Book Review: Amelia Gray is Almost Okay

Posted on

Thanks to TBR & Beyond Tours! Get the full tour here.

When you can choose to be anyone, how do you know who you really are? From the author of Better You Than Me and I Speak Boy comes another fun and relatable book about new experiences and how staying true to yourself is the best way to be okay.

Twelve-year-old Amelia Gray has changed schools thirty-nine times (!!!) because of her dad’s job, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for making friends. But that’s okay. Amelia loves her “life on the go” with Dad and their adorable supermutt, Biscotti. She’s been in enough middle schools to know that friendships are messy, and who needs that?

But when her dad announces that he wants to stay in their new town for the whole summer—maybe even forever—Amelia realizes she’s going to have to do the one thing she’s never had to do: fit in.

So she gives herself not one but three total makeovers, to try out a few personalities and hopefully find her “thing.” Is she Amie, a confident track star? Mellie, a serious journalist? Or Lia, a bold theater kid?

Juggling three identities is hard, and Amelia soon finds herself caught in the kind of friendship drama she has always managed to avoid. Yet despite her best efforts, she still can’t answer the most important question of all: Who is the real Amelia Gray?

My Review:

Amelia Gray is Almost Okay is a sweet, funny look at what it means to be a young girl on the verge of finding out everything, but also not wanting anything to change. In a time when she could have been bitter about how often she moved, how she never knew her mom, and how her life is nothing like anyone else’s, Amelia is instead happy. She has figured out how to blend in, even if it means buying weird colored clothes. She’s kept everyone at a distance, and that distance has kept her from getting hurt (or so she thinks). But her summer in Summerville changes everything. As she tries to figure out who she is she tries on many other people’s identities – but they don’t quite fit the way she wanted. She has to figure out who she is – a messy blend of her parents, her experiences, and the people she found along the way.

Some of my favorite quotes:

“It turns out juggling three different identities is kind of hard.”

“It’s all my fault. Why did I have to reinvent myself as totally different people? Why couldn’t I have just goined track and newspaper and theatre as Amelia?”

“And then I start to wonder if this town is really as boring as it seems. Of if maybe all the good stories are just buried deeper beneath the surface.”

“When you find your Thing – like dad has – there is no limit to what you can do.”

“It’s been two weeks – you can’t expect to be good at something in two weeks!“

“It’a not just a hotel room. It’s your art. It’s your THING. Do you know how lucky you are to find something you’re good at?”

It’s funny that a YA book hit me right when I have been thinking about my Thing, what it is, and who I am with other people. This is a fun, fast read with a heartwarming message. Definitely recommend.

Book Links:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61190756 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Amelia-Gray-Almost-Jessica-Brody/dp/0593173724 

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/amelia-gray-is-almost-okay-jessica-brody/1141707932 

Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Amelia-Gray-Is-Almost-Okay-Jessica-Brody/9780593173725 IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780593173725

Jessica Brody is the author of more than 20 novels for teens, tweens, and adults including The Geography of Lost Things, The Chaos of Standing Still, Amelia Gray is Almost Okay, A Week of Mondays, 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, the Unremembered trilogy, and the System Divine trilogy which is a sci-fi reimagining of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, co-written with Joanne Rendell. She’s also the author of the #1 bestselling novel-writing guides, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel and Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult Novel as well as several books based on popular Disney franchises like Descendants and LEGO Disney Princess. Jessica’s books have been translated and published in over 20 languages and several have been optioned for film and television. She’s the founder of the Writing Mastery Academy and lives with her husband and three dogs near Portland, OR.

1 thought on “Book Review: Amelia Gray is Almost Okay”

  1. Great review! I just received the book in the mail this past Saturday and haven’t had the chance to read it yet, but am so looking forward to it.

Comments are closed.