Ophelia Rojos knows what she likes: Cuban food, her best friends, botany, and boys—loads of boys. Her friends and family make fun of her endless stream of crushes, but despite never really clicking with anyone for long, Ophelia is a romantic at heart. She couldn’t change wearing her heart-shaped glasses 24/7, even if she wanted to. So when she finds herself suddenly thinking more about the cute Talia Sanchez than losing her perfect boyfriend right before prom, doubt starts to tangle up her brain like vines. Ophelia has always known who she is. But as friendships start to fracture and the end of high school draws nearer, Ophelia begins questioning everything—especially her sexuality. But how can she find herself when everyone in her life already seems to know what to expect?
If it were possible to hug fictional characters, Ophelia would be at the top of my list.
Ophelia’s sexuality crisis in this novel is nothing short of messy and I adored that. Figuring out your sexual orientation rarely is a linear process and Ophelia’s has many stages from denial to reluctant acceptance to questioning everything and eventually, reaching out when she’s sick of being the “boy-crazed” version everyone seems to think she is. Ophelia keeps her bisexuality a secret in fear of the people in her life—both her parents and her friend group—seeing her differently than the version of her they have in mind. Ophelia’s journey of navigating expectations versus reality is handled in such a vulnerable and tender manner that you can’t help but feel for Ophelia and hope that everything will work out alright in the end. During that process, Ophelia also learns from others about queer people and slowly builds a support system that helps her feel more comfortable in her own skin.
I also loved how this indirectly discussed romantic expectations we place on young individuals. Ophelia has been dubbed boy-crazed because of her fleeting crushes and most if not all people in her life are just waiting for her and her best friend next door to end up being childhood sweethearts just because they’re inseparable. Marie here sheds a light on the pressures we put on young people early on to “perform romantically” and how much conversation around growing up is shaped by who these people are dating or romantically involved with.
Beyond Ophelia’s exploration of being on the LGBTQ+ spectrum and her first clumsy steps in romance, we also have an incredibly fleshed-out cast of secondary characters. From Ophelia’s best friend next door Sammie to the girls Sam hangs out with Talia and Agatha as well as new additions to their friend group like Wesley, everyone had their own backstory, struggles and ambitions and it added so much to the reading experience. The friendship dynamics (and rivalries, in some cases) are so well done that I was swept up in the book and often wondered how certain characters would react if they knew the secrets that Ophelia is privy to. Likewise, Ophelia sometimes questions her bonds to people in the group and even finds a well-rounded friend in Wesley and I loved how we got to see these shifting connections throughout the story. Even her long-standing friendship with Sammie offers some surprises that honestly made my heart hurt for the both of them, but only made me want to read this book even faster to see how it all turns out. Friendships are incredibly complicated (even though they don’t always seem that way) and Marie here excels at showing the messy side to it all without forfeiting any of the characters’ charm and relatability.
I honestly could go on and on about this book—from the Cuban-American culture we get to experience through Ophelia’s eyes, everyone’s ambitions for the future and fear of not achieving them, Olivia’s complicated relationship with her mother and father to her abundant love for botany, her #goals friendship moments with Sammie and Wesley to the anxieties of growing up and the way everyone bands together when it really counts, Ophelia After All has so many separate plot strings that worked inexplicably well together. It’s all told in a relatable yet subtly melancholic prose that made this an atmospheric read that I cannot wait for others to experience. Here’s hoping there are many more books to come from this author.
With a lovably messy, flawed cast of characters and a relatable, authentic protagonist questioning her sexuality while going through the pains of growing up and growing apart, Marie’s debut Ophelia After All is a welcome breath of fresh air in the YA contemporary genre, perfect for fans of Crystal Maldonado and TJ Klune.
Ophelia After All is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of February 8th 2022.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
A teen girl navigates friendship drama, the end of high school, and discovering her queerness in Ophelia After All, a hilarious and heartfelt contemporary YA debut by author Racquel Marie.
Ophelia Rojas knows what she likes: her best friends, Cuban food, rose-gardening, and boys – way too many boys. Her friends and parents make fun of her endless stream of crushes, but Ophelia is a romantic at heart. She couldn’t change, even if she wanted to.
So when she finds herself thinking more about cute, quiet Talia Sanchez than the loss of a perfect prom with her ex-boyfriend, seeds of doubt take root in Ophelia’s firm image of herself. Add to that the impending end of high school and the fracturing of her once-solid friend group, and things are spiraling a little out of control. But the course of love–and sexuality–never did run smooth. As her secrets begin to unravel, Ophelia must make a choice between clinging to the fantasy version of herself she’s always imagined or upending everyone’s expectations to rediscover who she really is, after all.
