Out and proud bi-racial Olly moves to a conservative town after her Dads get into some financial trouble. She doesn’t like it, of course, but her cousin’s presence makes things a little better. She then meets white privileged Arial and she doesn’t like that much either. Except Ariel isn’t who she seems at first sight.
I’ve read some reviews that made me dread reading this book but then I remembered my own dogma that reading is subjective and personal. And I enjoyed reading this book. I was connected to the story all the way through. It didn’t feel like too much sport lingo although in the end everyone wins something and that seems a little far fetched. It does deal with homophobia, racism, bullying and sexual abuse so a trigger warning would be welcomed. The ending feels a bit rushed, I would have liked more on Ariel’s mom at least. But all in all a book I can recommend,

This one has fantastic rep. It's got an engaging plot, and some pretty great characters all around. I just felt like this was lacking something, and I can't put my finger on it. Which sucks because this book's blurb hits all of my buttons.

The Frenemy Zone was a little tricky for me. It is a lovely book that deals with the major injustices of the world, which is absolutely and perfectly wonderful - because they are injustices and there are so many of them. But because there are so many of them, I felt as though sometimes it was a bit hard to cram so many different topics into a scene at once. It was well done but nevertheless made my head spin sometimes. I believe that had been the book a little longer (granted, other reviewers would have an issue with it because of that then), it would've done everything it set out to do a little more justice. Overall though, it was a really compelling and well written read!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was a cute teenage romance with all the representation one could wish for.

I really liked this book.
Not only was the main story well developed, but the supporting stories gave the book depth and interest.
The characters all had their own voices, backgrounds, and issues they were dealing with. Stories that have several levels to them make me more interested because it becomes multi-dimensional
The author also did a really good job showing the struggle of understanding the characters' own feelings as well as the repercussions of other people's feelings.
There were some microaggressions that were shown in subtle but effective ways. I'm glad the author recognized that and added it to the story.
Enjoy!

Book was cute and relatable. At some points it was little slow tho.

The main character was nice and I didn't get annoyed by them.

I would recommend this book to people who want to read a cute queer book.

DNF @ 73%

Thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC!

I don’t know what compelled me to read this book out of all the options I had, but here we are … until we weren’t.

Take my review with a grain of salt since there are a lot of praising reviews for this book.

Look, it got to the point, nearly 3/4s in, where I realized that within the cringey dialogue and text messages, there was no plot. I appreciate the conversations this book was trying to raise, but a lot of it felt like info-dumping that wasn’t going to lead anywhere.

When Olly Smith-Nakamura’s family moves from San Francisco to Frog Wallow, West Virginia, she’s prepared to hate everything about the small town she liked as a summer destination. She quickly finds out that having one of the dads’ families in her life isn’t so bad and neither is a smaller high school with a strangely high number of excellent sports teams.

There are many things I loved in this story. I envy and admire any teenager who knows who they are as clearly as Olly does. She may not always know what she wants or where she’s going but she knows who she is and she won’t let anyone make her feel bad about it. Whether it’s her queerness, her dads’, the fact that she’s a girl on a boys’ wrestling team, her mixed cultural heritage (one of her dads is a Black man, the other is of Japanese descent), even her family’s financial struggles, she’s embraces it all. At first glance, Ariel’s life may look easier but her journey towards affirmation, as a lesbian and as a person in her own right, is inspiring. This is also one of the first books in which I like the way the pandemic is included, for the most part. It’s not overwhelming and not an afterthought either, it’s part of life.

While I enjoyed this book a lot, I would have loved a bit more nuance. Olly is too perfect, as is most of her family. Problems are solved very swiftly, people learn quickly, there’s a rom-com/modern fairytale undertone that I didn’t expect in a book that addresses a lot of hard topics (racism, sexual abuse, homophobia…). Maybe too many at once. The real-life mood and the too-good-to-be-true resolutions undermine each other. I don’t know if it’s because it’s YA and it’s supposed to be uplifting? Even as a young adult, I’ve always liked my books a little edgier. That said, Yolanda Wallace can write, I’ve loved a lot of her books, and as stated above, there’s a lot in this one that makes it worth reading.

'That was an epic beginning. I can't wait to see how the rest of the story unfolds.'

