Style

by Chelsea M. Cameron

• ISBN10: 1533504903
• ISBN13: 9781533504906
• Publish Date: 12 August 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 258
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

I am ashamed to admit that it took me until sitting down to write this review to figure out why the title is Style. Stella and Kyle. Duh! Stella is the pretty, popular, cheerleader who everyone thinks is a bitch. Kyle is a bit of a nerd with overbearing parents. When Stella transfers into AP English, Kyle is not happy. Especially when they're paired up for a project. But Kyle can't stop staring at Stella and noticing how pretty she is. She also catches a few moments of Stella being a nice person. Meanwhile, Stella has sworn off dating and coming out until college, but Kyle is exactly her type and making things quite difficult.

I'll start with that I didn't like about Style. The beginning was a bit rough. Kyle and her friends are constantly calling Stella a bitch. It's like the only word that they have for her. We don't really see Stella acting in a way to earn that title, so it rubbed me the wrong way. But Stella refers to herself in this way as well, and owns it. It's actually a front that she's putting on because of some past trauma. I'm not sure if her actually purposely being a bitch makes it okay for Kyle and Grace to call her one, but it does make it seem like they're not just saying it for no reason. If that makes sense. Of course, it does stop when Kyle gets to know Stella, and Stella tells her about her past.

What I liked about Style was...just about everything else! There's lots of friction and tension between Stella and Kyle at first, and then they just explode! Basically, they channel all of that energy into making out. Stella already knows that she's gay and that she plans on dating in college. Kyle has no clue. She's dated boys and it was okay, but suddenly Stella is all that she can think about! Neither girl is sure if they should come out now or wait, but they do want to be together and hiding isn't exactly ideal. I did really enjoy the coming out aspects of the story. They do it on their own terms.

I also appreciated that the author includes frank discussions of masturbation and sex in Style. Self love is not the territory of dudes; girls do it too! It's about time that that's acknowledged. Kyle and Stella also have sex on the page! It's nothing graphic, but it's certainly not vague. Kyle's mom even has a bit of sex talk with her, so hooray for involved parenting even when it's awkward!

Clearly, I really liked Style once we got past those first few chapters. Kyle and Stella are wonderful together and seeing them navigate coming out and first love together made me giddy.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Nany]

I'm 29 years old and a couple of months ago I came out to my mom, she still loves me but she didn't like it and she said some hurtful things. So, when I read the acknowledgments I started to cry. It made me feel not alone and that I can find true love and be happy.

I know that I didn't like the book but the acknowledgments were the best part.

"I wrote this book for me. I wrote this book for the girl who thought she was straight for 29 years. I wrote it for the girl who couldn't seem to find the right boy. The girl who was so deep in denial, she was drowning in it. The girls who, at last, figured out her own truth."

[Leah]

Style is my first read from Chelsea M Cameron, but I follow her on Twitter and she's quite hilarious. I also read it solely for the fact that every time I think of the title, I hear Taylor Swift, so there's that. I have no idea if that's why it's called Style, but I hear Style every time I think of the book, and a lot when I was reading it. Taylor Swift is basically the soundtrack to my life.

Style was such an interesting read! I really, really liked Stella and Kyle. I liked how they both had differing opinions on each other at the start, but once they actually, genuinely got to know each other, they changed their tunes. Stella wasn't just an ice-cold grade-A bitch, after all! WHO KNEW?!? And Kyle was just plain adorable, period. And together? Cutest couple ever, especially since they were their first girlfriends for both of them, and were navigating this new situation together, and for the first time. I loved that they were both steadfastly waiting to get to college to live their "real lives" but, actually, fate kinda got in the way, in that awkward way that fate usually does.

But do you know what I loved most of all? That when Kyle and Stella got together (THIS IS NOT A SPOILER, it's freaking obvious) and told people, it wasn't the be all and end all, and sure, that's not always the way it goes, and not everyone is as understanding but it was so refreshing to read about being gay without all the usual hassle/abuse that comes with it. Instead everyone was just so cool about it, and like "I knew, I knew", and that's just so refreshing, it saved the book a ton of angst, I'm telling you.

Style was an interesting read. Sure, I kinda forgot which girl was narrating a couple times, because Stella and Kyle had kinda similar voices, but I usually straightened myself out when they mentioned the other person, and it wasn't all the time. I'll definitely be reading more from Chelsea M Cameron in future, because she's a fantastic writer, and I absolutely loved Kyle and Stella's love story, it was just so refreshing light, when coming out is usually horrifically dark and anxious. Thank you, Chelsea, for writing a lighter look at it, because this was a refreshing, fantastic read.