This book is what queer kids out there need. A group of queer friends exploring their identities and relationships of all kinds. I did like that we got 3 different perspectives from 3 different identities.

I will say that there was not as much overall plot as I had excepted going in. This isn't a bad thing. It was just much more character driven than some other novels I have read recently. I did love the idea behind the documentary and getting so many snippets of what it means to be queer for different main/side characters.

I would definitely recommend this one, especially to any teens out there who might be looking to see themselves represented in a book.

I loved this book! A fun YA book based in Houston - where I live. It's the kind of book I wish so many people had access to when they were younger. Highly, highly recommend. It's a fun, easy, heartfelt read,

I loved this book! The Author does a great job of storytelling for the main characters of the book. You can’t help but to fall in love with the friendships shown. It’s so good that I’m ready for a follow-up or spin-off, there’s so many ways that Dale can go! Great debut book!

What a strong message and powerful story, I truly enjoyed it from start to finish.
Thank you NetGalley for the arch!
Rating: 3.75 stars!

4.5 ⭐️'ˢ

“The Queer Girl is Going to Be Okay” By Dale Walls @dalewallsauthor

📕 Edition: Audiobook ARC

This debut novel is an absolute gem! 💖 This heartwarming story follows Dawn on her quest for queer love, brilliantly intertwined with the pursuit of her filmmaking dreams. 📽️

Walls beautifully captures the essence of friendship and resilience through Dawn's journey, making it a truly touching read.

The characters, especially Dawn, Edie, and Georgia, are so well-developed and relatable for many. 🌟 Their unwavering support for each other is definition of true friendship. The theme of queer love is delicately explored, bringing a fresh perspective to the genre for young adults.

Walls' writing style is both engaging and uplifting, making it easy to get lost in Dawn's world. 🌈

Overall, a delightful and affirming read. 🌈💕 It's a celebration of love, friendship, and the resilience of the human spirit. Highly recommend for anyone in need of a feel-good story! 📚✨

The Queer Girl is Going to Be Okay releases November 21st!

Thank you @netgalley @levinequerido and @RBmedia for this ARC!

will not be writing a full on review since i dnfed this at 65%.

i was super excited to read this because a queer girl interested in film with amazing friends sounded so cool but unfortunately i was starting to hate this by the time i decided to let it go.

the writing felt weird, and i constantly had to go back and re-read the lines i had just read. i don’t even know how to explain what was wrong with it? i liked that the characters were all a mess because that’s very relatable! but i was getting tired of their story lines, georgia & jill were probably my favorite thing out of the whole book. i love the concept of dawn’s documentary and would love to watch it irl. i also felt like there was so much going on with the three of them that i kept confusing them or forgetting what was going on in one’s life by the time we got back to it.

overall, this was quite a disappointment for me, sadly. i was really looking forward to reading it, only to be put into a slump by it. i’ve seen some reviews by people who did like this book though, so if you want to read it don’t let me deter you!

First off, I LOVE books that are under 300 pages, especially when they are fun to read & super enjoyable. I also love books that are character driven by characters who are easy to root for. This had everything I want in a YA story. Feel good vibes, queer representation, & at the center of it all, LOVE!

Totally requested this book based off the cover. I’d love to listen to the audiobook for it too.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, & to NetGalley for a copy of the ARC!

This book has the potential to be life-changing. As a queer person, I know firsthand just how badly we need more books about happy endings for us. I could've realized I was gay a lot earlier if I had had access to books like this; I hope young readers who find this will have that experience. I was incredibly touched by all the characters and the various representations. This is a new comfort read.

Thank you to NetGalley + Levine Querido for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I first have to say this book packs a lot in less than 300 pages! Queer identity, queer love, the change and anxiety that comes with the transition from high school to college, and different family situations that all have their fair share of struggles. And my favorite part is that our main characters are all poc which I absolutely love to see, more of this please!!!

Our main character, Dawn is a transgender girl that aspires to be a filmmaker and wants to experience true, authentic love in the sense that she wants someone that loves her for her. On top of that, she has this awesome documentary she’s working on for a film scholarship, you called it “The Queer Girl is Going to Be Okay” and if she wins the scholarship she will be able to go to school for film on a full ride and be able to take care of her father who is struggling with depression.

