If I Was Your Girl

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Russo uses each girl to expose Amanda to a different facet of life in Lambertville and life as an adolescent woman. Unfortunately, that is not the view that most people in a small town in the southern US would take if they were to discover her secret. Yeah, it bothered me that of all people, Bee was the one to out Amanda, like what a petty and horrible thing to do when someone has trusted you with their safety. Whereas I was all pepped up for Amanda to be her best self her dad was more reluctant, but the relationship development was really something special.

I fell in love with her immediately, because all she wanted to do was be herself, even though people around her were trying to paint her as the Manic Pixie Dream Girl or The Girl Next Door or Little Miss Perfect. Admittedly, they’re a bit stereotypical, but Meredith Russo explains why in her note to readers at the end (so if you’re really curious then I suggest picking it up! And Amanda feels an affinity for Chloe in particular, who is a sporty lesbian somewhat wary of exploring her sexuality given Lambertville’s conservative atmosphere—although this leads to some conflict between the two girls as well. She tries to, but the closer she gets to her boyfriend Grant, the more she wants him to really know her. Can we talk for a moment about this whole “Bee and Amanda don’t have to go to art class because the teacher was injured?For people like the ones in this story, who have never met anyone unlike them, this tale is an easy pill to swallow.

If I Was Your Girl is an own voices novel centered around Amanda, a transgender girl growing up in a small American town. Even though her transition is complete, and - being straight, feminine and a trans woman who passes - Amanda now has things fairly easy for the most part, there are still difficulties ahead. There, Amanda’s dad assumes that it was Grant who hurt Amanda, and he storms away to Grant’s house to confront him. I know when we kissed I felt warm all over, like when you sit too close to a campfire, and I know no girl’s made me feel that way before.It’s a humanizing thing to acknowledge, and builds the foundation for empathy between people with different experiences and identities. To be honest I haven’t read a ton of books with trans main characters, mostly because I’ve focused most of my attention on books by POC, and finding trans POC protagonists is like looking for a needle in a haystack. She tells everyone about who’s had an abortion, who’s secretly gay, and most importantly that Amanda was born male. As they fall in love, Grant shares his own secret: he works several jobs to support his poor family.