Member Reviews
Mazey Eddings is an auto buy auto for me and I will forever rave about her books. To me, this book was the perfect YA novel and I absolutely fell in love with its characters, the storyline, as well as all the representation shown throughout the book. I highlighted so many passages on my kindle and I can’t wait to get my hands on my own copy of this book to tab it as I loved it so much and already can’t wait to reread it 🤭❤️
Some of my highlights of this books were:
🎨 THE REPRESENTATION IN THE BOOK IS PERFECT! 🥹❤️ I absolutely adored how both Tilly and Oliver were represented in the book. As an individual with ADHD, I saw myself in Tilly and some of the issues she faced in her everyday life in a world that is not built for neurotypical people, and I loved being able to connect so deeply to characters like that.
📸 I LOVED Tilly and Oliver’s romance. It was so cute and one of my favorite YA romance I have read. I loved how they obviously loved one another however had no idea what to do about it… It was so sweet and gave me little butterflies to see what would happen next! They were so cute and I loved seeing their romance grow throughout the book.
🎨 The plot of this book was so original and fun. I loved being able to be transported while reading and this book was able to take me on a trip around Europe, which I loved. I was able to picture each city and I loved the premise of this book.
📸 The colours in the book was incredible and really added to the uniqueness of the book. I learned so much about colours and I will not see colours in the same way from now on.
🎨 I loved how Tilly grew throughout the book. I loved seeing her grow and find herself through her travels and writing. She was a lot stronger than she originally thought, and my heart broke for her many times by the way she was treated by her family yet tried her best to keep being optimistic.
📸 The chapter titles had me laughing yet fitted each chapter perfectly 🤭
Overall, I loved this story so much and it’s one I will think about for a long time. The way the representation was spot on, the character growth, the feeling of facing in love for the first time, fun adventures in Wurote and so many colours…This book had it all and I would highly recommend this book to everyone, especially neurotypical individuals as it’s always so nice to see this representation in a book and to connect to the story and characters.
5⭐
- TILLY IN TECHNICOLOR might be a perfect book. I adored everything about it. It's the exact right blend of YA rom-com and serious coming of age. Tilly and Oliver's ADHD and autism, respectively, are portrayed with loving nuance. And it's just a good, fun read.
- I adored watching Tilly and Oliver learn how to understand and accommodate each other as they got to know each other better, which starkly highlighted how others tried to force them to be people they weren't.
Absolutely loved Tilly and Ollie's European adventures from their disastorous meet cute to all the feels, but the romance unfortunately fell flat. The brush with love series was amazing so I had high hopes for her YA debut (I love a good YA book!) and anticipated this would have all the charm and butterflies we see in Mazey Eddings's other books and it just wasn't there. The ongoing conflict that Tilly had with her Mom (I'm sorry but mom was for sure NOT my favorite character), just added some very unnecessary drama that detracted from all the growth that Tilly was doing through the course of the novel. Also, the miscommunication at the end and overall resolution felt very very rushed and didn't feel true to the characters at the end. It was kind of abrupt, even though there was a perfect opening for a year later epilogue.
All that to say, this is a great read for those with a serious case of wanderlust!
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my review!
"Being around you—seeing the way you shine—is like discovering a new color of the rainbow every single day."
TILLY AND OLIVER MY BELOVEDS!!! <3
TW: toxic parent, ableism, vomiting
Mazey Eddings writes neurodivergent characters better than any other author I've read. This particular story is ADHD girl x autistic boy, paired with road trip romance through Europe, only one bed, and a meet-disaster on an international flight. Both characters are diagnosed before the book starts and are at different levels of comfortable with their diagnoses.
I will NEVER get over Oliver going on a hyperfixation ramble and Tilly listening to every word with fascination 🥹 These two were MADE for each other!!!
"But you know what they say."
He tilts his head in question.
"Couples that stim together stay together."
Other aspects I loved:
-the traveling! bonus points that it was realistically portrayed
-the sisters' relationship
-nontraditional post-grad paths represented
-realistic miscommunication that didn't aggravate me!
-low angst, high swoon factor
-books about writers >>>
-opposites attract
-side queer romance
If you loved any of Mazey's adult romances I think it's safe to say you'll also adore this one. Her YA debut is outstanding. It's swoony and grounded and so funny. I didn't want to stop reading because I didn't want it to end, but I also read it so fast I got whiplash by the time I finished. TILLY AND OLLIE FOREVER!!
"Is this what having friends feels like? People that encourage you so unabashedly? It's a bit overwhelming in the best possible way."
