I thought this YA contemporary romance was completely adorable, like a comforting cup of queer joy that never bored me. I don't know why I held off on it so long.

Daniel is autistic and has never felt like he belonged anywhere, except with his best friend Mona. But something's been off with her and he thinks the perfect solution is setting her up with the new kid in town, a nonbinary teen named Gabe. What could go wrong? Certainly not Daniel developing unexpected feelings for Gabe.

The two meet in a cyberpunk LARP group and sparks fly, which Daniel is first confused by. Gabe's also a drummer in a band and just as glamorous as Mona. In theory they're the perfect couple and he keeps getting frustrated by his futile efforts at bringing them together. Their oblivious slow burn was adorable.

I liked the details of Daniel's hobbies, like his LARPing and his other passion, photography, which he uses as a crutch to avoid awkward social situations. I found it fascinating how we got a deep dive into Daniel's experience with autism and how it affected his life and personal relationships, though it felt a bit info-dumpy at times. I loved a pan4pan M/X romance between Daniel and Gabe, and the representation of Daniel's Latine culture and Gabe's Black. Plus Mona is bisexual and aromantic - more identities I rarely see in fiction. I found it refreshing how Daniel had a loving, accepting family and a good, colorful group of friends. I did wish I had more character development for Gabe and more backstory on their personal life but the focus of this novel was Daniel and his journey of self-acceptance.

This was just cute and almost so sweet I got a toothache but with very little angst of the kind I usually can't stand in YA contemporary. It was a nice palate cleanser in between my heavier reads; so lighthearted and touching. This was an easy read without too many deep themes, and fairly conventional for YA romance with the exception of excellent autistic and nonbinary rep.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book reminds me a bit of Love is a Revolution from 2021. I have no issues with any of the autistic rep in this book. I think the book is fine overall. There were moments when I wasn't exactly sure how the love triangle was going to end up resolving but that said, I don't think the book itself is special or unique enough for the list. A lot of the writing was telling instead of showing which could have worked if it was a diary format instead of what it was.

A lot of the plot was bland and I truly hated the way it felt like Daniel's Cuban heritage was shoehorned in with the descriptions of food.

This was a fun, diverse story. It was cute and lots of representation which will be nice teens. It was fun to see Daniel come to understand that he wasn't fading away and was actually the main character with lots of people who cared about him.

This is such an adorable and fun book! The characters really shine in this one, and I loved getting to know Daniel, Gabe, and Mona. I also absolutely LOVED all of the diverse representation in this one, from autism to trans to bisexual to pansexual to Cuban to a-spec representation, it was awesome! My only issue with the book was that it felt a little lecture-y at times and info-dumped quite a bit. I think it could work for some people, but it was a little too much for me. Still, it was a really fun book, and I would definitely recommend it, especially for all the fantastic rep!

(Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change upon final publication.)

This is a great book that will stay with the reader. I appreciate that there were many queer characters and a character with autism. This book is one that many people need to read and think about.

"Daniel, Deconstructed" is like a puzzle where the pieces keep changing shape. James Ramos tells the story of Daniel, a guy with a lot of secrets and struggles. It's a bit like trying to figure out who's who in a fun mystery. You'll get hooked on trying to solve the puzzle of Daniel's life, and just when you think you've got it all figured out, there's another twist! Ramos writes in a way that keeps you turning the pages, making you feel like you're right there with Daniel, figuring things out as he does. It's a book that makes you think about big stuff like who we are and how we deal with tough times, but it's also just a really cool story that you won't want to put down. If you like books that keep you guessing and characters you can't help but root for, "Daniel, Deconstructed" is definitely worth checking out!

DNF pg 87
This writing style wasn't for me, it felt like a lot of overexplaining and telling, rather than showing what was going on. A lot of information not relevant at all to the plot was shared, and I didn't really like that. The plot was fine, I just don't think this book was for me.

I finished Daniel, Deconstructed a little while ago and I’ve honestly been thinking about it a lot ever since I did.

Daniel, Deconstructed is the story of Daniel Sanchez, a photography and LARP-loving autistic teen who sets out on a mission to set his best friend Mona up with the new kid in school, Gabe.

Daniel is absolutely CONVINCED that Gabe and Mona are meant to be, because Mona always seems to find something wrong with the people she goes out with, and Gabe seems to be just as cool as she is.

