Anna was never tested as a child, she’s never considered the
possibility herself, only known that life is harder for her than for someone
like, say her older sister. As we move through Anna’s story, she begins to
discover herself, speak up for herself and change her behavior from pleasing
others to caring for herself. While the journey is hard and there are some definite
speed bumps along the way, it was such a powerful and inspiring story to watch
as Anna worked through it and finally took charge of her life and made it work
for her rather than everyone else.
To be perfectly honest, I don’t think I read the whole
premise of the book when I chose it as my August book of the month. I read
enough to determine it was a rom-com and while I was also extremely drawn to
another of the choices, I chose romcom over fantasy/paranormal because too much
fantasy can be stressful.
The joke is on me because this powerful story was a little
stressful for me too. I relate to Anna on a lot of her issues. Am I autistic? I
have no idea, okay that’s a lie, I’m beginning to suspect that I am, but like
Anna, I was not tested as a child. Also, I’m not going to decide based on a
book, there are several other factors and in the end, I would eventually talk
to a professional should I decide I want an actual diagnosis or confirmation.
Moving on…
I really appreciated the characters in this book, they were
all so loveable…except Anna’s sister. That B*** was so unsupportive and know-it-all
that I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt. General PSA, if someone tells you they
are autistic, they were assigned an incorrect gender at birth, they are x…you
don’t get to tell them they are wrong no matter how well you know them…unless
they are telling you they think they’re a terrible person and then obviously
tell them they are wrong. My point is, Anna’s sister really got under my skin,
she was constantly guilt-tripping Anna, constantly degrading her. There was
probably some resentment for having to basically raise Anna as a child, but
girl it is not Anna’s fault, calm down a bit and maybe see your own therapist.
I found it surprising the way Anna’s mom reacted. Her apology, her promise to
do better. Her begging Anna to never cut her from Anna’s life, that she would
work on herself and change however necessary to always be there for her
daughter. I was expecting her to be like Anna’s sister, given the way Anna’s
sister reacted and it was a really nice surprise in the story to see that their
mother was supportive.
Overall, I loved this story, and while I wouldn’t personally
consider it a romcom, because while it is about Anna and Quan’s relationship, I
think it’s about something so much deeper. To me, this novel was about Anna
accepting herself, the way she is, about finding what her true personality is,
and stopping changing for other people. To me, it’s about Anna finding her power,
her voice, and herself.
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