"This debut is a gritty teen drama full of mature themes that unfurl in compassionate ways and will resonate with many readers...Heartbreaking and powerful." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Lucid and luminous." —ALA Booklist
"Hollis’s powerful and compassionate debut novel is an intimate and nuanced portrayal of a resilient and troubled young woman’s journey toward self-acceptance...An emotionally rich and complex coming-of-age story. Amélie is a well-written character teenagers will understand and will want to root for." —School Library Journal (starred review)
Euphoria meets Girl in Pieces in this coming-of-age story of a girl trying to put a grief-stricken past behind her, only to be startled by the discovery of a long-lost sister who puts into question everything she thought she knew.
Amélie Cœur has never known what it truly means to be happy.
She thought she’d found happiness once, in a love that ended in tragedy and nearly sent her over the edge. Now, at seventeen, Mel is beginning to piece her life back together. Under the supervision of Laurelle Child Services, the exclusive foster care agency that raised her, Mel is sober and living with a new family among Manhattan’s elite. It’s her last chance at adoption before she ages out of the system, and she promised, this time, she’ll try.
But a casual relationship with a boy is turning into something she never intended for it to be, causing small cracks in her carefully constructed walls. Then the sister she has no memory of contacts Mel, unearthing complicated feelings about the past and what could have been.
As the anniversary of the worst day of her life approaches, Mel must weather the rising tides of grief and depression before she loses herself, and those close to her, all over again.
Reviews with the most likes.
It's truly not about a boy.
This book is so important. It has the vibes of the Euphoria but without the sensationalism. It's real.
Not About a Boy is a beautifully crafted story that resonated with me through its honest portrayal of Substance abuse, mental health, and life within the foster system.
I see myself so deeply in Mel. Struggling with her mental health, Not believing that people care for your wellbeing, and want to genuinely see your happiness. Having people who clock your behavior, when you're obviously not okay, and confront you with it. It's absolutely important to have those people in your life.
There's a session between Mel and her psychiatrist Richards where he suggested for her to go back on her antidepressants just based on the behaviors he sees that she's ignoring. I started to boohoo cry because I literally just met with a new psychiatrist and started my antidepressants again. I've never had a book speak so closely to my reality like this. You would thought Myah Hollis knew my life 🤣.
Not About a Boy has truly became one of my favorite books I've read this year, and a book I will keep very close to my heart.
