Honestly, this book was a lot different from what I expected, but I still really enjoyed it. This coming of age novel captures what it's like to be a teenage girl. This novel is very driven by June's voice, and I related to her experiences as a senior in high school.

I recieved an e-copy for a tour led Colored Pages Book Tours. Thank you to Colored Pages Book Tours, Netgalley, and Peachtree Team for the e-copy, which did not impact my review/thoughts on the book.

Boys I Know is an enjoyable read as we follow June Chu through her journey in realising her self worth, dealing with her parent's expectations, the Asian-American experience and the period of switch from high school to college. I liked reading about all these themes and I liked that the book showed how messy teen relationships and the struggles of staying true to oneself. I'm all in for portrayal for messy teens so June was understandable to an extent.

But overall, the book felt like a bunch of scenes put together. There wasn't any real conclusion to the scenes and neither was the gravity of the situations addressed. The blurb promises to deliver important messages, especially to the teens reading the book, but it majorly fails on that part. I didn't know what to think of June and her experiences later on.

I don't even know my stance on this book so I can't say about recommending it to anyone, but if you like YA consider reading this book and see for yourself!

This book had some good things going for it, mainly in the Asian main character and her complicated intersections with race and racism in America. This representation is rare, even in the days of #ownvoices. That’s the good.

There was more I didn’t love about it, however. The main character is, as real teenagers are, flawed. She makes bad, impulsive decisions and never takes responsibility for them. She has weird, unhealthy relationships with boys. I think the intention might have been for this to come across as sex-positive, but a lot of it is communicated weird, harmful ideas about consent and respect. All of this together ended up making June, the main character, rather unlikable.

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

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Going into this book, I think I expected a lot more and was left disappointed. Many parts of the story are predictable and I found I had a love-hate relationship with June as a character. Having said this, I enjoyed the journey of self discovery and growth that she embarks on and the representation is done extremely well. This book would be well suited for those 13-16 years old and didn't quite fit the range of YA I am familiar with reading.

Boys I Know by Anna Garcia is the sex-positive YA contemporary that I would have wanted to read as a teen! This book dealt with a lot of themes and tropes that I really enjoy and I thought it delivered a very accurate and authentic teenage journey of self-discovery. I would definitely pick up future books by Anna Garcia! Easily one of my favorite new YA books of the year. Thank you to NetGalley and PeachTree Teen for providing me with an ARC of Boys I Know by Anna Garcia in exchange for an honest review.

I went into Boys I Know not knowing much and with no expectations.

Well, I ended up reading it in one go, unable to put it down more than 15min while I ate. So that says a lot.

I really, really enjoyed it and it felt like reading a coming of age teen movie - addicting, not perfect but still pretty damn good.

I liked June and the way she learned about herself while making mistakes and hurting - herself and others. I liked reading about the universal experience of not knowing what we’re doing as a teen/young adult and to feel like we’re pretending while searching for ourselves. It was honest in many ways and that’s what YA needs a lot of.

I still wish we had some more answers - about June’s college experience, about her relationship with her parents and about Rhys as well. But I had a really nice time reading Boys I Know.

It is so refreshing to not have to deal with so much high school first love drama!!! While there is some relationship trouble in Boys I Know, Anna Gracia focuses more on how the physical relationships help shape our experiences and who we become. Plus it also shows how emotionally stunted high school boys are. These boys were nothing but insufferable!

Thanks to NetGalley and Peachtree for the ARC!

First time I read the blurb, I expected to read something like To The Boys I loved before, but once I read it... it's actually a more complicated story than that.

This book centred on the 18 y.o Taiwanese girl living in US dealing with the family expectations and influence, college admissions, best friends, crushes, sex, party, and multiracial culture. This is a coming of age story that was presented in a messy life of June Chu, with problems arises here and there.

To me, June is very interesting character. I love her character development on realizing what family, friendship, and her dreams means. But also on realizing who she is and what kind of relationship she wants. Though at first she might be annoyed us a little, for all the rebellious act and talk back to her mom. But as the story flows, we'll get better understand of her character. I adore how she could remember all the Chinese proverbs her mom told her constantly. I so adore the bond between June and her sisters and also her girlfriends!