Of course, things are never that simple, and when it seems that Gabe is more interested in Daniel than they are in Mona–and Daniel realizes he might return those feelings–Daniel has to deal with the fact that his perfect plan might not be so perfect.

I absolutely adored this sweet coming-of-age story. It was such a fun read, especially when you got to step into the sci-fi LARP world with Daniel. I found myself identifying with Daniel a lot of the time and really felt for him as he tried to figure out the weird world of allistic dating. I especially loved the found family elements of this book, and found the friendship between Mona and Daniel so heartwarming.

All in all, I highly recommend this book for anyone who feels/felt a little weird in high school wants to feel seen!

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for providing an e-arc of this book.

High school senior Daniel Sanchez is constantly trying to mask his autism and believes his introverted, geeky ways mean that his best friend, popular soccer star Mona Sinclair, is too cool for him. So when he meets charismatic Gabe during a LARPing event, Daniel starts trying to set them up with Mona. But as his matchmaking efforts go awry, Daniel finds himself growing closer to Gabe while navigating new, confusing challenges in his friendship with Mona. Teen readers tired of “mean clique” vibes in high school stories will find Daniel’s respectful, supportive circle of friends to be a breath of fresh air in this coming-of-age story, and anyone who has ever found dating and relationships to be more confounding than fun will appreciate Daniel’s honest, introspective attempts to understand the illogical world of love.

*4.5 Stars*

I had a great time reading this. It was fun and I liked the characters and the dynamics and the gayness and the autism rep.
I'm going to be real honest and say I don't remember a lot of it at the moment but I know I enjoyed it and would read it again. The vibes were great and I really just wanted to keep on reading and reading and reading.
It was a great debut by a promising author. I can't wait to see what more James Ramos has in store.

Thank you for the e-arc for Daniel Deconstructed. The queer and autism rep in this book is incredible and I just kept thinking how wonderful it is for teens to have access to these stories now.

Follow nerdy high schooler Daniel as he embraces his main-character energy in this witty ode to movie tropes, meet-cutes, and LGBTQ+ love.

This is a fun, heartwarming pick for YA readers not only looking for a queer story, but autism representation as well! I hope to see this in many school and public libraries so that young adults can see themselves in their favorite books.

i love james ramos. that could be the entire review but it wouldnt perfectly describe my love for this book. nothing i say can describe my love for this little universe james created. the characters felt so real to me and whenever i closed the book (metaphorically, because i read it on my kindle) i would have a moment of surprise that the world stopped existing.
daniel, mona, and gabe were such unique characters that fit into each others lives so well despite how different they are. adding in phoebe and bridge and aisha, the character dynamics were perfect. this book has autistic rep (in male and female characters, as well as trans characters), as well as aromantic rep that wasn’t dependent on asexual rep.
mona and daniel’s friendship made me feel so seen in a way i hadn’t expected. truly a perfect book.

This is a wonderful story that depicts and Afro-Cuban autistic queer teenager figuring out social dynamics as well as love. There's a lot of explanations for the reader about autism and Daniel as a narrator rambles and goes on a lot of explanations but I wasn't personally bothered by it as I felt the book would be a great introduction for younger teens who do not know autism and are encountering it in this book for the first time. The narration style also seems very reflective of Daniel's personality and I can see a lot of similarities of Daniel's voice in the story to my autistic friends.

The explanations throughout the book of how Daniel experiences autism rings true to what I've compared and contrasted with my friends while still not saying that it is the only way to experience autism. It was definitely clarified that autism was a spectrum and all the symptoms were how Daniel experiences it while other autistic characters in the novel seemed to show to most likely experience it differently as they all had their unique voices and interactions with Daniel.

The approach to the love triangle was unique as it didn't truly end up as a love triangle but everyone in the book and even the reader assumed that there was more going on with Mona. In the end everyone seemed happy and even though it wasn't said, a queerplatonic and a romantic relationship solidified by the end it seems since all three characters were happy and supporting each other side by side.

I would highly recommend this book to young teenagers or teenagers who are being introduced to autism. There isn't any coarse language and even the LARP described in the book isn't imagined as violent as well. The only triggering parts of the book is a misgendering a character but it appears more so as a learning lesson for the characters and it's not a malicious confrontation so comfortability will depend on the reader.

This book was not for me. I just couldn’t get into the story because too many characters were being introduced, the LARPing really threw me off, and the plot was really predictable. The representation is incredible, though - in terms of neurodiversity, race, gender, sexuality (or just everyone is pan, which is cool too). As a non-binary reader, I was delighted to see a non-binary love interest. I’m sure lots of people will enjoy this book.