With a premise like that, I was captivated because I am also an aspiring filmmaker so reading the snippets of the documentary dialogue was absolutely feeding that part of my brain.

However, Edie and Georgia’s storylines were not as fleshed out as Dawn’s which I found rather disappointing seeing as they both had different struggles of their own and they weren’t developed further during the course of the story. Edie has strict Christian parents that are super against queerness and this affects Edie’s relationship with Ben who is non-binary. Not only that but it affects the way Edie approaches and deals with problems because she wants to appease her parents because they talk highly of her as she’s a great student. Georgia has a single mother who have what I call a Rory-Lorelai type of relationship but there’s also layers to them that we got a glimpse of but it was again, never truly fleshed out. Georgia’s relationship with her girlfriend, Jill was so beautiful to read but again, I was left wanting more. There wasn’t a healthy balance between the three characters as the story is Dawn’s story but when you have 2 other characters featured, there needs to be a way to drive their storylines forward without it feeling like the story has stopped. The pacing was way off, some times it would race forward but then we would be stuck in traffic as the pacing slowed down, in other words: the pacing was choppy.

Despite my critiques, I think this story definitely deserves a read through because of the sheer fact that it’s about queer love (amongst other important themes!) and it features an all woman, poc main cast. There were several parts of the story that had me smiling and laughing, this friend group is something I wish I had back when I was in high school and I hope younger audiences can resonate with this story.

I’m getting to the point where I don’t relate to YA as much as I used to, and despite that this book had some unspeakable hold on me. I’m not from Texas but I know what it’s like to be a queer kid growing up in the South, and I can still very much relate to the quest of just trying to figure out what love in all its different forms looks like to me. This is a story of queer teens who get to be queer teens, even if there are still the all-too realistic threads of the downfalls society puts upon queer teens. Something that the author and I share is the study of art history, but something I got out of this book is a deeper love and appreciation for film through some of that lens. Dawn’s guiding voice and passion within this book is so strong, even as it's sometimes obscured by the haze of despair. Even in the inevitable flaws of a book, this book communicates something that feels so vital to my identity even as I continue to grow out of YA, and I would highly recommend it.

Undoubtedly the highlight of this book is queer love. The medium of documentary film within the text along with Walls’ prose captures something so distinct and beautiful about queer love and community. Of the beauty in its mundanity. On top of that, there’s this balance of kinds of love and also the pain that comes from it, the bond between our three protagonists and also the quiet insistence they queer girls deserve to be loved romantically. The snippets of interviews have stuck with me, even after I finished reading. There’s the side of pain and some heartbreak, but there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.

There were times where the multiple perspectives felt like it was pulling from the overall story rather than adding to it, and in some cases the parts of the girls' lives that were about their own wants and dreams felt so much more readable and tangible than the ones about love lives that weren’t fully explained. Georgia specifically has one of the best personal journeys, but her love life was negligible for me. In some ways this book acts more as a slice-of-life than anything, even with the clear plot elements. The rise and fall is less notable than the various pieces that stuck out in the interim. But sometimes it’s just enough to watch Southern queer girls love and be loved, to watch a trans girl be loved, and enjoy what may come.

A good and quick read. Coming of age story following three friends navigating life. I enjoyed it. I loved the way the LGBTQIA community was represented

This documentary is about representation but it's also about a lot more than that. It's About making queer people human. It's about youth, It's about a universal feeling. Everyone knows what love is. It's nice because the definition is so different from person to person. That's what i'm interested in. The difference. The variation. The ways love can exist in the world from a kiss to an orange peel."

[Text might be different compared to final version]

One of the most important things for our youths is the opportunity to see themselves represented authentically, and across all forms of media. When it comes to love, relationships, sexuality, body autonomy - the youth need to see that in a positive light.

Although I am not the target audience for The Queer Girl is Going to be Okay I still enjoyed this book because of the message that it shows and the representation that effortlessly flows off the pages. I feel that a lot of young readers are going to find themselves in this book, are going to relate heavily with these characters and the struggles and beauty that they have in their lives.

I love the friendship in this book, how they were all supportive of one another and the sense of community and love that they built with each other.