Is it a perfect book? No, but it made me feel literally every emotion capable by the human body and that is all I can ask for really :,)
Rep: main character with ADHD, main character with autism and two moms, lesbian side character, gay side character, side character with they/them pronouns
Thank you to Wednesday Books for the early copy of the book in exchange for an honest review!
Tilly in Technicolor will have you experiencing a rainbow of emotions!!
I will never be able to express how much Mazey Eddings’s books mean to me. And this one is no exception, because it had me feeling all the emotions.
I was laughing, swooning, arguing with the characters, and crying my eyes out (both in happy and sad). I don’t know what it is about Eddings’s writing style but it unlocks something in me and makes me feel everything.
When it came to this book, I kept wishing I had this book when I was younger. I wish I knew it was ok to love the parts of me that society told me I shouldn’t. The parts I learned to mask and made me feel like I was never truly myself. That’s why I love this book so much and think it’s so important for the younger generations. They’ll be able to see themselves in these characters and get to see people like them navigating the world, friend and family relationships, and of course romance.
Tilly and Oliver both give us insight on how hard it can be to live in a neurotypical world when you are neurodivergent. Tilly shows us how a woman with ADHD learns to love herself and how she sees the world. I especially love to see how she grows into herself and starts putting her foot down. Especially when it comes to her relationship with her mom, and this allows for them to openly communicating and fixing their relationship.
Ollie lets us see how his autism changes the way he views and understand the world. And he begins to learn more about new emotions, letting go and being himself, and of course learning how communication can look different for each person. And I absolutely love how he learns to love the chaos that is Tilly, while he prefers order. They truly just meshed so well together.
Tilly in Technicolor also will have readers laughing at the utter chaos that ensues on their adventures throughout the book. From ketchup on planes, to horrible English accents, and of course the one bed we all know and love. It truly felt like I was having the best time traveling with friends and I loved every minute of it.
Mazey Eddings also has an incredible way at making me fall for all of her die characters. They’re colorful and vibrant on the page, just like how Ollie views Tilly. And I will say I’m beyond excited to learn more about Cubby’s story and see her romance unfurl. Plus Micah and Marcus were the best friends I always wanted in my life. Truly iconic.
There is one more thing I implore everyone who decides to pick up this book to do…read Mazey’s acknowledgment page. I know sometimes it’s easy to overlook the pages at the end and say we will go back to them, but hers add depth to the overall feeling of her stories. She pulls on my heart strings every time and I just feel so seen in those little notes at the end that I get misty eyed.
This book was excellent! With autistic and ADHD main characters, Mazey Eddings wrote such a vulnerable and caring story. Truly so sweet, with her patented good humor and vulnerability all baked in!
Tilly and Oliver had a rough meet-cute and a runaway meet-ending. However, they meet again and the summer becomes a colorful chapter in their love story in "Tilly in Techinicolor" by Mazey Eddings!!!
This book was engaging, a source of many smiles, and definitely the cause of many out of the blue laugh out loud moments!
I absolutely love the use of Pantone colors in this book! It’s so clever to connect different things in life through color, and the descriptions are beautiful!
Both Tilly and Oliver have different types of neurodivergence and it’s fascinating to know their thoughts. We learn to empathize more through Eddings books, and I can’t wait to introduce this book to my young neurodivergent family members when they’re a bit older.
If you enjoy close proximity, coming of age, being true to yourself, found family, and vibe with being different means being unique, then I highly recommend this book!!!
Thank you to Net Galley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.
Tilly in Technicolor by Mazey Eddings is charming, joyful, and practically perfect! I flew through this young adult romance, happily traveling with Tilly throughout Europe the summer after her high school graduation. And while Tilly’s story takes the reader to some beautiful settings, at its heart this is a story about embracing each other’s differences—but especially our own.
Tilly’s parents have shipped her off to Europe to spend the summer working for her older sister with the hope it will inspire her to pick a college and vocation. Tilly’s ADHD has made school a struggle and she has no desire to continue her education. Tilly’s passion is writing, and while she yearns to write for a living, her mom thinks writing is only a hobby.
More than anything, Tilly longs for acceptance. She’s exhausted from trying to fit into the mold everyone else expects of her. Oliver knows plenty about feeling different, too. He’s autistic, but unlike Tilly, he’s had a more supportive family and he feels like he has a solid life plan.
Until he meets Tilly, that is.
When Oliver is Tilly’s seatmate on her flight to Europe, the two don’t exactly have a romantic meet-cute. On the surface they seem like polar opposites, but they’ll discover they’re much more alike than they know.
Oliver sees life in colors, even labeling the world around him by their Pantone name and number, which makes the reading experience even more rich. I wanted to stop and look up each color he mentions, but I also didn’t want to put the book down.
