Publisher: Penguin Random House
Released: 2nd of February 2023
It's too late for a Sweet Sixteen but what if Mahalia had a Coming Out Party? A love letter to romantic comedies, sweet sixteen blowouts, black joy and queer pride.
Mahalia Harris wants.
She wants a big Sweet Sixteen like her best friend Naomi.
She wants the super cute new girl Siobhan to like her back.
She wants a break from worrying--about money, snide remarks from white classmates, pitying looks from church ladies . . . all of it.
Then inspiration strikes: It's too late for a Sweet Sixteen, but what if she had a Coming Out Party? A singing, dancing, rainbow-cake-eating celebration of queerness on her own terms.
The idea lights a fire in her, and soon Mahalia is scrimping and saving, taking on extra hours at her afterschool job, trying on dresses, and awkwardly flirting with Siobhan, all in preparation for the Coming Out of her dreams. But it's not long before she's buried in a mountain of bills, unfinished schoolwork, and enough drama to make her English Lit teacher blush. With all the responsibility on her shoulders, will Mahalia's party be over before it's even begun?
A novel about finding yourself, falling in love, and celebrating what makes you you.
What I Have to Say
Ahhh! So much gay, so much longing, so much music stuck in my head. This book was a delight to read. The idea of a coming out party is so wonderful to me as a queer woman. The idea of everyone coming together to celebrate your sexuality and show you that they accept you is just so affirming.
It was good to see a book about someone scraping the money together to get what they want. I feel like so much of YA has become about rich kids recently and it's definitely been hard to find queer literature about people who don't have loads of money. There's a few more books this year that have come out about working class people and it's been good to see.
There was so much longing in this book too. It was painful at some points, but in a good way. It was a very good representation of the agony of having a crush.
Definitely a good read for feel good vibes even if it takes a little while to get there.
(four stars)
My thanks go to Netgalley and Penguin for providing me with this copy for review.
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