Not going to lie, I really despise the kind of boys he met (well least for Rhys). But lessons learned! It's a fun and rollercoaster of emotions read so far for me!

Oh I loved this! It's a real coming of age story but the part that I loved the most is how relatable it is, even though the characters are teenagers and I'm 32! It's the Asian perspective.... I'm South Asian but reading this made me chuckle... No matter what kinda Asian you are, all Asian parents are the same!!!

I loved all the characters.. Even though June makes a lot of questionable decisions, I was rooting for her and hoping she would work it out.

I love the cover, I think it truly captures what the book is about!

Okay, let me start off by saying that I think my review my be skewed by the fact that I believed this book was queer, and it did not have any queer rep whatsoever to speak of.

However, the book itself is exactly as prescribed. It's a story about June, a girl who is carrying the weight of her parent's expectations and her identity as Taiwanese-American, as well as all the pressures that come with adolescence. While not fully Asian-American (mixed-race baby right here), I can say that as a teenager with immigrant parents, the authenticity and the brutal honesty of June's story is incredibly close to my heart. The narrative and the thoughts of never being good enough, of measuring up to the people around you and to the immense efforts and struggles that your parents overcame in order to grant you these opportunities, and then the fear that you are wasting them. Where do you also fit in this disparate country known as America, especially when you grow up surrounded by people who look nothing like you and feel as if they can treat your culture and your experiences as one-off. Then the feelings of entering a environment with people who you think you're like but there's a distance there because of the way you grew up and the culture that you worked so hard to avoid.

It's also about all the many... many faults of teenage relationships, and it kind of terrifies me how realistic it felt. From messy and stupid decisions made by every participant, as well as clear red flags and toxicity that each party can't recognize or is too scared to call out. And what I appreciated about the book was how raw the outcome was, it wasn't perfect, it wasn't a fantastic resolution, but it was honest. There were no call-outs or complete shifts in the relationships, June just kind of learns to live on and to deal with it, because irl, so many people don't have the capability to do the things that happen in YA books. There is no perfect relationships where the guy admits he's been in love the whole time and he'll be better and be perfect for her, there is no sudden shift in friendships where friends apologize for everything they've done wrong and shift to fit your expectations. Every character is real and raw, for better or for worse.

Recommended: yup
For women learning about themselves (especially romantically/sexually), for a story about a young woman figuring out what she wants and how to go after it

Thoughts:
Although this story is titled "Boys I Know," June is not defined by men (or, well, boys). I love that she forges her own identity throughout her various attempts at love and sex, despite feeling swept away and overwhelmed by life at times.

One review quote on this book was along the lines of "I wish I had this book when I was the character's age." And yo, I feel that. 17-23 probably would have been a REALLY helpful time to read this book. I have never read a fiction novel that talks so honestly about sex and trying to figure out what feels good and how to get it (and enjoy it). It's explicit in that it describes sex bluntly with none of that demure fade-to-black implication in some young adult novels. This book genuinely treats the reader as a young ADULT and the depictions of sex match that. It's not raunchy and dramatic, but it's open and genuine.

Alright, despite what the first paragraphs here might seem to imply, there is more than just sex in this book. June's trying to figure out what to do once she graduates high school. College? Not? If college, where? It's a pretty common theme in young adult novels, and not one that's missed in this one. As she tours around her options, she debates whether she wants to meet new people and go out on a limb, or stay with those closest to her and continue as she's always expected. A classic debate.

Her relationships are a huge part of this book. With friends, family, potential lovers, ex lovers, hopeful lovers... *ahem.* They're all important, and while June is shaped by the people she knows and meets, she takes initiative on her own to decide what she wants.

Overall I was pretty impressed with the honesty of this book, and feel like it's a great thing to exist for young women in particular.

Thanks to NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for a free copy. This is my honest review.

I am here for diversity on the page and this book delivers it in a realistic way. There are so many parts of this book that remind me of real moments I've witnessed/ incidents friends have told me about. When June got tired of the microaggressions and snapped, I was cheering her on.

This story is full of the mess that is teen romance, and anyone who says it's too much clearly doesn't remember what high school/ college were like.

