Racquel Marie

"How do you say what you can't explain?...Things may be changing, but this change feels like too much. What happens when you tell the girls who trust and love you that you realized that you sometimes looked at them the way they expect boys do?"-Ophelia After All

Ophelia After All is a beautiful story about a girl who is finding herself in the midst of her senior year of high school. It takes place in the final months of high school, when colleges have been chosen and The Prom is on everyone's show more minds. Who will be going with who? Ophelia especially wants answers to this question.

Everyone in her life know her for two things, her penchant for gardening and being "boy crazy". But as Ophelia navigates through the last months of her senior year, she has to figure out who she really is, especially as new relationships and friendships bloom like the roses she is so fond of tending to.

The writing in this story really captivated me as we really got a glimpse into Ophelia's brain as she went through the turmoil and struggle of figuring our her identity and desires, her denial, confusion, and fear of rejection, and overall coming to terms with who she is as a person. show less

Every once in a while you want to read a book that reflects who you are, your insecurities, and how it impacts the way you approach the world. For queer young adults, that representation has been few and far between, and mostly restricted to heartbroken white lesbian and gay teens. While these past stories were also important, I feel "Ophelia After All" shows where YA queer fiction is and should be headed, to telling the experiences of diverse protagonists that also reside outside the show more lesbian and gay label.

I loved reading the interactions between Ophelia and her friends, and more importantly, I loved the way that the story was not so much about the romance, but about Ophelia's bond with said friends and reluctance to fear of growing apart while transitioning to adulthood. I know the author is younger, and I feel that gave her an advantage since the dialogue did not seem forced or contrived the way some YA authors tend to be. It felt more authentic, and allowed me to have fun with and connect with the characters as well.

I also appreciated the additional representation in the book outside of Ophelia. As someone who identifies as ace and rarely sees characters that match my orientation, seeing a character that shared my background made me feel a bit more seen, something I feel that a lot of other younger characters can resonate with. Overall, I love "Ophelia After All" for what it signals, a transition point to more varied stories and opportunities for greater self-reflection among queer teens. show less

Ophelia After All is not a romance novel. It is a beautiful, thoughtful coming of age story. Ophelia is a Cuban/Irish American girl discovering her queerness and herself in the final months of high school. Ophelia has always had crushes on boys and starts to question everything about herself and how people see her, when she becomes attracted to a girl.
Ophelia has a great diverse group of friends. There were characters who were Black, Asian, mixed race, bisexual, biromantic, asexual, show more pansexual, aromantic and plus size. I liked how this book portrayed queerness as fluid and that it's difficult to put people and human sexuality into little boxes.
Olivia and her friends were well-developed, messy, relatable characters. It's important that teens see this kind of representation and that the path to discovering yourself is not always easy or perfect.
I love the gorgeous cover that reflects Ophelia's love of botany. #BookishFirst show less

Ophelia is a high school senior, and while the contemporary high school setting isn't my favorite, it's necessary for this story. The last year before college/adult life is a big turning point, and it's especially true for Ophelia--she's about to graduate, she thinks she knows herself and what she likes, but she's thrown a curve-ball. With graduation means prom, and despite daydreaming about the perfect male date for years, she can't stop thinking about Talia, a female show more acquaintance-turned-friend. This book isn't a romance; it's about Ophelia finding herself, and her relationship with her friends. I loved this book's lovely descriptiveness of food, the unapologetic use of Spanglish throughout, and Ophelia's love for roses and gardening. The direction the story took was unexpected, but it was good. It's a wonderful queer coming of age story!

There's one thing I didn't really care for, and it's a couple of scenes where Ophelia is being taught, like, queerness 101, including what different flags represent. Maybe it's just me, but it felt a little forced. Other than that, I adored this book! Definitely a new fav contemporary YA. show less