Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

This did a good job of trying to tackle petty bullying and also exclusion. However, it wasn't really clear what the exclusive girl group did? And there wasn't enough trans joy in this one, as I expected there to be. There was so much hate, and not enough apology or support.

I cannot emphasize enough how much we need more books like this. I did have to google if Virginia actually has anti-trans laws like the ones in the book—it doesn’t, as the author’s note clarifies.

Tara is a young trans woman of color who seems to bounce between dealing with aggression on all sides of her. There's almost no one that she can just be herself around. She's used as a political pawn. Even people who are theoretically accepting just see as her as "the trans girl." When she says anything that doesn't match their idea of what a trans girl should be, they immediately push back against her, even when she's just expressing her own insecurities. They seem more concerned about saying the right things than actually getting to know her. The worst of the offenders were the Sybyls. I understood nothing about the Sibyls. Pleas explain?! So it's an exclusive all-girl club that does what? Sits around and talk?? It didn't make sense to me. Just Happy To Be Here wasn't as hopeful as I expected. There weren't enough good moments to balance out the bad. I think it could have been a much better, more uplifting book.

Thanks for NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Just Happy to Be Here is a fascinating exploration of what it means to be a "good transgender." Tara clearly just wants to be a girl while flying under the radar, while her friend Liam (the only other trans person she knows in real life) is so loud/proud/militant about his being trans that conflict is inevitable. To be clear, there is no answer to this question. But in Tara's attempts to join a not so secret society, prove that she is girl enough for her peers, and also dodge the government trying to take trans kids away from their supportive parents, one thing becomes crystal clear. Regardless of what approach you take, the reality of being trans is that you have to put so much more work than cis people to be given the same consideration. Your reward is survival. How you fight, well, that's up to you.

I really liked Tara and enjoyed her voice & the complex, messy interpersonal dynamics throughout. However, the writing just felt quite clunky and the story meandered a lot. This has a lot of important points to make though.

Tara is an Indian girl, the daughter of immigrants whose parents’ visas are currently in question, and — just to add sprinkles to the sundae — has recently changed schools from the all-boy’s school of St.George to the all-girl’s school of Ainsley Academy. That’s because Tara is a trans girl. Now she can wear skirts, makeup, and be surrounded by girls. She can finally be herself, now that she knows who she is, and it’s wonderful!

True, the teachers aren’t always kind, and her best friends don’t want to actually sleep over, but even those small bumps in the road can’t diminish Tara’s happiness. The only thing she really wants, now, is to join the Sibyls, a semi-secret club for girls where they take on the names of the women from the past, from Greek and Roman myths and stories, goddesses and tragic heroines, and gather in groups to study, talk, and just … be. Whitney and Hannah are pretty sure Tara’s going to get accepted; the club only takes two girls a year, but she’s both trans and brown skinned, so it’s a double diversity.

Until Tara is told she won’t be accepted. Not because she’s not smart enough or sincere enough, but because she’s not, er, what the Sibyls want. Because she’s not quite their kind, you understand? Unfortunately, Tara does, and accepts the rejection with what modicum of pride she has left. However, that rejection sparks a movement, one Tara isn’t a part of, one taken up on her behalf. One she doesn’t want to be a part of, until she’s given no choice.

This is a ride of a book and, at the end, I was left feeling wrung out. Not in a bad way, but after all the drama, the tension, the horrible, awful, no-good people doing incredibly shitty things, I wanted and needed some giant cathartic happy ending, and didn’t get it. Because this book isn’t a fantasy novel; it’s a contemporary novel taking place in today’s world, in a red state, where the transgender child of two immigrant parents can only do so much, can only allow so much because a giant, public, political battle with thousands of people rallying in support might do more harm than good. Now, this book does have a … well, I’ll call it a happy ending. Tara ends up happy. She ends up with friends, confidence, and support. It’s an optimistic ending — or, rather, an optimistic beginning to the next step in her life which, as a 16-year old, is really just more high school. So maybe not that happy after all.