I enjoyed this one and breezed right through it.

Firstly this book has Asian representation so + points for that, you get to learn so much about the culture, tradition and practices which I always enjoy.
This is a coming of age story that definitely lacked in some parts but still managed to put together a story. I wished we could know more about each relationship between the MC and her partners.
This book does have quite a few trigger warning which weren't mentioned before hand so I'd advise you look them up before picking it up.

First of all ,thank you for the arc!

This book was very interesting. It’s always nice to have asian representation in books, and I definitely enjoyed reading about the main character’s culture. The plot line did lack some things that I wish were expanded more in the book. Overall, it was a quick read that gave the coming-of-age story it was supposed to give but I felt just lacked a little with the MC’s ending.

I'll start by saying thank you for the ARC!

I really, really wanted to like this. The diversity of finally having an Asian character as main character - and then also actually learning some things about her Taiwanese culture in the form of the proverbs - made me very excited to read on. But this book did not deliver on that excitement.

The book is definitely a romance book, so lets start with those. All of the romances June had happened way too fast. We barely get to know Rhys, but apparently she had been dating him for months. Then she meets Brad, and the day after they're a couple. Then she meets Gang and she immediatly thinks about a future with him. Can this girl visit a cool place without immediatly finding her one true love? None of the relationships actually made an impact, because all of the development was done in a time jump - so we never got to see them grow. The chapters felt like diary entries from a person who forgot to write in it for several weeks at a time. It almost feels like there are chapters missing from the book, with how sudden the relationships or friendships evolve. Her friendship with Rhys' friends came very sudden, and the whole loving moment with Drew at the ball was very weird. The same with Tommy, why did everyone hang out with him again? If Liz hates him so much, why does she always go to him? Talking about Liz - and Candance - why are they friendships only there when the plot needs them to be friends? Its like these two only exist to give some drama or wisdom to the main character, but they never ever actually hang out.

It felt like the book was all over the place and it wasn't ever really clear what it wanted to be. Very jarring to read, from time to time.

I do want to give some bonus points to the depiction of a pretty realistic first time - no sunshine and rainbows here!

But yes, I sadly did not like this one, and I hoped it was going to get better as it moved along.

Thank you netgalley for the advanced copy!
The cover of this book was too beautiful to resist, and the story is just as interesting! June was such a genuine, real character, and I loved following her story. The characters were all so beautifully developed, everyone including June’s mom had a solid personality and a beautiful arc in the story. It did start a bit slow but I grew to enjoy the story as it went on.
If you’re looking for an honest, fun, and funny story about growing up, this is the book for you!

2/5 stars, honestly don’t know how to rate this

Thank you Peach Tree Teen for the arc through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

While I am grateful for the opportunity to read this book, I can't say I had a pleasant experience. There was a lot going on, and so many more trigger warnings then I was expecting. It is not often that trigger warnings bother me, but some in this book did, and there was no indication they were going to happen until they did. While some parts of that are more of a personal preference, due to the nature of some, they should have been mentioned in the beginning of the book. I think all authors should do that, regardless.

Probably the biggest issue I had with this book besides the non-existent trigger warnings warning, was how the tagline for this book is literally, "A high school senior navigates messy boys and messier relationships in this bitingly funny and much-needed look into the overlap of Asian American identity and teen sexuality." While I do not disagree with the second-half, it touches on pieces of Asian American identity that are important, as well as sexuality, the first part makes me really upset. It's pitched as just messy relationships, but some of the relationships June found herself in were just flat-out abusive. In more ways than one, even if it was subtle. I do not think that those relationships should be marketed to any young woman, or really any young individual, as simply messy. That implies drama yes, but when it's just abuse that is not okay.

As well, I do not feel that the author or the story managed to make me feel joyful or happy about anything in this book. There are constant instances of racism, sexism, sexual harassment and assault, slut shaming, manipulation, and cheating that ultimately, I did not feel were handled delicately enough. I do think that there was an attempt, but at the end I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth, not just because it happened but because I did not feel the author talked enough about the implications or how horrible these things are. They kind of just happened, and were accepted by everyone in the story, or taken as not a big deal. In the real world, these things really do happen, and often they are looked over, but I still feel that there was not enough care placed on the depiction of them and the tone in which they were written.

