If I Was Your Girl

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But after only a half hour of the audiobook, I realized this was not a book written just to educate - it’s a story that stands all on its own. She reads contemporary, historical, a little paranormal, urban fantasy and romantic suspense, as well as erotic romance and more recently, new adult.

I also liked the fact that Amanda’s dad wasn’t totally one-dimensional, although initially he seemed like a stereotype. Some we receive from the authors, some we receive from the publisher, and some we receive through a third party service like Net Galley. The way they learned to relate to one another; how he moved to a place of acceptance and began to embrace her as his daughter, was really lovely. The novel ends as Amanda and Grant discuss the future of their relationship, unsure of what it will be. On the drive home Dad is hysterical and demands that Amanda leave town, he can’t protect her if she doesn’t want to protect herself.

It was heart rending at times reading of her journey to be the person she'd always felt she was inside, and it provoked feelings of anger towards those who judged her so harshly. My voice sounded like nothing—flat, toneless, with the faintest deepening that made me never want to speak again. Not once but at least twice (I’m too lazy to flip through the book to check all the kisses), he says he wants to kiss her and then asks, “Is that okay?

Especially considering it's written by a trans author, the praise I've heard about it is definitely deserved. We see through Amanda's eyes as she navigates life in a body that does not reflect who she really is inside. She would hug me and we would sit down and watch awful reality TV shows together and she would fall asleep halfway through, and then nothing would change. The story is lovely, sweet and although as the author admits it's a little easier for Amanda than many Trans people experience, this doesn't take away anything from the story IMO. I don’t mean this in a condescending way at all - I mean, I’m a seventeen-year-old very-out-of-the-closet cis girl, and I think the ending of this was one of the most difficult-to-read endings I have read in my whole life.Where we could see her very uncomfortable with herself in the past which highlighted the character development in the last few chapters. As she attempts to acclimate to high school and all the attendant social pressures, Amanda must also decide how open she wants to be, and which people she wants in her life. I’m not saying it needs to be 500 pages—I don’t necessarily think it needs to be longer at all, yet as it is, sometimes the book feels more like a collection of Important Scenes rather than a full, rounded-out story. After a particularly vicious attack in a mall bathroom, Amanda becomes so depressed that she is at risk of suicide. This article points out that though Russo has accused her ex-spouse of only pursuing her with abuse allegations because they are a terf, they are in fact nonbinary and currently married to a trans woman.