Everything Changes by Samantha Hale

by Jennifer Muirhead (follow)

Fiction (373)      Young Adult (98)      Romance (25)      Lesbian (15)      Teen (8)      Coming out (1)     

Disclaimer: I recieved a free copy of this book from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Raven is an ordinary teenage girl who has never had a boyfriend. Her friends pressure her to find one but she has just never felt that spark they keep telling her about with a boy. Her life changes when she meets Morgan, a talented art student and the first lesbian Raven has ever met. Raven comes to realise that she too might be gay and is scared of how her friends and family might react to such news.

Everything Changes is a pretty straightforward coming out story, about a girl falling for another girl for the first time and coming to terms with what this means for herself before telling her friends and family. Raven's journey is not without a few bumps in the road. The reaction of some of her loved ones is not what she might have hoped and it was interesting to read how she deals with that.The romance unfolds realistically, if a little quickly. It is easy to see what the two girls see in each other. The plot is a little slow moving at first, with the characters spending a lot of time watching movies, but it picks up speed as it goes on.

I found it slightly annoying that there was very little in the way of physical description of Morgan or Raven early on in the story. Later when small details like the colour of Morgan's eyes were mentioned I already had a picture in my head of what they looked like which I then needed to readjust to fit.

Also I was a bit troubled by the fact that, when a boy kissed Raven at a party, it was assumed by Morgan and Raven's friends that she had been "leading him on" by talking amicably with him for a while. A girl can't reasonably be held responsible for someone else's actions and just talking to someone is not an invitation. A boy isn't entitled to romantic attention just because he spends a bit of time being nice to a girl. Fortunately the encounter doesn't go any further than the boy seeming a bit upset and leaving.

Everything Changes is and is completely free of sex, violence or swearing, making it ideally suited to a younger audience. Teenagers might also find it easier to relate to the sheer sense of urgency that goes along with young love. However, those of us who are bit older can probably still remember back when everything was that big a deal all the time. This book is a sweet romance which will leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling. Recommended for fans of teen romance, lesbian novels or anyone just looking for a clean wholesome story for a change.


#Fiction
#Young Adult
#Teen
#Romance
#Lesbian
#Coming out

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