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Look Both Ways
Thoughtful, funny, and steeped in the wild drama of growing up, Alison Cherry’s new novel is the story of a girl hoping she’s found a place to belong . . . only to learn that neither talent nor love is as straightforward as she thinks.
A summer away from the city is the beginning of everything for Brooklyn Shepard. Her theater apprenticeship at Allerdale is a chance to prove that she can carve out a niche all her own, surrounded by people who don’t know anything about her or her family of superstar performers.
Brooklyn immediately hits it off with her roommate, Zoe, and soon their friendship turns into something more. Brooklyn wants to see herself as someone who’s open to everything and everyone, but as her feelings for Zoe intensify, so do her doubts. She’s happier than she’s ever been—but is it because of her new relationship? Or is it because she’s finally discovering who she wants to be?
A summer away from the city is the beginning of everything for Brooklyn Shepard. Her theater apprenticeship at Allerdale is a chance to prove that she can carve out a niche all her own, surrounded by people who don’t know anything about her or her family of superstar performers.
Brooklyn immediately hits it off with her roommate, Zoe, and soon their friendship turns into something more. Brooklyn wants to see herself as someone who’s open to everything and everyone, but as her feelings for Zoe intensify, so do her doubts. She’s happier than she’s ever been—but is it because of her new relationship? Or is it because she’s finally discovering who she wants to be?
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 14, 2016
About the author
Alison Cherry
10 books209 followersAlison grew up in Evanston, IL. She is a professional photographer and spent many years working as a lighting designer for theater, opera, and dance. Now she lives in Brooklyn and writes young adult novels full time. She is represented by the lovely and amazing Holly Root of Root Literary.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 177 reviews
July 15, 2018
Look, usually I don't publicly call books out when I didn't finish them. Usually I don't write long rant reviews at all. But this book is terrible enough that we'll make an exception.
Look Both Ways is about a girl who has a bi crisis and a cutesy romance with her roommate, also a girl. Sweet, right? Except at the end she decides she was straight all along.
Because originality! :)))))))
This book spends pages and pages reinforcing bi stereotypes. Alison Cherry manages to incorporate BOTH major bi stereotypes here, because apparently one just wasn't enough. The love interest is sleeping with a girl and a guy at the same time and the protagonist is "just experimenting". “Bi girls sleep around” is a terrible trope that's already showed up in enough media. “Bi girls are just experimenting” is even worse.
But nooooooooo!! Isn't it important to see girls realizing they were Truly Straight All Along??. First of all, no. Bi people already get the message from society that they need to pick a side (in the case of bi girls, usually the straight side). There is no reason to publish a book about it if you're not even going to TRY to deconstruct stereotypes. Second of all, this author wanted to tell a story about finding yourself, maybe the marketing team should've done their fucking job! Publishing a book with this blurb and this cover and this title and ending with a protagonist realizing she's straight is queerbaiting. Isn't that creative? Isn't that original? Can you tell how bitter I am?
Mainly though, I'm seriously confused as to why the author decided to write this and market it in this way. Who on earth does this? What was the intention behind this book? Look Both Ways promises a story with girls kissing and good bi rep and then precedes to spend 300 pages giving the message that bisexuality is either disgusting or fake. Beyond the obvious biphobia, that's an idiotic marketing decision. Are you TRYING to make your main audience demographic hate you and your book? There's a reason this has a 3.05 average rating right now. Why did anyone think this was a good idea?
Anyway, I hate this book and I'm so glad I lost interest in it and saw a review halfway through reading it.
Look Both Ways is about a girl who has a bi crisis and a cutesy romance with her roommate, also a girl. Sweet, right? Except at the end she decides she was straight all along.
Because originality! :)))))))
This book spends pages and pages reinforcing bi stereotypes. Alison Cherry manages to incorporate BOTH major bi stereotypes here, because apparently one just wasn't enough. The love interest is sleeping with a girl and a guy at the same time and the protagonist is "just experimenting". “Bi girls sleep around” is a terrible trope that's already showed up in enough media. “Bi girls are just experimenting” is even worse.
But nooooooooo!! Isn't it important to see girls realizing they were Truly Straight All Along??. First of all, no. Bi people already get the message from society that they need to pick a side (in the case of bi girls, usually the straight side). There is no reason to publish a book about it if you're not even going to TRY to deconstruct stereotypes. Second of all, this author wanted to tell a story about finding yourself, maybe the marketing team should've done their fucking job! Publishing a book with this blurb and this cover and this title and ending with a protagonist realizing she's straight is queerbaiting. Isn't that creative? Isn't that original? Can you tell how bitter I am?
Mainly though, I'm seriously confused as to why the author decided to write this and market it in this way. Who on earth does this? What was the intention behind this book? Look Both Ways promises a story with girls kissing and good bi rep and then precedes to spend 300 pages giving the message that bisexuality is either disgusting or fake. Beyond the obvious biphobia, that's an idiotic marketing decision. Are you TRYING to make your main audience demographic hate you and your book? There's a reason this has a 3.05 average rating right now. Why did anyone think this was a good idea?
Anyway, I hate this book and I'm so glad I lost interest in it and saw a review halfway through reading it.
April 15, 2017
This is not a fun, happy f/f romance. It does nothing but play up every single bisexual stereotype possible. I want to give it credit for how accurate the depiction of theater and the theater world is, but I'm too furious about everything else. Also, I'm upset for the ways in which this book hit very close to home and then just... ruined everything. I'm possibly more upset for how personal some of the middle of the book felt, but I don't think that I'm overreacting considering the over reviews I've read.
I wouldn't give this book to a queer/questioning girl in a million years.
I wouldn't give this book to a queer/questioning girl in a million years.
February 7, 2017
What kind of queerbaiting bullshit was I just tricked into reading?
I'll start with the positives. The writing was okay. I thought Alison Cherry really captured the feeling of being involved in theatre; it's a bubble where competitiveness and affection exist alongside one another in weird harmony, and everything that happens, big or small, feels magnified or more important then it would otherwise. I enjoyed reading that and I enjoyed Brooklyn discovering her passion for songwriting and storytelling, rather then performing.
Onto the negatives.
This book was marketed as a love story between two bisexual girls. The main character, Brooklyn, came to the conclusion, after chapters and chapters of build up and decidedly romantic scenes and language, that she wasn't in love with Zoe, her roommate, at all. She may not even be attracted to girls in general - Zoe was the first in any case. I would have been fine with this conclusion if it wasn't for the sudden 180 turn of her perspective in the middle of the book with absolutely no warning.
The love interest of Brooklyn, who is openly bisexual, reinforced the stereotype of the greedy, selfish bisexual only interested in sex and prioritising boyfriends over a girlfriends. Do bisexual people like this exist? Yeah, probably. What angers me is that this is the most common representation of a bisexual girl. Zoe's faults are all based upon this harmful representation of bisexuality - she tries to pressure Brooklyn into sex; when her boyfriend (with whom she is in an open relationship) arrives, she ignores Brooklyn in favour of him; and after a time, she appears (to Brooklyn) to only want to have sex with Brooklyn without actually talking to her. When Brooklyn finally admits to Zoe that she doesn't like Zoe the way she thought she did - and in fact, she's still uncertain about whether she could ever have feelings for girls - Zoe is painted as selfish for daring to feel upset and angry that she'd been lied to and led on by the person who, only a few chapters before, had told her that she loved her. I will say that this is rectified somewhat when Brooklyn realises that she did owe Zoe an apology for hiding her uncertainty at the very end of the book. However, it doesn't make up for the fact that Brooklyn's feelings, painted as entirely romantic initially, were said to be nothing but a close, "strong friendship", in the end. Do you know how often two women in a relationship are seen as "just really good friends" by the media and society at large? There's a reason lesbians and bisexual women joke about being "gal pals". It's because of how often we deal with this kind of crap - people making our relationships out to be nothing but a friendship so close that we confused it with romantic feelings. This attitude invalidates us and it treats us like we're stupid. Exploring your sexual identity is fine and I wouldn't mind reading a book about that - but in this case, in a book clearly being marketed as an LGBT romance, it is not.
