ARC Review: A Taxonomy of Love

A Taxonomy of Love by Rachael Allen
Release Date: January 9, 2018
No music pairing because I read this book too fast and never listened to music with it, lol.

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I was provided an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

I feel like I should preface this review to say that I’ve solely been reading YA contemporaries over the past couple months. I’ve devoured one, sometimes two a week, and I don’t plan to stop anytime soon. So, when NetGalley approved an eARC of A Taxonomy of Love by Rachael Allen for me, I dove in head first – what a great swim it was! This book will stand out in the sea of contemporaries that I’ve been reading.

“Maybe it’s about finding the other people who don’t fit the same way you don’t fit.”

The first thing I loved about this book is the fact that I feel more informed and sensitive to things. Reading about Spencer’s Tourette’s helped me to see what that would be like, and how to react in those moments. I also loved the subtle – I mean, maybe not so subtle – hints of equality in the book. It wasn’t the main focus, but it’s always relevant, especially in the South and in a high school in the South. Ultimately, these pieces made the book feel real. It made the love story take a back seat sometimes, and I – surprisingly – wasn’t upset!

Spencer’s character is down right hilarious. I found myself laughing out loud all the time at what would go through his head and out of his mouth. The way he went about and handled life was so fun to follow. I love that he was a nerd and jock and “the kid with Tourette’s” all at the same time. His complexity was refreshing after so many male characters in YA books seem one dimensional – broody and sad or cool but “understanding.” Spencer is weird! Spencer loves his stepmom! Spencer goes to camp and talks about how to cope with things! I love Spencer. And I love that Spencer plays Magic.

Side note: I’m glad we never experienced Spencer at camp. I feel like that’s a totally different book, and the omission of it was right. I liked hearing about what he learned and that he always went.

Oh, Hope. How I relate. Tragedy is something I haven’t had to deal with much in my life – praise the Lord – but I know being a girl in high school is hard. Well, that was an understatement, but you get what I mean! Confusion about who you should be with and like and surround yourself with is rampant in those ages. Fighting what your heart says with your mind was (read: is) the headline for my life! Again, another “realness” factor.

I didn’t find myself squealing quite as much in this book as I have with other YA contemporaries. This was more a coming of age novel of a young guy. A young guy who’s in high school in Georgia and deals with that while having Tourette’s and falling in love with his neighbor. The last piece was what drove the story, but the other pieces really are what kept the story alive. I devoured this book, and I can’t wait for others to read Rachael Allen’s novel.

As for who should read this: I highly recommend this novel to anyone who has loved Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley or Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia. I got a lot of the same feelings in this one. I hope you enjoy this book when it’s out in January of 2018!

Thanks for reading!