I have enjoyed Malinda Lo's writing since her debut, Ash which feels like it came out just yesterday -- but wow it has been a number of years. Friends, Lo's work has come a way. It is still excellent and always has been excellent, but A Scatter Of Light blew me away. Note, I have read this without having read Last Night At The Telegraph Club, but felt totally not lost while listening. A Scatter Of Light follows Aria Tang West who lives on Martha's Vineyard and is graduating from high school. She makes a mistake and ends up exiled to her grandmother's home in California. There, she falls in with a group of queer youth and starts to fall for the gardner, Steph. At which point, Aria realizes she may also be queer herself.

A Scatter Of Light was so good. To the point where I was telling people I work with about how interesting it was. Aria is a multifaceted well written character. I liked how her exploration of her identity was written. This is truly a coming of age story and a riveting one as well -- with some pathos towards the end. The audiobook is excellently narrated by Annie Q. It is 10 hours and 14 minutes long and well worth the listen.

A Scatter of Light follows Aria Tang West, who's sent to spend the summer with her grandma in California after her initial plans to spend it in Martha's Vineyard fall through. Told as a reflection of a summer that proved unforgettable, Aria shares the messiness of her life without shying away from the truth.

Here's the thing with this book: it's not a love story. It's a story of finding yourself, of understanding art and its purpose in our lives. It's a story about love, family, time, and feeling like the world is splitting you in two. But it's not a love story.

Yes, it's queer. Yes, there's a romance. But if you come out of this book disappointed by the relationship between Aria and the LI, I want you to question what relationship was really the focus of the story. And I don't mean that in a pretentious "my interpretation is better than yours" way. I mean that genuinely. Because depending on what you came in expecting, and how much you adapted that to what Malinda Lo gave us, we're going to come out of it with two wildly different ideas of how good this book is.

(And I don't think it's fair to see this as a close companion to Last Night at the Telegraph Club because this book, while giving some closure to how LNATTC penetrated my heart, has nothing to do with it — beyond the beautiful thematic exploration.)

A Scatter of Light is breathtaking. The fact that I could have complicated feelings about Aria and the (very) poor choices she makes, but still feel everything she felt, so deeply? That takes something. That takes love and patience and, honestly, talent. Malinda gave us those messy characters, that grief, those imperfect relationships, and she said, "Take that. I dare you to feel it."

And damn, did I feel it.

Content Warnings: cheating, hospitalization, stroke, death of a loved one, grief

Beautifully written book about friendship, desire, family, and finding yourself. I love the addition of using art to understand yourself and the special relationship between grandmothers and granddaughters. This book captures grief and longing so well.

Malindo Lo can do no wrong. This was as wonderful as I expected. I can't wait to share this with my YA LGBTQIA+ book club.

I am newish to sapphic books (aka I can count all WLW books I’ve read on one hand) but I really enjoyed ASOL! Just like in LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB (which is marketed as the companion novel but I think you can definitely read either/both as standalones), I loved the Bay Area backdrop and how In’N’Out Burger takes centerstage for protagonist Aria Tang West 🍔 (In the last 3 months, my household has been consuming In’N’Out every other week — you do the math— I am very biased 🙈)

Not only were the food descriptions vivid but Lo highlights sensory details to heighten the sexual tension — boy oh boy did she build it up (mostly closed door book with one very thoughtful open door scene) 😛
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Book starts slow and then the timeline explodes halfway through (it’s quite exciting IMO). If you’ve read some of my previous YA reviews, one of my pet peeves is TEEN ANGST but this one was actually ok considering all the parent drama, friends drama, and boy-related social media drama.

I was scrolling my kindle looking for my next read when A Scatter of Light caught my attention. I went into this book completely blind and was blown away. It's a beautifully written queer coming-of-age story.

Aria is 18 and sent to live with her grandmother after a boy shares topless photos of her online. Classic punish the girl for a boy's bad actions.

It turns out that spending the summer with her grandmother is the best thing that could have happened for Aria. She meets Steph and joins her group of friends; quickly realizing that she has a crush on the not so single Steph. She allows herself to explore this side of her sexuality, experiencing the highs and lows of love.

The writing is so vivid, making it really easy for the reader to visualize the story

It's so great to see this type representation in YA books. YA is truly leading the industry when it comes to inclusivity. I encourage all readers to pick up this book.

Thank you to Penguin Teen Canada and Netgalley for the e-ARC.