Then there is the matter of Brooklyn's mother, who keeps insisting Brooklyn "explore" with other girls to "enrich her mind". What the actual fuck? Sexuality isn't a trip down "life experience lane", it's not like you're not going off volunteer in developing country or something. At one point she says "I always hoped that if I had a daughter, she would want to date women." This sentiment is expressed in almost every scene her mother appears in. Maybe I'm just being picky but honestly, Brooklyn's mothers sentiments just reinforced the stereotype of bisexuality being an experiment or a exciting, "enriching experience" rather then a legitimate sexuality. In other words, her mother treated it like a phase.
In conclusion, I feel entirely cheated. The cover (which is beautiful), along with the blurb, strongly indicates a romance between two girls. Instead I got literal gal pals. I got gal pal'd. If you're looking for a romance between two girls, don't look here.
I'll start with the positives. The writing was okay. I thought Alison Cherry really captured the feeling of being involved in theatre; it's a bubble where competitiveness and affection exist alongside one another in weird harmony, and everything that happens, big or small, feels magnified or more important then it would otherwise. I enjoyed reading that and I enjoyed Brooklyn discovering her passion for songwriting and storytelling, rather then performing.
Onto the negatives.
This book was marketed as a love story between two bisexual girls. The main character, Brooklyn, came to the conclusion, after chapters and chapters of build up and decidedly romantic scenes and language, that she wasn't in love with Zoe, her roommate, at all. She may not even be attracted to girls in general - Zoe was the first in any case. I would have been fine with this conclusion if it wasn't for the sudden 180 turn of her perspective in the middle of the book with absolutely no warning.
The love interest of Brooklyn, who is openly bisexual, reinforced the stereotype of the greedy, selfish bisexual only interested in sex and prioritising boyfriends over a girlfriends. Do bisexual people like this exist? Yeah, probably. What angers me is that this is the most common representation of a bisexual girl. Zoe's faults are all based upon this harmful representation of bisexuality - she tries to pressure Brooklyn into sex; when her boyfriend (with whom she is in an open relationship) arrives, she ignores Brooklyn in favour of him; and after a time, she appears (to Brooklyn) to only want to have sex with Brooklyn without actually talking to her. When Brooklyn finally admits to Zoe that she doesn't like Zoe the way she thought she did - and in fact, she's still uncertain about whether she could ever have feelings for girls - Zoe is painted as selfish for daring to feel upset and angry that she'd been lied to and led on by the person who, only a few chapters before, had told her that she loved her. I will say that this is rectified somewhat when Brooklyn realises that she did owe Zoe an apology for hiding her uncertainty at the very end of the book. However, it doesn't make up for the fact that Brooklyn's feelings, painted as entirely romantic initially, were said to be nothing but a close, "strong friendship", in the end. Do you know how often two women in a relationship are seen as "just really good friends" by the media and society at large? There's a reason lesbians and bisexual women joke about being "gal pals". It's because of how often we deal with this kind of crap - people making our relationships out to be nothing but a friendship so close that we confused it with romantic feelings. This attitude invalidates us and it treats us like we're stupid. Exploring your sexual identity is fine and I wouldn't mind reading a book about that - but in this case, in a book clearly being marketed as an LGBT romance, it is not.
Then there is the matter of Brooklyn's mother, who keeps insisting Brooklyn "explore" with other girls to "enrich her mind". What the actual fuck? Sexuality isn't a trip down "life experience lane", it's not like you're not going off volunteer in developing country or something. At one point she says "I always hoped that if I had a daughter, she would want to date women." This sentiment is expressed in almost every scene her mother appears in. Maybe I'm just being picky but honestly, Brooklyn's mothers sentiments just reinforced the stereotype of bisexuality being an experiment or a exciting, "enriching experience" rather then a legitimate sexuality. In other words, her mother treated it like a phase.
In conclusion, I feel entirely cheated. The cover (which is beautiful), along with the blurb, strongly indicates a romance between two girls. Instead I got literal gal pals. I got gal pal'd. If you're looking for a romance between two girls, don't look here.
May 20, 2017
I decided to rewrite this review and make it a bit more eloquent. There's spoilers but I don't care, I don't consider this and LGBT book for a reason.
So this book was pitched as a summery, lady romance so I was excited. Except, that isn't at all what this was.
Brooklyn has never thought of herself as anything but straight, however she ~doesn't think anyone is totally gay or straight~ (which is so fucking contradictory to what happened). Early in the novel, her mother makes a comment that gives the impression that Brooklyn is out as bi, however that was not the case. Her mother kept pushing this onto Brooklyn, which promoted the view that bisexuality is used for experimenting.
The 'romance' itself took a while to come. I didn't mind that too much because I was enjoying the story even though it did bother me a lot of the time and most things could've been fixed if Brooklyn was actually good at communication.
Now, the horrible bi representation. This book, which made itself out to be a cute friends-to-lovers queer girl story, ends with Brooklyn realising she is not attracted to her 'love interest', Zoe. In fact, she mistook friendship for romance and she is actually an outstanding hetero. This goes along with an implied, future relationship with a guy she thought was gay, but had a crush on her (again, because Brooklyn doesn't know what communication is).
Onto Zoe, she had awful bi representation too. Along with Brooklyn's being treated like a phase, Zoe promoted that bi girls are selfish, greedy, pick guys over girls, and are predatory. Zoe is in an open relationship but when her boyfriend comes to visit later in the story she picked spending time with him over Brooklyn. Not only that, it may have not been an open relationship since she only said that 'they could see someone else if they roll around', which to me implied that they could break up with the other if they found someone else. Another character only interpreted this way and pushed it onto Brooklyn. So we have an implied bisexuals-will-cheat stereotype. As for the predatory point, this scene horrified me. Zoe was trying to force Brooklyn into doing things she was not comfortable with and got mad when Brooklyn didn't do it. This is what also lead to Brooklyn realising she's not actually attracted to Zoe.
Cannot believe shit like this gets published
Update: Would like to add, I wish this was a book about the two boys dating because they were beautiful and pure and wonderful and what queer kids deserved not this trash
Update: also, I'm clearly very type A with my shelves but I purposely took it off my LGBTQIA and f-f romance shelves because I don't want to promote this as a queer book, especially when I can't put this on my bi protag shelf since this book no homo'd me. A book that did nothing but promise a romance between two girls. But nah the mc is really an outstanding hetero.
I know I sound harsh, but if a girl questioning her sexuality read this, this is an insult to her. I want to keep this book away from all queer girls. I don't care if straight people read this and enjoy it, they won't get out of it what young queer girls would. I can't even consider this a queer book, it's an insult. There's so little lady romance books that are just cute and happy and summery and I wish this was one of them but it's not (if you want good ones read Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour and Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler, Under the Lights specifically doesn't have insulting bi rep)
Update: Okay, yes another update but I need to add something I forgot to mention; this book is also casually homophobic towards gay men. How you might ask? Well there's a total of three instances.
First, she meets a gay couple who are in a play with Zoe. When the pair walk up to Zoe she think one his cute and gives him her 'best flirtatious smile that early in the morning'. He smiles at her politely and takes his boyfriend's hand. Her inner monologue's reaction is 'of COURSE'. And it came off like 'of course he's gay I'm at a theatre camp'.
