Can’t Take That Away by Steven Salvatore

This was such an adorable and entertaining own voices-story with a genderqueer protagonist, Carey, who wants to be a diva like their idol Mariah Carey. It was full of wonderful, well-rounded characters, amazing friendship and parental support, activism and cute first love, and everyone’s right to be seen and feel safe. Just be aware of the homophobia and bullying that might be triggering to read about.

I absolutely loved the first part of this book! Carey was such a wonderful, unique and loveable character and I loved their friends and family, and not to mention the amazing teacher Mr. Kelly. He must be the best fictional teacher ever, I’d really hope for persons like him to exist in the real world too! I also really shipped the cute romance with Cris, even though it might be bordering to insta love.

The author did a wonderful job describing Carey’s gender fluidity, and the concept to start each chapter with the pronouns Carey identified with at the time was brilliant. When more and more of Carey’s backstory and the reason they no longer wanted to perform in public, my heart ached so much for them. I also really loved the auditioning for the musical part and it got my hopes up for Carey to really start healing. But unfortunately, a school bully and a homophobic teacher thwart Carey’s participation in the musical, at the same time as Carey discovers that Cris has been lying about some very important things. 

After this, the story started to drag a bit. I did appreciate the way Carey stood up for themselves and how their friends all stood behind them, but the rallying and protesting part went on for a bit too much and felt a little too unbelievable to keep me fully engaged. There was also a lot of drama and miscommunication in the romance part that felt unnecessary and made me ship the romance with Cris a little less in the end.

But all in all, this was a wonderful and empowering story about finding the courage to be your most authentic self, with amazing representation and the important message to never let anyone take your voice away. Highly entertaining and told in a refreshing new voice!

I definitely want to read more books by Steven Salvatore!

Rating:
4 stars

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​Author info:
Steven Salvatore