Rep: Autistic

Something More / Jackie Khalilieh

/ Alisha Helms / 1 Comment 
Something More
By: Jackie Khalilieh
Genre: YA, Romance
Number of Pages: 336
Published: June 6, 2023
Publisher: Tundra Books
Dates Read: November 17, 2023 - November 19, 2023
Format: Hardcover

Jessie was just diagnosed as autistic weeks before starting high school. Determined to keep it hidden, she makes a list of goals to cross off – ranging from having two distinct eyebrows, to getting a magical first kiss, and landing a spot in the school musical.

This is such an honest and messy story. So many novels, especially YA, don’t always show the messiness that’s teenage life, but this one shows it great. Jackie Khalilieh writes Jessie as a truly authentic teen with autism: feeling different, being bad at social interactions and ques, being obsessed with one particular interest, along with a lot of other differences. Khalilieh also writes deeply about wearing a mask and what that both looks like and feels like to someone with autism.

Along with truly showing a teen with autism, this story is also a romance, but cute. I’m usually against YA Romance because I find them so cheesy, but this one I actually liked and enjoyed. Jessie meets two boys on her first day of school and both show interest in her – one she catches onto a lot more quickly. Again, I would like to bring up the writing that Khalilieh did here where she talks about Jessie zeroing in on the one boy and the one relationship and how all others don’t really matter too much. I can be bad at that, so I felt that deeply.

Overall, I absolutely loved the representation this book shows and the story that it gives. I believe that, even though it is a YA romance, it’s not overly cheesy, and therefore I can see many readers enjoying this for its autistic representation.

*Thank you Tundra Books and LibraryThing for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review

Unseelie / Ivelisse Housman

/ Alisha Helms / 1 Comment
Photo of an Advance Readers Copy of the novel "Unseelie" by Ivelisse Housman. The cover has two girls, twins standing in the forest. One twin has a long side braid and is wearing a red dress, electricity is crackling in her left hand. Her sister, who looks just like her, but with short, shoulder length hair, stands in all black behind her.
A 3 Star Gold Rating
Unseelie
By: Ivelisse Housman
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Number of Pages: 432
Published: January 3, 2023
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Dates Read: January 7, 2023 - January 18, 2023
Format: ARC

A few years ago, there was an accident in Seelie and Isolde’s home village and ever since, they’ve been on the run. Seelie is an autistic changeling trying to understand and control her unpredictable magic – it doesn’t help that she finds it almost as difficult to fit in with the humans around her. Her sister Isolde, is an amazing pickpocketer and uses her skills to keep them alive. When a heist goes wrong, the twins find themselves in a larger mystery than they expected and discover secrets of the history of both faeries and humans. With new companions on their adventure can Seelie get control of her magic in time to protect her sister.

“The perfect start to any morning. Who needs coffee when you have the icy shock of mortal terror?”

I was pretty excited to read this book portraying an autistic main character written by someone who is on the spectrum themselves. It is a wonderful portrayal for children and young adults to see themselves represented, especially in a fantasy, magic filled world like we see in Unseelie. Seelie’s character is honest and true, and you see this world through her eyes – with and without overstimulating events.

Each of the four main characters were fun to meet and learn about – though I am hoping we get to see more flushed out history of both Raze and Olani in the next book. 

The pacing of this novel was a bit slow in places, especially in the middle and then the ending kind of hit you fiercely. I didn’t realize this would be a duology until the last few pages, especially since nothing really wrapped up and you were kind of left with unexplained events and a cliffhanger. That being said though, I am super excited for the next book in the series and will for sure be waiting for that to hit the shelves.

*Thank you Inkyard Press for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review