I really enjoyed everything about this book! The queerness the autism rep, the Larping, the romance! It was so incredibly sweet.

Daniel is your average high schooler, except he has a secret that he's kept from even his closest friend, Mona... he is autistic. I loved seeing the world through Daniel's eyes, or more like through the lense of his camera. He's used to being behind the scenes, but manages to find himself caught in the middle of a whirlwind

Daniel, Deconstructed is a sweet, YA, queer romance with non-binary, pansexual, bi, aro representation and an autistic MC. Also had tons of POC characters! I loved it and look forward to what James Ramos comes out with next!

DANIEL DECONSTRUCTED by James Ramos is a story about teenaged LARPer, Daniel, navigating high school, friendships, and relationships with autism. While autism isn't exactly a plot point, it is a prominent part of the storytelling. The author goes out of his way to explain Daniel's thought processes and behaviors, which is helpful for a neurotypical reader. The story doesn't quite follow a standard structure but still entertains with a nice balance of comedy and angst for its diverse cast of interesting characters.

4 out of 5 stars

Rep: Afro-Cuban autistic pansexual MC, Black non-binary pansexual love interest with two moms, bisexual BIPOC side character, gay side character, trans autistic side character, two other Black autistic side characters

Content warnings: Internalized ableism, overstimulation, disassociation, misgendering, past bullying, friendship distancing

This is an adorable story with possibly the best autism representation I've ever encountered! I felt seen from the very first paragraph. It's so important to let autistic authors tell autistic stories; there's just no way an allistic writer could capture nuanced feelings like squashing the urge to info-dump or knowing you need to watch your facial expressions. Everything Daniel describes is so, so relatable (particularly being hyperempathetic, not understanding the purpose of wedding showers, and assuming that everyone either dislikes or is ambivalent toward you) — it genuinely felt like getting a hug to see my own experiences on the page. I really hope more books continue to get published about people who don't feel like the main character in their own story.

The only part I didn't love was Gabe. They felt like such a manic-pixie-dream-them. As an enby myself, I don't enjoy having to admit to disliking a non-binary character. Although I sympathize with their dysphoria and admire that they aren't shy about being themself, they're also just...cringey. Every time Daniel observed that Gabe iSn'T LiKe OtHeR tEeNs in some way, I found myself rolling my eyes. And I have to admit to having mixed feelings about readers being told Gabe's assigned gender at birth. On one hand, it's always nice to have a character explain misgendering, and the brief plotline about the homecomnig court nomination was cool. On the other, that plotline only lasted a chapter or two, which to me seems too irrelevant to justify revealing such sensitive information. If 1) Gabe had come out over the course of the book, 2) it was dual-POV so we also got to see all of their interactions, 3) it featured sex scenes, 4) Gabe chose to medically transition, or 5) it was more about the trans experience, I would agree with including that. But that's not the case. We're told Gabe's full name, the features on their body, and the exact ways in which they're misgendered. It's tricky because of course that's something they'd complain about — I do too in real life to people I trust. For the purposes of a book, though, I feel like there might have been slightly better (but still meaningful) ways to include that type of conversation without revealing Gabe's biological sex.

However, that’s just *my* opinion! I’m sure other characters I dislike are someone else’s favorites of all time, and vice versa. Plus, the author is non-binary just like I am — and we aren’t a monolith! My preferences don’t speak for an entire community and also don’t reflect Ramos’s talent. They write extremely well and I look forward to reading what they write next!

Also, I would happily read an entire book about Bridge just, like, grocery shopping.

**HUGE thank you to Inkyard Press for granting me an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!**

Daniel is very skilled at masking his autism... he uses his camera as a shield of sorts. It gives him an ability to distance himself in an "acceptable" way from the events in front of him. When he dips his toes into the world of match-making two friends though, he finds that's it's hands on and very real!

This is a great introduction for folks who may want to read about what it may be like to experience life with autism. I love Daniel as a character. The author has a delicate touch when it comes to writing Daniel's character. As someone on the spectrum myself, I really enjoyed seeing the way that Daniel coped with things that came up. Reading intentions can be difficult for anyone, but Daniel's confusion is so real!

Very light hearted book, loved reading it.

I absolutely loved this! I can’t wait to buy it for my library. The characters were complex but realistic and it was written so well. I truly fell in love with this book.