Instance two, she assumes a guy she becomes friends with is gay. This is the afore mentioned guy but here's why she thought he was gay. It wasn't only because Brooklyn is terrible at communication but he a) knows eggs are good for your hair and b) had a picture of another male character on his phone (but no it was a total no homo since there was a girl in the same picture and she was his sister)
And lastly, Zoe thought her boyfriend was gay when she met him. I don't remember why but when you put it with my previous point the casual homophobia is really strong.
There's also unnecessary girl hate and the one black girl is written as a bitch because she's angry her friend didn't get into the program while Brooklyn was only in because of her mother's fame while being quite terrible at acting. There's another female character who is pretty much written as 'the slutty character'. There's this unnecessary point they play never have I ever (they play it wrong too) and this character said 'never have I ever had sex in an ice bath' or something like that and when she drinks (see what I mean about it being played wrong and all for an unnecessary slut shaming moment) Brooklyn in her inner monologue scoffs at her and thought it was so typical of her to use it was a chance to brag about her wild sex experiences.
Literally I could go on about why I absolutely hate this book. It sickens this is even viewed as an lgbt book. It's not. It's a queerbaited, biphobic, and casually homophobic book. How could you mess up a roommates falling in love story this horribly?
So this book was pitched as a summery, lady romance so I was excited. Except, that isn't at all what this was.
Brooklyn has never thought of herself as anything but straight, however she ~doesn't think anyone is totally gay or straight~ (which is so fucking contradictory to what happened). Early in the novel, her mother makes a comment that gives the impression that Brooklyn is out as bi, however that was not the case. Her mother kept pushing this onto Brooklyn, which promoted the view that bisexuality is used for experimenting.
The 'romance' itself took a while to come. I didn't mind that too much because I was enjoying the story even though it did bother me a lot of the time and most things could've been fixed if Brooklyn was actually good at communication.
Now, the horrible bi representation. This book, which made itself out to be a cute friends-to-lovers queer girl story, ends with Brooklyn realising she is not attracted to her 'love interest', Zoe. In fact, she mistook friendship for romance and she is actually an outstanding hetero. This goes along with an implied, future relationship with a guy she thought was gay, but had a crush on her (again, because Brooklyn doesn't know what communication is).
Onto Zoe, she had awful bi representation too. Along with Brooklyn's being treated like a phase, Zoe promoted that bi girls are selfish, greedy, pick guys over girls, and are predatory. Zoe is in an open relationship but when her boyfriend comes to visit later in the story she picked spending time with him over Brooklyn. Not only that, it may have not been an open relationship since she only said that 'they could see someone else if they roll around', which to me implied that they could break up with the other if they found someone else. Another character only interpreted this way and pushed it onto Brooklyn. So we have an implied bisexuals-will-cheat stereotype. As for the predatory point, this scene horrified me. Zoe was trying to force Brooklyn into doing things she was not comfortable with and got mad when Brooklyn didn't do it. This is what also lead to Brooklyn realising she's not actually attracted to Zoe.
Cannot believe shit like this gets published
Update: Would like to add, I wish this was a book about the two boys dating because they were beautiful and pure and wonderful and what queer kids deserved not this trash
Update: also, I'm clearly very type A with my shelves but I purposely took it off my LGBTQIA and f-f romance shelves because I don't want to promote this as a queer book, especially when I can't put this on my bi protag shelf since this book no homo'd me. A book that did nothing but promise a romance between two girls. But nah the mc is really an outstanding hetero.
I know I sound harsh, but if a girl questioning her sexuality read this, this is an insult to her. I want to keep this book away from all queer girls. I don't care if straight people read this and enjoy it, they won't get out of it what young queer girls would. I can't even consider this a queer book, it's an insult. There's so little lady romance books that are just cute and happy and summery and I wish this was one of them but it's not (if you want good ones read Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour and Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler, Under the Lights specifically doesn't have insulting bi rep)
Update: Okay, yes another update but I need to add something I forgot to mention; this book is also casually homophobic towards gay men. How you might ask? Well there's a total of three instances.
First, she meets a gay couple who are in a play with Zoe. When the pair walk up to Zoe she think one his cute and gives him her 'best flirtatious smile that early in the morning'. He smiles at her politely and takes his boyfriend's hand. Her inner monologue's reaction is 'of COURSE'. And it came off like 'of course he's gay I'm at a theatre camp'.
Instance two, she assumes a guy she becomes friends with is gay. This is the afore mentioned guy but here's why she thought he was gay. It wasn't only because Brooklyn is terrible at communication but he a) knows eggs are good for your hair and b) had a picture of another male character on his phone (but no it was a total no homo since there was a girl in the same picture and she was his sister)
And lastly, Zoe thought her boyfriend was gay when she met him. I don't remember why but when you put it with my previous point the casual homophobia is really strong.
There's also unnecessary girl hate and the one black girl is written as a bitch because she's angry her friend didn't get into the program while Brooklyn was only in because of her mother's fame while being quite terrible at acting. There's another female character who is pretty much written as 'the slutty character'. There's this unnecessary point they play never have I ever (they play it wrong too) and this character said 'never have I ever had sex in an ice bath' or something like that and when she drinks (see what I mean about it being played wrong and all for an unnecessary slut shaming moment) Brooklyn in her inner monologue scoffs at her and thought it was so typical of her to use it was a chance to brag about her wild sex experiences.
Literally I could go on about why I absolutely hate this book. It sickens this is even viewed as an lgbt book. It's not. It's a queerbaited, biphobic, and casually homophobic book. How could you mess up a roommates falling in love story this horribly?
June 18, 2016
I wish I could give this book zero stars. With the title Look Both Ways, the cover being two girls giggling and the inside flap describing a friendship turning into something more, it seemed like a cute love story about queer ladies. Oh, how wrong I was. This shouldn't even be categorized as queer fiction. (SPOILERS FROM HERE!) Of the two main characters, we have Zoe, who's attracted to women and in an open relationship with a boy, and Brooklyn, who's Finding Herself. Long story short, we never get confirmation on the open relationship and Zoe gets dodgy when her boyfriend is around, which seemed to hint at her cheating. Surprise! A cheating bisexual character! How original! And Brooklyn, after spending most of the novel falling in love with Zoe, suddenly realizes she's not attracted to girls, breaks Zoe's heart and ends up with the boy. Surprise! Another heterosexual couple! How original again! On top of all of this, the writing was mediocre at best. I only pushed through because I thought it would end nicely. Yawn.
September 29, 2016
When will I read a book where the bisexual girl actually ends up happy in the end? Nope. No. Don't touch this with a ten foot pole if you actually want a happy book that is good for LGBT+ teens
Read
March 8, 2017Hi! I wrote this book. This may help you decide if you'd like to read it.
This book IS:
- about questioning, in all senses of the word—Brooklyn questions her role as an artist, her sexuality, her feelings for her roommate, and her place in her big, messy family.
- great for theater-lovers! Many of the theater-related antics come from personal experience. If something is so weird you think it seems unrealistic, it probably happened to me.
- a repository for funny parody song lyrics.
This book is NOT:
- a cute, conventional F/F romance. Yes, there is romance IN the book! But despite what the cover implies, that is not the primary focus.
- a commentary on what bisexuality at large is or should be.
Enjoy!
This book IS:
- about questioning, in all senses of the word—Brooklyn questions her role as an artist, her sexuality, her feelings for her roommate, and her place in her big, messy family.
- great for theater-lovers! Many of the theater-related antics come from personal experience. If something is so weird you think it seems unrealistic, it probably happened to me.
- a repository for funny parody song lyrics.
This book is NOT:
- a cute, conventional F/F romance. Yes, there is romance IN the book! But despite what the cover implies, that is not the primary focus.