If Tara’s life were a book (I know, I know, just go with it),, she’d be a crusader, fighting for trans rights and active in all the right clubs and groups and social medias. Instead, she’s doing adequately at school and still frets that she isn’t on hormones, yet. All she really wants is to be … well, a girl. And part of that, along with the change to an all girl’s school where she’s surrounded by all things feminine, is to join the once-secret Sibyl society. Eventually, sure, college — like Smith or Wellesley, both of which are all girl’s schools. She wants friends, and she wants her body to match herself, to be beautiful and girly.

However, the Sibyl society wants girls with good grades and excellent extracurriculars — neither of which Tara has. Her friends, though, think she’ll get in on the diversity issue, since the Sibyls only have one black member at the moment. Before that, they had one Chinese girl. The history of the Sibyls is very, very white and very, very carefully cultivated, especially by Evangeline “Angel” Beaumont, whose family is very involved with Ainsley, and who oversees the awarding of a generous scholarship, which also comes with membership to the Sibyls. Money which, yes, Tara could use, but she’d be willing to accept membership in the Sibyls even without it, because she wants to belong. As a girl, not a token for diversity and inclusion.

Felicity, Tara’s crush, is Angel’s sister. She’s beautiful, clever, and — in Tara’s eyes — almost flawless. She’s also a fierce defender of her cousin, Liam, the only other publicly transgender person in Ainsley, which is awkward, since he isn’t a girl, but the education at Ainsley is better and his parents haven’t exactly given him a choice. Felicity is a dreamer, and someone who likes to stir the pot just a little. When Tara looks like she might take a safer route and pick a safe subject of her interview question, Felicity sighs but supports her, even while gently egging her on to be brave.

When Tara is unfairly kept out of the Sibyls, it’s Felicity’s friends, Hecuba and Strife, who help keep Tara’s spirit up. They, more than anyone else, get her. She’s a friend to them, and never once do they treat her as anything other than a girl. Strife is another pot-stirrer, constantly asking Tara when she’s going to confess her feelings to Felicity, and Hecuba is a steady rock, encouraging Tara to think before leaping, to consider all angles. And Tara certainly needs that rock.

Tara’s parents, both in the United States on visas, with their chances of citizenship now under question thanks to the Republican president and their state’s Republican governor, do their best to understand Tara. While they still on occasion misgender her, they are quick take correction, and it’s clear that both love her very much. When all of the chaos goes down with the school, Tara’s mom is more than ready and willing to get a lawyer and go to the Washington Post. Even knowing the risks they face, both of her parents refuse to let anyone threaten their child … until social services shows up.

Because this is a contemporary book, taking place in today’s world, the real life implications of having their daughter taken away from them simply because they allow her to be a girl, a government that might kick them out of the country because they allow her to transition — another reason they haven’t been quick to consider hormones, even though Tara knows that if she pushed, they’d give in — that even a good lawyer might not be able to protect them from having their daughter taken away from them, both Tara and her parents can only go so far, can only do so much. It’s not, perhaps, satisfying, but it’s real. And because of that, it’s hard to see a character go through so much and not get the victory they so rightly and richly deserve; that there’s no grand smackdown for the TERFs, for the bigots, for the hateful people. Instead, there is a resolution, and one that works within the framework of the story and the current situation the United States is in. But it did leave me tired and sour. Tara is stronger than I am, able to take the small victory with grace, and I admire the character for it.

The writing is good, the characterization is strong, but the pace does tend towards a slow and leisurely path. A lot of side conflicts are resolved off page, with any apologies between those characters not present in the book, which I regret. Liam, who is an activist for the trans community, used Tara’s situation — used Tara — and it soured their friendship. I would have liked to have seen that conversation.

This is a coming of age story more than it is a truth, justice, and vengeance story, and works very well, as such. Personally, I did enjoy reading it and do very much recommend it.

I have given this book one out of five stars ⭐️

Firstly, I think this book is important for what it stands for and I think we need more trans stories to be heard especially when it comes to the difficult and harrowing parts being trans and dealing with transphobia.

Sadly, this book didn’t do it for me. I had quite a few problems with the writing (both dialogue and writing style). It didn’t flow at the best of times and I found it chopped and changed so much that I found myself getting confused with what I was reading.

