I loved this. I’ve never read a book with nuerodivergence so at the forefront. I thought it was well done. There was an authenticity about it. And the romance and honestly all the relationships were very heartwarming and well paced. I’m so glad books like this exist now and I thought it was well done.

title: Tilly in Technicolor

author: Mazey Eddings

publisher: Wednesday Books

publication date: August 15, 2023

pages: 320

peppers: 2

warnings: puke

summary: After her high school graduation, Tilly's parents send her on a European trip as intern to her successful sister, who's starting an environmentally friendly nail polish line. While her parents want Tilly to understand the importance of a college degree and a corporate job, Tilly wants to write. The other intern hired by the fledgling startup is Oliver, who sees the world through his Pantone palette lens. Both neurodivergent main characters can't seem to get things right with each other or with the world.

tropes:

one bed
neurodivergence
twin sister


what I liked:

great humor
fun side characters
food around Europe
good interior monologues

what I didn’t like:

really, nothing to put here

overall rating: 5 (of 5 stars)

For those of you who've been waiting for a 5-star review to see if you would like to read a romance novel, try this one. It gave me all the feels and the sex scenes won't be too embarrassing to read if you're not used to the hot peppers.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I am convinced Mazey puts something in her books because I am addicted! They’re just so good! I flew through this and I can’t even get over how good it was! Another phenomenal book from Mazey! And to think, this is her YA debut. I loved it so much I already have it pre-ordered. You won’t want to miss this!

Tilly in Technicolor 🤍
Pub date: 08/15/23

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Being around you— seeing the way you shine— is like discovering a new color of the rainbow every single day.”

I absolutely loved this book. Tilly and Oliver are two of the loveliest characters I have ever fallen in love with. both radiate so much love and kindness and sunshine and happiness. they show their love for each other in their most true and authentic ways that are lovely testaments to the multitude of ways people can love one another.

the neurodiverse representation was so special to read. I love stories that showcase the beautifully honest and unique way people live and love. this story was so special, full of love and understanding between Oliver and Tilly, as well as their friends and family.

the familial love here was so abundant and everchanging— showing how love doesn’t always mean we fully understand, but that we will always show up and keep learning 🤍

thank you for the ARC!!!! :)

I've read all of Mazey Edding's books that have been released and Tilly in Technicolor is my favorite. I loved everything about it. It was so full of life and emotion. I know it's categorized as a YA, but it was almost NA with the characters recently having graduated from high school, being over 18, and moving forward in life past that high school experience.

Tilly gave this book a special energy. Learning how her ADHD affected her life and her relationships with people was fascinating. I couldn't help feeling sad for her over her relationship with her parents. They didn't get her, and it actually inspired me to look at my relationship with my daughter. I loved how her relationship with her sister changed throughout the book and how Tilly was able to blossom under her experiences with Mona's company. My favorite relationship was her ever changing relationship with Oliver.

Oliver had his own point of view in this book, and I couldn't have been happier about that. His voice was so important to understanding him and his relationship with Tilly. How his autism affected him was just as interesting as how ADHD had an impact on Tilly. I loved seeing Oliver's world of color. I was just as fascinated by his character as I was by Tilly's. His friendships and relationships with his sister added some extra fun to the book.

Tilly and Oliver were such a great pairing. They had a hilarious, disastrous first meeting that I'm unlikely to forget. I loved how their annoyance with each other turned to understanding. The things they learned and understood about each other were so important and precious. The moments they spent together gave me so much to smile about.

Everything about this book was just so good. I am not doing my best getting across how I feel about it or what it was about because I am still so wrapped up in the emotion of it all. This was one of those books that I loved from the first to the last page. It's such a special read. I highly recommend it.

First loves can be quite challenging - how do you know they like you back if not ripping petals off of daisies or asking them straight out if the feelings are being reciprocated?
A crush can be even more challenging if the person finds themselves on the spectrum or with other neurological challenges.
Tilly has ADHD and, after graduating, is being sent to Europe to intern for her sister. Her parents are hoping that this trip will knock some sense into her and that Tilly will decide that she wants to attend college, after all.
All Tilly wants is to write and to navigate the world and how she sees it the best she can.
On her flight to London she is seated next to Oliver, who has autism and finds Tilly loud and challenging.
The plane ride is anything but smooth and at the end Tilly and Oliver are happy to never see each other again - that is until he shows up in Tilly’s sister’s hotel room and is being introduced as the other summer intern.