- a commentary on what bisexuality at large is or should be.
Enjoy!
May 27, 2020
im literally so disappointed did i just read a book about a straight girl
May 7, 2024
Seriously, what was the fucking purpose of this shit!!?!
Brooklyn, our whiney main character, has an instant, intense crush on her roommate, Zoe. Zoe is a fun, beautiful girl who is just so full of life. She returns Brooklyn's feelings. There are about two hot scenes of them kissing and touching, but they stay on first base (above the waist). It's not for a lack of trying, though. Zoe is bisexual and has a boyfriend long distance. They have an agreement to be open, to see other people while they’re a part. It works for them.
Now, it may seem like this book is going to have some drama between Zoe, Brooklyn, and Chad/whatever the fuck his name is (Zoe's boyfriend). But it turns out that once Brooklyn gets a taste of Zoe, she suddenly loses all the intense feelings she had before. What. The. fuck. Zoe is still feeling her and Brooklyn forces herself to "endure" their fooling around. Okay, Zoe does come on a little too strongly, but it seems like a major cop out for Brooklyn to lose her feelings for Zoe, and then later ends up with a guy. A guy. That was NOT promised in the blurb.
I thought this book was about two girls finding each other and loving each other. This book is an insult to the LGBT community.
Fuck that.
Brooklyn, our whiney main character, has an instant, intense crush on her roommate, Zoe. Zoe is a fun, beautiful girl who is just so full of life. She returns Brooklyn's feelings. There are about two hot scenes of them kissing and touching, but they stay on first base (above the waist). It's not for a lack of trying, though. Zoe is bisexual and has a boyfriend long distance. They have an agreement to be open, to see other people while they’re a part. It works for them.
Now, it may seem like this book is going to have some drama between Zoe, Brooklyn, and Chad/whatever the fuck his name is (Zoe's boyfriend). But it turns out that once Brooklyn gets a taste of Zoe, she suddenly loses all the intense feelings she had before. What. The. fuck. Zoe is still feeling her and Brooklyn forces herself to "endure" their fooling around. Okay, Zoe does come on a little too strongly, but it seems like a major cop out for Brooklyn to lose her feelings for Zoe, and then later ends up with a guy. A guy. That was NOT promised in the blurb.
I thought this book was about two girls finding each other and loving each other. This book is an insult to the LGBT community.
Fuck that.
June 25, 2017
Some light spoilers below.
As a queer woman, I'm a little perplexed by the vitriol (and lack of reading comprehension) showing up in some of these reviews. The writing in this book is really excellent—sparky, funny, smart, and thoughtful. While I wholeheartedly believe that there should be more writing out in world that supports and affirms gay girls, I don't think that demanding an unambiguous f/f ending to every book with queer girls in it makes much sense.
Queerness is a spectrum, and seeing femme characters struggle with identity and attraction in a complex way is something I lacked when I was younger and would have loved to read about. At the end of the day, I think that the negative reactions to this book have very little to do with the book itself (which is good!) and a lot to do with the fact that until there are more representations out there of marginalized experiences and identities, each one bears an unfair burden of being everything to everyone— an impossible task.
Read this book if you like theatre, smart writing about teens, and stories that deal with the messy parts of not being on either end of the Kinsey scale.
As a queer woman, I'm a little perplexed by the vitriol (and lack of reading comprehension) showing up in some of these reviews. The writing in this book is really excellent—sparky, funny, smart, and thoughtful. While I wholeheartedly believe that there should be more writing out in world that supports and affirms gay girls, I don't think that demanding an unambiguous f/f ending to every book with queer girls in it makes much sense.
Queerness is a spectrum, and seeing femme characters struggle with identity and attraction in a complex way is something I lacked when I was younger and would have loved to read about. At the end of the day, I think that the negative reactions to this book have very little to do with the book itself (which is good!) and a lot to do with the fact that until there are more representations out there of marginalized experiences and identities, each one bears an unfair burden of being everything to everyone— an impossible task.
Read this book if you like theatre, smart writing about teens, and stories that deal with the messy parts of not being on either end of the Kinsey scale.
November 12, 2016
Wow.
I had an inkling from reviews that this book might be bad, but this book is literally garbage. I have not read anything I hated more, and I have hated a great many things with a great many passions. I usually try to point out some good things before I rip into something, but this book honestly left my stomach hurting with how absolutely disgusting it is. I don't get bothered much, aside from anger, but this book actually UPSET me.
It's sad because the author has decent talent when it comes to writing. Her voice was fine, aside from the strange use of epithets like "my friend" when "she" would have worked just fine. And that's the worst part of this. She could be a good writer but she's too busy being a blatant biphobe. But not before marketing her book to unsuspecting bisexual or lgbt+ girls! What a hero!
There isn't anything particularly special about this book, but the writing is easy enough to read that it's quick to get through. Brooklyn, as a protagonist, is the epitome of "not like everyone else." She's not like her family, she's not like people at Allerdale, and even though the author tries to cover it up with oh ~she doesn't think she's good enough~ its more in your face than mainstream heterosexuality. Every word of this is drenched with "misunderstood, special snowflake" syndrome. And the thing about Brooklyn is her characterization is so spotty and all over the place I can't even find anything special about her. The only consistency is the whining about not being a performer. Which she does about every other sentence.
And then there's the romance. Which could have been cute. This could have been such a cute story about finding yourself and finding love and bisexuality. But nah, nah, instead we decided to do some weird inverted poor straight girl story where she co-opts the story of a lgbt+ teen down to her mother pushing hard for her to date a girl and Brooklyn wanting SO MUCH to be "normal" within the context of her family. So then she meets Zoe, and she's SO FASCINATED with Zoe, like in every way. She thinks she's pretty, talented, smart. Their relationship is great. Excellent foundation for a romance. Minus the fact that Zoe is in an "open relationship" with her boyfriend that Brooklyn of Not Quite Straightstown passively aggressively refers to as cheating MULTIPLE times (and the writing seems to agree with the way they write Zoe as this pushy, greedy bisexual who doesn't want Brooklyn to see other people, but you know, she totally can - wow, thanks for the bi rep, Alison!!!) If there was ever a time I didn't want someone to use the word bisexual in a narrative, it's now.
Oh, and then, Brooklyn "no one is Truly Straight or Gay" Sheperd decides approximately 12 heterosexual seconds after instigating this super intimate encounter that sex is just too much for the Straight Virgin Block of Cheese that serves as her brain. And this could have been decent asexual rep if we hadn't peppered it with wow I sure would love to rip my clothes off if only she was a guy. Which was then retconned into "I promise I'm not homophobic" by some weird remarks about how its not because she's a girl? Then why did you abruptly stop being into this girl that is apparently gorgeous and sweet and nice and lovely? Are you reinventing the Kinsey scale with your revelatory knowledge that no one's actually gay? 1 - Fuck gay people, 2 - No Homo, 3 - I don't Agree with the lifestyle but live your life.
Because it's written for us to sympathize with this poor (~not quite~) straight girl who is being seduced by this bisexual girl that she just can't handle! Like, the writing makes it her out to be the victim, save the fact that she started licking Zoe's back in the middle of the night with zero provocation. And I'm supposed to like this girl? Okay. Because now apparently Zoe just isn't ~listening~ to her. Seriously, Brooklyn, if you wanna talk that much, call a hotline. You're not that fucking interesting.
And the best thing is, Alison Cherry is so in love with heterosexual bullshit that even while she's trying to "set us up" for this gross, pathetic excuse for a wlw romance, she's building up this ENTIRELY UNNECESSARY heterosexual plot line to - like, what? - contrast how comfortable Brooklyn is with a guy? Because, trust me, I got that enough from "if Zoe was a guy my clothes would be on the floor."
