Rashika, The Book Owl

I waited a long time to read this, well not such a long time, more like a week. I wanted to wait until I was officially on vacation to read this since it was supposed to be a summer read. Now I think I'll just 'forget' to return it or... just buy myself a copy :P

This is my first official GLBT book. I didn't read any before this because that would have required me to step out of my comfort zone. It's kind of like when I was a kid.. I thought books that involved some sort of romance were scary and I got over that fear once I read a book with a good romance.

I think I am lucky to have been introduced to this genre with such a beautiful book. I love how the author manages to capture the essence of Aristotle. I cannot think of Ari without thinking about myself because he is so relatable. It's hard to come across characters that reminds you exactly of yourself and reading about Ari, for me, is almost like looking in a mirror. So his journey makes me question things. I tend to think a lot anyway but I am at the same stage in life as Ari (with some differences of course) so his character has a lot more appeal to me.

Dante is an equally relatable character and although he doesn't remind me of myself, I can relate to his cultural issues and his fear of disappointing his parents.

This story captures the difficulties of growing up. There are so many things you don't understand and so many things you probably won't but that need to find answers remains. It's like a battle inside of you. It's hard and people think teenagers have it easy but we don't. You make some of the most important decisions of your life at this stage without a lot of experience and you cannot go back in time to change them if things don't work out.This is one of my most beautiful coming of age stories I've read and if you haven't read it, stop waiting for the apocalypse.