The Facts and Legends of Callie Catwell by Sophia DeRise

This book isn’t like anything I’ve ever read before! Completely unique in its mix of fairytale atmosphere with lake monsters and the very raw and painful reality with a dead mother, a father with eating disorders, a predator on/off boyfriend, a friend who is abused by his step dad and the struggle for Callie to figure out her own sexuality and feelings for her best friend. Beautiful and poignant, desperate and hopeful, and awkward and sweet at the same time.

The story follows teenager Callie Catwell, whose life certainly is not a walk in the park. After the death of her mother, she’s living in a trailer park with her father, who is struggling with anorexia and panic attacks. Her best friend and neighbor, Rafael, is living with an abusive and homophobic step father and Callie herself is in an on/off toxic relationship with her ex-boyfriend Joseph. In addition to all that, she’s struggling with her own sexuality and the growing romantic feelings for her best girl friend Mei. When she sees a lake monster one morning, it brings Callie some magic for the first time in her life, and a way to forget all difficulties in her life.

Callie was such a unique and amazing main character! It took me a little while to fully root for her and the way she told the story. The writing style and the language was very special, in the way Callie reflected upon the world and in the way she thought and dissected and worried about just about all and everything. But once I got into it, I absolutely loved the narration and Callie herself! She was so caring and empathetic of others, yet with so little self-esteem herself. She took on so many emotional responsibilities, especially for her father, and put everyone else’s needs first. It was so frustrating how she let her ex Joseph treat her, and how she self-destructively she kept seeking him out, when she knew that he was nothing but trouble. But eventually, and with the help of her friends (and the lake monster in a way), she started an amazing growth journey to explore her sexuality and find the courage to be true to herself.

The monster didn’t play as big a part in the story as I’d first thought, but it did add a wonderful magical touch and worked as a guiding light to Callie in her struggles to stand up for herself and find hope and courage in her difficulties.

All in all, this was a unique, raw, honest and beautiful coming-of-age story, with great representation and a touch of magic to light up a very harsh and painful reality. It was a powerful and gripping tale exploring eating disorders, abuse and victim blaming, that was heartbreaking at times, but most of all empowering and heartwarming. I sincerely enjoyed it, and know that I will keep think about it and Callie and her friends for a long time.

Thank you to Pride Book Tours and GenZ Publishing for the blog tour invitation for this wonderful book! All opinions are my own and I am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

Rating:
4 stars

Get your own copy:
Amazon

​Author info:
Sophia DeRise