Despite growing up with a much different background from our protagonist June, her story resonated deeply with me: her struggle with living in her perfect sibling’s shadow and how she felt as though she could neither excel nor be mediocre, that she was “just good enough”, both in school and with the violin (which I also played when I was younger) was so very special to me. But besides my personal connection to it, stories like June’s matter. Whether it’s the pressure of her parents’ expectations and goals for their kids, or the helplessness she felt when dealing with her peers’ not-so-subtle racism and microaggressions, or even just her so very human desire to find love, everyone can find a piece of June they can see themselves in.

I will however say this: while the editor’s note at the beginning of the book says this story has “all the ‘com’ of a rom-com”, I personally found the tone of this novel to be more serious, deeper, not as humorous as it was advertised, which I reckon to be appropriate and consistent with the theme of Anna Garcia’s novel. There is a slight shift towards the end where it picked up an unequivocally rom-com-like style; that confused me, almost to the point where I started wondering if maybe all of June’s journey and development was to be for nothing, but in the end it only lasted a couple of chapters.

Overall, Boys I Know was an enjoyable as well as meaningful read. Thanks to NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for providing an arc for review.

I sat down and read this entire thing in one sitting, so I think it's safe to say this book definitely exceeded my expectations. it's wonderfully paced, engaging, and honest, discussing a lot of important issues and also just providing an amazing glimpse into the mind of someone who doesn't have their life together, and who learns to be okay with that. I especially appreciated the way this felt like a character study-- june was a wonderful narrator with an inner dialogue that was funny, genuine, and a lot of times hit a little too close to home. reading about her decisions, family pressures, experiences, and character development was a really great experience.

I also appreciated how this book kind of tossed aside the typical "YA couple endgame" in favor of messy, realistic high school relationships where nobody's perfect. it actually sidestepped a lot of YA tropes in favor of honesty and realistic experiences, which made it both hard to read and also really elevated the story. I was really rooting for june the entire time, and I loved seeing her discover who she was over the course of the book.

this is an important story. the friendships, the choices june is facing, the way she learns how to put herself first, the relationships we see her in and how she processes them. it was really amazing and such a new and unique take on the typical YA contemporary romances I've been used to reading. I hope this book gets the hype it deserves because it really does deserve it.

I really enjoyed this book !June was splendid character who went through a lot but I thought that she was a realistic teenager so that was really nice! Overall Boys I Know was poignant, interesting, sweet, sassy, entertaining and thoughtful.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 rounded down.

Boys I Know was a stunning debut by Anna Gracia. It was a solid read that I really enjoyed.

June Chu is messy. She makes mistakes, she's trying to live up to impossible standards, and sure, maybe she's a little bit of an asshole sometimes. But she tries. As soon as I started, I knew June was going to get a great character arc, one where she learns and experiences some growing pains, and gets to fuck up once - or a lot of times. Her growth and journey felt realistic and at a perfect pace, and that deserves some kudos.

June also was unapologetically herself when it came to expressing her sexuality. I think more YA books should share the awkward, uncomfortable, messy parts of sex. We don't need to skip from YA novels with barely a kiss to an Adult novel full of smut; teenagers deserve to see their sexualities referenced on-page.

There were some times when I was confused with the timeframe of what was happening, but it was a minor complaint. I also wanted more of an on-page understanding that 23-year-olds and graduate students should not be dating/having sex with high schoolers, as I feel that is an important message for any teen to understand.

I would recommend this book to people, especially current high schoolers. It's okay to not have all the answers right now.

Thank you to Peachtree Teen and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fantastic read for me. THE COVER. THE ART. The background, the colours, the car, and the BOOTS. BEING QUEER AND ASIAN. I adored June's voice, but I was especially taken with the story's pacing. Sometimes in contemporary books, the last few chapters feel like the character finding out their life lesson in one go to wrap it up, but June's character growth and realisations felt very genuine, and quite realistic. It's a very fresh and relevant novel that tackles a number of important topics in a very sincere and lived-in way. And, as previously stated, I adore June.

Overall good YA story, I enjoyed but it wasn’t all that but a solid 4 star review! I really enjoyed the main character.

A YA rom com that I ddin’t really care for that I ended up DNFing because I didn’t care for the characters.