Imogen’s crush on Tessa is so cute. I loved their texts, their flirty banter, and their interactions. My heart was like “YES!!!!” whenever they interacted and it was so precious and cute and I adored it. Every single character only ever listens to queer music watches queer shows and reads queer books. Being queer is also the main part of their personality for them, we're literally introduced to the characters as "this is Lili and those are her queer friends" like? Is there anything else that's interesting about them?

Imogen longs to be part of the queer community, and while I’m sure there is some 100% straight and cis person this applies to in the world, it’s such a relatable queer experience. I was in middle school when I excitedly talked about looking forward to joining the Gay/Straight Alliance in high school, and how if I could choose, I’d be pansexual and panromantic. But, of course, I too was "hopelessly straight"… Edith lets out a startled laugh. "This is wild. I don't think I've ever seen you just, like, completely lose your shit like this." Strangely, though, her reaction to that was to make her "haters" a personified, obnoxious, pink haired character with terrible takes on being queer. Albertalli balances sizzling romance and emotional coming-of-age with ease here, I wouldn’t change a thing! The chemistry between Imogen and Tessa is palpable from their very first meeting and builds seamlessly throught the book, I mean come on, THE CLOSET SCENE!?!?! A little on the nose I’ll admit, but my God you could cut the tension with the knife! Tessa as a love interest was perfect; both for Imogen and this story. It’s a pet peeve of mine when authors give the romantic partner the personality of a paper towel, but Tessa was funny! She was complex! You could relate to her! I am obsessed!

BookBliss

I know! I know it’s ridiculous. Not even sure what was in my head at that point, but I just wanted to be more—legit, I guess? So I was like, ‘Yeah, totally, I totally had a girlfriend,’ except—Immy, I was not selling it. Like, at all.” When her best friend Lili told her friends they’ve dated before, her pretending bisexualism turns into a real search about her own sexual choices. She even finds out she likes Lili’s friend Tessa a little more than she can admit. it's not an entirely bad book. it has its cute moments, for sure, but those moments are unfortunately overshadowed by the sheer inconsistency of it all. there's just too much shaming and one-upping each other's queerness going on between the characters for me to take whatever message this book is trying to convey to heart. being queer is not a competition. you can't "win" at being queer.

And everyone in Pride Alliance talks about how hard it is to date people from our school. Gretchen says it’s because everyone knows everyone in Penn Yan. And you can’t exactly hold hands with a girl in the cafeteria when your teachers are friends with your homophobic parents. Hypothetically speaking, that is, since Mama Patterson isn’t homophobic and neither are my parents or Lili’s. But I guess homophobia managed to leak into the atmosphere somehow. Even Edith, who’s basically never not been out, hadn’t dated anyone before Zora.Which, hey, this is another recent YA read that is actually in the imminently-leaving-for-college and early-days-college stage and can I say? I like this trend of moving outside of the highschool box. Imogen consumes queer media like I do, and I consume a LOT of queer media. Imogen, bb, let’s be friends, please! Tessa’s eyes catch mine, and her lips tug up at the corners, just barely. And the noise in my brain falls away. Everyone in the friend’s group was a gem and I could honestly read more about them all. Imogen was precious and I just wanted her protected at all costs. And Tessa! Oh my. What a sweetheart. If only everyone could have their first crush/significant other be like Tessa.

I praised Going Bicoastal for having a character who is already openly out of the closet and proudly bisexual at the start of that book, but I think there's still definitely merit too books where the main character is discovering their sexuality. I recommend this, especially to teenagers. Even though I don’t agree with everything I do think this is a good place to start some important discussions about queerness and gatekeeping. It's like there's this idea that you have to earn your label through suffering. And then you have to prove it with who you date, how you dress, how other people perceive you. Like when Lili drops a tiny queer bombshell: she's told all her college friends that Imogen and Lili used to date. And none of them know that Imogen is a raging hetero--not even Lili's best friend, Tessa.

Up Next

I promise I’m not. I’m just saying, you have a right to be kind of unsettled by this. I don’t even mind if you blow my cover. I mean, I mind. But if you want to set the record straight, we totally can. I get it.” Good god, the yearning, the nervous yet hopeful anticipation of seeing Tessa again. I could feel it myself. Like when Lili drops a tiny, queer bombshell: She’s told all her college friends that Imogen and Lili used to date. And none of them know that Imogen’s a raging hetero—not even Lili’s good friend Tessa.

But above both beds, it’s just photos—rows of prints, sloping subtly downward because Lili’s never met a straight line in her life. The ones above my bed are mostly from this year— group selfies and sunny snapshots of her friends in various combinations. But the ones above Lili’s bed are from home. I think the fact that the plot of the book -- Imogen and Lili's lie about the fact that the two of them allegedly dated -- is absent from so much of the book is really what adds to making it feel so long. There were a lot of scenes where there was an opportunity for it to be made relevant again and it basically never was? Imogen occasionally overthought about it, but that was about it. Gosh, my brain is mush. You'll just have to take it from me that I, too, have a fat crush on Tessa now. Their lil romance did something to my lil heart and I'll probably be thinking about this book for the next week. Just look at them. If you want to write about defying stereotypes then maybe... Don't rely on stereotypes while telling your story?Immy, come on—no one thinks you’re a queerphobe.” She shakes her head at me, smiling. “And yes, I know I’m queer. I’m valid. All of that. I guess it’s just me seeing the way—I don’t know. They have their shit together, you know?” It's so important for this story to exist, much in the way of RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE with Alex's journey with his sexuality, and so many others I am completely blanking on at the moment, because knowing that it's safe to come out, to be fluid, to evolve, at any time, at any age, is.. well, important. There is no one singular experience. And I hope this is helpful for anyone who might need to hear that right now. Sexuality is fluid and exists on a spectrum—and can often be a difficult and complex aspect of our identity. What would you say to folks who might be grappling with their own identities or sexuality? Is there anything you know now that you wish someone had said to you?