A point of view I hadn't considered, and a very interesting read. As always it's hard to believe there are people living this way...that the government can decide they're criminals just for being who they are feels outrageous, but I know it has happened to plenty of different groups over the years.

I found the Sibyls confusing...because Tara already knows all about them, we're not given much explanation, and everyone has a Sibyl name and a real name used at different times, so it took me a while to figure out who was who. All in all the book wasn't explained very clearly, but we didn't really need it to be, we understood the basics and the point was the people, anyway.

We're pretty deep in Tara's head for most of this, and I found it really thought provoking to see how she perceives and experiences things. Definitely one for teens to read and enjoy.

Just Happy to Be Here will have a great impact on readers who find themselves in a similar situation to the characters of the book.

tara wants to be treated like any other girl at ainsley academy. as the first out trans girl at this all-girls school, though, she runs into some difficulties. she wants to join the sibyls, a sisterhood group at ainsley, but there are people (including those in charge) who’s sure she’s just trying to “take” a scholarship from another girl. while she’s under attack, she has to decide whether to keep her head down or find her voice.

i really appreciated the nuanced discussions on being trans this book offered, especially when it came to the intersections of tara being trans and indian. it was nice to see that tara’s parents ultimately had her back, though they did make some mistakes and weren’t perfect by any means. i loved the relationship tara developed with some of the sibyls and it was so nice to see her have close friendships (and, later, a relationship).

I read this in a day! Such an important story for the current moment. Without coming off as preachy, Kanakia manages to get the reader to truly sit with and consider all the potential dangers/consequences of simply existing as a trans person in states that are making it increasingly illegal. This was fast-paced and well-written, and any teen struggling with gender identity should NOT miss the most heartfelt author’s note I’ve ever read- filled with both encouragement and practical advice that I’ve not seen elsewhere.

By several axes I can tell I’m not the intended audience for this book, but I found it compulsively readable and found it difficult to put down. Tara’s journey and truth was intense but also felt very teenage girl messy with the complexities of making friends and fitting in, compounded by Tara being trans and her trans femme friends primarily existing online and her in-person trans friend has different perspective and priorities than she does because he’s white and trans masc. I did really enjoy the interpersonal dynamics and how they developed over the course of the story. More than anything else I’m glad this is a book that exists and I hope it finds the people, the girls who need to see themselves in this light.

Just Happy To Be Here was almost too heavy for me to handle. It wasn't as hopeful as I expected. There weren't enough good moments to balance out the bad.

Two things kept me from getting into this book: Tara's support system and the Sibyls.

Throughout the whole book, Tara has nobody 100% in her corner. Her parents only supported her transition when it benefitted them. One of her closest friends ditched her when she started getting involved with the Sibyls. The Sibyls themselves backed down when their scholarships were on the line.

Nobody was unequivocally and unconditionally there for Tara. That's what hurt the most. Not to mention, most of the apologies were off-page. I needed to see those moments.

Plus...

I have to be honest: I understood nothing about the Sibyls. It's an exclusive all-girl club that does what? Sits around and talks?? They were prestigious solely for the sake of being prestigious. I wanted them to have a purpose. I wish there was a more substantial reason why the students wanted to join.

I needed a page with the Sibyls' names and nicknames to refer back to. Every Sibyl had two, and that was hard to keep up with.

Bottom line: Too tragically close to home for me.

Thank you to HarperCollins Children's Books, HarperTeen, and Netgalley for this book in exchange for an honest review. Just Happy to be Here was such an amazing book. I loved every second of this book. This was a story that needed to be told.

Tara deserves nice things. I'm so excited this book exists, and I hope the transfeminine people who need it can find it.

Tara, who’s dark-skinned and transgender, wants to be a Sibyls, a quirky club where girls take the names of Greek and Roman gods. This year the applicants have to interview and talk about how they can do best for the world. Tara is running into problems and knows she doesn’t look like a girl but feels she still deserves respect. When the adult in charge interviews Tara, Tara feels she’s reneging on her promise because she’s trans. Someone posts an online petition asking to ban the Sibyls. What happens now?