Something to be Proud of book review

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, it was a story I was anticipating having a good time with but I couldn't put it down and really really enjoyed.

Imogen and Olly were fantastic characters to follow, I loved learning more and more about them as the story went on and understanding who they were as people as they discovered more about themselves. We had a diverse cast that were both supportive of everyone and great friends. This was a book that celebrated joy and friendship and discovering who you are which I really loved. Not only did we have a large variety of characters who were a part of the LGBTQ+ community we also had disabled, neurodivergent and characters of different races, who had their own experiences which was something that was really nice to see. I connected to so many of the things Imogen felt about being neurodivergent and how that impacted her which was what pushed me to pick this up in the first place but wasn't the only thing about the book I loved.

It was really good to see how passionate these characters were about the causes that they cared about and how even with the set backs they faced our characters didn't give up and kept fighting for what they thought was important. This worked well together with our lead characters discovering so much more about themselves across the story, especially Olly.

I loved the friendship so so much and how it was shown that you can have these relationships and they don't have to be romantic, it can be a case that they are platonic and still just as close as you often see romantic relationships to be. I loved how similiar Imogen and Olly's relationship seemed to a romantic relationship we see in typical YA contemporary books but it was also very clearly not romantic and I loved that and seeing it develop.

Overall this was a great book with some brilliant representation and discussions that I loved and am so glad to have read. I will be recommending it to my friends.

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