My Thoughts:
When I was in high school, my parents moved to Hawaiʻi island and set up a mini ranch in Volcano. I was in charge of the chickens or rather retired hens. What I learned from these old biddies (or birdies) is that the pecking order is part of the social culture of the flock. If I separated the low hen on the pecking order, the biddies already had the next lowest hen in mind. More shockingly, if I put another hen in isolation with the lowest hen, the lowest hen gleefully would become the top hen and do the same thing that was done to her. What I learned from these observations in the hendom is that social justice is antithetical to pecking order. However, these are hens, not humans. I still have hope for humans. However, social justice and equity in education has been a lifelong endeavor for me and I am entering my 31st year in education. In my observations in the middle school culture, I have also seen that how you react to the bully is also complex because they may be bullied at home, or they may be hurting too, so a hard stance on "not in my classroom," but also a hard stance on no to the behavior, not no to the person is necessary so that all middle schoolers can continue to fully form into 3 dimensional whole humans with their identities and self worth intact.

This book by Kara H.L. Chen comes pretty close to understanding that weird dynamic of facing bullying without becoming the bully. If students like this book, another book that you can give them is Queens of New York by E.L. Shen for more of what I call the strong "systems of support" that is seen in Love and Resistance.

A darker read set in a middle school, students can also be given Jennifer Chan is Not Alone by Hawaiʻi born Korean American author Tae Keller. And yes, the reason I revealed that Tae Keller is from Hawaiʻi is that even in a minority majority school system like Hawaiʻi, bullying still happens. This story is really about the cost of being different, and how the "be invisible" strategy that Olivia uses in Love and Resistance does not work. I realize that my three books I talked about in this post are all from Asian American authors who write about Asian American characters, but I think that is only as purposeful as the books I choose to read.

From the Publisher:

Seventeen-year-old Olivia Chang is at her fourth school in seven years. Her self-imposed solitude is lonely but safe. At Plainstown High, however, Olivia’s usual plan of anonymity fails when infamous it-girl Mitzi Clarke makes a pointed racist comment in class. Tired of ignoring things just to survive, Olivia defends herself.

And that is the end of her invisible life.

Soon, Olivia joins forces with the Nerd Net: a secret society that's been thwarting Mitzi’s reign of terror for months. Together, they plan to unite the masses and create true change at school.

But in order to succeed, Olivia must do something even more terrifying than lead a movement: trust other people. She might even make true friends along the way . . . if Mitzi doesn’t destroy her first.

Publication Information
Author: Kara H.L. Chen

Publisher: Quill Tree Books (July 4, 2023)

Olivia Chang’s method for staying invisible as the new Asian girl at several high schools has worked out for her. It’s lonely, but safe, and she’s pretty sure that is better.

What a unique book! Sometimes, the underdogs might get a chance to win, and this is their story. Olivia just can’t keep her mouth shut anymore when the most popular girl in her newest high school makes a racist comment blaming the Asian students for her own less-than-stellar grades. While Olivia initially regrets not holding on to her invisibility, she soon meets the secret Nerd Net, where she’ll find friends and maybe even love.

Besides just teen angst and drama, the story really makes use of Olivia’s interest in government and military strategy and structure. As the Nerd Net made plans of how to "even the playing field" at Plainstown High, Olivia weighed it all against her previous experiences, the lessons her grandfather and mother had taught about navigating the world, and what she had learned through her interest in history and governments.

While not necessarily the expected teen contemplations, Olivia’s assessments and reactions made the book so enjoyable and overall uplifting. The book earned 4 out of 5 stars and would be easy to recommend to any reader who enjoys contemporary YA fiction.

Love & Resistance is about a teen girl that is often moving from school to school. She has developed rules for herself around staying invisible and just trying to make it through her time. This year though, there is another classmate that is entitled, popular, and racist. When they have a run in and Olivia speaks up, the floodgates open and she is subject to a lot of bullying and nastiness from this girl, Mitzi, and her group of friends. The plot follows as Olivia makes friends with the Nerd Net, a group of outcasts that have banded together to try to make things better for others experiencing Mitzi's hatred and popularity.