I recieved a digital copy for a review.
I did enjoy this book, it was a cute teenage romance with all the representation one could wish for.
From an amazing supportive family with rhe best grandma (M'dear, love you). To a somewhat 'trying to be perfect but failing behind closed doors' family, I think everyone will find something that they can relate to.

However, this book is very... American. As someone who's not from or even close to the US, it was a bit boring from time to time. Ariel's family is very political which, honestly, I don't care about American politics and would rather not read about it in a feel good book. However this was important for the plot so yeah.

Overall I did enjoy it, as it was an easy read!

A nice enough young adult coming of age book that deals with some heavier themes without making it a very heavy read. I liked the diverse representation and the fact that it contains characters of mixed heritage.
It was all just a bit... muah. The plot moved along at a leiserurely pace, they were a cute couple and it had some interesting side characters, but I could also easily put the book away and forget all about them. All in all, not a mind-blowing book. but definitely not bad either.

***Thank you Netgalley and Bold Stroke Books for giving me the chance to read and review this book.***

𝕋ℍ𝔼𝕄𝔼𝕊: 𝕐𝕆𝕌ℕ𝔾 𝔸𝔻𝕌𝕃𝕋. ℂ𝕆𝕄𝕀ℕ𝔾-𝕆𝕌𝕋. ℝ𝕆𝕄𝔸ℕℂ𝔼.

𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘:
After reading this book, I felt like "coming-of-age" was the main plot because it stuck out the most. There were other sub-plots, maybe too many, and quite a lot of characters.

Coming-of-age stories that have happy endings are like a breathe of fresh air, because the middle part usually is chaotic, and that chaos sometimes does hurt. I liked this one because hell, things could have ended differently, if Ariel wasn't confident enough. The damage that Madison's actions could have done to Ariel, is not something I even want to think about.

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒;
The pace at which the development and romance between Ariel and Olivia was paced, I loved it. There was so much between them and they had this grown-up kind of vibe when it came to speaking their minds, amazing. I loved Olivia the most (I am not biased😂😂). She was confident, open and well, when I was 17, I was the most clueless person. So yes, I liked her self-confidence. Inspiring stuff. 𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙖𝙙𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙩𝙤𝙤. 𝙄𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙧𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨.

😶‍🌫️ 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩: 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤.


𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝘼𝙍𝘾 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙫𝙞𝙖 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬.

I think this book is cute, but not very effective. The relationship between the two main characters is only based on the attraction they feel for each other and nothing more. There is no a real connection, and this is a problem, because I can’t rooting for them. Also, they are enemies, but there is not to much to be really enemies, they are mild rivals.
However, the story is really cute and the rep is great! I love those things about this book, so my review is positive!

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the book!

Olly just moved back to the hometown of one of her fathers and is planning to stick it out until she can go to college.

Outspoken and most of all out, she encounters some setback from the small town and other school kids. Turns out the school's golden girl plays for the same team and despite their initial differences they find common ground as they both got their hearts broken not so long ago.

This was a cute enemies to lovers highschool story. I liked the differences between the families and how the side characters played into the story. Both sets of parents had a big part in it and I liked that.

I received an ARC via Netgalley in return of an honest review.

DNF'ed in the first chapter. A car ride should be fairly straightforward and linear, but I got derailed multiple times as the the narrative switched from backstory to current feelings to dialog to scenes out the window. When Papa asked "Are we still playing that game?", I had to go back to figure out what he was talking about. I'm still not really sure, maybe being silent?

I just couldn't engage with the story and there wasn't enough characterization to connect with.

This book surprised me. Going into this book, I was in a tiny bit of a reading slump... and by tiny bit, I mean A HUGE reading slump. This read was super entertaining and easy to follow along yet I still found myself really enjoying the characters and their journeys. I wouldn't say this is one of my favorite romance reads of the year, but I can definitely say it's a title I am happy to have read. Olly as a character was super fascinating and so were her dynamics with Ariel and her parents. If you're looking for a fun, easy read with heartfelt characters look no further.