While there was a lot going on that I did not like, I think the importance the author put into the Asian American ethnicity representation was important, especially what these individuals experience on an everyday basis from both family and society. It made me upset to read, which was very important, and I do think that part of it was well represented. Along those lines, the feelings of being a teenager and having to balance a million things on our shoulders was also represented well. I felt anxiety and stress from the story, and the main character, as I was reading this and that just goes to show how realistic it was. Teenagers are messy, frankly all of the time, and mistakes are made quite often, something else that was represented. I didn't enjoy the excuse for some teenagers to be racist and sexist though, but I know quite a few teenagers who are that way and it is just accepted, so that was also realistic.

June was a main character I struggled to connect to, not because of our different upbringings, but because of how she falls into a pattern of victimization so easily. There is something to be said about how this happens in real life, and that these people need to be helped out of these situations, but at least personality wise it was hard for me to connect with her. I had empathy, but it felt that she was just living her life as a shell, which was probably the point. Nevertheless, it was just strange to read from her perspective. She only showed initiative for her own life, and the things that were being done to her, at the very end. I understand it was implied that she had a large personal journey to get there, but one moment she was feeling bad and the next she was going to take control. It was too fast of a switch, and not depicted as gradually as it should have been. I wish her reflections in the moment had been deeper, and not just something she looked back on later, as it would have felt like better growth with that.

An example of this is, around the 85% mark of this book June suddenly recalls all of the microaggressions she has experienced throughout this book and it just felt like a flip switched. It did not truly feel like she had cared up until this point, and suddenly she realized everything. That happens as well, but I wish there had been more build up to her realization.

There was never any good romance in this book, each relationship was "messy" though I hate to use that word, as most were manipulative and abusive. Almost every interaction she had with a guy was sexual harassment or something of the sort, which was just not fun to read about. Being a woman, I understand this happens on a daily basis, but that does not mean that is the only thing I want to read about. She honestly deserved a really healthy relationship and all she got were abusive ones with men who took advantage of her.

Overall it had some important themes including teen sexuality and Asian American culture, but I cannot at this moment recommend this book. Reading it stressed me out besides those important themes because of the handling of some of the relationships and plotlines.

[TW: racism, sexism, masturbation (mentioned) and sex (somewhat explicit), alcohol use and being drunk, drug use, sexual harassment, slut and clothes shaming, controlling parents, sexual assault, forceful sex, pregnancy scare, manipulation in a relationship, cheating and infidelity, racial slurs]

Truthfully, the main thing about this book that pulled me in was the cover. Young adult contemporary has just been a bit of a hit or a miss for me lately, but thankfully I ended up really enjoying this book! Poignant and realistic, Boys I Know delves into the messiness of being a teenager and growing up Asian-American in a primarily-white community.

June Chu is fine with being “good enough.” She’s more focused on getting her AP Bio partner and hook-up Rhys to commit to a relationship than fulfilling her parents’ wishes for her. However, when he remains emotionally unavailable, she jumps headfirst into a relationship with someone who does show love and affection, maybe a little too much. Meanwhile, June is navigating choosing the right college for her (and not for her parents) while also keeping her older sister and her advice at an arms’ length.

Boys I Know is a very character-driven story. There’s not much of a plot outside of June and her worries about the boys in her life and which college she wants to go to. I actually really enjoyed this though, and I was enraptured by June’s journey, bad decisions and all. Her voice shines off the page; I couldn’t help but be invested in her story.

June is a type of character I feel like we don’t get very much of in young adult novels. She’s a bit needy and boy-crazy, desiring romantic attention in any way. None of the love interests in this book are good—and she comes to realize this—but she can’t help but be pulled in by their charms, even with all the red flags. Even if I couldn’t relate to this, I felt like I really understood her though.

I skimmed a few reviews, and I totally saw people’s issues with June’s relationships coming. However, in my opinion, all three of them are crucial parts of her character arc. Rhys clearly likes her but not enough to commit; therefore, she runs headfirst into a relationship with Brad, someone who makes his feelings clear. When he turns out to be manipulative, constantly love-bombing her, she dumps him after a lot of deliberation. June later meets an older guy who’s mysterious, and she falls for his charms. In short, all three of these boys are clear archetypes for bad men the Internet warns you away from.