This was a fun book. A secret group of students banding together for the greater good. It was such a lovely read. I enjoyed the overall plot a good deal but found some holes that I think would have added to the overall theme. I really wanted Mitzi to have her ah-ha moment and that never comes, if not that, I wanted more depth to come out of her background and really having her justify how she is acting. That never came full circle, Mitzi is who she is racism and all, and she is never really punished for her actions.

I liked the other characters though, I am not sure that this needed the romance element, but it was cute. Olivia is smart and determined and her relationship with her family and heritage is a strong one that I really appreciated seeing throughout the book. I especially liked the diverse cast of characters along with her. Griff was interesting, and I figured out his deal long before it came out in the book, I am not sure how much it adds but I really like the friendship that he and Olivia have and how they become closer through the plot and emotions they feel around helping others.

The resistance part was entertaining, albeit a little predictable and kind of one-note, but in the end I laughed out loud a good deal while reading and enjoyed this read coinciding with the July 4th holiday weekend. If you are looking for a cute, YA romance with some high school politics, this might be a good fit for you. This book does have elements of bullying, racism, and cyber-bullying.

I really enjoyed this. From the start, you could tell this was going to be a young adult, high school drama filled story. This story focuses on the main character, Olivia, who is the new girl, the loner, and the quiet one. She soon finds herself facing the popular Mitzi and under attack from her in some of the worst ways. Never fear, Nerd Net (NN) to the rescue. I absolutely loved NN and all the characters within it. Olivia soon realises having good friends can help you conquer anything and with the NN they decide to change the school environment for the better while teaching Mitzi a lesson. A beautiful read. Highlighting what a lot of us have been through... Bullying. But also the importance of friends. A well-deserved four stars from me.

DNF @ 30%

nothing against the author or the book itself, i am just not the audience for this book. this is very much on the younger side of YA, borderline middle school if not for the swearing, and i could see myself enjoying this if i were five years younger than i am. i think that victims of bullying, especially racial bullying, would find this story empowering, but the very simplified, black-and-white conflict between olivia + the nerd net and mitzi was jut supremely boring to me.

thank you to netgalley and harpercollins for an eARC of this book, all opinions are my own.

This title had a lot of buzzwords for me as I like to pick up books that might address very current issues such as racism. I also liked that this book really tackled Olivia finding her own niche and come out of her anonymous shell. I can understand her original mindset to not draw any attention towards herself and wanting to disappear in the crowd, but it was really nice to see her mature and find herself. The relationships that she builds along the way were really nice to see and felt authentic to me. The writing style flowed well and it was a quick read but still had some impact. Please keep in mind that there are definite trigger warnings for bullying and racist language.

Olivia Chang wants to be invisible. Having moved around a lot, Olivia knows what it's like to have been bullied. She has learned, the hard way, that the only method of survival is to keep your head down, don't make waves, and get through the day-to-day nonsense of school until you can escape for good. Her new school, Plainstown High, seems no different than any other. Mitzi and her sidekick Adeline run the school, and nobody dares to challenge that. When a racist comment is made, however, Olivia takes a stand and ends up putting a target on her back. Luckily, an underground group of friends known as the Nerd Net takes her under their wing, and soon plans are being made to take down the social hierarchy. But how far are they willing to go, and at what cost does true change happen?

I enjoyed this YA resistance romance. The characters were diverse, and the author didn't resort to stereotypes (in line with the theme of the book). I'm still not sure about the difference between resistance and revolution, but the message about everyone (even bullies) dealing with issues that nobody knows about is on point. Ultimately, it's a great story about learning to trust others after years of living in fear.

Recommended for students in gr. 8-12. Thanks to NetGalley and Quill Tree Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was SO GOOD. The author flawlessly tackled so many important issues, such as racism, bullying, and many others. I really loved Olivia's character growth and her feelings were really relatable, especially as someone whose also experienced loneliness in school.

