Odd One Out by Nic Stone
Odd One Out by Nic
Stone
Courtney and Jupiter have
been best friends since he moved into the house next door eleven years ago. And
even though she proclaimed she was a lesbian years ago, that hasn’t stopped
him from falling head over heels in love with her. Everyone knows them as Coop
and Jupe. They’ve always been inseparable and none of his relationships have
ever stood a chance because of how close they are. Then there was Rae, some
girl Jupiter had been texting for a while. All three ended up being friends and while
Jupiter may be developing feelings for her, Rae is trying to sort out her
feelings for Cooper. And Jupiter.
Love
is complicated. Sexuality is complicated. Stone created a book that shows just
how complicated and disorienting it can be figuring out your sexuality while
also trying to be regular high school students. I really liked Coop, Jupe and
Rae. They were extremely well developed and felt genuine. Each one is in a
different place in their teenage lives but all three are trying to work through
their emotions, what it means to fall in love or be in love with someone who
may or may not be attainable. The plot revolves around the friendship between
these three characters and how they evolve over time. It is separated in
three parts which each character getting their own narrative. That ends up
being a great narrative choice for this book. It broke up the story nicely and
allowed each character to shine for a moment. It also kept the pace of the novel going while exploring each character on a deeper level.
Books like this give space
to everyone, not just kids, to realize that these emotions and feelings are
okay. Everyone is different and this book has some really important
conversations at its center. I will forever be grateful to books that have
conversation about consent. The way in which these conversations were handled
in this book was really well done. I'm not a teenager, I have a child nearing the pre-teen years and I am glad that books like this exist. Books that will spark necessary conversations and make these conversations the norm.
My hat is off to Stone. I
really enjoyed Dear Martin and this
book, though extremely different in subject matter, is as well written as her
first book. I was lucky enough to win an ARC of this book and honestly, I
couldn’t put this down and completely devoured it. Stone is a great writer and
she is telling stories that people need to read. She is just able to make
people connect with her characters and their journeys, their stories on so many
different levels. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars!
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