This book is gross. Don't read it. It's biphobic, homophobic, and horribly inconsistent. Nothing makes a bit of sense. The only part I enjoyed was when the theater burned down because I could then imagine setting Alison Cherry's house ablaze in a similar fashion, which, at this point, was quite cathartic.
Also those songs at the end were bad. So, maybe just get a career in Gay Conversion therapy, Brooklyn. You'd be a great fit!! And your super gay family will love you no matter what!
OH, and thanks for that single poc that ends up being a total bitch. That was also a great addition.
I had an inkling from reviews that this book might be bad, but this book is literally garbage. I have not read anything I hated more, and I have hated a great many things with a great many passions. I usually try to point out some good things before I rip into something, but this book honestly left my stomach hurting with how absolutely disgusting it is. I don't get bothered much, aside from anger, but this book actually UPSET me.
It's sad because the author has decent talent when it comes to writing. Her voice was fine, aside from the strange use of epithets like "my friend" when "she" would have worked just fine. And that's the worst part of this. She could be a good writer but she's too busy being a blatant biphobe. But not before marketing her book to unsuspecting bisexual or lgbt+ girls! What a hero!
There isn't anything particularly special about this book, but the writing is easy enough to read that it's quick to get through. Brooklyn, as a protagonist, is the epitome of "not like everyone else." She's not like her family, she's not like people at Allerdale, and even though the author tries to cover it up with oh ~she doesn't think she's good enough~ its more in your face than mainstream heterosexuality. Every word of this is drenched with "misunderstood, special snowflake" syndrome. And the thing about Brooklyn is her characterization is so spotty and all over the place I can't even find anything special about her. The only consistency is the whining about not being a performer. Which she does about every other sentence.
And then there's the romance. Which could have been cute. This could have been such a cute story about finding yourself and finding love and bisexuality. But nah, nah, instead we decided to do some weird inverted poor straight girl story where she co-opts the story of a lgbt+ teen down to her mother pushing hard for her to date a girl and Brooklyn wanting SO MUCH to be "normal" within the context of her family. So then she meets Zoe, and she's SO FASCINATED with Zoe, like in every way. She thinks she's pretty, talented, smart. Their relationship is great. Excellent foundation for a romance. Minus the fact that Zoe is in an "open relationship" with her boyfriend that Brooklyn of Not Quite Straightstown passively aggressively refers to as cheating MULTIPLE times (and the writing seems to agree with the way they write Zoe as this pushy, greedy bisexual who doesn't want Brooklyn to see other people, but you know, she totally can - wow, thanks for the bi rep, Alison!!!) If there was ever a time I didn't want someone to use the word bisexual in a narrative, it's now.
Oh, and then, Brooklyn "no one is Truly Straight or Gay" Sheperd decides approximately 12 heterosexual seconds after instigating this super intimate encounter that sex is just too much for the Straight Virgin Block of Cheese that serves as her brain. And this could have been decent asexual rep if we hadn't peppered it with wow I sure would love to rip my clothes off if only she was a guy. Which was then retconned into "I promise I'm not homophobic" by some weird remarks about how its not because she's a girl? Then why did you abruptly stop being into this girl that is apparently gorgeous and sweet and nice and lovely? Are you reinventing the Kinsey scale with your revelatory knowledge that no one's actually gay? 1 - Fuck gay people, 2 - No Homo, 3 - I don't Agree with the lifestyle but live your life.
Because it's written for us to sympathize with this poor (~not quite~) straight girl who is being seduced by this bisexual girl that she just can't handle! Like, the writing makes it her out to be the victim, save the fact that she started licking Zoe's back in the middle of the night with zero provocation. And I'm supposed to like this girl? Okay. Because now apparently Zoe just isn't ~listening~ to her. Seriously, Brooklyn, if you wanna talk that much, call a hotline. You're not that fucking interesting.
And the best thing is, Alison Cherry is so in love with heterosexual bullshit that even while she's trying to "set us up" for this gross, pathetic excuse for a wlw romance, she's building up this ENTIRELY UNNECESSARY heterosexual plot line to - like, what? - contrast how comfortable Brooklyn is with a guy? Because, trust me, I got that enough from "if Zoe was a guy my clothes would be on the floor."
This book is gross. Don't read it. It's biphobic, homophobic, and horribly inconsistent. Nothing makes a bit of sense. The only part I enjoyed was when the theater burned down because I could then imagine setting Alison Cherry's house ablaze in a similar fashion, which, at this point, was quite cathartic.
Also those songs at the end were bad. So, maybe just get a career in Gay Conversion therapy, Brooklyn. You'd be a great fit!! And your super gay family will love you no matter what!
OH, and thanks for that single poc that ends up being a total bitch. That was also a great addition.
July 3, 2016
This book was, in one word, harmful over all. I hate to think I payed actual money over this book. LGBT friends, don't bother; I was ready for an amazing book about coming to terms with your sexuality and more help for LGBT youth, but what I got was a face full of heterosexuality trumping the beautiful relationship Zoe and Brooklyn could have had.
The writing to make Zoe seem like she wasn't the one for Brooklyn was awful, and I thought it was leading to a great ending about compromise and finding middle ground in relationships. Nope. Surprise, the gay character isn't actually gay and the bi character isn't actually bi, and instead they're forced heteros.
In conclusion, I am severely angry about the obvious queerbaiting on the front. You thought there would finally be a story about two girls living happily ever after? Of course not.
Instead, I'd recommend Simon VS The Homo Sapien's Agenda. It's not about two ladies but it still conveys a powerful and beautiful message that this book doesn't have.
The writing to make Zoe seem like she wasn't the one for Brooklyn was awful, and I thought it was leading to a great ending about compromise and finding middle ground in relationships. Nope. Surprise, the gay character isn't actually gay and the bi character isn't actually bi, and instead they're forced heteros.
In conclusion, I am severely angry about the obvious queerbaiting on the front. You thought there would finally be a story about two girls living happily ever after? Of course not.
Instead, I'd recommend Simon VS The Homo Sapien's Agenda. It's not about two ladies but it still conveys a powerful and beautiful message that this book doesn't have.
June 26, 2017
okay. so LOOK BOTH WAYS just won a "bisexual book award," which is disappointing because it's not about bisexuality. it's about a straight girl who experiments with a girl and then realizes she's straight.
if this sounds like your thing, go for it. just don't go in expecting a decent portrayal of bisexuality or f/f romance. know what you're getting.
if this sounds like your thing, go for it. just don't go in expecting a decent portrayal of bisexuality or f/f romance. know what you're getting.
May 5, 2024
❗THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS❗.
If you have not read this and are planning or wanting to read, stop reading this review right now and come back when you have finished.
🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨
At first, I loved Zoe and Brooklyn’s friendship and was rooting for them. It was a nice slow-paced relationship before they finally got together and I was so happy.
And then everything went downhill from there.
Zoe starts treating Brooklyn bad, constantly pushing and pressuring her into having sex. Ultimately, this is how their relationship ends. Honestly, this was foreseeable and it made me so mad that their whole "relationship" was just them constantly making out and then arguing when Zoe tried to pressure Brooklyn into going further.
Even though I felt the "ending up with a guy instead of a girl" coming throughout the entire book, it still took me by surprise and I wasn’t prepared.
I think the reason this frustrated me so much is because Brooklyn’s sexuality was just left unanswered. There’s not even a confirmation to even if she is still questioning her relationship. I would have been fine with that. Because it’s hard to figure that shit out. I know that I struggled with my sexuality for years before I finally figured it out. And you know what, sometimes I still question it. But that just wasn’t the case for this book.
