Ophelia After All

Ophelia Rojas is a boy-obsessed, rose-loving, hopeless-romantic, high schooler. Life is going smoothly for Ophelia: she has a great group of friends, she’s close with her parents, and she’s off to college in a few months. Then she meets Talia Sanchez. Everything changes and is turned upside down when Ophelia falls head-over-heels for Talia. Suddenly, Ophelia isn’t opening up to her friends and family anymore.

I typically love YA books, but I didn’t love this one. All the drama and the storyline felt very juvenile. The fighting over crushes, rejection, and prom dates felt so frivolous. I also felt the dialogue and the characters were very forced in this story.

As for the protagonist, I did not like Ophelia at all. I know she’s a teenager, but I found her annoying and melodramatic self to be very off-putting. Aside from that, I did like that the book showcases such a diverse group of characters. However, I dislike how Wesley is portrayed as asexual because it perpetuates a terrible stereotype that Asian men are not sexual beings.

While this wasn’t a hit with me, I would recommend this YA book to a younger, teenage demographic who like diverse characters.