This was very sweet and full of heart. I recommend ❤️

3.5 stars rounded up

Dreaming of becoming America's first gay country music superstar, Emmett spends the summer performing at the amusement park run by his music idol. There, he meets Luke, whose family have a tough history with country music, and whose financial situation is becoming ever more precarious. When a long-lost secret tying them to two formidable women of the past comes to light, Emmett and Luke's fledgling relationship looks in danger of ending before it even begins.

Something I really appreciated about A Little Bit Country was how it portrays the complexity of coming out while living in a conservative and religious community (the novel is set in Tennessee). I was really glad that Luke refers to coming out as a privilege not everyone gets to safely experience. What I find interesting in this novel is that the adults in Luke's life are all supportive and loving, but they are also passively homophobic, so to him his every waking moment around them feels like having to lie, or guard his true self, for fear of rejection or humiliation. Not because they're evil or abusive, but because they subscribe more to the values of the community than the wellbeing of their child. I think that's quite a nuanced and realistic approach to a teen character in a coming out story. I loved how Emmett makes a stand about refusing to hide his sexuality to be accepted by the industry, arguing 'how can you say no one is ready for us when you refuse to give us a chance?' While trying to avoid spoilers, I also really liked the ending, and the exploration of how times have changed, but there are still queer elders who have lived their lives entirely in secret.

I was a little disappointed about how certain aspects of the storyline were only engaged with on a surface level. I would have expected Luke's family's financial desperation, and the toll this takes on his mental health, to be more important to the storyline than it ended up being. I think also in general, I got a bit confused by Luke and Emmett's feelings for one another, as they very often swing between love at first sight over to 'but obviously we won't be together after the summer', and I think my brain just can't compute those two states of being xD

As someone who's lived in the South for most of my life, I was initially very excited but also apprehensive when this book deal was announced, especially since the author doesn't appear to be from the South. Too often, I've seen authors from other regions (especially the Northeast) either romanticize the South while glossing over its very real problems, or take the totally opposite approach and caricaturize it into trauma porn that fulfills all the worst stereotypes. I was so relieved to see that Kennedy does neither of these, and instead creates a sweet and light m/m YA romance that still touches on some of the issues of growing up queer in the country.

Luke and Emmett live very different lives but still make sense together as a couple, and I loved watching both of them mature over the course of the book. The secondary characters were also very fun, and I especially loved Emmett's Aunt Karen. And of course, the Wanda World setting is a delight, and Kennedy does a great job of capturing the energy and weirdness of the real-world Dollywood and Pigeon Forge. This was a fun YA summer read and I'll definitely be checking out his future books.

2.5 rounded up cuz it was cute but didn't really make me feel anything more than a slight, "Aww."