At first, with the way Brooklyn kept trying to explain to Zoe about why she didn’t want to have sex, I thought we were going to get some asexual representation. And I got excited for about two seconds, but it didn’t go in that direction either.
I really wish that I could say that this is good bisexual girl representation, but it’s really not. Honestly, it feels more like “girl experiences with her sexuality but then realizes that she was straight all along”. Us bisexuals get enough shit for not “choosing a side”, we don’t need this book claiming that it has bi-energy.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☽✰☾━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
If you have not read this and are planning or wanting to read, stop reading this review right now and come back when you have finished.
🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨
At first, I loved Zoe and Brooklyn’s friendship and was rooting for them. It was a nice slow-paced relationship before they finally got together and I was so happy.
And then everything went downhill from there.
Zoe starts treating Brooklyn bad, constantly pushing and pressuring her into having sex. Ultimately, this is how their relationship ends. Honestly, this was foreseeable and it made me so mad that their whole "relationship" was just them constantly making out and then arguing when Zoe tried to pressure Brooklyn into going further.
Even though I felt the "ending up with a guy instead of a girl" coming throughout the entire book, it still took me by surprise and I wasn’t prepared.
I think the reason this frustrated me so much is because Brooklyn’s sexuality was just left unanswered. There’s not even a confirmation to even if she is still questioning her relationship. I would have been fine with that. Because it’s hard to figure that shit out. I know that I struggled with my sexuality for years before I finally figured it out. And you know what, sometimes I still question it. But that just wasn’t the case for this book.
At first, with the way Brooklyn kept trying to explain to Zoe about why she didn’t want to have sex, I thought we were going to get some asexual representation. And I got excited for about two seconds, but it didn’t go in that direction either.
I really wish that I could say that this is good bisexual girl representation, but it’s really not. Honestly, it feels more like “girl experiences with her sexuality but then realizes that she was straight all along”. Us bisexuals get enough shit for not “choosing a side”, we don’t need this book claiming that it has bi-energy.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☽✰☾━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
April 2, 2016
Looking Both Ways is definitely one of the best books I've read in 2016.
The plot was amazing and so different from any book I've read before.
I loved the setting of a summer theater camp and I really liked seeing how all the characters were very different from each other but they all had one thing in common, they loved theater.
I loved how the story focused on Brooklyn and her self discovery. She was so well written and I loved her character development.
Overall, Looking Both Ways is a super fantastic read. I loved everything about it and I highly recommend.
The plot was amazing and so different from any book I've read before.
I loved the setting of a summer theater camp and I really liked seeing how all the characters were very different from each other but they all had one thing in common, they loved theater.
I loved how the story focused on Brooklyn and her self discovery. She was so well written and I loved her character development.
Overall, Looking Both Ways is a super fantastic read. I loved everything about it and I highly recommend.
September 25, 2016
I really wanted to like this.
Unfortunately, I did not.
I give this book a generous 2 stars only because the writing was okay, the book was diverse, and the story was a bit different than your standard YA "finding yourself" storyline.
But I have so many issues with this. First, you have Zoe, the cheating bisexual (but it's okay! because her boyfriend would only care if she was dating another guy! ugh). And she was so pushy about wanting to have sex with Brooklyn -- and I get it, sort of, but it started to get ugly after a while. I was cringing through so many of her and Brooklyn's scenes near the end there.
And Brooklyn. Okay, I didn't really understand what Cherry was trying to say about her sexuality here. Is she asexual? Because she seemed to love the romantic aspect/closeness of being in a relationship, but she had zero desire for any sort of physical relationship (beyond some kissing). Unfortunately, Cherry never explores this, and it comes across as Brooklyn being kind of asshole-ish to Zoe because of it (Brooklyn makes a point of saying she's "straight, but could like a girl" to Zoe, knowing Zoe was interested; except Brooklyn really isn't into dating Zoe, and instead of just saying so, she completely ghosts on her). It's weird too because Brooklyn does have a viable male love interest, but she has zero interest in him either.
I just didn't get this. Is Cherry trying to say Brooklyn is asexual? Is she aromantic? Is Cherry trying to say that you don't need to be in a relationship to find yourself? I don't really know, because Cherry never goes anywhere with anything.
So in the end it just becomes a story of "straight girl experiments with dating a girl" in order to ~~discover~~ herself. Brooklyn ends up coming across as so damn unlikable.
Brooklyn is just so completely devoid of any real personality or self-confidence. And that's the whole book right up until the last 5 pages or so: Brooklyn does something well, someone compliments her, Brooklyn is aggressively negative about it. Like, enough all ready. It just felt so painfully forced after a while; I understand that this was the point, but Cherry laid it on way too heavy. I just wanted to shake Brooklyn and yell just take the damn compliment!
Also, sorry, but Brooklyn's mom is such an asshole.
Unfortunately, I did not.
I give this book a generous 2 stars only because the writing was okay, the book was diverse, and the story was a bit different than your standard YA "finding yourself" storyline.
But I have so many issues with this. First, you have Zoe, the cheating bisexual (but it's okay! because her boyfriend would only care if she was dating another guy! ugh). And she was so pushy about wanting to have sex with Brooklyn -- and I get it, sort of, but it started to get ugly after a while. I was cringing through so many of her and Brooklyn's scenes near the end there.
And Brooklyn. Okay, I didn't really understand what Cherry was trying to say about her sexuality here. Is she asexual? Because she seemed to love the romantic aspect/closeness of being in a relationship, but she had zero desire for any sort of physical relationship (beyond some kissing). Unfortunately, Cherry never explores this, and it comes across as Brooklyn being kind of asshole-ish to Zoe because of it (Brooklyn makes a point of saying she's "straight, but could like a girl" to Zoe, knowing Zoe was interested; except Brooklyn really isn't into dating Zoe, and instead of just saying so, she completely ghosts on her). It's weird too because Brooklyn does have a viable male love interest, but she has zero interest in him either.
I just didn't get this. Is Cherry trying to say Brooklyn is asexual? Is she aromantic? Is Cherry trying to say that you don't need to be in a relationship to find yourself? I don't really know, because Cherry never goes anywhere with anything.
So in the end it just becomes a story of "straight girl experiments with dating a girl" in order to ~~discover~~ herself. Brooklyn ends up coming across as so damn unlikable.
Brooklyn is just so completely devoid of any real personality or self-confidence. And that's the whole book right up until the last 5 pages or so: Brooklyn does something well, someone compliments her, Brooklyn is aggressively negative about it. Like, enough all ready. It just felt so painfully forced after a while; I understand that this was the point, but Cherry laid it on way too heavy. I just wanted to shake Brooklyn and yell just take the damn compliment!
Also, sorry, but Brooklyn's mom is such an asshole.
June 27, 2017
Hmm. I have some very conflicting thoughts on Look Both Ways. While I appreciated some things this book got right, those good things were vastly overshadowed by elements of this book that I find extremely problematic. One of my major issues with Look Both Ways is that it's marketed as an LGBTQ+ read, but I think the portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters in this story just serves to perpetuate negative (and false) stereotypes of an already-marginalized community. THIS IS NOT AN LGBTQ+ ROMANCE.
This book is set at a prestigious theater camp, Allerdale, and takes place over the course of the summer. Our main character, Brooklyn, is a mediocre actress at best and much prefers writing musical theatre pieces to singing them, but she feels pressured by her family full of Broadway royalty to continue their legacy. As a former theater kid (and current music student) who has been to countless summer programs like the one portrayed in Look Both Ways, I thought Cherry nailed the setting. At programs like Allerdale, there's almost always a strange duality: the entire cast of a production bonds and becomes almost like family during the process of putting on a show, but there's always a slight undercurrent of competition and jealousy there that can boil into drama at any moment. Cherry perfectly portrayed this tension, and she captured the different types of people that you meet at arts programs perfectly in this cast of characters.
