If You Still Recognise Me

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If You Still Recognise Me focuses heavily on family as well, something I deeply loved. There are family secrets and I just loved seeing every single interaction with Elsie and every member of her family. Complex, heartbreaking at times, tentatives in other times, but just so, so good and real. A celebration of fannish glee, queer joy and family in all senses of the word. If You Still Recognise Me asks what it means to find yourself, when we are all more than a single story. I adored it." - Kat Dunn, author of Dangerous Remedy Much of the above was written shortly after finishing the book and I’ll admit that, at this point, I don’t remember it well enough to write much more (perhaps one day I’ll reread and try again to do this book justice in my review) so I’ll leave you with this: read this book. Please. If you enjoy Alice Oseman’s friendships, mental health focus and British setting or if you enjoy Ciara Smyth’s useless lesbians not admitting their Very Obvious feelings for each other and teen hijinks or if you just want to feel warm and loved for a few hours, then this is the book for you. I firmly believe that this book deserves to be the next big thing in queer YA and I hope its upcoming US release will help get it there, or, at the very least, into the hands of the readers who need it most. It’s like Heartstopper but sapphic, what’s not to love? During her last summer break before uni starts, Elsie has many plans and one of them includes telling her internet crush Ada how she feels about her. But then she suddenly meets her long-lost best friend Joan again and everything gets a little bit more complicated...

There’s such a lovely place for friendships in this story. I loved Rikita, Elsie’s best friend, always here for her and yet not afraid to tell her when things aren’t alright. I also deeply appreciated seeing Joan, Elsie’s best friend’s return and how they slowly found their old friendship again. I read this in one sitting and was absolutely enthralled, this has got to be the standout YA debut of the year. I cant not touch on what else really stood out to me - the portrayal of fandom culture. Often authors get this *so* wrong, having their teenage MCs speak in a way that sounds like they’ve logged onto urbandictionary, typed in youth slang and not bothered to look at the definitions - but Cynthia was spot on. It felt like a love letter to all of us readers who grew up immersed in those spaces, it almost me nostalgic for a time where waiting for the newest update was my primary issue. This wonderful book is both a tender coming-of-age romance and a tapestry of queer identity that spans oceans, generations, and stages of life ... Suffused with queer wistfulness and the ache to be known, So's debut is as intimate and revelatory as the first touch of a first crush's hand. -- Riley Redgate, author of Seven Ways We Lie

I just loved the themes of this book very, very much. While it feels like it’s dealing with a lot, I found it not to be overwhelming, at all. From being a queer woman of color to grieving a toxic relationship, to finding yourself and the importance of platonic relationships as well, this is such a well-rounded YA contemporary read. However, this is just a personal thing though and I bet lots of other readers will find and see themselves in the characters' love for reading fanfics and creating fan art and edits!

I also loved the letters from Theresa (Ada's grandma's 'friend' who Elsie determines to find) which beautifully captured her longing and grief after Ada's grandma, Becca, leaves to get married in America. If You Still Recognise Me is a moving and heart-warming story about queer love, family, culture and fandom and So''s has a uniquely poetic style that sees beauty in the everyday and makes the familiar feel fresh and new"- Ciara Smyth, author of Not My ProblemIf You Still Recognise Me is a poignant, perfectly formed debut about queer love, fandom and family.” - Lex Croucher, author of Reputation Elsie was a lovely main character to follow, I immediately fell for her. She’s insecure after a toxic relationship, she’s falling for someone she hasn’t met just yet, she’s scared of coming out as bisexual to her parents… I really loved how she grew as the story went on, what she learned about herself, her family and most of it all, how she managed to slowly, little by little, let go of the past, as well. I almost gave this book four stars because of those two issues, but then I read the ending and I felt it would be wrong of me to give this book anything less than five stars. The ending was super cute and it left on a hopeful note. Not every issue was resolved by the end of the book, but having an open ending for those issues worked really well. This is one of those books that I had to put down a number of times because it was too relatable. And yes, I am mourning for teen Holly who needed this book, but I'm beyond glad young people will get to read it and see themselves represented. I could not get over how accurately this book portrayed what it’s like to be in a fandom space—especially when you’re a queer poc. As someone who reads and writes fanfiction, who obsesses over different forms of media in the exact same way shown in this book, I’ve never felt so seen. I’ve made many close friends online and this perfectly captured the way an online space can be freeing and online friendships can be just as important and deep as irl frienships. Also the way being in a fandom is very inclusive in a way that many queer people cannot experience irl.

If You Still Recognise Me is a love letter to nerdy, queer, tumblr teens who grew up surrounded by fandom and found comfort in their little space on the internet and the friends they made there. In a summer of repairing broken connections and building surprising new ones, Elsie realises that she isn't nearly as alone as she thought. But now she has a choice to make... As I said earlier, this book did have some flaws though. The story felt a bit young. The characters are all over the age of 18, but there were numerous times where it felt like they were younger. This wasn’t too much of an issue for me personally, but I can see why some people wouldn’t like this element of the story. An epic fandom, a scavenger hunt for a lost love and an ode to cultural inheritance - this is a wonderfully heartfelt and joyously queer romance.' - Lauren James, author of The Loneliest Girl in the UniverseAn epic fandom, a scavenger hunt for a lost love and an ode to cultural inheritance – this is a wonderfully heartfelt and joyously queer romance” - Lauren James, author of The Loneliest Girl in the Universe In a summer of repairing broken connections and building surprising new ones, Elsie realises that she isn''t nearly as alone as she thought. But now she has a choice to make... Elsie Lo has a crush on Ada, a friend she met online through fandom. They’ve never seen each other in real life, because Ada lives an ocean away. The summer before university, Elsie hatches a grand plan to win over Ada – by going on a search for Ada’s grandma’s long-lost best friend. Along the way, Elsie reunites with her own long-lost best friend, and things don’t quite go according to plan…