I would maybe rate this actually somewhere between two and three stars, though it's hard to say. It's a quick read and I don't feel like very much happened, but as we know, I am a sucker for all books about baby dykes.

The blurb makes this sound like a love story, which it is not. And the trend of baby dykes falling in love with closeted straight girls is so sad and heartbreaking. Also, I am ALWAYS way more curious about the closeted straight girls than I am about the characters who are out. Or, at least, to some degree. I LOVED Cameron Post, but I wanted to know what happened to Coley. Badly. Just, being so closeted must be the worst and it must be so hard to struggle with that and I am interested in it...maybe I'll have to write that book though.

Anyway, Jesse is this young, out lesbian who wears combat boots and hates the Man. Emily is VP of the student council, wears J. Crew sweaters, and is generally as straight as you can get. Every week they make out in the handicapped bathroom at the local library. But then Jesse gets involved in a political cause that Emily is on the other side of and the two of them have to deal with it.

Spoiler

The problem is, it's not very well fleshed out. Emily is...well, she's kind of a blind idiot. In fact, for most of her passages, I found her extremely difficult to sympathize with, considering she was fucking around with Jesse's feelings and her whole deal with NorthStar. The only times I felt for her was when she was describing the way she felt about Jesse.

The other thing is, why were they even in love with each other? It's not like they talked. All they did was make out for once a week for a year. Which, okay, but I mean, I...would be bored after a year.

Jesse's character is sympathetic but not original. Probably because Madeleine George is from Amherst. I recognize a Jesse anywhere. Essentially, I was bored by her. Also, Esther??? I don't really understand the role her character played. Was it supposed to be Manic Pixie Girl? She wasn't quite twee enough. I mean, undoubtedly she would treat Jesse better, but there's no indication of how she felt or whatever and she was supposedly "so weird".

This book felt like it started off well and I was interested, but it ultimately culminated in a boring fashion. Too many loose threads, rubbish ending, and the characters fall flat of a promise.

I really loved this book for a lot of reasons - it is so well written, well plotted, and the parts about cancer were SO real! - but I am also disappointed in this because unfortunately it is another example of a lgbt YA book denying the b.

What Jesse and Emily felt when kissing was such a bunch of veracious emotions, they just got lost so in each other. But the rest of their relationship is a mess though. I got so frustrated at Emily and how she viewed her relationship with Jesse, she doesn't deserve Jesse. I just got so annoyed at how their social standings as well as basically everything about their lives worked against their relationship, which was why it had to end. It did end, i think and i was happy.

Jesse has a bad haircut, gigantic combat boots, and is willing to stand up for what she believes in, regardless of what other’s think. Emily dresses in the latest fashions, the president of the student council, and prefers to keep her thoughts and feelings inside. These girls are completely different, but share a common love for a make out session they share once a week. Emily wants to be open about their relationship, but Emily does not. Although there is romantic element to this story, its primary theme is finding one’s self through sometimes tough experiences. This is a great contemporary YA read that I think both LGBT and non LGBT readers can relate.

Interesting book about two girls in high school who are in love with each other, but one has a boyfriend and is too popular to be true to herself and leave that world behind.

Thoughtful, well crafted story - I really loved all the character voices. Full review up at Slatebreakers, http://slatebreakers.com/2012/10/15/review-the-difference-between-you-and-me-by-madeleine-george/

I liked this. I wish it had been more...substantial? But it was a good read.

3.5 Review on my blog!

Enjoyable, quick read. I hope Emily one day has the courage to stop pretending.

This was a quick, enjoyable read with pretty interesting characters and some nice insights and experiences. I liked the writing, but thought the POV choices were odd -- two voices in first person, another in third... Are you trying to tell us something? Because it's not working. I thought her romantic/sexual scenes were really well-rendered and felt very true to girls at that age. I liked Jesse and I liked Esther (a lot!) and I... felt really bummed out by Emily's inability to learn anything. I thought the overall plot arc was pretty lackluster and though I wouldn't necessarily say the ending wasn't good, but it wasn't as meaningful or satisfying as I had hoped and as I believe the story would have supported. There were just a lot of threads raised that were then left to the wind and it was disappointing because I cared very much about all of them. Why not have Emily address that there is more to Mike than she's chosen to believe about him? Why not have Jesse actually confront Wyatt's dad about his job and the lies he gets paid to tell? Why not pull the former-revolutionary Snediker into the story more or at least let Jesse's parents' talk about her? Why not have Emily learn, like, ANYTHING? Why create so many potentialities and then just let them dissolve meaninglessly?

More than anything though, I am really, really angry that I read a relatively current story for young adults that just went in and waved around ironic libertarianism without ever bothering to address it! DO NOT LET CHARACTERS REFERENCE AYN RAND UNCHALLENGED should be like, a basic rule of writing in general, and especially when writing for teenagers. Ironic libertarianism is still libertarianism and no one needs additional exposure to that garbage.

The writing was nice enough to give it three stars and I would read an entire trilogy about Esther, so I'm certainly not upset that I read it, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it either.