The quick cut: A male teen finds his anxiety causes a fist fight at school and is forced to spend time doing things he's uncomfortable with. In the process, he makes friends and discovers he's capable of more than he thought.
A real review:
Anxiety is a word we hear often, but rarely do we see different representations of what that looks like. For Leo, the anxiety he struggles with causes him to go into flight mode - creating an unfortunate incident that ends with fists thrown.
Leo has always been a bit of a loner, but it's never been a huge problem until now. When a situation at school ends with him being punched and arguments occurring, it creates a domino effect leading him to secretly taking yoga classes. Will he experience with something he's uncomfortable with make him draw even further into himself? Or start a journey to finding friends who accept him?
I love this story front to back because it's such a unique representation of anxiety. It's common for these stories to have female characters, so to see a male lead who doesn't feel the need to appear in that typical male bravado style is different and empowering. We need more guys to realize that anxiety happens to everyone and that thing that helps you relax? It doesn't have to be something stereotypical associated with men.
Leo is Greek and a large part of this story centers around that heritage. I'm not nearly as connected to my ancestral roots, so seeing someone like him is educational. I loved learning more in the process of what being Greek looks like! His grandma also made me smile so much even though she's already died before the book starts.
Leo connects with another Greek from his school named Evey and together they work to teach their own goals. It's cute to see how these two empower each other and find a chemistry with one another in the process. Evey is a character who slowly gets revealed over time and I went from disliking her at first to adoring her! She takes an incredible journey of empowerment for women.
A fun, smile inducing journey for disability and female empowerment representation.
My rating: 5 out of 5