All three of the love interests make her feel special in some kind of way, and like I stated earlier, June is a bit needy. She liked having attention, which isn’t a bad thing. What teenage girl doesn’t crave validation? This book was never meant to be a romance. It’s a coming-of-age story. Meeting and falling for all of these guys, in succession, just helps June understand a crucial part of herself, particularly that she’s too good to be treated in all the different ways they treated her.

I enjoyed reading about June’s relationship with her sister Wendy. The two of them fight and make up and generally dislike each other while loving each other, which I found to be very realistic. I also liked how June came to realize things about Wendy that she’s never thought of before, like how much Wendy has done for her.

This book also explores growing up Asian-American in a predominantly white area. June and her family are Taiwanese-American, but she’s really only tethered to her culture through her mother and her constant use of Chinese proverbs. She’s grown up in a group of people who look different than her, and she wants to fit in so badly that she lets a lot of racist comments and microaggressions slide. She does begin to realize that she doesn’t have to act this way but can also feel comfortable not centering her life around her culture, but I do wish some of the comments were called out more at the end.

A part of this experience is her relationship with her mother. She often nags June to the point where June doesn’t listen to anything she says and constantly guilts her. Over time, June comes to grasp a crucial part of her relationship with her: that she’ll never truly understand her and vice versa.

Oh, one thing I really loved in this book was June’s love-hate relationship with playing the violin. Her parents forced her to play, which leads her not to care very much about practicing and competitions. However, throughout the book, she rediscovers her love for the violin and eventually realizes that she wants to pursue a music program. I really related to this, especially how she eventually begins to play the violin for herself and not because of her parents’ pressure.

Overall, Boys I Know was a very emotional, messy journey of a teenage girl discovering her sexuality and her dreams. I liked the writing and June’s character arc. This book also reminded me a bit like Mary H.K. Choi’s Yolk because it contains similar themes of craving male validation and navigating complex relationships with both the protagonist’s sister and mother. If you’re a fan of Yolk and/or stories about messy teenage girls navigating life and Asian-American identity, you should check out Boys I Know!

Funny and brilliantly honest. Boys I know is a wonderful story about growing up, finding oneself, Asian American identity and teen sexuality. Jane Chu struggles with family's expectations, dreams and hopes and her own feelings, while she treads through relationships, crushes and school. Important, irriverent, this book is skillfully written and so so good!

Boys I know is a reflective and emotional coming-of-age story about an Asian American senior in high school trying to sort through college decisions, friendships, and messy relationships with boys.

We follow June through many of her important decisions in her last year of high school like losing her virginity, picking out colleges, and trying to heal a rocky relationship with her sister.

I really enjoyed this book! I think June was a perfectly written main character, one who had faults and did her best to recognize those faults but mainly I enjoyed her so much because I think she's a character people can relate to easily! I personally love when I feel like the main character could be a real person, some authors like to make their protagonist picture-perfect, but no one is perfect and I enjoyed getting to read about June's mistakes and successes.

This book also deals with some necessary conversations surrounding being an Asian American and the struggles they can face in American society. These include subtle microaggressions, demanding parents, cultural appropriation, and much more. And although I am not an Asian American and don't have first hand knowledge on the topic, I feel like these were discussed in a way that everybody can learn from and most can relate to.

Writing YA as someone who's not in that age demographic and still making it believable is hard to do, but Gracia does this perfectly. I felt as if I was in an actual senior in highschool head, which helped me immerse myself into June's story and the struggles she faces.

The writing was perfect and there were no grammatical errors that I noticed. The chapters weren't long which kept me engaged, so I ended up finishing this in a few hours because I loved it so much!

I highly recommend this to everyone and I will be buying my own copy once it's released!

Thank you to netgalley for the free digital copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Trigger Warnings:

Alcohol, Marijuana use, Misogyny, Racism, Cultural Appropriation, Vomit, Adult/Minor Relationship