Special thanks to Rylee from SparkPoint Studio and the publisher for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

TL;DR: Love & Resistance is a YA contemporary that has an intriguing premise and delivers on it too. The story covers some tough topics such as bullying, racism/xenophobia, and the toxicity of social media culture. Although it was at times heartbreaking and emotionally angsty, it was also powerfully hopeful and I appreciated the approach the author took to handling the tough situations that Olivia and her group of friends find themselves in. I’m sure many readers will be able to relate to this story and the experiences of these high schoolers. This was a great debut by Chen and I’m looking forward to seeing what the author puts out in the future.

Love & Resistance is set in a small town high school and is a powerful coming-of-age story about friendship, and standing up for yourself and others without compromising your integrity. This book sent me on a rollercoaster of emotions from anger, frustration and sadness to hope. We follow Olivia, an Asian-American high schooler who keeps to the fringes, strives to be invisible and passes her days noticed by as few people as possible. She has heartbreaking, although not uncommon, experiences enduring extreme bullying in her previous schools and in this new one, she simply wants to remain anonymous until she graduates. Through an unexpected turn of events, that’s not how her year ends up going but along the way, she learns what true friendship means and she experiences tremendous personal growth as well.

Olivia is a smart and observant teenager who has a deep love for military tactics, history and politics influenced by her immigrant grandfather and her mother in the military. I loved the way she compared the high school popularity hierarchy to militant governments and compared historical military manoeuvres to their own resistance tactics. Maybe that doesn’t sound like the most appealing subject to readers but the author doesn’t linger, the story is well paced and I appreciated the uniqueness of the comparison in a YA contemporary; plus, it’s not an inaccurate comparison!

What I really admired was the growth of Olivia’s character and how she has to overcome her own biases and judgement of others and learn how what you see on the surface or what people project to the public is not always the full story. Obviously, this doesn’t excuse bullying and other nasty acts but standing up for yourself and resisting bullies does not mean they should be treated in the same demeaning and nasty way they treat others. I fully agree—even if it might mean that they don’t immediately get the comeuppance you feel is warranted by their wrongdoings, and I loved how Olivia confronted her own actions and took accountability to rectify the pain and discomfort they caused. While it did frustrate me, I respected that the author didn’t make the bullies suddenly remorseful because that’s not the reality for many.

The other thing I really loved about this book is the friendships. This self-proclaimed nerd group that acted as an “underground network” that worked to subvert the powerful group of populars at school was like a found family. Their friendship gave them space to be themselves and they were so supportive of each other while still encouraging one another to consider different perspectives and to always choose kindness to not stoop as low as their “oppressors”. This was the first time Olivia had been surrounded by a steady group of friends and it was great to see her slowly open up and accept their friendship, albeit begrudgingly at first. There’s also a very sweet romance between Olivia and Griff, and another couple in the friend group and it was SO ADORABLE—ah, those butterfly feels. 🥰

Overall, this was a great YA contemporary debut and I’m so glad that it was put on my radar!

Have you read Love & Resistance or is it on your TBR?

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