This book was so heartbreakingly beautiful it made me cry with how genuine it was. I related so much to the main character in her struggles with her sexuality, in finding herself and in losing her grandmother and recovering from a reality that’s been ultimately changed forever. I think the message that this book holds is such an important and authentic one and I was left with tears on how much this book moved me. Stunningly beautiful. I love the tie in with Last Night at the Telegraph club and I can’t wait for more by Malinda Lo.

I was blown away initially by Melinda Lo when reading Last Night at the Telegraph Club and somehow A Scatter of Light had me even more hooked. I honestly could hardly put this book down. You follow the main character on her journey of discovery that Lo captures beautifully. The writing is beautiful.

I liked this a lot, but it didn't grab me as much as Last Night at the Telegraph Club. I didn't feel as connected to the characters somehow, but it's a good story and worth reading.

4.5 Stars

Thank you Penguin Teen and Netgalley for an arc of this book!

A Scatter of Light follows Aria as she unwillingly spends the summer near San Francisco with her grandmother after an ex-hookup leaked nonconsensual pictures of her to her graduating class. Aria meets her grandmother's gardener, Steph, and becomes curious about the queer culture and friends Steph is a part of. Aria discovers herself through her art and her past-grandfather's astronomy notes throughout the summer.

I loved every inch of this book. It is such a raw story and I felt like I got to know Aria so well throughout it. It is so odd to me to classify this as historical fiction when it was set in 2008! That does not feel like that long ago. And yet...I was in 8th grade then! Wow.

I loved learning about some queer artists and the lesbian scene in San Francisco at the time, as well as all the beautiful character development throughout. I don't love infidelity as a plot point in books but the way this was written was really great and didn't bother me the way that trope usually does.

This book is beautifully written and the cover is gorgeous!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Abandonment

Malinda Lo is an absolutely wonderful author, I love the writing style! The character development was so beautiful.

The writing style and I just don’t mix with this author. I wanted to get into it, but ultimately I was bored. I understand why others would like it, though!

I could hardly put this book down. The main relationship and the main character’s discovery that she’s queer is very on point, and there’s so much other life stuff that she deals with. I also love that the main character discovers how much she lives the arts, and though she’s studying science and is very into that, she never forgets about art.

An incredibly beautiful story! The perfect follow-up to Last Night at the Telegraph Club yet I loved it even more.

Malinda Lo is a gift to us and we don’t deserve them and their work. This was truly a masterpiece and I’ll never forget this story.

I read bout the halfway mark and found it enjoyable. I did put it down though as it then had a trope I’m not found of… it’s a messy coming of age story that I might come back to later.

A Scatter of Light is a book about self discovery, family, friends, love, loss and trust.
I was absolutely sucked in right away. Lo is a fantastic storyteller and her characters just never want to leave you. Much like I couldn’t stop thinking about Lily and Kath (super fun bonus to see where their story ended up!!) - I cannot stop thinking about Aria and Steph. It is this staying power that puts this one up there for one of the best books I have read this year.

I won’t give too much away because I went in only knowing the blurb on the back and I think that was the way to do it.

I cannot recommend this book enough.

Trying to find yourself is truly a mess, isn’t it?

First things first, this one didn’t pierce through my heart like ‘Last Night at the Telegraph Club’, but Malinda Lo is such an incredible writer, that I still couldn’t tear myself away from this story.

I love how we touch on loss in all of its ways and I love how there’s never such a definite end to the things we experience or have.

Yes, I did also cry, thanks so much for asking.

[Thank you Penguin Teen for the gifted copy]

After photos of her are leaked online, high school senior Aria Tang West is sent to stay with her grandmother in the Bay Area. Prior to this, she has enjoyed sex with boys, yes, felt physical attraction—but nothing compares to the way she feels when she meets Steph Nichols, her grandmother’s gardener, and the queer community.

Ever since reading LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH HILL, I’ve been eagerly awaiting Malinda Lo’s new novel, A SCATTER OF LIGHT. This tender, queer, young adult coming-of-age felt intimate in a different way; there is romance and all the sweetness and joy of first love and discovering a group of people who really see you, but there is also the bittersweet of tasting loss of all kinds. A SCATTER OF LIGHT is one journey of growing up and growing into your body, and I tend to love stories like this, where the narrative is less about eagerly anticipating a happy ending and more about feeling like the story continues on and the world is now larger and more open for these characters we have grown to love.

This is such a cute coming of age story, a perfect queer romance. I love reading diverse books and was so excited to pick this one up! This was such a tender love story, and I cannot get over Malinda Lo writing style, it is amazing! An amazing fall read!