The story follows Tilly and Oliver in changing POVs around Europe and does a great job at educating the reader about the challenges people on the spectrum may face.
Tilly in Technicolor is a great YA read with no spice and definitely made me want to visit all the cool sights our main characters visited

I really enjoyed Tilly in Technicolor. One, I love the title. Two, great cover! It is an adorable YA novel that includes two teens with challenges interpreting signals from others and/or ADHD.

One thing bothers me about the book; in a nutshell ... the sleeping arrangements. I will include in the notes to publisher. But besides that, I adored Tilly in Technicolor!

Thank you to NetGalley ... for yet once again ... introducing me to a "new to me" author! Mazey Eddings did a great job bringing this book into Technicolor for me. Loved the imagery of Oliver's blog/website linking specific colors from different photos.

Really wonderful how the author captures unique talents from these young folks.

Thank you to the author Mazey Eddings and the publisher St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to review Tilly in Technicolor in exchange for an honest review.

Tilly in Technicolor by Mazey Eddings is about two neurodivergent teens who have a disastrous meet-cute on a plane and then fall in and out of love and in love again.

Teens are going to love this book. It captures the energy of young teen romance ad the appeal of being in a foreign country. Oliver is such a sweet character, and I love his adoration of color. Furthermore, Eddings is able to give insight into what it is like to have ADHD, especially a girl. There are not many books featuring neurodivergent female protagonists, and even the science and therapy are skewed for males.

That being said, I really wanted to like this book, but Tilly frustrated me. Her chapters made me tense, especially the early chapter of her plane ride to England. She invades Oliver's space ad body throughout the entire plane ride and requires a copious amount of ketchup. There was so much ketchup being used and descriptions of ketchup and after all of the ketchup talk, she ends up getting it all over herself and Oliver. I wanted to scream, but I also realize that this is Tilly's world.

Overall, a solid three stars even though Tilly and I did not vibe

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Tilly in Technicolor was such a joy to read. The story is light hearted, funny, and shows sides of ADHD and Autism that everyone should know. Mazey Eddings writing is great and I really enjoyed this novel, I wanted to know what was going to happen to Tilly and Oliver. I was sad when they were sad, and happy when they were happy. She writes in a way that you can connect with the characters. I liked the raw emotion she incorporated into all of the characters. There was everything from sister rivalry, friendships, LGBTQ+ relationships, mother and daughter issues, this book really has a little bit of everything!

This book and its lead characters are neurodivine! I love all of author Mazey Eddings' neurodiverse characters, but Tilly and Ollie are my favorite. Messy, larger-than-life Tilly is vibrant and practically vibrating out of her skin as her mind swirls and runs laps and is never calm. Oliver is quiet, tidy, and meticulous. They are (seemingly) total opposites thrown together for a summer internship involving frequent travel and a shared hotel room.

Their neurodivergence brings them together, via mutual sensory overload in a loud and crowded town center. As they each stim to self-regulate, they see parts of themselves reflected in each other, and their slow-burn romance takes off from there. They are so sweet and caring with each other, it's truly beautiful to watch their relationship bloom.

I hope this wonderful book reaches each and every single neurodiverse reader of YA Contemporary books.

What a sweet, powerful read. I adored Tilly & Ollie’s characters & their journeys. I appreciate how Mazey represented these characters & their neurodiversity’s. I really enjoyed reading Tilly’s blog posts! This was just a read!

This is apparently the year for amazing Adult Romance Writers to write YA. I love this trend because it allows me to have books from authors I love, that I can share with my students. Mazey Eddings, new YA, Tilly in Technicolor, is one such book. I went into it already expecting to love it, because I have enjoyed her other books. I did love this one, and full disclosure, I think it may be my new favorite book by Eddings. The premise is an exciting one, with the protagonists spending the summer as interns traveling through Europe. Tilly, the female protagonist, has ADD while the male protagonist, Oliver, has autism. Both, feel like they don't fit in. For Tilly, this means feeling like people, especially her family, consider her a too loud and too much. While Oliver, with a more supportive family, has difficulty making connections with others. The way these two characters come together was romantic and sweet, but also seeing them embrace each other wholeheartedly was reaffirming. The plot of the story itself was a rollercoaster with some great travel woes and descriptions of some amazing locations. So, if you are looking for a phenomenal YA romance with great ADD/Autism representation, read this book. I definitely plan to recommend this one to my students. (Thanks to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the ARC)

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the eARC!

