Sometimes stories are about incredibly important topics, and The Luis Ortega Survival Club is such a story. The first page immediately pulls you in and makes breathing difficult. What does it mean when you didn’t say no, but definitely didn’t say yes either?

The Luis Ortega Survival Club is a powerful story about consent and figuring out your sexuality. The book is comparable to Tonight We Rule the World. Both stories have an autistic and bisexual main character and a similar theme.

I read the story with a constant ache in my chest, and anger bubbled up from my belly multiple times. At the same time, I rooted for Ari and her friends so much. To get back at Luis, who felt like he had a free pass to assault girls sexually.

When I finished Tonight We Rule the World, I said that book belonged in every school library in the world and needed to be discussed in every classroom, and the same applies to The Luis Ortega Survival Club. Read this book, everyone!

In the same vein, as John Tucker Must Die, The Luis Ortega Survival Club is a story of unexpected friendship and revenge.

I was pleasantly surprised with how much this tackled in such a quick read. I flew by the book quickly, falling into Sonora Reyes's natural writing style and relatable characters. There's so much I enjoyed about this, mostly, it was the core group of friends. They all felt so genuine together, I appreciated seeing how much they cared about each other, and how it was evident they all wanted a place to be themselves and to heal. Our main character Ariana is autistic with selective mutism, who's lived a pretty invisible life until recently. What I really appreciated about this novel was the handling of Ariana's autism, it's never demonized. I think a lot of people will find comfort in this friendship group, and how Reyes managed to create a found family bond out of a tragic event.

Reyes tackles issues with rape culture, consent, toxic masculinity, as well as wholesome masculinity, without making it feel like a PSA. It reminded me a lot of the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. (I recommend reading the TW but nothing in this is graphic.)

I do wish the ending was a tad longer, I wanted to spend a little more time with the characters. But in all, this is a fantastic novel. It's warm, it's sad, bittersweet, it's about healing and friendship, and togetherness. This is a really special book with wonderful representation.