I couldn’t stop smiling while reading as Tilly and Oliver grow closer, learning more about each other and themselves. And it only reaffirmed the fact that we need more books featuring neurodiverse characters. Once again, a book has reminded me that what makes us different is what makes us beautiful.
Tilly just finished high school . . . and it was an all-out battle with her ADHD adding enough turbulence to put her in a tailspin. Her high-achieving parents and sister can do anything, but it leaves Tilly feeling like she's just not going to be able to make something of herself. But she has the summer to figure it out while interning with her sister's start-up in Europe.
Oliver picked up an internship opportunity before he goes to university in London. He's working for a startup as their social media, photographer, and color guru. Here his strengths shine through, powered by the hyperfocus of Autism.
When Tilly meets Oliver - it is a clash. But they connect over the course of their whirlwind European tour and learn to harness their strengths.
Mazey Eddings uses romance and getting to know a person as a highlighter to showcase how neurodiverse people navigate the world. This part of the story is fantastic, however, it is pure plot formula, plugging into tried and true storylines. Not appropriate for middle school.
Mazey does it again! Although I didn’t find the characters very relatable, and they felt young, I enjoyed reading/listening to this story.
I’m sure if you ask anyone about this book, they’d tell you it has great representation, and they were right. There is ADHD and Autism rep, and POVs that all you to get into the heads of the two main characters, Tilly and Ollie.
I loved the travel in this book, even though it didn’t get into much details of the places they’ve been. I loved seeing their friendship/relationship grow in different places. I listened to most of this while traveling, and finished it on an early morning solo walk around Bordeaux.
Tilly in Technicolor is an endlessly charming novel about two neurodivergent young adults who come together on a European summer to remember. Tilly has ADHD and her brain is in constant motion. She's bubbly, creative, and a little odd at times. She meets Oliver, who appears at first to be gorgeous, but extremely standoffish. We later learn he has autism and struggles with social cues. Their characters evolve as they get to know each other. I really loved Oliver!
Tilly becomes her older sister's intern in her fledgling start up. They travel through Europe over the summer to expand her business. Their relationship is strained at first because of their parent's heavy expectations. I loved the realistic portrayals of family relationships and Tilly's growth. She really blossomed while traveling as an intern and finally connecting with others who appreciate who she is.
I listened to the audiobook, which I enjoyed overall. It did get a little tedious when each narrator did an impression of other characters, but I did like their voices.
Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for providing this ebook and audiobook ARC. All thoughts are my own.
I've been a fan of Mazey Eddings since her debut and I was so excited to get an opportunity to read her first YA book. Eddings' voice lends itself to the YA space exceedingly well, particularly this upper YA space where the characters are on the precipice of new decisions and new lives.
When Tilly and Oliver meet, it is a comedy of errors involving pretty much the worst flight you can possibly imagine. They never expect to see each other again...until they find out they have to work together all summer.
This is an own voices book, Eddings portraying a character, Tilly, who has ADHD and Oliver who is autistic and I loved the way the two characters related to one another. Both of them relate to the world in specific ways that compliment and rub up against each other and watching them navigate those similarities and differences all across Europe was so special.
This wouldn't be an Eddings book without ridiculous hijinks and this book delivers both a fun coming of age European summer while also delving deep into what makes us all special. My favorite part of this book is a storyline involving Tilly and her overachieving sister and it was such a joy to experience this book while also recognizing how it will be so wonderful for YA audiences to see themselves in the pages.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Tilly in Technicolor was SO GOOD!! Wow I’m blown away. This is my second time reading a book by Mazey and she has such a gift with words. The story/plot itself was so simple, but the character growth was so beautiful.
The representation was amazing to read and I loved seeing Oliver’s autism paired up with Tilly’s ADHD and watching how they interacted and all the intricacies. As someone that’s a little neurodiverse myself, and working through how to parent my munchkin who is also likely neurodiverse, I appreciate seeing these representations in fiction, and the opportunity to learn from the authors own lens and experiences, some of which she likely has gone through herself.
I’m not certain this belongs in the YA category, not because it has much adult sexual content (it’s not spicy), but because they are 18ish-year olds and the feel of the writing was just more mature than I’ve come to expect from YA books. I liked it a lot more than I expected to after learning it belongs in the YA category… so perhaps it’s a very well-written upper-YA story!
Thank you to Wednesday Books, St Martin’s Press, NetGalley and of course Mazey Eddings for this gifted arc. All thoughts and opinions are mine and given freely.
“ ADHD hasn't "changed" me… It is me. It's an undeniable and simple fact of who I am. Like my black hair or my gray eyes or the bump on the bridge of my nose. It exists in my DNA, probably right between my hopeless romantic gene and the raunchy sense of humor allele. It's woven into who I am. It's not some disease that needs to be cured.”