I read the first 100 pages then DNFd it. I always feel.bad DNFing a queer book with poc characters but this one was not for me. It wants to be I kissed Shara Wheeler but sounds like a bunch of tweets on queer discourse strung together. I really dislike the trope of characters-who-don't-like-each-other-differ-on-ideologies-but-find-each-other-too-hot. I love an enemies to lovers or rivals to lovers. But that's not what this is. This is just two people attracted to each other who just won't be together cause they don't agree of fundamental things. Because of the writing the conflict between them feels manufactured.
One of the m.c s is a wrestler though. That was cool. And her cousin was really funny and sweet. But he was not enough to keep me interested. I just couldn't read this tweet like writing anymore. Sorry. I'll give this three stars cause I know there are people out there who would enjoy it. I'm just not one of them.

Olly has to move back senior year to Frog Wallow W.Virginia, a very different atmosphere from San Francisco. While she adjusts to the surroundings and people, she finds herself butting heads with the school goody & perfectionist Ariel. While there’s plenty of fight there’s also a little bit of attraction.

This was an interesting high school coming out romance. I loved that the one of the charachters was of mixed race and I really liked how issues of race and heritage was tackled in the storyline. I thought the juxtaposition of Olly’s “say it as you see it” vs Ariel’s “please everybody” personality was well done and the culmination of it all by breaking free of judgement and accepting the truth was nicely handled. There are quite a few side characters in this book some charming others not so much, but all of them added a colorfulness and realism to the story.

There are some tough themes like abuse brought up in the story arc and while there was nothing egregious, I did feel like it was glossed over too quickly and in the end really didn’t feel like it added to the storyline.

If you are looking for a well written YA romance with some serious but well handled themes, this is definitely worth reading.

Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

The Frenemy Zone is the first Yolanda Wallace book I've read, which surprised me a little, for somehow I haven't come across her books before, and there are plenty.

Well, I'm not going to do paragraphs and paragraphs of 'what is this all about' like the others did and get right into it (hopefully without spoiling it for anyone).

I see that others have DNF'd this book and I kind of get it. It was a slow start, it had elements that made you curious but somehow it just didn't quite grab a hold of my attention enough for me to really sink in.

Ok, I said I won't spoil it but I realized I must... stop reading here if you don't want to know too much about this before you get your own copy and start reading.

All in all, it's an okay read if you've got the time and into a really-clean YA.
But as an 'old person' who has been an adult for awhile... yeah, this is leaning a bit 'young' for my liking. Sure, great to see all the hurdles, all the trial and tribulation with new friends, new school, new everything. But, I don't know, I've read better. LIke... Cool for the Summer. (Is it okay to recommend another book in a book review? I think people do that? right?), there are other 'new school, new girl' kind of books that I would put in front of this one.


SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!



Why were they only enemies for LITERALLY ONE DAY!? The title implied that there might be something going on between them forever until the 'misunderstanding' would be sorted and somehow they would probably 'hate love each other' or something. BUT, it wasn't like that at all! What kind of enemy to lover trope is this!? (eye roll)

Although yes, resonate with other's opinion on the family dynamic aspect - it was a nice touch. Supportive, diverse family, etc.

Thanks to NetGalley and Boldstrokes for this ARC.

Every once in awhile you need to read a book that hits the hardest places. Olly and Ariel take you on such a journey. This story reminds us all that not many LGBTQIA+ and people of colour have an easy or safe path to acceptance. Especially in certain areas of the US.

I did have more unexpected reactions to this book than I thought I would. The different storylines kept me on my toes. The romance was predictable but in the best of ways and the family dynamics were the heart of this tale.

Thank you to NetGalley an Bold Strokes Books for providing an eARC for an honest review.

We see Olly moving from San Francisco to a small-closed-minded town with her two dads. She clearly doesn't want to be there, but as we read more, we see she adjusts very well. She opens the GSA at school, is captain at the wrestling team, makes friends.

We also see Ariel Hall coming out of her shell. Made to follow her mayor mom's footsteps, being a perfect daughter and meeting everyone's expectation of her. She really grows up and starts standing up for what she believes, gets more comfortable in her own skin.

Their romance is inevitable and it's cute.

But I gotta confess I got lost in time. We were in one scene, suddenly it was another hour/day and we didn't get any mark that it was gonna change, it took me a while to keep up. We read them in the cabin, then suddenly a whole chapter of wrestling season packed in one, got me lost again. It had a little bit of telling instead of showing that bothered me as well.

All in all it was a good and quick read