Radio Silence

Radio Silence is super-duper cute. Reading this book felt like one long, extended cuddle session with the cutest little puppies ever. Which, by the way, would have been absolutely fantastic IRL if I didn't live with two asthmatic children (AKA my sisters) cries

- The beginning was a little hard to get into. I remember thinking the main character sounded horribly pretentious, but I did warm up to her as the story progressed! She really comes into her own & shatters the whole nerd-girl-“I only care about getting in Columbia” attitude by the end of the book.

- Gaaaah, can I just fangirl about how much I loved the whole Universe City concept? I thought seeing Frances and Aled collaborate in videos was super cool + it actually addressed “fandom” culture & it's effects on their work! (Also, all the social media and pop-culture references were handled in an A++ way. Props to you, Alice Oseman.)

- Frances' and Aled's friendship. Undeniably the best part of the whole book <3 just give them all the love, guys.

- It's refreshingly diverse! Frances is both mixed race AND bisexual, Aled is a demisexual and his best friend (and boyfriend), Daniel, is gay. There's a lot of healthy discussion about gender identity, coming to terms with who you are and how your actions affect your relationships with others, and I found that aspect super interesting!

- Things I thought were cliché: Aled's mom. While I disliked her, I definitely thought that she came off as a bit one-dimensional. She often struck me as one of the evil, cackling villainesses typically featured in Disney movies, which did not help me sympathize with Aled, because I found the whole thing laughable, if not utterly ridiculous.