I enjoyed the discussions of identity and how vulnerable our characters were.

Overall, This is a book that I highly recommend if you have a young reader in your life. Or if you just want a book that has a positive representation and strong friend group.

The Queer Girl is Going to Be Okay is a deeply relatable read that explores many important themes. It has the potential to be a positive influence on the lives of young queer readers looking for a version of themselves between the pages of the book. Queer Girl boasts relatability but doesn’t manage to set itself apart with particularly unique or consistent writing. At the end of the day, it is a thoroughly enjoyable book that will make you feel stressed at times, but ultimately warm because we can be comforted with the knowledge that the queer girl is going to be okay.

Special thanks to HearOurVoices Book Tours and Levine Querido for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This started out slow but then got better about a quarter of the way in.

We follow 3 people, Dawn who is a transgender girl, Georgia who is lesbian, and Edie who is queer. Each one has their struggles with family, relationships and getting through applying for colleges. Dawn has the opportunity to get into her dream film school by creating a documentary. We got clips of the documentary and they were heartwarming.

I loved that we got the different perspectives into different lives.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I thought the writing style was good for a YA book. I also love that there is a book of this depth out there for the young adults going through the same things.

This book was delightful. It read younger than I expected, but hopefully that means that this message of queer love and friendship will be received by those who need it most. Getting to know Edie, Dawn, and Georgia as individuals and as a trio, readers will really appreciate the strength that girls—especially queer girls (and queer girls of color!) who might live in places that aren't truly accepting—draw from each other and their bonds with other queer girls.
This is a love story in multiple ways: we see love between families, between friends, between a person and the work they find fulfillment and passion in, and between romantic partners. Queer love is so deeply entwined in this story, showing many of the endless facets queer love contains, without being simplified or cheapened.

Georgia, Edie and Dawn are three best friends. In the last year of high school, the three of them struggle with family relationships, romantic relationships and college prospects. Dawn was elected to be part of Austin Festival for her documentary and she has to win to provide for her dad. She just really has to. Edie is dating Ben and she loves them but she's not willing to tell her parents. Georgia has to deal with college rejections and her mom's new boyfriend... But together, they'll figure it out, they have to.

I liked this book overall. I liked the main characters and their friendship. I liked how they loved each other unconditionally but still called each other on their bullshit. I had a little issue, however, with the storylines. They were a bit too many and in the end, most of them were a bit rushed through. This was quite a short book and I feel like it could have, should have been longer. I did really enjoy the whole plot line about the film and the festival. And, honestly, I liked all the storylines, the others just didn't feel as complete. I was also very interested in the family dynamics and the romantic relationships but they didn't always feel as layered as the main friendship was.
Overall, though, I had a good time and I'll be keeping an eye out for more books by Dale Walls. This was their debut and I'm excited for what they'll write next.

The Queer Girl Is Going to Be Okay celebrates queer love in all of its forms - from messy romantic encounters with strangers to complicated relationships with parents. But the one form that never falters over the course of this book is the close friendship between Dawn, Edie, and Georgia. Their dynamic as a friend group was sweet and entertaining, and their love for one another is apparent from the very first page.

In terms of the story itself, the plot felt like it stretched out much longer than it needed to, in general, the characters were very forgettable. Still, it was a sweet story for what it was.

Thank you to NetGalley and Levine Querido for the arc!

I liked the idea, but the plot seemed to go nowhere for most of the book. The last 25 % were interesting, but before that, I struggled.

I really loved the writing of the characters and the representation (LGBQ+ and POC). t's about love, queer love, the beauty of queer love and as a queer person I really appreciated that. The friendship felt like a found family, it was really good. This coming of age story is also about other important topics such as relationship with family, growing up and acceptance. It's an easy read, the pace is fast and that's what I needed at the moment.

Dawn, Edie, and Georgia are a group of friends that are finding their way in the world. Dawn is finishing a documentary that will give her the ticket to her dream college, Georgia is learning to trust again in love and Edie is struggling to find her place between her queerness and her family values.
Her friendship above all is going to be the love that glues their motivation and fight above all obstacles.
The characters are flawed but are so likeable and they make you root for them!
Please give it a read if you'd like to read a coming-of-age story about queer love, fighting for your dreams and friendships!