Ophelia After All is perhaps the most unique, and DEFINITELY the best young adult novel I've ever read. A joy to read from start to finish, Racquel Marie captures a sweet, lovable and unique cast of characters that felt so realistic to me I was longing to join their group. It takes a LOT to make me feel the same way I felt while reading Red White and Royal Blue (which is my favorite novel in terms of character writing) but this novel 1000% did that.

This novel follows Ophelia, a botany-lover proclaimed "boy-crazy" girl on her journey of questioning her sexuality and navigating the world that is teenage romance during Prom season. From developing a clumsy crush on a girl to having bursts of romantic feelings for fleeting boys, Ophelia's fully confused with her identity. She builds connections with very 3 dimensional characters that become a support (or lack of support) system while hiding her secret from her parents and her long-tie friends for fear of letting their version of Ophelia be tarnished.

I loved the way the author handled Ophelia's sexuality crisis. The author shows how it's a messy, non-linear process that doesn't always have stereotypical journeys and outcomes. Ophelia spends a lot of time bonding with and learning the stories of Queer people in & associated with people in her life, which creates a support system many do not have during the questioning phase, which I loved to read.

As for the specific characters AHH I loved so many of them but in particular: Wesley, Sammie, Talia, Agatha and Ophelia's parents (so, pretty much every character). They all had distinct characterizations and backstories lending to a more fully fleshed and realistic world than many books provide, which was *so* good. Ophelia's parents have complicated lives which sometimes make Ophelia's life harder, especially when she holds blame in those complications. Her best friend Sammie and Wesley are competing in a love triangle for a girl who may hold less feelings than either of them.

The friendship dynamics behind this group were also SO much more realistic than the typical YA book. Their friend group deals with the merging of two smaller groups, a love triangle, a bid for prom queen, the structure of popularity, and the knowledge that when they graduate in the Spring, some of them will likely cease to be friends. As somebody who just graduated high school last year, I've never read a book that deals with the complicated, fraught nature that is a senior year friend group. My personal experience of knowing that in a few short months I likely was going to fade from the lives of some of those who I was closest to was hard to grapple with, but also a sort of peaceful acceptance feeling of "thank god." Ophelia and her group definitely see some of these issues, especially after the growing pains of being such lifelong friends.

Ophelia After All also provides a lot of cultural depth, from her Cuban-American background to the diversity of her friend group offering many fresh perspectives that are generally underrepresented in literature. As a white person I'm not going to speak on if the different racial and ethnic representations were good or bad, since I lack that perspective: I will say if you're looking for a book with lots of diverse character backgrounds, this one has it!

I also really enjoyed the audiobook--the narrator is great and read in conjunction with the physical book (thank you to Storygram for that one!!) my experience was overall fantastic.

Overall, there is so much I could say about this book that I can't even put into words, and I'll be coming back to this review probably daily to edit it.. BUT I just want to say this is my new favorite YA book ever. Perhaps it's because the author is so young, and so many YA authors are a bit older (no shade) and are. bit out of touch with what being a teenager is like now... but this book is so golden. SO f*cking golden and I'm not going to shut up about it Ever.

This had so many elements I ordinarily love and all together it should have been a perfect book, but I found it lacking. The reliance on the way overdone idea of American teen prom was a bit tired, even with the much appreciated queer spin. I enjoyed the botanical aspect and Ophelia's journey of coming to terms with herself and her sexuality but something was missing for me and I can't put my finger on it.

4.6/5

I loved this book!
Right from the start, it had me so hooked that I finished it in less than 2 days! I literally could not put it down. Also, the audiobook is incredible - I think the narrator’s voice perfectly fits Ophelia :)

It is fast paced, and follows Ophelia during the last 3 weeks before prom as she explores friendship and starts to questioning her sexuality. I really like the fact that she remains questioning and identifies as queer throughout the book, because it’s so relatable! Figuring your sexuality is hard (speaking from my own experience here), and it’s very nice that this book shows that. There’s also great LGBTQ+ rep (bi, pan, aro, biromantic ace, queer, questioning), and most of the cast are POC! Most of the characters (including Ophelia) are very nice and lovable.

The atmosphere of Ophelia After All is very nice and cozy, and it is a very good candidate to become your next comfort read :) I definitely recommend to check it out!

What a wonderful read!
I was hooked from the beginning and couldn’t put it down. This book talks about the struggles of high school, friendships, families, discovering your sexuality and many other topics. I think the author did and amazing job. I love how this book had so much diversity!! I really think everyone should read this and Is definitely a new comfort read.

This was overall a very good book and I was ready to give it 5 stars when it pulled a trope I hate in the second half and now I'm upset that it ruined the experience. I was so ready to be "5 stars and new fave" and then Ophelia apologizes for needing some space to Talia when she has no reason to actually apologize. Let people breathe and process omg.

Ophelia After All is a book about a girl who's used to crushing all the time on boys having a crush on a girl. This book is a coming out and exploration of queerness at the end of high school right before prom. This is about expectations and how everything can change and it's not always bad.

