Publication Date: June 2016Publisher: Scholastic
Blurb: [ Goodreads ]
An inspiring, uplifting and sympathetic story about sexuality and self-acceptance, Lucy Sutcliffe's debut memoir is a personal and moving coming out story. In 2010, at seventeen, Lucy Sutcliffe began an online friendship with Kaelyn, a young veterinary student from Michigan. Within months, they began a long distance relationship, finally meeting in the summer of 2011. Lucy's video montage of their first week spent together in Saint Kitts, which she posted to the couple's YouTube channel, was the first in a series of films documenting their long-distance relationship.
Funny, tender and candid, the films attracted them a vast online following. Now, for the first time, Lucy's writing about the incredible personal journey she's been on; from never quite wanting the fairy-tale of Prince Charming to realising she was gay at the age of 14, through three years of self-denial to finally coming out to friends and family, to meeting her American girlfriend Kaelyn.
As June is pride month, I spent the month reading a lot of LGBTQ+ book. This book had been on my physical TBR since it came out 10 years ago. That is way too long to have a book on my shelf, granted I probably have older ones, so I knew I wanted to read this autobiography.
Lucy Sutcliffe was a prominent UK Youtuber at the time of publication who mostly shared her relationship with her long distance partner Kaelyn on their channel Lucy & Kaelyn. I didn't follow them at the time so going into the book I didn't know much about them, and unfortunately, I sort of felt the same finishing the book.
The book chronicles Lucy's school years to adulthood discussing how she began to feel she was gay, her solace she found in the online community, her close friend group and her eventual girlfriend Kaelyn. I enjoyed the depictions of teenage Lucy scrolling Tumblr and doing "Am I Gay" quizzes online to try to make sense of the feelings she was having which I think is a very relatable experience for any LGBTQ+ millennials.
I really enjoyed reading about her friends - they were such beacons of light and support to her through her growing up and how they encouraged and aided her relationship with Kaelyn, offering support at every turn. Reading about such a wonderful friendship group who supported their friend through their exploration of their sexuality and first serious relationship was lovely.
Unfortunately I felt the book was a little distant to it's reader. There was no raw, deep or heartbreaking moments which would have connected me more to the story or discussion of online backlash or any real deep talk about the effects of having a relationship in the public eye online. I would have liked Lucy to discuss more about her life in regards to the good, bad and ugly whereas it felt surface level a lot of the time when it did begin to show the less happy moments.
Overall a quick okay read with a positive message for lesbian women, with a slightly happy ending (although Lucy & Kaelyn split very soon after the publication of the book).
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