I’m going to try to articulate my thoughts on this book as best as I can because I have a lot of them. So let’s jump in first with what I liked!

Oliver. I really enjoyed reading his chapters for most of the book. I liked his take on color and his passion for it; it was fun and interesting to hear his long in-depth descriptions. ❤️ And I enjoyed how she wrote his autism - how it manifested within the conflicts of the story. It all was very beautifully done.

Some aspects of Tilly. I liked again how her ADHD was a part of the story; I liked how she was portrayed and it was enlightening for me. Most of the time, I just wanted to give both of these little babies biiiiig hugs. And I think that was a huge win for Eddings.

The romance. It was tender and sweet and a cute little slow burn for these two. I enjoyed a lot of the middle of this book from like 10/15% to 70% - where the slow burn was happening. These two darlings were growing and learning more about each other and it was sweet and wholesome! ❤️

Okay, moving on to what I didn’t like:

Tilly’s parents. First, they are only in the book for a total of maybe 8-10% and they are the worst people ever. I get having the juxtaposition of her awful parents with Oliver’s understanding ones but it was overwhelming every single time her mom was present. And the worst part about it all was the underwhelming wrap up of this issue. Her mother reads Tilly’s blog posts and suddenly has this revelation and all of her horrible ways are behind her…. 🤔 Um huh? It was so weird to read that ending portion and I was very confused. So we’re implying that her completely disrespected her daughter and calling her Tornado Tilly was her way of protecting her? I’m sorry; you can’t throw in horrendous parents who just don’t listen to their daughter and then wrap it up in four pages. I don’t buy it.

Next… and this will be controversial. It felt like a LOT of the talking about ADHD and autism was just that: talking, being told, explanation. It was a LOT of explaining. There were times when I felt like I was reading a memoir instead of a fictional YA romance. And I had this same problem with Ophelia After All. This felt like a book where we are being taught what neurodivergence is. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this and honestly it may help a lot of young readers understand Tilly and Ollie. But it’s just not my cup of tea.

Following up on that, at times this book felt like it was focusing SO much on these two characters and their neurodiversity that the plot was mainly that. It didn’t feel like there was much plot besides this. These four people traveled across Europe and I remember very little of any of their experiences (except for those $200 clogs…) and I don’t know much at all about Tilly’s sister and zip about Amina. They felt like plot devices instead of characters. The reason for Tilly and Oliver to hang out. 🤷‍♀️ So if you want a book with so much characterization that it overshadows everything else, this is it.

Finally…. I can have some suspension of disbelief in YA. A kid having 120,000 followers on his COLOR INSTAGRAM? (For reference, Brandon Sanderson, who writes YA and Adult books has 188,000 followers so like…. WHAT?)
Yeah, sure, I’ll let that slide for the purposes of this particular plot.
But an 18 year old girl with zero prior experience writing except for her 2 month old blog and no college education and nothing mentioned about school-related clubs or magazines - getting a writing job with a magazine in PARIS?? 😱 I’m sorry. What? What? WHAT? I can’t even be happy for her because I don’t believe that AT ALL. And these types of superfluous things irk me in YA because you’re molding young minds. I actually liked her sister offering her to stay in to help with the nail polish company for a while. I wish she had maybe done a 6-8 months or 1 year later of maybe then she gets some kind of writing thing? After maybe her blog gets bigger? It just… didn’t make sense to me how it happened. Congratulations- you’re a lucky person? 🙄

All in all, I’m ending up with a 2.5 / 3 rating. I may lower this if my brain decides later…. But I think it’s fair. There were good points to this book and things that didn’t work for me. And I think those things could work for other people. :) I have one of Edding’s adult books still to read but I will probably refrain from buying more until I get a better idea of her style. I am willing to give her books another go at least!

This book, simply put, is phenomenal. I loved all of the characters but obviously mostly Tilly and Ollie!

I thought the independence that Tilly gained throughout this book was really lovely! Oliver's understanding of her was also just so freaking cute!! He had multiple quotes that I wanted to highlight that were honestly just beautiful.

