Don't know if I'm just being cyncial but I honestly don't think this relationship was worth having the whole book be centred around it, would've loved some more depth to the story.

A Taxonomy of Love is unfortunately not for me. I had tried this book and set it down in hopes of one day coming back to it, but now it is time to mark as DNF.

I think the mood I was in when I tried to read this one was not the right one. I really wanted to get into it but I just couldn't. So many people I know loved this one and I'm sad I couldn't get into it. Maybe another time. But for now it's me, not you, book.

A Taxonomy of Love is such a unique book. Representation of those with disabilities is quickly becoming more and more vast. The story and characters in this novel are unique, charming and likable.

“A Taxonomy of Love” by Rachael Allen was a cute little read that covers diversity, disabilities, and grief well.
We follow Spencer over the years, with every few chapters covering a new year of his life. We get to grow up with him and experience his angels and demons right alongside him. Nerdy jocks are the best kind haha. He does not let his Tourette’s take control of his life, he takes on a more wholesome approach of accepting that life is difficult at times for everyone but it can be great if you let it (and find those that make it great with you).
The book is a tad overly sweet at times for me but that is entirely a personal preference. It is a very cute and wholesome read that you need to pick up.

A copy of the book was provided by the publisher in return for an honest review.

This was such a cute read of innocent first puppy love into the complexities of teenagedom and what all it entails. I would recommend.

Thank you for providing a copy of this book for review however I was unable to open the file for this document unfortunately! Apologies.

I adored everything about Spencer and his story with Hope. It manages to be cute, painful, and very real all at the same time. The addition of him having Tourette's, along with some unrelated quirks, added diversity to an already unique story. And the drawings! Make sure your copy has them, because what they add to the story is priceless.

This is so devastating. I thought I would love A Taxonomy of Love because this book has so many elements that usually I like in the book (nerdy and smart main character, friends to love trope, cute cover) but somehow I did not like it. I did not relate to Spencer so I could not care less about what happened to him. And I did not like Hope either so I did not ship Spencer with Hope. I quickly became disengaged but I managed to finish reading this book without skimming, so I guess it is okay.
I really want to like this story.
The cover and the synopsis seems interesting but unfortunately not.

Thank you so The Abrams Books Team for granting my wish to read this book!

A Taxonomy of Love is a wonderful YA novel with the types of characters we all fall in love with. Readers are sure to love it.

This book is adorable! I don't usually like contemporary teen books but am so glad that every now and again I am reminded of why I read them.
I don't know how close to being a teenager Rachael Allen is at the time of writing this; but it feels genuine. The narrative, dialogue, taxonomy and journal entries all really worked well together giving this diverse book unique diverse ways to tell it's story!

Neuro Issues
This book focuses on two teens: our main narrative, a boy with Tourette's syndrome; and a girl who (early on) loses an important person to her. Both are well done but certainly our lead guy is the primary character for this story. As with many neuro disorders it is hard to hide the external signs. I have overactive nerves and constantly have people ask me if I'm okay because my legs are twitching or vibrating. There is nothing I can do about it, and like our lead guy, thinking about not doing it only makes the sensation and compulsion worse.
Allen clearly did her homework when it comes to the embarrassment and awkwardness that comes with Tourette's and I commend her for making her lead boy someone completely average that happens to have a neuro disease. Additionally she deserves HUGE props for talking about medication, it's side effects and the continuing struggle to balance medication, side effects and life. I struggle with this on an almost daily basis myself for both my nerve disorder pain and my anxiety. It's refreshing to see an author include medication conversations and considerations as part of the normal everyday life of someone with a neuro disorder or disease.

All the feelings
Like many contemporary teen books, The Taxonomy of Love, takes it's reader on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. There are no moments where I felt the emotion or events were cheap, unrealistic or overplayed. It was like Allen had been in the minds of each teen she wrote about and understood how they would have reacted and felt. It's impressive to write teenagers so well and without it coming across as drama for the sake of drama.
Be prepared as there are tear jerker events, heartbreak, disappointment, etc. As well as bullying, first time having sex, suicidal thoughts, and other moments that may be difficult to handle. But amongst all those events and feelings are ones of trust, love and survival. If nothing else I would say Allen is telling a story of teenagers who survived being a teenager. While I am 20 years away from having been a teenager, I still remain glad that I survived that stage of life. And survival seems the right word for what most of us experience as a teen. I think this book will help teenagers feel a little more normal and (maybe) gain some perspective into their own confused and overpowering feelings.

Overall
I really enjoyed this quick read. The taxonomy is cute; however I would have liked a bit of a lesson on taxonomy. While I personally know what it is, I believe there are many teens and adults that wouldn't. So I take one star away because the one thing Allen fails at is educating the reader on what taxonomy is and why it is used. A little ironic given the extensive use of taxonomy and it's use on the cover of the book. While I want books to be fun and enjoyable; I do like learning things as well. This seems like an easy teaching opportunity that was missed.

I would highly recommend this for boys or girls that are over 13. There is one scene in which it's a little nerve wracking as a character has a suicidal moment. It's brief and not focused on (I can't spoil why, but I promise it makes sense); however, it could be traumatizing for a pre-teen to read.
That said it's a quick read so if you want to read it in advance before giving it to a teen I don't think even adults would be disappointed.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

Musings:

A Taxonomy of Love is an adorable cute novel that I honestly really enjoyed. It is a love story that I never would have expected and it feels a lot like life in a lot of ways.

