For a very long time my Goodreads review of this book just said "NORA!!!!!!!!!" and that still encapsulates many of my feelings, so let me just preserve that for posterity.

I saw someone on TikTok not that long ago refer to AFTG as a "period piece," and while I did take quite a bit of psychic damage from that, it's not like they were wrong. The original series was quite obviously written during a different time period when Nora was a different writer, and a long time has passed between her writing those books and her starting on these, so it's no surprise that this Sunshine Court series has a slightly different tone. I think it's a positive -- the original books do have some language and themes that are reflective of the times (so to speak) and it's nice that Nora seems to be aware of that and is handling things differently in this series. There's more diversity, more thoughtful handling of identity topics, etc.

And on top of that! I would fucking die for Jean and Jeremy actually. These fake lacrosse boys have me in an absolute chokehold. I really hate to use tropey language to describe characters because I don't want to minimize a long and complex series into a few sentences, but Jean really is the black cat character (who secretly has a soft heart and a desire to be loved) and Jeremy really is the golden retriever (whose constant smile actually hides the crushing weight on his shoulders). I love relationship dynamics like that and consequently this new series has me deeply fucked up. 

This book came out on my birthday and I read the whole thing in one night while at a hotel in Seattle to celebrate with my friend whose birthday is the day after me. Like, don't @ me. 

Anyway honestly I can't say that these books are the best ever written or that the narration is groundbreaking and Shakespearean. But what these books do have are characters with compelling motivations and strong internal logics (even if those logics aren't always the best) who are just trying to do their best with the shitty hands that have been dealt to them, learning how to be better for themselves and how to lean on each other as they go.

As always, respect the trigger warnings, but please do give the fake lacrosse boys a chance to break your heart! You (and they) deserve it!