felt they did a wonderful job portraying what life is like for one teen who is autistic and nonbinary and all that entails. There was definitely some portions that were tough to read, Macgregor does a great job of making you care for these characters so that you can feel their pain, but it definitely ends on a note of hope. Light, pure romance was also sprinkled throughout and honestly, I'm just left with a lot of good feelings about this one.

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester is a lovely YA mystery about Sam, a non-binary teen on the autism spectrum and his adopted father moving to a town in Oregon after a traumatic experience while living in Montana. We see Sam process their trauma while meeting new friends and getting caught up in the mystery of a teen who died 30 years ago and lived in Sam's house, a death that has long been viewed as an accident.

I absolutely loved this story. I loved getting to see how Sam goes through the world and the way that they interpreted events. I'm a school psychologist and was extremely impressed how accurate the special education system was portrayed and enjoyed getting to see positive and negative aspects of school. It made me think more about how my students with sensory needs and differing gender expressions go through the day and how I can continue to help support them. I really felt like this book was written by someone who went through the IEP system in the US, but I looked up the author and it looks like they are actually from Scotland. MacGregor certainly did their research!

I really enjoyed the characters in this book, especially Sam's foster dad and two new friends. I appreciated the representation in this book and how thoughtfully it was portrayed. I want to spend more time getting to know these characters!

The only thing that holds me back from a five star rating is that I didn't get as into the mystery and supernatural elements of this book, but those aren't usually my cup of tea anyway (especially mysteries). I still loved this book without getting into that aspect, so if that is something that you like, you'll probably love this book even more than I did! Thank you to Astra Publishing House and NetGalley for the electronic advanced reader's copy of this book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 stars

TW/CW: death, bullying, trauma, harassment

Absolutely loved the non-binary autistic rep. This book really gave me the feels. Sam’s father was my absolute favorite character (outside of Sam). I loved the family dynamic between Sam and their father. The mystery part was good and moved the plot along. I was dissatisfied with was the approach the author took to introducing/discussing asexuality. I wish it was just sort of thrown in there in a weird place. The writing was great, but the plot dragged a lot in the beginning and then the audience was served with a anticlimactic ending. I think this is good as a YA novel, but would’ve loved a bit more complexity.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this novel and look forward to other works from this author. It was a fun but reflective read. I would recommend to all queer folk who like coming of age and mystery.

Thanks to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review!