Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie

By Lean and Love �� - January 03, 2023

Tittle      : Ophelia After All
Author        : Racquel Marie
Pub Date : February 08, 2022
Pages         : 341
My Rating : ★★★★★

The Summary

Ophelia Rojas is aware of her preferences, which include her closest friends, Cuban cuisine, rose gardening, and way too many boys. Ophelia has a never-ending string of crushes, which her friends and parents tease about, but Ophelia is a romantic at heart. Even if she wanted to, she was unable to alter.

Therefore, seeds of doubt start to grow in Ophelia's rigid self-image as she starts to think more about cute, quiet Talia Sanchez than the loss of a beautiful prom with her ex-boyfriend. Things are starting to get a touch out of hand when you include in the imminent end of high school and the disintegration of her formerly close-knit group of friends. But the sexual and romantic paths were never straight. Ophelia must decide whether to hold on to the idealized picture of herself that she has always imagined or defy everyone's expectations in order to realize who she truly is as her secrets start to come out.

My Review

I'm not even sure where to start with this review. My expectations were well exceeded by this book. This book was just what I needed to refresh my memory of what makes a successful contemporary YA. The book was still pretty wonderful to me despite a few glitches.

The best young adult book I've ever read, without a doubt, and the most inventive. I wish I had a book like this when I was in high school. This book has such a wide range of representations that both adults like myself and high school pupils would enjoy reading it.

Ophelia, a "boy crazy" teenager who enjoys botany, is followed in this book as she discovers her sexuality and navigates the teen dating scene around prom time. As she has fleeting romantic feelings for passing boys and embarrassing crushes on girls, Ophelia is utterly confused of who she is.

The way the author handled Ophelia's sexuality was excellent. The author shows how it's a difficult trip that frequently lacks predictable conclusions and paths. Getting to know the Queer people in and related with the people in Ophelia's life and learning about their experiences was something I really enjoyed reading about. For many people, this creates a network of support during the questioning phase.

The friendship dynamics in this group were also a lot more realistic than in the typical YA book. Their buddy group has to deal with two smaller groups combining, a romantic drama, a contest for prom queen, the popularity hierarchy, and the knowledge that some of them will probably quit being buddies after they graduate in the spring.

From Ophelia's parents to her friends, all of the characters were really well-developed and felt incredibly original. Every situation was so vividly described in the writing that I could see it in my head.

Her Cuban-American heritage and the variety of her friends' backgrounds bring numerous fresh viewpoints to the story that are generally ignored in literature. It provides a wealth of cultural diversity as well. This book offers a wide range of character backgrounds if you're looking for one. I won't, however, remark on how accurate or inaccurate the various racial and ethnic caricatures were.

Overall, the launch definitely lived up to the anticipation! I'm really glad I picked this book to read for my first list 2023 read!

My ratings score:

★★★★★ Fantastic! Made me go through a lot of emotions & the entire book is incredibly beautifully done!

★★★★ Memorable! Despite its shortcomings, this book was incredible and taught us a lot.