Spencer and Hope always took a spot in each other’s lives that was one step outside of love. As they grow older and they fall in and out of each other’s and in and out of others lives their relationship takes on different meanings. I love how authentic the taxonomy aspect to this book shown through it was really well done.

Another interesting aspect of this is that Spencer has Tourette’s Syndrome. It adds this other layer of how Spencer gets treated and how he lives his life slightly differently then everyone else. In a lot of ways as each person in the novel gets comfortable with Spencer and his Tourette’s the condition becomes something that is almost apart of the background. It really made it so that Spencer was not sort of an embodiment of Tourette’s for us to read about, but just a character who happened to have Tourette’s and I really liked that about this book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a nice and easy romance book that reads like a wonderful contemporary slice of life.

It's not clear from the premise that there were large time jumps. At first I didn't like it but then about halfway it started to make sense. It became fascinating and I only wish that those jumps were more defined with dates or seasons to help me know how much time passed. I did feel that the passage of time was important for Hope. This book was really from Spencer's POV but we got this lovely time from Hope's POV early on so that we could understand her later in the story. This is totally a romance albeit crossed with a cute coming of age for a boy!

A Taxonomy of Love is a charming YA novel from Rachael Allen. What sets this book apart from others of this genre is that it covers a pair of friends in a "will they?/won't they?" relationship is that is spans a period of six years, so readers really see the pair evolve and grow. Additionally, our male protagonist Spencer applies a scientific lens to the relationship, but he learns that some things are not as easy as checking a box.

The formatting of this book made it hard to read. It felt more like a middle school read than a YA, Ehich was probably the reason why it didn’t click with me the way it should have

Rachael Allen’s third novel, A Taxonomy of Love, delivers everything I’ve come to expect from Allen’s books: solid character arcs, beautiful writing, and the tackling of serious issues in a way that isn’t too heavy. Though this one is my least favorite of her books, please understand that’s entirely due to the fact that this premise is least up my personal trope alleys.

From a craft perspective, A Taxonomy of Love is fantastic. Allen uses a standard first person POV for Spencer and a mixture of emails and chat conversations for his crush and childhood best friend Hope’s perspective. Interspersed throughout are taxonomies that Spencer has drawn, because he finds them helpful in understanding and classifying the world around him. Spencer’s voice rings true and relatable, as does Hope’s in her more conversational sections.

A Taxonomy of Love starts when Spencer is 13 and runs until he’s 18. This isn’t particularly typical in YA these days, but hearkens back to bildungsroman of old. I actually really like this style of narrative, because you get an even better sense of how the characters came of age. Spencer has Tourette’s syndrome, which tbh I knew almost nothing about aside from the pop culture stereotype; as I don’t know much what I can say rep-wise is that Spencer’s in no way any sort of stereotype.

Though A Taxonomy of Love is also a romance, that’s the part that didn’t click for me quite so much. While I like both Spencer and Hope separately and as friends, I didn’t really sense chemistry. They’ve also both done enough not great stuff to each other through the years that it just wasn’t really there for me. Spencer especially acts like a jerk anytime he’s jealous of her relationship with his brother, which makes sense given their father’s treatment of them both, but which still sucks. I do appreciate that Spencer comes to realize over the years that he initially thought of her in an MPDG sort of way and that they don’t get together during that period, but I never came to ship it.

As ever, I’m impressed with Allen’s skill. She pulled off a different kind of contemporary novel and a male POV here. I can’t wait for whatever she publishes next!

This was just barely okay...I had moments where I loved it and moments when I hated it. It really really just made me zone out in the middle. I didn't feel like I cared about any of the characters enough...well...I liked Janie and I liked Spence but I feel like I didn't know them well enough. This was just okay. The author shows promise though so I will keep an eye out for her in the future.

Thank you to the publisher by granting my request to read it through Netgalley.

Cute, funny story about a boy who has Tourette syndrome battle his life with bullies and struggling to cope up with others is what Taxonomy of Love is.

The story is being told by Spencer’s perspective. Spencer loves scientific facts that he create taxonomies of different insects and his Tourette syndrome as well. I love how Spencer is despite having the condition that he still live life to the fullest as if he is normal.

Reading the novel taught me different things. I like how being different is not a hindrance to wake up everyday and do normal things. It also reminds me that there are still people who will not judge you for being who you are but will help you to cope up with things.

I still want to say more but I will not as it will spoil you. All I will say is read the book to find out how beautiful life is and cherish it.

All in all, taxonomy of love is a novel that will teach you many things and how you will realized and accept that being you is a wonderful thing.

I had heard good things about this book before going into it, and I was quite nervous about it because of the topics it might hit. While I wasn’t completely blown away by this book, I think it’s showcasing a story that is not often told, and one that deserves to be known.

Though this book is mainly told in Spencer’s perspective, it was broken up a bit by the occasional letter from Hope or Janie. I think that helped move the story along in a nice way, and it allowed us to experience this story on a deeper level.

One of my biggest pet peeves in stories are characters who don’t communicate and they just assume that the other character knows what’s going on by reading their mind, and I have to be honest, I was not a big fan of Hope because she fits that mold perfectly. I began to like her more as the story progressed, but not enough to like her and Spencer together.

While there were a lot of nice things in this book, there were a lot of bad things as well. I feel like the good and the bad kind of evened each other out and I decided to rate this book 3/5 stars. It’s definitely worth a read, but be wary going in. Also, it’s out now if you want to check it out!

At heart, this is an entirely predictable remance with the standard increasingly forced circumstances and misunderstandings keeping our fated couple apart. It does address some bigger issues (racism, parental expectations, perceptions) but these are simply elements that further a standard romance plot.