I also thought this book did a great job of portraying a common family dynamic that I don't see discussed in YA very often. So many teenagers, like Brooklyn, feel pressure (whether real or imagined) to live up to their parents' legacies or expectations for them.
Okay, now onto the problematic elements of this story-- namely, its portrayal of sexuality in general and bisexuality in particular. Over the course of the summer, Brooklyn realizes she's begun falling for her roommate, Zoe. Zoe is headed to Juilliard in the fall, and, unsurprisingly, lands the starring role in Allerdale's biggest production of the summer and, consequently, becomes an object of admiration, jealousy, and fascination for the rest of the students at Allerdale. Zoe is openly bisexual, and it is implied that she is also polyamorous (though she never uses that label, she's in an open relationship with her boyfriend). Brooklyn has never been attracted to girls before, but she feels attraction towards Zoe, so she decides not to question her sexuality too much and just follow what her heart is telling her. Zoe, as a character, encompasses nearly every bisexual stereotype in the book: she's in an open relationship, but doesn't want Brooklyn seeing anyone else but her (greedy bisexual!); she seems to single-mindedly care about sex and is constantly trying to pressure Brooklyn into having it ("slutty" bisexual!); and she prioritizes her relationship with Carlos over hers with Brooklyn (all bisexuals end up "becoming straight" in the end!). Also, she seems to think she's in an open relationship, but her boyfriend does not seem to be on the same page about that one, and she starts actin' real shady about Brooklyn whenever he's around (cheating bisexual! polyamory is just glorified cheating!). Despite all of this, Zoe actually is in love with Brooklyn, though. This is the same, recycled biphobia the bi community has been experiencing from society at large for years, and, honestly, these tropes are really damaging to young queer girls. I could go on and on, but I'll move on to other problems. Namely, the fact that Brooklyn experiments with Zoe for a while, then decides-- really abruptly, might I add-- that, nope, she's not actually interested in girls after all! Ah, yes, the classic "straight girl experiments with her sexuality and completely breaks a queer girl's heart in the process" trope. To top it all off, .
All in all, this book was such a disappointment for me. I'm bummed that these stereotypes still exist and that they're being perpetuated in a YA book that is marketed towards the very community of people that it demeans.
This book is set at a prestigious theater camp, Allerdale, and takes place over the course of the summer. Our main character, Brooklyn, is a mediocre actress at best and much prefers writing musical theatre pieces to singing them, but she feels pressured by her family full of Broadway royalty to continue their legacy. As a former theater kid (and current music student) who has been to countless summer programs like the one portrayed in Look Both Ways, I thought Cherry nailed the setting. At programs like Allerdale, there's almost always a strange duality: the entire cast of a production bonds and becomes almost like family during the process of putting on a show, but there's always a slight undercurrent of competition and jealousy there that can boil into drama at any moment. Cherry perfectly portrayed this tension, and she captured the different types of people that you meet at arts programs perfectly in this cast of characters.
I also thought this book did a great job of portraying a common family dynamic that I don't see discussed in YA very often. So many teenagers, like Brooklyn, feel pressure (whether real or imagined) to live up to their parents' legacies or expectations for them.
Okay, now onto the problematic elements of this story-- namely, its portrayal of sexuality in general and bisexuality in particular. Over the course of the summer, Brooklyn realizes she's begun falling for her roommate, Zoe. Zoe is headed to Juilliard in the fall, and, unsurprisingly, lands the starring role in Allerdale's biggest production of the summer and, consequently, becomes an object of admiration, jealousy, and fascination for the rest of the students at Allerdale. Zoe is openly bisexual, and it is implied that she is also polyamorous (though she never uses that label, she's in an open relationship with her boyfriend). Brooklyn has never been attracted to girls before, but she feels attraction towards Zoe, so she decides not to question her sexuality too much and just follow what her heart is telling her. Zoe, as a character, encompasses nearly every bisexual stereotype in the book: she's in an open relationship, but doesn't want Brooklyn seeing anyone else but her (greedy bisexual!); she seems to single-mindedly care about sex and is constantly trying to pressure Brooklyn into having it ("slutty" bisexual!); and she prioritizes her relationship with Carlos over hers with Brooklyn (all bisexuals end up "becoming straight" in the end!). Also, she seems to think she's in an open relationship, but her boyfriend does not seem to be on the same page about that one, and she starts actin' real shady about Brooklyn whenever he's around (cheating bisexual! polyamory is just glorified cheating!). Despite all of this, Zoe actually is in love with Brooklyn, though. This is the same, recycled biphobia the bi community has been experiencing from society at large for years, and, honestly, these tropes are really damaging to young queer girls. I could go on and on, but I'll move on to other problems. Namely, the fact that Brooklyn experiments with Zoe for a while, then decides-- really abruptly, might I add-- that, nope, she's not actually interested in girls after all! Ah, yes, the classic "straight girl experiments with her sexuality and completely breaks a queer girl's heart in the process" trope. To top it all off, .
All in all, this book was such a disappointment for me. I'm bummed that these stereotypes still exist and that they're being perpetuated in a YA book that is marketed towards the very community of people that it demeans.
September 30, 2017
I wonder if this book had spent some time parsing out the differences between romantic and sexual attraction it would have received as many negatives reviews as it has. In general, it seems that people understand being sexually attractive to someone without romantic feelings much more easily than they understand romantic attraction without sex. And the latter seems clearly to me what's going on with Brooklyn in this novel, though she's not given a context to understand it. But it seems unfair to character to say that because she doesn't want to have sex with her girlfriend she isn't really bi, just as it would be to say a girl who didn't want to have sex with her boyfriend was really a lesbian. I enjoyed this book and the ways Brooklyn learns to say what she really wants out of something, and I think her journey with theater, her ability to finally say to her family, "I love theater but don't want to perform," mirrors her relationship with Zoe, where she tries to say something like, "I love you but I don't want sex," though it could have been done in a much clearer way.
August 6, 2017
I am so mad, I can't even write a proper review
September 8, 2016
Ugh. Just ugh. I did not like this book. Let me start off by saying that I usually don’t rate books so poorly because normally I stop reading them if I dislike them so much. The problem with Look Both Ways was that I was already invested by the time I realized I disliked it. I trudged on.
The story started out so promising. The main character, Brooklyn, comes from a family of musical geniuses. She’s unsure of her place in her family. She doesn’t feel as talented as them. Her second guessing and constant ‘I need to prove myself’ inner dialogue got pretty annoying before the end of the book. She was obviously good at other things but just kept trying to fit in.
When I first heard about Look Both Ways I was really interested in the LGBT story line. This was my biggest disappointment with the book. First of all, Brooklyn’s mother keeps pushing her to give girls a chance. I found that odd. If Brooklyn had shown previous interest in girls then it wouldn’t have been so strange, but her mom seemingly has no real knowledge of her sexual preference. It just came off as unrealistic and odd to me. Then there’s the fact that Brooklyn’s relationship doesn’t play out anything like you would expect. The whole thing was a big let down for me.
The theater camp elements were fun and I really enjoyed a couple of the side characters. Other than that, the story just wasn’t for me.
The story started out so promising. The main character, Brooklyn, comes from a family of musical geniuses. She’s unsure of her place in her family. She doesn’t feel as talented as them. Her second guessing and constant ‘I need to prove myself’ inner dialogue got pretty annoying before the end of the book. She was obviously good at other things but just kept trying to fit in.
