This book makes me sob at the end. More as I grow older. I got this book at 17 and it was touching. Reread it as the years went on, and as life went on, it made more of an impact. The “Antique Lands” section made me just totally lose it this time. I guess because I‘ve lived more. And loved much more.

When I first read this book, I was on a week-long vacation with a boyfriend I was quickly tiring of and four of his closest, dweebiest friends. I got sick of them and opted to visit the resort‘s indoor pool instead of going to the spa with them to get massages. The slow, dripping words in this book were accompanied by echoed shrieks of children and splashes. The icy winter setting clashed with the steamy Virginia air.

Can we talk about how 99% of the time, I look at this book on my shelf and go “no, that‘s too painfully heavy for Casual Bathtime Reads” and the other 1% of the time, I decide to read it and remember why I fucking adore reading it? This book captures falling in love so perfectly, so eloquently. I want to know the characters. I want to hold them and tell them it‘ll be ok. The heaviest of Rainbow‘s books, but still so damn warm and inviting.

Why am I reviewing this decade-old, fairly-niche YA book? Because I like to read in the bathtub but I‘ve been home all summer and therefore have re-read literally everything in my bookcase and this is all that‘s left.

So. I have an ARC of this, maybe that excuses the handful of typos?

Woe to the very adult author, who tried and failed to make the teenage characters sound “hip”.

But here I am, reading it again, slightly comforted. Hmm.

Aside from the obviously powerful messages this book sends, my favorite thing was the warm sense of family. It was so inviting??? They loved each other but had so many more dimensions than that. good stuff.

Sweet story of ambition, identity, self, and family. Love Jen Wang‘s art—it lends itself so well to the fashion aspect of the book!