“What are you afraid is going to happen if someone is sad?”
They could leave, I thought. They could fold in on themselves and just disappear. They could not come out of the bedroom, ever.

Montgomery was quite relatable and I saw myself in her many moments in the book. The anger with religion and the anger towards the people who were homophobic and harmful towards her loved ones. It was refreshing to read a book where the main character had two mums that were in a healthy relationship and the author didn’t try use harmful stereotypes like I have witnessed in the past with series and books.

It addressed religious trauma which I think is a huge problem that a lot of lgbtq people and the people who have watched their loved ones being affected by it deal with. Montgomery had witnessed her parents being affected by the way her grandparents weaponised their religion to be hateful towards the family, Montgomery became almost fearful of religion as a result.

I’ll be honest and say that it took me a while to get into this book but once I did, I began to enjoy it. I would’ve enjoyed this story more if it was longer and we were able to witness more character growth. Overall, I liked the story and would probably revisit it.
( )

middlegrade/teen fiction (curiosity in supernatural phenomena dealing with homophobic teasing in small town CA high school)

Monty, age 16/11th grade, has two moms and younger sister, age 11, who is asking questions about why their family doesn't go to church like the other families (a particularly sore point for one of their moms, whose religious family doesn't accept her being gay). Monty's best friends are Thomas (12th grade, gay, dates older men--probably for lack of options at his school, is also involved in the Dramedy Club, and seems unperturbed by other students' verbal jabs at his sexuality) and Naoki (Cree/Japanese-Canadian roots); together the three make up their school's Mystery Club, in which they explore and experiment with unexplained phenomena, mostly without success). Monty has bought a mysterious talisman, the "Eye of Know" from an online vendor and thinks it may have manifested her thoughts to push a mean, teasing highschooler off of the bleachers. Naoki wants to invite new student (and son of anti-gay celebrity preacher) to join Mystery Club, despite Monty's (and possibly Thomas') reservations--but I'm betting that Kenneth is actually not at all like his dad since he hasn't teased anyone.

That is the plot, so far, as of page 126 of 228. I am stopping here because it's pretty slow (perhaps better suited to a graphic novel?) and I'm not finding the characters all that intriguing (and they all seem more like 6th-7th graders than upperclassmen, notwithstanding Thomas' dating practices), but I do appreciate the diversity included wherein. ( )

A book about teenage angst, Montgomery Sole has a whole lot of it. Set in small town, California, two moms and their two daughters is the set up that gives Montgomery her chip on the shoulder, her not fitting in, her defensiveness. The story is not much more than that. I did not really enjoy it much. ( )

Montgomery Sole is a teenage girl living in California, with her younger sister, her two mums, her misfit friends, and a desire to understand Mysteries, from ESP to ouiji. The book sees her wrestle with her own fears about being judged for who her parents are, when an evangelical preacher moves into town and runs a campaign to Save The American Family, while watching her learn about not judging others because of who their parents are.

Sweet growing up story, populated with a diverse cast of snarky characters. The plot is pretty gentle.

My only hesitation for recommending this is that some of Monty's experience of having two mums is so cruel - locker graffiti like 'your mums have AIDs', random teenagers going 'gross, they're going to rape us' when her mums kiss at a soccer game, and the story of how one set of grandparents keep trying to Save their grandchildren and make them live with them, until one of Monty's mums gets very depressed, and they cut off all contact. So if you want a positive 'here is a story about someone with two mums and it's totally fine to have two mums', then this isn't all fluff - but then maybe real life isn't all fluff either. ( )