Here's the Thing

by Emily O'Beirne

[layawaydragon]

This is my second O’Beirne novel. The first being Points of Departure, which I reviewed and loved two days ago. But if you don’t like multiple POVs, Points of Departure isn’t a good fit.

But the good news is Here’s the Thing is told by only Zel and she’s fantastic.

It has everything that was great in Points of Departure and none of the flaws. I highly recommend Here’s the Thing to everyone and it’s a must read for fans of YA contemporary.


First sentence (prologue):
She still sends me pictures.

Zel is present from the first page, grabbed me and never let go. I love her voice. The prologue sets up the heartbreak, misery, and mystery surrounding what happened between her and Prim.

After that, we join her touring a fancy-pants school as her family moved her back to Australia after 8 months in New York. Now they’re in Sydney, though she grew up in Canberra.

hat’s when everything from the blurb comes into play: Art teacher, Drama crew and project, waiting for Stella to show up, and for Prim to speak. I absolutely loved unraveling the mystery of Prim and their falling out. I had an idea of what went wrong obviously, but I needed the details. The past passages worked perfectly and felt natural. Enough so, I kinda want to tag it Mystery, because it had me hooked.

But the other aspect I really want to talk about is the drama presentation they did. Only I’m not sure if that qualifies as a spoiler. Probably does. Grrr.

Anyways, this whole book is progressive as fuck.

It was one of the first times in my life I was forced to check my privilege, to recognize it existed.

In that same vein, here’s some informative articles about Australia’s crimes against humanity towards refugees.


Zel:

Seriously, I was more regular about losing MetroCards than I am with my menstrual cycle.

I can’t love her more. She’s relatable and adorable and admirable and you just want to shake her a bit to make her see that. Her mind was expanded in New York and now is going through growing pains to mature more. I felt so bad for what she’s going through but I’m so happy to see read this in a novel.

Zel’s Family:

Anyway, Dad always says he doesn’t care if people assume he’s gay, because it’s not an insult.

Yay happy families! Not only in YA but in QUILTBAG YA to boot. There are family dinners, heart to hearts and just plain hanging out. It’s glorious in its simplicity of just being there. It’s not made into a big deal. But IT IS while reading it. Made me so happy :D

Romance:

Because that’s the thing. There’s always a reaction, however small or positive. Why does there have to be one at all?

It’s a slow burn. Not strong enough to qualify for hate to love, but definitely stand offish push-pull acquaintances. There’s also a love triangle, but no worries, Zel’s an outsider to that drama. It’s hilarious watching the trio’s spectacle play out. It doesn’t pull focus and has a purpose. Several purposes actually. This is kind of love triangle portrayal in YA I can get behind.

Bottom Line:

Ya’ll should be damn envious I got to read this book before release and ready to enter all the giveaways for it. Or do the smarter thing and don’t risk it, pre-order it now.