#imogen scott

Starting Femslash February with a figure-drawing-to-fanart exercise based on an @adorkastock pose reference: Tessa and Imogen from Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli

More Femslash February More WLW Book Fanart

Bisexual

Sapphic

Pastel Bi

Bi Sapphic

Violet Sapphic

Pink Moon Bi

Bi4les (Imogen x Tess!)

— imogen scott and tessa minsky

wish there were more people talking about this book, besides being a very cute romance, imogen's discovery as a bisexual person is very interesting and important :)

Imogen & Tessa from “Imogen, Obviously” by Becky Albertalli

review: imogen, obviously

imogen, obviously- becky albertalli

summary: painfully straight imogen spends a few days visiting a friend at college only to meet tessa and find that maybe she isn't as straight as she thought...

genre: ya, romance

review:

this. this is my favourite book i've read probably like ever. i know, i know its a lot of hype for another plain old ya romance book but just like, hear me out?

imogen, obviously as a novel covers so many topics that young queer people face today, from sexuality to discourse to keeping and leaving friendships.

firstly, imogen's questioning of her sexuality felt so genuine, real and relatable. as the designated "straight friend" its clear that imogen has always just decided that was her role. so when she starts to think that maybe she isn't what everyone thought she was it brings up some major internal conflicts. as someone who has, and still is, going on this journey its so comforting to be with imogen. you really feel what she feels, understand what she's thinking and eventually come to terms with sexuality as a concept.

my absolute favourite aspect of this book is how it deals with toxic friendship and queer discourse. in the age of online media people always always need to have an opinion on someone else- and for some reason in the queer community some people do have to have trouble with something someone else is doing. at the beginning of th book we see a lot of discourse coming a queer friend- however at this point its framed less as discourse and more as fact. i'm straight so i shouldn't argue, i'm straight and what if i'm appropriating queer culture by being in these spaces? but as we go though and battle the beast that is bisexuality these comments begin to feel weighted, directed and painful.

becky albertalli does a wonderful job at highlighting how everyones journey to queerness is different and criticising another person for when and how they discover that can be really harmful. if you've undergone any questioning of your identity imogen's story hits hard. i felt all her highs and lows physically- like pull that heart rate monitor out and i'd have run a marathon fr.

the friendships (and mayyybbeee a something more) imogen makes throughout the story are wonderful. they are the queer friend group i've always wanted, dreamed of, prayed for (god please please). imogen has some especially heartfelt moments with her best friend who she came to visit that you really feel for.

tessa also, like i fell in love with her with you imogen. damn.

in the end, i love this book not purely because of the way i relate to it- but theres also probably a lot of that. its so validating to hear someone else go through this story and come out (ha!) happy with themselves. the feeling of oh. these takes really are bad, and i shouldn't feel guilty just hit home so hard. i could go on about this book forever, obviously.

rating: 5/5 (biased i knowwww)

Book names + authors under the cut