Our Own Private Universe

Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley

my rating: ★★★☆☆

genre: contemporary, romance, ownvoices, lgbt+

goodreads rating: 3.56

I received an arc copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Fifteen-year-old Aki Simon has a theory. And it’s mostly about sex.

No, it isn’t that kind of theory. Aki already knows she’s bisexual — even if, until now, it’s mostly been in the hypothetical sense. Aki has dated only guys so far, and her best friend, Lori, is the only person who knows she likes girls, too.

Actually, Aki’s theory is that she’s got only one shot at living an interesting life — and that means she’s got to stop sitting around and thinking so much. It’s time for her to actually do something. Or at least try.

So when Aki and Lori set off on a church youth-group trip to a small Mexican town for the summer and Aki meets Christa — slightly older, far more experienced — it seems her theory is prime for the testing.

But it’s not going to be easy. For one thing, how exactly do two girls have sex, anyway? And more important, how can you tell if you’re in love? It’s going to be a summer of testing theories — and the result may just be love.

Good start, boring middle to end, cool debate

There are definitely a lot of positives to this novel, this is evident in the fact that so many people enjoyed it. However, for me the negatives outweighed the positives.

Pros:

The main character (Aki) is a person of colour and is also bisexual
There are other lgbtq+ characters
The book is set in Mexico
The book explores safe sex, with a focus on lesbian sex – definitely recommend if you’re too nervous to google for information or ask for help.
There was a seriously cool debate towards the end of the novel that had characters talking about subjects like health care, gun control and marriage equality.
The majority of characters are religious but it’s never throuwn in your face.

Cons:

Too much teen drama
The romance was too intense
The main character ad her friend were constantly lying to eachother and were pretty much fighting for the entire book

When I started this back in January I was really enjoying it but then school started up again and so I put it down for two seconds. I then picked it up again around March and then finally finished it in the back end of April.

I really enjoyed it when I started it but by the time I got around 30% of the way through I stopped enjoying it and by the time I was halfway through it I was seriously considering DNFing it.

This book came very close to being a DNF
I had higher hopes for this
I wanted a cute lesbian romance, but what I got was a whole lot of drama, be careful what you wish for
The teen angst just totally overwhelmed the story.