When I first heard about Look Both Ways I was really interested in the LGBT story line. This was my biggest disappointment with the book. First of all, Brooklyn’s mother keeps pushing her to give girls a chance. I found that odd. If Brooklyn had shown previous interest in girls then it wouldn’t have been so strange, but her mom seemingly has no real knowledge of her sexual preference. It just came off as unrealistic and odd to me. Then there’s the fact that Brooklyn’s relationship doesn’t play out anything like you would expect. The whole thing was a big let down for me.
The theater camp elements were fun and I really enjoyed a couple of the side characters. Other than that, the story just wasn’t for me.
April 27, 2020
3.5 stars
I don’t know how I feel about this one. The first 200 pages were a really fun fluffy girl-girl romance which is exactly what the book is pitched as, but, and I’m trying to keep this non spoiler, that fizzled out as quickly as it started.
The cover and synopsis really focus on this being an LGBT book and I don’t think that’s accurate from how this book turned out and it quite miss leading. The book is set during a summer theatre camp and I really enjoyed reading about all the different things that go into theatre production and how the shows come together.
I’m just disappointed with the romance aspect of the book and don’t believe it should be pitched how it was. For a girl that’s bi-curious and is looking for a book to try and connect with and figure herself out, this could lead her to believe that it’s just a phase which is not okay and not educational at all.
If you’re wanting to pick this one up, just be cautious of this, but the theatre aspects were wonderful!
I don’t know how I feel about this one. The first 200 pages were a really fun fluffy girl-girl romance which is exactly what the book is pitched as, but, and I’m trying to keep this non spoiler, that fizzled out as quickly as it started.
The cover and synopsis really focus on this being an LGBT book and I don’t think that’s accurate from how this book turned out and it quite miss leading. The book is set during a summer theatre camp and I really enjoyed reading about all the different things that go into theatre production and how the shows come together.
I’m just disappointed with the romance aspect of the book and don’t believe it should be pitched how it was. For a girl that’s bi-curious and is looking for a book to try and connect with and figure herself out, this could lead her to believe that it’s just a phase which is not okay and not educational at all.
If you’re wanting to pick this one up, just be cautious of this, but the theatre aspects were wonderful!
May 14, 2016
I'm finding it difficult to find anything positive to say about this book.
I had high hopes for it, but it just really wasn't for me.
I thought her family was really tedious, I mean who puts on family performances of showtunes after dinner???? That's so odd?? I don't know, they were just very quirky in an annoying way. And what's with her mom being "horrified" that her daughter's still a virgin? Let her do things at her own pace!
But getting past that, I really didn't like how Zoe and Brooklyn's breakup went. Zoe was incredibly pushy, making moves that Brooklyn wasn't ready for, then when Brooklyn told her she wasn't ready for that and maybe didn't feel the same way about her as she thought she did, she's accused of using Zoe for some kind of straight girl 'experiment'. I didn't like that, it seemed unhealthy.
I honestly just skimmed after that because I was so done with it. No thanks. More books abt healthy queer relationships plssss...
I had high hopes for it, but it just really wasn't for me.
I thought her family was really tedious, I mean who puts on family performances of showtunes after dinner???? That's so odd?? I don't know, they were just very quirky in an annoying way. And what's with her mom being "horrified" that her daughter's still a virgin? Let her do things at her own pace!
But getting past that, I really didn't like how Zoe and Brooklyn's breakup went. Zoe was incredibly pushy, making moves that Brooklyn wasn't ready for, then when Brooklyn told her she wasn't ready for that and maybe didn't feel the same way about her as she thought she did, she's accused of using Zoe for some kind of straight girl 'experiment'. I didn't like that, it seemed unhealthy.
I honestly just skimmed after that because I was so done with it. No thanks. More books abt healthy queer relationships plssss...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 21, 2018
I picked up this book, having no idea what it was about, because I like the author. Color me shocked to discover it's about a struggling theatre kid with heaps of impostor syndrome! Could it hit any closer to home?? And I felt SO much of my own biromantic asexual self in her romantic experiences as well. I couldn't put it down!
Shelved as 'dnf'
October 24, 2019oh oof i remember reading this a long time ago but dnf'd it and now i'm glad i did ... mayhaps dont read this book
August 6, 2016
I enjoyed this story about a girl who tries really hard to be someone she is not. Born into a family of talented performers, to Brooklyn it seems that the only success worth attaining is to be a performer. Only she's really not that great at it, and worse she's been accepted to a prestigious acting camp....because of her famous mother. If you are expecting a lesbian romance novel--this is not it. Instead, it's a story about learning what you want in love and career, and learning how to stand up for yourself.
Read
June 27, 2015Read it in one sitting. It's about relationships--both familial and romantic--that are messy and complicated and emotions that feel like exactly what a 17 year old would experience. Brooklyn is trying to figure out who she is in a lot of different ways. Charming, and also hilarious. Definitely give this one to any teen who loves theater.
June 29, 2016
Hmm. The theater parts were enjoyable, if occasionally improbable or over the top, but I felt pretty let down by the romance.
Shelved as 'not-interested'
March 27, 2017I'm not interested in reading this book because it sounds incredibly biphobic. You'll find tons of reviews which say so, including this one.
March 11, 2019
Ok, so as an LGBT person who never sees positive representations of gay people in media, this was nice. But as a reader, this book wasn't very good at all. I thought that Brooklyn was kind of a doormat, especially given that it took the whole book for her to stand up for herself. Zoe was also a huge stereotype, the kind of "perfect" but dull bi girl who is cast as as hypersexual and unwilling to see things a different way. Brooklyn's parents were way over the top in everything they did. I get that their dramatic characterization was on purpose, but it came off feeling fake and ridiculous. I wanted to spend so much more time reading about how Brooklyn interacted with the stage crew instead of all the silly drama with Zoe. Overall, I thought this book was pretty dry and boring. Still, I'll give it a shoutout for having LGBT characters that aren't bullied, completely stereotyped, or killed at the end.
August 26, 2016
Look, if this is actually about a girl who falls in love with a girl only to discover she's straight, fuck that, zero stars, don't market it as LGBTQ.
But--look. Brooklyn IS in love with Zoe. She... is. There's pretty much no way to read this and believe her when she decides it's just a friend-crush? I super, super read this as a girl discovering she's biromantic, but not bisexual. I would have loved for it to be her discovering she's ace, because God KNOWS literature and YA especially needs more asexual representation, and to be honest that's where I thought it was going. And if that's where it had ended--which it so, SO almost did--it would be a glowing five stars, because everything else about this was so fun.
I'll split the difference. Three stars. I want to be excited about this, not hurt and disappointed by it. Maybe I'll ever towards the latter later, but for now I'm choosing to believe Brooklyn is bi and ace (or bi romantic and heterosexual, à la Jamie from Girls With Slingshots) either and just not quite having the vocabulary for that yet. Otherwise, this is a deeply invalidating book for ace folks--people can fall in love without wanting to have sex. That doesn't make that love false, not by any stretch.
But--look. Brooklyn IS in love with Zoe. She... is. There's pretty much no way to read this and believe her when she decides it's just a friend-crush? I super, super read this as a girl discovering she's biromantic, but not bisexual. I would have loved for it to be her discovering she's ace, because God KNOWS literature and YA especially needs more asexual representation, and to be honest that's where I thought it was going. And if that's where it had ended--which it so, SO almost did--it would be a glowing five stars, because everything else about this was so fun.
I'll split the difference. Three stars. I want to be excited about this, not hurt and disappointed by it. Maybe I'll ever towards the latter later, but for now I'm choosing to believe Brooklyn is bi and ace (or bi romantic and heterosexual, à la Jamie from Girls With Slingshots) either and just not quite having the vocabulary for that yet. Otherwise, this is a deeply invalidating book for ace folks--people can fall in love without wanting to have sex. That doesn't make that love false, not by any stretch.
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