Coming of Age, Bisexual, Latinx, Mexican American, LGBTQIA, YA.

I adored this book and loved the main character Maggie who uses a school art project to short out her complicated feelings towards her ex, her BFF, a new girl and her future. I completely felt for Maggie and her dilemmas with all the relationships in her life and coming to terms with life and love. Mosqueda did a fantastic job of drawing me into Maggie’s world and back to my teenage years, making me wish I had stories like these growing up. Everything about this story felt authentic and genuine and how a real 17-year-old would deal with her issues. I really appreciated and liked how Mosqueda approached relationships between Bi and Straight individuals and how to navigate certain actions and boundaries.

Such a fantastic book, a really compelling coming-of-age story. Also, I’d like to give a special shout-out to the narrator Stacy Gonzalez who did a wonderful job.

Special thank you to #NetGalley, #AndreaMosqueda and #MacmillanAudio for sharing this digital copy, these are my honest thoughts on #JustYourLocalBisexualDisaster. Also, a thank you to narrator #StacyGonzalez.

Thank you MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I really felt like this was a book I had to read rather then listen to. It took me a while to really sit down and listen to this story. I felt like some parts dragged on and weren't interesting to me.

I couldn't get invested in the main characters, Maggie, story. I loved the representation of the struggles as bisexual person because at the age Maggie is I struggled too. This would be a god book for YA who want a realistic representation of a bisexual at a young age.

3.5 stars, rounded up. I saw this title and just knew I had to read it, and while I didn’t end up being blown away, I’m still really glad to have experienced this story. As the title suggests, Maggie is a bisexual disaster, and it is so refreshing to read the story of a young queer person where their coming out or struggles with their sexuality aren’t treated as the central story. Instead, Maggie’s bisexuality is merely a small part of who she is. I loved the characterization in this book; of Maggie, her sisters, and of the Rio Grande Valley. While I was never able to get fully invested in Maggie’s story, Stacy Gonzalez’s narration made for a really fun listen that I would recommend to fans of contemporary YA who are looking for more realistic bisexual representation.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio via Netgalley for an advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster is an adorable book. I loved the cture, the bisexual representation, and the story.
The narration was great-- told the story and distinguished between characters without distraction. I'd happily recommend the print and the audio.

Maggie's sister's quinceañera is coming up and she needs a date. The problem is that she's currently wrestling with feelings for her best friend, her ex, and the new girl at school. She uses a school project as an opportunity to try to sort out her feelings about these three people. Not only that but she's worried about her future.

I went back and forth about this book so many times. At first I really liked it. I thought Maggie was a totally relatable and likeable character. I found her struggles with her bisexuality and her feelings for her best friend to be super realistic. However, there were parts of this book that seemed to drag, and this book had far too much cussing for my taste (for a YA book), which is funny because it didn't seem like it was going to be that heavy on the swearing but it totally ramped up the more the book wore on.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. Stacy Gonzalez was a great narrator and really embodied Maggie.

(3.5 rounded up to a 4)

Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster is a debut YA romance novel by Andrea Mosqueda. The ebook version is 336 pages. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at ten and a half hours and is narrated by Stacy Gonzalez. We follow our main character with a first-person point-of-view.

Maggie Gonzales needs to find an escort to her little sister's quinceañera. Trying not to be a bisexual cliché, she considers asking three people in her friend group: her best friend and first crush Amanda, her ex-boyfriend (twice) Matthew, and cute new girl Dani. When she's tasked with an AP art project assigned to help figure out what she wants in life, she decides to use her photography skills to help her sort out her feelings for her friends.

For the most part, I enjoyed listening to this book. The dialog gets a little clunky and cliché at times, which is a hallmark of a debut for me. The chapters are also pretty long. The writing definitely solidified for me as the book went on; I think that this book just needed a bit more editing. Overall, I'm looking forward to reading more from this author. I appreciated the bisexual representation in this book, and especially the fact that all of the relationships in this book felt very fleshed out and real.

CW: teen alcohol and drug use

Special thanks to Macmillan Young Listeners, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for providing an audio galley of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.

