The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily by Laura Creedle

The Quick Cut: A girl with ADHD and a guy with Autism end up in detention together. Sparks fly the more they spend time together. A Real Review: Functioning differently than most of the people around you can be very isolating. As much as you want to connect and feel understood, sometimes it can be impossible to get on that level. Having someone in your life who goes through similar experiences can be the key to feeling like someone knows you. This is the case for Abelard and Lily. Abelard and Lily have known each other for years. They've even butted heads in the distant past. However, when they end up in detention together and get to getting to know one another - sparks start to fly. Where Lily's ADHD has her mind running at a million miles an hour, Abelard's Autism has him taking his time and slowing down. While they go two opposite speeds, they find that they have a shared interest in love letters. Can two people who function very different ways find a middle ground? Or will they end up driving each other insane instead? I've seen so many book lists with this title there as a great example of neurodiversity representation. Considering how many different conditions are represented, I can see how someone would immediately jump to that conclusion. Autism, ADHD, and Dyslexia? Why wouldn't it be highly representative? However, representation isn't a numbers game. It's about letting people see behind the struggle of different conditions to see what it's like to walk in that person's skin. Lily comes off as a great main character. Although she struggles with her ADHD and how it makes it difficult to focus at any given point, she does have passions and areas of interest that she enjoys. She also hates the medication and how it can affect her, which also humanizes her. The book points out how her condition makes her hear words differently. This novel spends a lot of time letting you see what it's like to be her, whether it's related to her condition or not. This feels like true representation to me. Abelard, on the other hand, feels a bit flat (which makes his relationship with Lily feel flat). He felt like more of a concept than an actual character. I wanted to get to know him better and he never really seemed to fully develop into a three dimensional person with strengths, weaknesses, and dreams. It would have been better to develop his character more in order to get real representation with him. A book with an inconsistent level of representation. My rating: 3.5 out of 5