The Quick Cut: A teen girl born with HIV finds her life in upheaval when a blackmailer threatens to tell everyone about her status if she doesn't stay away from a boy.
A Real Review:
Thank you to Knopf Books for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Your health can be such a big part of who you are, but it's an area that stays relatively private. So if someone were to use it against you by threatening to make it public, what would you do? How would you feel? This is the mental headspace that Simone finds herself in.
Simone is a teen girl who was adopted by two loving, gay dads. Although she is surrounded by love, there is a part of her life that is a struggle: she was born with HIV. After an unfortunate encounter at the last high school she attended, she is hoping for a fresh start in San Francisco. All seems well with her new friends, the student director position in the school play "Rent", and her budding romance with Miles when a note appears in her locker. It threatens to out her HIV status unless she creates some distance from Miles. Who found out and why are they doing it?
Simone's story is such a brilliant one and not just for the tale. This book manages to not only say such a powerful story about taking your own power back, but it also sheds a lot of light and education on how HIV actually works. I would like to think I'm an educated person, but even I found my mind blown by the facts in this book.
Her struggle with when to tell someone her HIV status felt very genuine in the angst and terror. Considering the horrifying past circumstances, it frightens me that anyone could have experienced something similar to this in reality. The nuanced look at how someone in her shoes looks at the people in her life and who she can trust with the ultimate secret about herself is so essential. I felt her pain, that weighing decision, and the heaviness of that choice in its impact.
With a powerful story that tells an important tale about HIV, this one is gripping.
My rating: 4 out of 5