I have nothing but praise for this wonderful book.

this was a pretty fast and straightforward book. it was also a very quick read which i really liked ! though i think it moved a bit too fast in some areas, i overall enjoyed the pace very much.

i loved the relationship building between the characters !! their chemistry was my absolute favorite. it was wholesome and cute to see these teens come together under such negative circumstances and even better seeing them help get our protagonist out of her isolation !

and while i love the overall message of standing up for youself and others in the face of discrimination/bullying... the actual outcome was a little too lenient for me. i understand wanting to spread a message of being the bigger person in certain situations and being the kindness you want to see in the world but... this just felt like letting the bully off too easy for all the hate and racism she spread. the message also got a bit preachy when talking ahout having sympathy for a bully because "you never know what's going on in their life," which i agree with ! but in this instance, there was just some really disgusting acts done that really should have not been handled with this much kindness.

so i guess you can say this has a somewhat realistic ending but i truly went into this expecting a real revolution against the bullies ! some disney original final confrontation uprising scene where people get to give the bully what she deserves for being so nasty all those years. an "i'm radio rebel" stand or something lol. (sorry yall, this is ya, therefore the only examples i could come up with are these lol)

and thought i expected something different, i did enjoy the ending and what it promised. i feel the same for the whole book ! there's a lot to like about it, truly !! but that certain point i talked about kept it from getting a higher rating.

and as i had stated, i loved the character's relationships with one another so i'll still be keeping an eye out for other releases from the author ! i'm excited to see what else she drops !!

This was such a good story about standing up for yourself and what you believe in. Finding your group, your people can be hard but once you do, don’t let it go!

I know so many kids in my library that will love this book and get so much out of it! Can’t wait to get this on the shelf when school starts back.

The romance in this book was super cute. Olivia and Griff are adorable and I kind of wish there was a bit more of them. I think that the end of the book was good and I liked that the girl got what was coming to her. At the end they were very clear about how the racism was bad but it felt like throughout the book it wasn't taken seriously enough by some of the other characters. I do feel like that's probably realistic though so.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Seventeen-year-old Olivia Chang is at her fourth school in seven years. Her self-imposed solitude is lonely but safe. At Plainstown High, however, Olivia’s usual plan of anonymity fails when infamous it-girl Mitzi Clarke makes a pointed racist comment in class. Tired of ignoring things just to survive, Olivia defends herself.

And that is the end of her invisible life.

Soon, Olivia joins forces with the Nerd Net: a secret society that's been thwarting Mitzi’s reign of terror for months. Together, they plan to unite the masses and create true change at school.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Dear Big Publishing, please, please, please stop advertising every freaking book as a romcom! To be fair, in this case, Love & Resistance isn’t the most insidious case of this happening, but the cover and book classification sets you up for expectations that the actual story just does not deliver. At least the blurb doesn’t try to catfish you, even if the rest of the packaging does; I knew it was likely not really a romance when the love interest didn’t even merit a name-drop in said blurb, and it spoke more about Olivia being at a new school and dealing with a bully, and finding friends who support her in her quest to take her bully down. And on that front, it at least delivers.
Olivia’s story really spoke to me, as someone who struggled fitting in growing up. While are situations aren’t identical, I was also bullied, although I wasn’t subjected to the same racism she was. I loved her spirit as she was determined to bring down her bully and the culture within the school that allows it to happen.
And even with all the toxicity from said bully, I loved that you also saw Olivia forming positive friendships with other people who saw her for her, and helped support her in her cause. And they have the cutest name for themselves, the Nerd Net, I can’t help but love them.
Olivia’s romance with Griff forms amid all this, and as romance subplots go, it’s all right. He didn’t massively stand out to me among the other Nerd Net members, but he contributes to the positive influences in Olivia’s life.
While this book wasn’t what I initially expected, I enjoyed what it delivered once I was able to shift my expectations. With the caveat that you know what you’re getting, I recommend this to someone looking for a book about dealing with friendship and dealing with racist bullying in high school.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book follows an Asian American teenager named Olivia Chang who utilizes isolation tactics to avoid being bullied at school, but when the high school's most popular girl makes Olivia a target, Olivia decides to stand up for herself instead of keeping her head down. I would have had mixed feelings about this book, but the absolutely lovely friend group and genuinely cute romance won me over completely. Each character in the friend group felt dynamic and held their own as individuals whose purposes in the story didn't only revolve around the main character. And the romance felt like it progressed realistically and actually put a smile on my face. That being said, my least favorite part of the book was how Mitzi's reign over the school felt unrealistically extreme and read as if it were contrived for the sole purpose of drawing parallels between the high school hierarchy and national governments around the world. The main character would constantly interject her thoughts about the French government and the uprisings that occurred in history as a way to explain Mitzi's control over the school, and it unfortunately felt really forced and threw me out of the story. High school hierarchies certainly exist, and a few mentions of some similarities may have been okay, but the plot of the novel seemed to be created in order to match historical uprisings against national governments, which didn't make the story flow as well as it could have. However, this was still a good book with many valuable lessons, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a YA contemporary that discusses the power of movements and meaningful friendships.