I loved the friendships in the book and how Ophelia shared some scenes with all of them and how she had a different relationship with all of them.

I listened to the audiobook and I really loved the audiobook narrator, she really helped the story come to life.

I need to get into spoilers to explain what made me angry so SPOILERS from here to the end:

I was looking for some sapphic unrequited love the other day and I was glad to get it but also upset it always hits too close to home. I'm also upset at how the characters and narrative handle Ophelia's heartbreak.
Talia immediately does what she shouldn't do and try to force Ophelia to talk to her several times after rejecting her. She keeps trying and it's bad for Ophelia and it doesn't help her to move on. Ophelia is allowed to be upset and needs space which is why the fact that the author made her apologise for that made me so angry. "I apologize for shutting you out after you rejected me"?? girl you have nothing to apologize for. prioritize yourself. Talia became so annoying during the second half, she kept putting her need to be accepted by Ophelia again over Ophelia's heartbreak. Like I couldn't understand that selfishness.
To everyone, having this kind of post heartbreak conversation when you're not ready is just not good and very bad for you and the fact that her friends forced into it at the end to distract her from their surprise just filled me with rage. at no point, did she discuss with them that she was ready to have a conversation with Talia and they just forced it upon her (and yes I didn't like how they resolve it because Ophelia was clearly super emotional and crying about it and then goes "well I'm good" in the next scene)

This is a genre I usually don’t read nor enjoy, but I was so intrigued by the description that I decided to give it a shot. And I’m so glad I did, this is by far the best YA contemporary I’ve read.

This felt like such a true depiction not only of high school, friendships, and romance but also delved into the struggles of feeling other in these situations.

The author’s handling of multiple queer characters, their identities and their struggles made me feel seen in a way I never did when I was reading these books in high school. The cast is also diverse in other ways, from body size to race and more. The diversity of the cast really warms my heart, thinking about how many queer and BIPOC readers will get to see themselves in Ophelia After All.

Overall, I would say this is a must read and blew my expectations out of the water.

TW: mentions of racism, mentions of homophobia

I'm fairly obsessed with this book, it's characters, it's messy chaotic nature, and of course, the stunning cover.

This book is just, I don't even really know how to explain it. It hit me in my freaking soul and I wish that I had this book as a teenager. It's one of those that while teenage me probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to read an openly queer book like this, I can just imagine what would have gone through my brain had I read it at that age. Had I found this 10 years ago and seen all of the explicit on page labeled queer rep. Labeled queer rep with definitions and explanations that are not preachy. They're just there and lovely. Seeing both an openly asexual character and an openly aromantic character filled my happiness meter. Yes they're both secondary characters but the queer rep in this is messy and it's perfect. So often we get caught up on finding the perfect label and finding the perfect box we fit into when sometimes that box is just not straight. It isn't a specific label or a specific micro label, a lot of the times are feelings are confusing and complicated and this book portrays that experience insanely well.

I love that this book is focused more on Ophelia's coming of age and less on romance. It seems kind of silly to write that this isn't a romance focused story when there is a lot of romance in it and a lot of romance talk, but there isn't a single-minded romantic relationship at the core of this book. This book isn't about being in a relationship. This book is about recognizing that queerness isn't about who your partnered with. It is about your own feelings and your own sexual and romantic and gender orientations.

Holy queer rep! Actually this whole book is just full of wonderful representation. I'm going to attempt to list them below but because I only have this as an audio I took notes as I went and I definitely could have missed something.

Actually, on second thought I am not going to list all of the queer rep in super detail. I'm just going to vaguely mention that there is bisexual, pansexual, biromantic asexual, aromantic, questioning, and queer representation. There is also multiple racial identities and body types. I've listen them by character below under a spoiler warning.

SPOILERS!!!!
SPOILERS!!!
SPOILERS!!!






Cuban Irish American Queer MC
Sam: Pakistani SC, questioning
Talia: Black Latinx bisexual SC
Agatha: POC aromantic fat
Wesley: Korean American biromantic Asexual!
Zack: pansexual

I cannot wait for this sweet story to be in the hands of teens across the world.

OPHELIA AFTER ALL is a wonderful YA contemporary debut starring Ophelia Rojas: a Cuban-American rose gardener who stumbles upon an identity crisis within the days leading up to her senior prom. I would recommend OAA to all readers interested in the following:

🌹 A diverse cast of queer teens
🌹 Strong and three-dimensional relationships between a teenager and both her parents
🌹 QUESTIONING queer rep!!! Sometimes we don’t have it all figured out (especially as teens) and that’s important to explore
🌹 A true YA contemporary novel (not a YA romance). There are of course romantic elements to the story, but the key character arc is for Ophelia and Ophelia alone
🌹 A great balance between humorous and poignant scenes
🌹 High school nostalgia???? (I never thought I’d be nostalgic for being 17/18, which is a feat in itself)

I look forward to reading whatever Racquel Marie writes next. Today’s queer and questioning teens are truly lucky to have her stories.