Scan barcode
A review by okthislooksbad
Fifteen Hundred Miles From The Sun by Jonny Garza Villa
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This book is Peak Teen.
Jules accidentally outs himself while drunk, and he is immediately thrown into a whirlwind of family relations and friendships changing, a budding romance, all with a heavy sprinkle of finding out what his future will hold.
This was a challenging read on a few fronts for me, at least in the beginning. There's some heavy homophobia, but the one thing I really struggled with initially was how incredibly teen it was written. You know how some YA books almost feel like they're written by adults, for adults? This feels like it's written by teens, for teens. In a good way, though! Like that is some serious skill, and it works incredibly well. For a while I struggled with it because I had a hard time understanding a lot of the thought processes of Jules given that it's been a minute since I was 17, but once I realised that was the problem and it was just that the book was that kind of well-written it wasn't as much a problem as a luxury. It's a whole different beast to read a YA book that actually feels teen, you know?
So anyway, the romance didn't quite work for me. A lot of the time it felt onesided, like one was practically the others' therapist and had to accept some real shitty behaviour from their partner (doooon't just completely refuse to talk to your partner because you're mad at yourself!! this was one of the Very Teen things I had to rewire my brain a lil' for while reading this, and looking at it from an outside perspective I totally get the teenage thinking here, but as an adult it just sat very badly with me) but I am here for the realistic safe sex and discussions thereof! YA in general seems to shy away from that a lot, but not this one. An actual gem.
My favourite, though? All the siblings. Both Jules's sister (who I will protect until the day I pass) and Mat's were just.. *chef's kiss*. Absolutely the responsible adults this world needs who will protect and raise their siblings with love and respect. I loved them so much.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Jules accidentally outs himself while drunk, and he is immediately thrown into a whirlwind of family relations and friendships changing, a budding romance, all with a heavy sprinkle of finding out what his future will hold.
This was a challenging read on a few fronts for me, at least in the beginning. There's some heavy homophobia, but the one thing I really struggled with initially was how incredibly teen it was written. You know how some YA books almost feel like they're written by adults, for adults? This feels like it's written by teens, for teens. In a good way, though! Like that is some serious skill, and it works incredibly well. For a while I struggled with it because I had a hard time understanding a lot of the thought processes of Jules given that it's been a minute since I was 17, but once I realised that was the problem and it was just that the book was that kind of well-written it wasn't as much a problem as a luxury. It's a whole different beast to read a YA book that actually feels teen, you know?
So anyway, the romance didn't quite work for me. A lot of the time it felt onesided, like one was practically the others' therapist and had to accept some real shitty behaviour from their partner (doooon't just completely refuse to talk to your partner because you're mad at yourself!! this was one of the Very Teen things I had to rewire my brain a lil' for while reading this, and looking at it from an outside perspective I totally get the teenage thinking here, but as an adult it just sat very badly with me) but I am here for the realistic safe sex and discussions thereof! YA in general seems to shy away from that a lot, but not this one. An actual gem.
My favourite, though? All the siblings. Both Jules's sister (who I will protect until the day I pass) and Mat's were just.. *chef's kiss*. Absolutely the responsible adults this world needs who will protect and raise their siblings with love and respect. I loved them so much.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.