This is probably the best young adult fiction I've read all year. This is my first time reading from Kara H.L. Chen and I'm actually going to be able to meet her on tour in a few weeks which I am now *ecstatic* about because WOW. I loved this book, I zoomed through it and I adored the characters!

Livvy is the funniest, bluntest, most self-aware and clever YA main character I've met in a while, and though she was going through a rough time, she was SO FUNNY AND ENTERTAINING! I both felt for her and wanted to be her friend. I loved her perspective and she kept me wildly entertained throughout the entire book.

A cute, thought-provoking story about young love, finding your “group”, and being the change you want to see. 3.5 stars!


What I liked about the book:

1. I liked watching Olivia grow as a person. Starting out, she was a cynical, isolationist who was trying to stay out of the way so as to not draw attention to herself given previous bullying she had endured at other schools. By doing this, she not only allowed the bullying to continue, but she also mentally segregated everyone into groups of who she had to hurry by, who was safe to stand with, who was best to have lunch with, etc., which was really just another form of judgment. I liked seeing her interactions with Peter force her to realize that she was doing the same “groupings” and perpetuating the problem by ignoring it instead of resisting it.

2. I liked the misfit group of the Nerd Net, of course. We had Peter the poet with both a high IQ and a high EQ, Will the intense looking guy who turned out to be a real clown, Heidi the computer hacker who looked like a model, and Griff the de-facto leader who used to be one of the populars until he witnessed the bullying of his cousin. I loved that each of them had a true role in the story and served their group well. At first I thought Peter and Will would be interchangeable, but they quickly showed their individualities and what they contributed to the group!

3. I liked all the Nerd Net’s operations and the references to wars and the strategies historically employed. With Olivia learning a lot about wars from her Grandfather, she was able to be the “advisor” on all tactics the group took. I loved the references to various historical uprisings and how they were applied to the high school setting. It made it extra fun for this history lover.

4. I enjoyed the 3 romantic relationships within the Nerd Net (and they were all interracial!). We had:

- Peter and his girlfriend Carlie: the couple known for being legends in the slam poetry community.

- Will and Heidi: the ultimate “will-they-won’t-they” couple that everyone seems to know have feelings for each other but them.

- Olivia and Griff: the main couple with the meet cute, inside jokes, and sizzling chemistry we got to feed off of for the entire story!

All of them were fun and cute, but I must say, Will and Heidi were my favorite!


What could have been better:

1. I understood the ending and why resistance was better than retaliation, but I still wanted to see more happen to Mitzi after all the bullying and racism she spewed. I guess the point here is that she was always going to blame others for the things wrong in her life, so she would never actually get the point. The author did well with this, and it makes sense, but I didn’t like it!

2. While I loved the strategy behind all of their operations, I did feel that some of them were repetitive. I found myself saying, “How is this different from what they already did?”


Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Children’s Books, Quill Tree Books, and Kara H.L. Chen for the opportunity to read this book. The review expressed above is honest and my own.

I adored Love and Resistance and cheered Olivia Chang all the way! This is a well crafted coming of age story with a strong and necessary message about harassment and bullying. Olivia's decision not to stay silent kicks off a journey of resilience and we follow the impact from various angles which gave the story a relatable and authentic feel. I'll be recommending this one for sure. Thank you Net Galley for the ARC,

𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 follows Olivia who's recently moved to a new school and faces bullying by the popular girl gang only to connect with the anti-bullying group they've got going in the school to rise against this issue.

- ~ -

Hmm... I had good expectations but they weren't matched.

It was all a bit too stereotypical. The main issue addressed in the synopsis took a back seat and a somewhat repetitive YA romance called shotgun.

