None Of The Above by I.W. Gregorio

 Title: None Of The Above

 Author: I. W. Gregorio

 Publisher: Balzer + Bray

 Date Published: April 7th, 2015

 Genre: Contemporary

 Pages: 352

 Age Range: 15+







                                                                       Summary:

     What if everything you knew about yourself changed in an instant?

     When Kristin Lattimer is voted homecoming queen, it seems like another piece of her ideal life has fallen into place. She's a champion hurdler with a full scholarship to college and she's madly in love with her boyfriend. In fact, she's decided that she's ready to take things to the next level with him.

     But Kristin's first time isn't the perfect moment she's planned—something is very wrong. A visit to the doctor reveals the truth: Kristin is intersex, which means that though she outwardly looks like a girl, she has male chromosomes, not to mention boy "parts."

     Dealing with her body is difficult enough, but when her diagnosis is leaked to the whole school, Kristin's entire identity is thrown into question. As her world unravels, can she come to terms with her new self?

                                                                         Review:

      I've been reading hyped up books lately because I feel so behind of the times, and this book is no exception. But, I LOVED this book. And it's kind of rare that I love hyped books so much. To prove my point, my average rating on Goodreads is a 3.21, and I've reviewed over 300 books. I'm a tough reviewer, but this book did everything right for me. This book really made me think though, about gender and what it means, and I appreciate that.
      The book opens with a nice scene between Kristin and her boyfriend, Sam. Honestly, I thought that their relationship was kind of perfect, at least in the beginning. Their relationship seemed to be mutual, healthy, loving, respectful, and all the positive things that come from true love. I opened the book with fuzzy feels, but those vanished in a matter of chapters. Pretty soon into the book, Kristin finds out that she is intersex, and then stuff hits the fan. The pacing of the book always moved pretty quickly, except for a few necessary moments where the story stalled a bit to let things sink in not only for the reader, but for Kristin.
     I truly felt for Kristin. I felt physical pain at her plight, and I was near tears in some parts. Her plight was so real and the consequences so cruel, yet realistic, that I was left reeling. At some points, when Kristin reached out for help, I cheered her on, and when she was in her lowest parts, I just wanted to give her a huge hug. Obviously, I loved Kristin's plight and her character, but I also really loved Darren's character. Throughout the whole book, he was very caring and sweet and I just really liked him and his support. I also greatly appreciated Gretchen and her presence- she was in the book just enough, and she was perfect! Pretty much everyone else I disliked. Faith, I could understand why she did what she did, but it doesn't mean that I have to like her. Vee, Sam, and the other slew of bullies, I despised. But in a good way. They were the perfect villains.
      All told, I loved this book, and I hope that I. W. Gregorio writes again. Although, she is a surgeon, so she's just a lil' busy.