e-Audio, 08:58:31
Narrated by: Maria Liatis
Release Date: February 8, 2022
Published by: Recorded Books, Inc.
Read from: March 29-31, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia (changed opinion)
For Readers Interested In: Romance, LGBTQIA+, Coming of Age, Retellings, BIPOC Characters, BIPOC MC, BIPOC MC on cover, YAA teen girl navigates friendship drama, the end of high school, and discovering her queerness in Ophelia After All, a hilarious and heartfelt contemporary YA debut by author Racquel Marie.
Ophelia Rojas knows what she likes: her best friends, Cuban food, rose-gardening, and boys – way too many boys. Her friends and parents make fun of her endless stream of crushes, but Ophelia is a romantic at heart. She couldn’t change, even if she wanted to.
So when she finds herself thinking more about cute, quiet Talia Sanchez than the loss of a perfect prom with her ex-boyfriend, seeds of doubt take root in Ophelia’s firm image of herself. Add to that the impending end of high school and the fracturing of her once-solid friend group, and things are spiraling a little out of control. But the course of love–and sexuality–never did run smooth. As her secrets begin to unravel, Ophelia must make a choice between clinging to the fantasy version of herself she’s always imagined or upending everyone’s expectations to rediscover who she really is, after all.
*MY THOUGHTS*
Having slept through the time my high school English class read Hamlet, I didn’t know anything about Ophelia when I started this. After a quick Google search, I still didn’t know much besides the fact that she liked flowers. Normally I like to have a rally good grasp on the retellings I read, but despite it all, I still read and rather enjoyed this one.
Ophelia knows what she likes. And all her friends and family knows what she likes too. And she’s always been the same. But when she finds something that’s completely different than what she’s always liked, she doesn’t understand it. She has to decide if she wants to embrace this new change or if she wants to stick to being the same person everyone has always known.
I really had to do some soul searching with this one. When I first started this, Ophelia was an ok character. But when things started happening, I started getting angry with her. I couldn’t understand why she was having these feelings but was making it into such a bad thing. I was hurting for her. But after finishing it and listening to her explanation, I understood it was just internalized feelings she had from before she started feeling the things she did. I hate that people made her feel that way. The other characters were another thing I didn’t care for. Everyone made her the butt of their jokes. I hated that. Regardless of all the boys she liked or whatever, they didn’t need to make fun of it. I didn’t understand why she was still friends with those people. She deserved better. Anddddd that’s my soapbox lol
There was so much going on in this tho. I know Ophelia goes mad, but is the drama why? Because in this there were 2 love triangles and so much more. It just felt like a lot. I’m not sure if that’s how she acts in the original work, but it seemed a lot for this book alone.
The ending was THE BEST. The epilogue made me squeal. I really wanted to see if anything happens there, but it doesn’t go that far. Maybe Marie will write another and include what happens in that one. Whether it’s good or bad.
This wasn’t what I was expecting, but I still liked it all the same. I think this will be such a good guide to showing teens how they can be whoever they want to be. And most of all, that they don’t have to keep being who they were, just for the sake of being who they were. They owe it to themselves to live their lives to the fullest as who they want to be. And although she takes the long way around, she still gets there and I feel like she’ll be a great guide to them.
Overall, I give this
