Roman Bright has always loved love stories. But being a non-binary teenager in a small northern town means their dating pool is limited and they haven’t had their own sweeping romance … yet. Roman Bright appears assured and confident, but in reality, school is a tricky space for them. Finding love – or even friends – when you’re the only non-binary kid for miles around isn’t easy. When anonymous postcards from ‘Big Red’ start showing up in Roman’s locker and shortly afterwards entire walls of brightly coloured graffiti appear around the school signed by the same person, Roman is intrigued. Do they have a secret admirer? Roman thinks they know who is leaving these messages – their mega-crush and almost-boyfriend from last year, JJ. But when it becomes clear JJ isn’t going to reveal themselves, Roman has to decide if they can be brave enough to make the first move. Will Roman finally get their happily ever after?
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All About Romance is your typical young adult story of a teen overcoming obstacles and ultimately finding love.
Roman Bright is the only openly non-binary teen in their small North-East village of Tynemouth and is constantly battling something or the other, the main thing is an anonymous artist by the name of Big Red who seems to be targeting them through past occurrences in their life.
Roman is determined that they know who it is that is targeting them, but once you get so far through, you know that their thoughts are incorrect and you know who is really behind Big Red. Fictional characters can never seem to put two and two together, no matter their age or genre.
One thing I loved about this book is that Roman’s mother is nothing but supportive of any and everything they do, and it is so refreshing to see in a YA book for a change! I need to see much more healthy family dynamics in all queer books.
I do feel that the ending was a tiny bit of a letdown in the sense that I thought it was rushed. It just kind of ended randomly and then had a tiny epilogue that didn’t really do anything for me either. This being said, I did rather enjoy the rest of the book.
Thank you to Team BKMRK for the ARC!
All the love,
Jade x
Tea Stains and Book Spines 