Mazey has this way of writing characters and stories that are so realistic to me and it keeps me coming back for more - I really will read anything she writes. I don't typically read a lot of YA but I found myself absolutely loving this book (honestly I devoured it in a matter of hours) and eagerly anticipating Cubby's book!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press/ Wednesday books for the eARC in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This book is a sweet and super cute romance between two young people. Tilly has ADHD and Oliver is autistic. This book has well written neurodivergent characters and it is so sweet and so pure and just amazing. MAZEY Eddings had quickly become a auto buy author for me.

Tilly and Oliver are polar opposites - she's loud and flies by the seat of her pants, he's quiet, calculating, and has everything in his life in order. When they both intern at Tilly's sister's start up for the summer, the forced proximity causes sparks to fly, in both good and bad ways. Tilly is trying to gain some independence from her parents, who don't seem to understand her and Oliver just wants to get the work done and not get close to anyone else.

What this has:
- Incredible ADHD and Autism rep
- forced proximity
- European "road trip"
- a meet disaster that had me both cringing and laughing

The relationships in this book are top notch and so realistic. Tilly and Oliver need to learn how to communicate with each other due to their own neurodiversities. Tilly and her sister need to repair their relationship as they've grown apart throughout the years and Tilly and her mom also need to learn how to communicate and interact with each other.

I thought the independence that Tilly gained throughout this book was really lovely! Oliver's understanding of her was also just so freaking cute!! He had multiple quotes that I wanted to highlight that were honestly just beautiful.

Mazey has this way of writing characters and stories that are so realistic to me and it keeps me coming back for more - I really will read anything she writes. I don't typically read a lot of YA but I found myself absolutely loving this book (honestly I devoured it in a matter of hours) and eagerly anticipating Cubby's book!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press/ Wednesday books for the eARC in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4.5⭐️

This was a cute and fun perfect for summer ya romance read! I loved the story and characters! Mazey Eddings did a good job of portraying and writing in a ya voice, both Tilly and Oliver’s perspectives sound like teens. Also ADHD and autism are represented by these characters and the portrayal was well done. These characters are great on their own and I most loved seeing Tilly’s growth in finding her passion and love! Tilly and Oliver also complement each other really well even though in the beginning they are complete opposite. But the build up to their relationship was so good and awkward and teenage like, it had me screaming!

Overall this was a great ya romance and do recommend!

Read if you like…
•ya romance
•ADHD and autism rep
•slow burn
•dual pov
•European vacation
•only one bed scene
•chapter titles

Tilly in Technicolor is so sweet. There was so much consideration put into both Tilly and Ollie - they felt so real and relatable. I understood their reactions and the conflict and was rooting for them. Besides the issue with the mom being resolved a tad too conveniently, this book was excellent. I loved Cubby and can't wait to read the next book in the series.

Tilly is excited to spend the summer road tripping through Europe with her big sister as her intern. After a meet disaster with Oliver, who sits beside her on the plane Tilly is sure her trip can only get better from here. However she soon realizes that Oliver is also interning at her sisters company for the summer.

I want to start this off by saying that everything Mazey Eddings has written is exceptional. I have nothing but praise to speak about all of her work. Tilly in Technicolor is no exception to this rule. The accuracy in which both Tilly and Oliver's neurodiversity is represented is unmatched.

This is the book that 18 year old me needed. The sweet, raw and pure way that Tilly experiences the world had me glued to the page shedding tears at time and others giggling along with how awkward and real the situations she found herself were.

I honestly have nothing but praise for this book and hope that everyone loves it even half as much as I do.

I love Mazey Eddings, but this book was just not for me. It’s not because of the ADHD and autism representation, I actually really think that this book is great, and so many people with those diagnoses will relate, but I just didn’t relate to the characters, and I really couldn’t stand Mona, and Tilly’s parents. I really didn’t like the nail polish company plot. And the pacing of the story was very off. It went immediately from pining 70% of the book to instalove by 85% to a third act breakup by 91% to back together by 93%. I really had to heavily skim read the book to finish because I wanted to see if it got better for me. It didn’t. And that’s okay because not every book will be for me and I still think Mazey is an incredible writer and I’ll continue to read her work.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.