If the things were carried out differently I probably would have had given a better rating. Overall, I'd say it had potential but execution was below the mark.

- ~ -

3.56 / 5✩

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯'𝘴 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘴 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

I’m not one who reads or enjoys a lot of romcoms, but the idea behind this one intrigued me. Out of my own intuition, I decided to give it a try since it sounded like romance wasn’t the sole focus of this one (which isn’t bad, but the fact that it wasn’t definitely had me curious). And wow, I was totally right, because I loved this book! It was warm and charming and wholesome, but also really good at depicting some harsh truths about racism and bullying.

I had such a great time following the plot, both in terms of the love and the resistance. It might just be my unluckiness with other books I’ve picked up or heard about, but I’ve noticed a lot of books where the integration of pop culture and technology like TikTok feels forced or disconnected from the reality of it; that didn’t happen here. In fact, I think it’s a very realistic display of the reach social media has, and how big the stakes really are when it’s involved in something like bullying.

Some people might think that the romance was more developed compared to the bullying plotline, but I personally think they were well balanced. They both got their own scenes to shine, and while I would’ve loved to see more concrete consequences for our antagonist at the ending, I think it was all tied up well. I will say, though, it was odd that none of the adults got involved. While I was reading it, it made sense, because when I was in high school none of the adults really helped with similar issues either, but I realized after thinking about it that none of the students even went to a teacher. It (quite unfortunately) wasn’t too unrealistic though, so I didn’t mind it.

I loved Olivia as a protagonist. She has the humor, the honest emotion, and the right amount of agency to make her enjoyable to read about. I loved that there were moments her judgment faltered, and that she made some big mistakes in the story; it really tied up the themes of the book well, and I’m thankful for that vulnerability in MCs. And I always love when a book can balance being honest and real with being funny, and Chen does a really good job of that with Olivia’s narrative voice.

The Nerd Net, Olivia’s new friend group, were so fun to read about. I think they’re the highlight of this book (but then again, I am possibly biased to friendship and found family). The group had so many wholesome moments that portrayed them as real friends, and even though they disagreed with each other at times when it came to their anti-bullying agenda, it never felt out of place or “just for the drama” — I enjoyed this the most, and it reminded me of what makes finding true friends really special. Sometimes romcoms depict the MC only having one or two friends to focus solely on the main pair and maybe a side pair, but while Love & Resistance has two pairs too, the friendship was equally highlighted. It even gave us a glimpse into characters outside the Nerd Net, including Mitzi and her own “friends”, and how their actions might seem from their perspective.

Which brings me to the themes of the book. I thoroughly enjoyed how the topics of racism and bullying, specifically cyberbullying, were handled with honesty and nuance. There are scenes that give reason to these bullies' actions, and the Nerd Net emphasize that these don't justify what they do, but provide an understanding of them as humans. Olivia’s own personal biases were looked into, and she makes a point to say that while racism is much graver compared to the faults in her judgement, they still lead to the urge for negativity and retaliation that don’t actually accomplish anything in the end. My favorite discussion was about, as the title says, the concept of “resistance” against an established power structure. The mistakes Olivia and the Nerd Net made and the lessons they learned from it by the end ultimately make the point that a true resistance goes beyond the specific person in power, such as Mitzi, and that it has only accomplished what it aims to accomplish when the system itself is what people are working on fixing. This is a really powerful message I’m glad a contemporary young adult book explored. It’s this kind of reflective theme in a book that makes me wish I had this when I was in high school, and I’m happy young people will have romcoms like this.

Overall, Love & Resistance is a very heartwarming read, and is definitely near the top of my list of books I’ve read this year. Funny, charming, and real, this book is something I’d recommend to young teens and anyone who enjoys a lighthearted yet reflective coming-of-age story with love, friendship, and the realization that change starts with you.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this YA story about s bullied girl who joins the Nerd Net, and unground group to students fighting to change the tide of school bullying. I enjoyed the characters and the world building very much. It seemed a but unrealistic at points though as Olivia’s mom only pops up at certain points and the kids seem to move around town without any kind of parental supervision or teacher interaction.

Overall an engrossing read.