I feel conflicted about this one because I love the representation and I enjoyed reading about these friends, but I don't think I necessarily cared about any of them. I didn't want to DNF, but I also kept stopping it randomly and had no care to continue, like even with only 6 minutes left, I paused for a good half hour, which I don't think I've ever done.
I was disappointed with how certain characters presented and the lack of accountability for their actions. For example, Maggie's best friend Amanda. She keeps saying how she wishes she had time to hang out with Maggie and all she does is boring grown-up things, yet one of those things is hanging out with her boyfriend (? you have a choice in that). When she actually gets a moment to hang out with Maggie, she forces her to go to a party at the last minute because her boyfriend texts her, and then ditches Maggie to make out with her boyfriend. She also continues to say she wishes Maggie was a boy so she could date her--it's just all really problematic and hurtful, and it's never fully addressed. For how much accountability is forced on Maggie for the whole school project debacle, it felt very weird to never address Amanda in the same way.
I also felt like the writing read very young in comparison to the characters' ages. I know that this age range can vary, but it wasn't consistent with staying that young, and it didn't feel completely decided on how old they really were.
As a side note, I felt super uncomfortable with how much AAVE was used for non-Black characters in a book where no Black characters are present.

The left start of the title and don’t stop. It’s fun it’s wild it’s endearing. I can’t not even fully describe this one. So much fun

I'm not one to talk badly about books I read. I think everyone's taste is different. There's no such thing as a bad book. While a book maybe meant for me as a reader, there is someone out there that will absolutely love it. That being said - I was incredibly excited for this both. I love reading queer YA books to heal the inner queer teenager that didn't have this kind of representation. I got to about 45 minutes before I decided I did not think it were possible for me to enjoy our main character. As a former emo kid, I was excited for all of these band references, but did not like the way Maggie talks about her friend who no longer follows their emo style. After a few comments that seemed a little shame-y, I will be DNFing While some may enjoy this character, I didn't. I think there are a lot of people that will enjoy this book, I'm just not one of them. I will give this book 3 stars because netgalley requires me to give a starred review, but I don't think I read enough to give the entire book a rating.

Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster
By: Andrea Mosqueda (@AndreaAConcept)

The book is pretty normal. There was nothing amazing or outstanding about the story and that made it absolutely beautiful. It was all the local references, it is written like we speak locally. There is bad words (A Lot), and spanglish mixed in. There are local cultural references, that may not be understood outside the valley.
Maggie has a lovely relationship with her family, she lives with her mother and sisters and they are getting ready for her little sisters quinceañera. They know little to no Spanish which happens a lot as families grow in the valley. 3rd and 4th generations tend to not know Spanish.
She is conflicted with the way she feels about her best friend, Amanda, her ex boyfriend, Matthew and the new girl, Dani. I like how Maggie is very real, she feels like I could’ve been friends with her while growing up. I like the fact that she wasn’t written as a ‘damsel in distress’ when it came to her feelings. She actually worked up the courage to work through what she felt for every one of these people in her life and made a choice. (Read it to find out.)

The narrator (Stacy Gonzalez) does a really good job. I can tell who is speaking based on her tone of voice. She makes different voices for different characters. I think she has a great voice and even at 2x the speed she was understood and she gave Maggie a wonderful personality. The narrator read the story and it made me feel like I was in it.

DURATION: 10 Hours, 35 Minutes, 5 Seconds

This is the authors debut novel and I am hoping she will do a signing at our local Barnes & Nobel.

I received this audiobook from @MacMillanAudio via @Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

#RGV #956 #AdvancedReaderCopy #audiobook #Netgalley #LGBTQIA #ARC #AAC #Bisexual #Harlingen #SanBenito #TheValley #Texas #YoungAdult #Teenagers #HotCheetosInClass #MexicanAmerican #Lesbian #ContemporaryRomance #Art #Photography #NYU #Fiction #ContemporaryFiction #Queer #DebutNovel #latinx #Chicana

Audiobook Review - This is a fantastic audiobook with many different facets to the story. I love Maggie's emotional journey to discover her love interest. The concept of using her finsta to work out her feelings was unique. Perfect for all library collections serving teens.

I really enjoyed the narration for this novel--it definitely fit the vibe I had in mind for the narrator, and their acting was fantastic! Their inflection was super engaging, and made the book feel just *that* much more immersive. I will be leaving a separate review for the book itself on the books page, since I have ARC copies of both, which is why this review is solely about the narration. I would definitely recommend this audiobook to friends, and perhaps even moreso than just reading the book either physically or e-book!