Book Review: We Are All Made of Molecules by Susin Nielsen

Book Review: We Are All Made of Molecules by Susin Nielsen

Cover Courtesy of Goodreads

Goodreads Synopsis:Thirteen-year-old Stewart is academically brilliant but socially clueless. Fourteen-year-old Ashley is the undisputed “It” girl in her class, but her grades stink. Their worlds are about to collide when Stewart and his dad move in with Ashley and her mom. Stewart is trying to be 89.9 percent happy about it, but Ashley is 110 percent horrified. She already has to hide the real reason her dad moved out; “Spewart” could further threaten her position at the top of the social ladder.They are complete opposites. And yet, they have one thing in common: they—like everyone else—are made of molecules.

My Review: I enjoyed this novel, but this is going to be one of those reviews where I complain a lot about the book, because there were a lot of problems with it.

1. Stewart and Ashley have the exact same voice; they could literally be the same person. Also, they sounded as if they were 10-year-olds. Which brings me to problem 2.
2. Strange characters. Stewart sounded like a 9-year-old, and Ashely was pretty much a stereotypical drama queen. I mean, there is no way a 13-year-old would act/talk/think like Stewart does.
3. The plot. It's pretty stereotypical: nerd meets popular girl, popular girl changes for the better. However, the way this was written in was pretty fun, so I'm willing to let this go.
4. I couldn't tell if this book was middle grade or YA? The MCs definitely do not talk like high schoolers, but this book dealt with issues like attempted rape, underage drinking, swearing, etc. which I usually don't encounter in MG.
1. *SPOILER* Someone tries to rape someone else and doesn't get punished for it?! Their actions definitely should have been dealt with better. *END SPOILER*

But, there were also a lot of positives to this story.

1. It was cute. Yeah, the plot was stereotypical, but the characters were so lovable that it was okay.
2. Stewart was a really good kid. And I'm actually glad he was proud of who he was, wasn't awkward about being himself, and had no regrets! He also always reached out to help others, while making them feel extremely awkward 😂 (you'll see what I mean if you read it)!
3. I feel like in a lot of books, people don't take action until it's too late, but Stewart stood up for his beliefs pretty early on!
4. It's LGBTQ+!

So basically Stewart, and the characters, rocked! I still give it 4 stars because it was fun to read; I just complained a lot in this review because I just wanted to address some issues.

Does We Are All Made of Molecules sound appealing? What's on your TBR? Tell me below!