(Actual review)4 starsI've waited so long for this book to be released and I finally finished it!But before we get to the review, let's talk about the 'controversy' behind this book as it garnered a lot of attention. If you have had your eyes on Ramona Blue for a while, then you would know the original synopsis of the book didn't sound like what the book was supposed to be about: a girl questioning her sexual identity. I do agree that the original synopsis didn't do the book justice and it anger...

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/Ramona Blue proves the point that no matter what the story . . . . I’m not going to waste a lot of time on this review because I’m pissed off at myself that I let a bunch of trolly internet strangers convince me to break one of my own rules and read the same author nearly back-to-back without some breathing room. I also have a case of the manflu so I ain’t gonna be as sweet as I normally am : ) Please note, however, that unlike all...

Wrote this 31/03/17 : I'm pretty excited to read this tbh.And yes I feel the need to write my thoughts on this book because I saw all the negativity this book received and it makes me sick.Let me tell you something : someone can ID as gay and then ID as bisexual, and it doesn't make this book lesbophobic. I see a great opportunity to explore what a LOT of people are experiencing, and it's IMPORTANT to talk about that. You just have to understand that this book isn't about you, it's about a gi

I have officially given one of Julie Murphy's books 5 stars! I'm so happy. I'd read her two previous books and they were not for me, but I had a feeling that this one would tick all my boxes and it SO did. I adored this. While I recognize that some of the things she did or said along the way were not necessarily done in the best way (i.e.: trying to force someone into labeling themselves when they weren't ready), I loved the way that Ramona grew during her journey and realized that she was in th...

As a lesbian, please stop thinking you're progressive for writing us as falling in love with men. It's disrespectful and dishonest. If you want a book about a bisexual person, write a book about a bisexual person. I hope you read this and feel ashamed, Julie Murphy.

I genuinely really loved this book. It was such a different story, a different cast of characters, and it was unlike anything that I've ever read before. It's hard to describe my thoughts on this novel because I have so much that I enjoyed about it. First, I will mention the life/background of the main character. I find that I rarely read of a main character that is realistically struggling with their families, finances, and basic necessities in order to survive. I'm not saying that there isn't

“Sometimes catastrophes split you in half and even if all the pieces are there, they might not ever fit back together.”Roman Blue was my first book by Julie Murphy and it sure as heck won't be my last. It exceeded all the expectations. I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the voice actor. She added to Ramona's very distinct voice and granted me so much insight into Ramona's mind.I picked up this book because of two reasons. 1. Because a trusted friend of mine who has excellent taste in...

Actual rating: 4/5 starsTHIS BOOK. Pay absolutely no attention to the low rating on Goodreads. It's because a large amount of biphobic people were misled by the synopsis and rated it 1 star without listening to reviews of people who ACTUALLY read the book. This book deserves so many more stars than that. It's about a girl who is discovering her sexuality. She thinks she's lesbian, but then starts to question. Sexuality is fluid, and we need more YA books that explore it. RAMONA BLUE does exactly...

4 stars! “I hate this idea that boys are thinking about sex nonstop and girls are thinking about - what? Stationery and garden gnomes? No.” I attended Apollycon this year and had the pleasure of meeting Julie Murphy and listening to her talk on a YA panel. She had talked about Ramona Blue and after hearing what she had to say, I was intrigued and decided to check it out from my local library. Julie had said this book was her own personal screw you to the movie Chasing Amy (which I haven't se

3.5 stars Like many other YA contemporaries, the main girl in the story is on her way to discovering her identity except Ramona Blue thought she had it all figured out. She was sure she liked girls, only girls. She was pretty much sure she had no life outside of her small town and her meager savings were only meant for her sister’s soon to be born baby and was definite that her home will always be the too small trailer house. She has almost resigned and sealed her fate to this life when things s...

Okay, so now that I have read this book, I can say that my initial impression of it was not 100% accurate. . . but it was also much, much better than I was expecting. This is more of a 4.5, but I'm keeping my 5 stars to balance out the ratings. The romance is a much smaller part of the book than the blurb might indicate. Ramona makes it very clear throughout the book that she is still very much into girls, but she's into Freddie too and Ramona is very much finding herself. By the end of the book...

One of the best contemporaries I've read this year!I did have a little trouble getting into it at first. I think too much time was spent on setting things up that only served as backstory. However, later in the book I was glad we'd seen that backstory first hand because it did help you see where the characters were coming from.This book got a lot of early low ratings because the initial synopsis gave the impression that the main character was a lesbian who suddenly turned straight when she falls...

Lesbian goes for a dude? She has blue hair? Name is Ramona? Such a unique genre, much original; I hope the line 'I'm a little bifurious' is in there somewhere, or 'your hair is such a warm colour' ahahahahaIn all seriousness tho, when only %34 of wlw characters in the media are lesbians but lesbians represent %84 of character deaths? When I can think of SEVERAL books with this exact story line? Like you think bisexual erasure is bad, try lesbian erasure.

4.5 starsI'm really, really, really upset I didn't read this sooner and even more upset that I considered unhauling it. It breaks my heart to know I almost didn't give this a chance, because it's everything I love and more.The main character is 6'3. She's attracted to girls and guys. She's from a low-income family in a small town. She's from the south. She's in an interracial relationship. All of these things and more coming together made me fall in love with it. The writing was gorgeous (SO man...

Full disclosure: I have not read this book, but I'm preemptively rating it five stars merely to combat the slate of negative ratings based off a synopsis the author didn't even write. Certainly, the trope of a lesbian being "fixed" by the "right man" is an extremely dangerous trope. I'm in no way invalidating how harmful and offensive that mindset is. I do not believe that a lesbian can be "turned" straight or is "just going through a phase". But I also don't believe that a queer girl who has no...

Giving this a pre-emptive boost. There are no ARCs out yet, and the negativity is based off a vague synopsis. A girl who likes girls finds herself having feelings for a boy- so, she's bisexual... your biphobia is showing if you're angry with this. Bisexual voices are important too. And considering this is an #ownvoices novel, and Julie's dealt with sensitive topics beautifully in the past, it's unfair to try & tank the novel because of the synopsis.I understand how harmful the lesbian-converted-...

Lesbians should not be erased for the sake of bi/pan representation. The premise of this book reinforces harmful myths about lesbian sexuality. The author should be ashamed as well as anyone defending her. It's clear that lesbian voices don't matter to anyone in the so called queer community.

hope this dumbass book flops and I never have to hear about this stupid straight girls "turning lesbians" fantasies again. reading that description alone was like murphy vomited chew, chili, and homophobia directly onto my computer screen and then forced me face first into it. lesbians aren't just bi/straight girls who haven't connected with the right guy yet or just aren't being open minded enough about the future of "who they could become". honestly when will straight people shut up about us f...

A weird thing to need to open with, but hi! I have read this book. So, let's begin the review now, and yeah, it's gonna be on the longer side with a lot more summary than I ever write, for what I hope are obvious reasons.Ramona Blue is a sister, daughter, friend, out lesbian, waitress, papergirl...lots of things, living in Eulogy, MS, a town that gets shaken up by tourists in the summer. As the book opens, she's watching her summer love, Grace, head back home, and dealing with the fact that her

I haven't read this yet, but neither have you.Cut it out.