I love Mazey’s adult books so I thought I’d pick this one up, but I didn’t love this one. The writing’s amazing and so are the characters. I love Tilly and Oliver! This one was just a slower plot and I usually don’t do well with slower moving plots. If this sounds interesting to you definitely still give it a try!
TILLY IN TECHNICOLOR - MAZEY EDDINGS
4⭐
PLOT - Tilly Towmley suffering from ADHD jumps at the opportunity to work as an intern with her sisters start up as she is unsure about what she wants to do and is hoping that touring Europe might give her an insight into what's she wants. She meets her sisters other intern Oliver Clark who suffers from Autism and Knows exactly what he wants. These two opposites spend an entire summer together and as their connection grows they will just have to figure the rest of it out too.
MY THOUGHTS
This YA representation of neurodiverse characters is so fresh with so much relevance in today's times. Each person has the ability to do something which feels right and just for them inspite of all the hurdles they face and it was just so positive to read about Tilly and Oliver. Once again Mazey Eddings delivers!
Thank you Netgalley and publishers for this arc in edc for my honest review.
I couldn’t put this book down! Loved it so much, especially the ADHD and autism representation. I have ADHD and i am on the autism spectrum. Highly recommend this. Got an advanced copy from NetGalley (thanks netGalley and the books publisher!) but this review is NOT biased.
I loved this book! I loved everything about it and even though I am not the main target audience for a YA book, I am a mom of an adult daughter with ADHD and I have learned so much reading this book. I hope every neurodiverse teen gets a chance to read this, Tilly and Oliver are realistically portrayed and so amazing. And I hope every parent of a ND child reads this too.
I think this is the third book I have read from the author and while I loved them all ( five beautiful stars for each!) this is my absolute favorite. Thank you so much for the chance to read this.
Happy pub day to Tilly in Technicolor by Mazey Eddings! I loved being inside the heads of two neurodivergent YA characters, and I’m so grateful to @macmillan.audio for an ALC of this one and to @WednesdayBooks for a copy of the book. I always get insights about my oldest when reading books with characters who have ADHD, and I’ll definitely be referring back to this one since many passages resonated with me. And I’ll definitely pass this one on to my kid.
Recent high school graduate Tilly meets Oliver on a plane to Europe where she’s going to intern at her perfect older sister’s nail polish start-up company, and far from an immediate love connection. He seems to hate her on sight. I mean, she is in his window seat, and the plane ride only gets worse from there. Neither one is thrilled when they discover that Oliver, a color expert who labels most things he sees and feels with a Pantone color, is also working for Tilly’s sister over the summer and they’ll be traveling around Europe together.
I don’t have ADHD (that I know of), nor am I autistic, so I can’t say for sure, but the depictions of Tilly’s ADD and Oliver’s autism really rang true to me and were the highlight of the book. Tilly’s parents seemed to really struggle with accepting Tilly as she is and it made me think a lot about the way I parent and the expectations I put on my kids. The build up of Tilly and Oliver’s relationship was lovely as was the way Oliver supported Tilly in believing in herself and her true purpose.
I think fans of YA romance who are looking for a different perspective will love this one.
Mazey Eddings continues with hit after hit! And now she's a YA star! Just brilliant!
I love her ability to create neurodivergent characters that are accessible and so easy to connect with while still showcasing the real struggles of the characters.
She's created an adorable and sweet romance with swoon-worthy moments while still maintaining real and relatable communication issues.
Tornado Tilly is on a whirlwind trip around Europe, one that her parents hope will convince her to settle down, go to college, and become a focused adult. But her ADHD brain often causes her body to react in mostly embarrassing ways, including unfortunately on the flight over sitting next to a very cute and very rigid British guy in quite possibly one of the cringiest meet-cutes possible. After fleeing the plane ride from hell, Tilly finds that her seat-mate is also her tagalong for the whole summer as her sister's newest intern. Oliver is a color savant, but his autism prevents him from being privy to typical social cues. Can these two figure out each other and how to communicate to become even more than work partners?
Mazey Eddings hits the nail on the head with her neurodiverse characters yet again. This time in YA format to appeal to a younger audience, Tilly's train-wreck of a life is extremely relatable to those who feel like they don't fit in the mold of parental expectations. Oliver is a refreshing character that is an absolute sweetheart and the all out expert on all things Tilly Twomley. This romance is adorable as it develops with a fade to black intimate scene. Oliver's friends are hilarious, while all of the minor characters enhance the story with their presence. The ending was a nice wrap-up with everything coming up Tilly!