Wednesday 1 February 2017

BOOK REVIEW | OUR OWN PRIVATE UNIVERSE

Title: Our Own Private Universe
Author: Robin Talley
Series or Standalone: Standalone 
Genre: Contemporary YA
Publication Date: 31/01/17
Format: e-ARC
Source: Publisher (Harlequin Australia)/NetGalley

Star Rating: 2 stars
GOODREADS

Synopsis ->
Fifteen-year-old Aki Hunter knows she’s bisexual, but up until now she's only dated guys—and her best friend, Lori, is the only person she’s out to. When she and Lori set off on a four-week youth-group mission trip in a small Mexican town, it never crosses Aki's mind that there might be anyone in the group she’d be interested in dating. But that all goes out the window when Aki meets Christa.

This books definitely has a lot of pros, but unfortunately there were an equal amount of cons for me. The diversity in Our Own Private Universe was ON POINT. The main character is a person of colour and is bisexual, there are other bisexuals in the book (and one that thinks she might be pansexual), an out-and-proud lesbian, and the book takes place in Mexico so there are minor latinx characters as well. I love the fact that it's not only diverse, but the characters in the book explore important topics that are relevant in the world today such as health care in developing countries and gun control. Safe sex is also explored and researched by the main character in this book, making this an excellent 'role model' book for teens exploring their sexuality. I also loved how the entire book took place during a religious mission trip, but religion was never shoved in your face. I LOVED that. 

Moving on to the cons. There was a TON of petty YA drama in this book that really annoyed me. I am honestly just over petty drama in YA in general and it sucked that a book with such promise stooped to that level. The three main characters just kept lying about everything and bitching and fighting and it was so frustrating and not at all what I wanted out of this reading experience. I mean, I get that that's what a lot of teenagers are like, but it seemed like such a downer on what I wanted to be an awesomely positive book.

So I'm kind of on the fence about this one. Loved the diversity and the fact that it was #ownvoices, but the petty YA drama let it down for me. 




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