Book Review: Things We Couldn’t Say by Jay Coles

Thank you Scholastic Inc for my review copy.

My Thoughts:

After reading and loving “Tyler Johnson Was Here” I couldn’t wait to dive into this book. This story follows a bi Black boy named Gio. What I liked about this story is that Gio wasn’t questioning his sexuality throughout the whole story. He had a feeling he might be bisexual, explored and confirmed and this was refreshing!

“Sometimes the best thing you can do is let people go!”

Amen!

This story deals with parental abandonment and I know this feeling all too well and it hurts big time. Even though it wasn’t easy I made the decision to let my father go for my own mental health. I loved the found family that Gio has and the support that they give him throughout the story. Jay Coles is quickly climbing the ranks of my favorite authors and I highly recommend this story!

Triggers: Anxiety, panic attacks, death, parental abandonment.

About the Book:

There’s always been a hole in Gio’s life. Not because he’s into both guys and girls. Not because his father has some drinking issues. Not because his friends are always bringing him their drama. No, the hole in Gio’s life takes the shape of his birth mom, who left Gio, his brother, and his father when Gio was nine years old. For eight years, he never heard a word from her . . . and now, just as he’s started to get his life together, she’s back.

It’s hard for Gio to know what to do. Can he forgive her like she wants to be forgiven? Or should he tell her she lost her chance to be in his life? Complicating things further, Gio’s started to hang out with David, a new guy on the basketball team. Are they friends? More than friends? At first, Gio’s not sure . . . especially because he’s not sure what he wants from anyone right now.

There are no easy answers to love — whether it’s family love or friend love or romantic love. In Things We Couldn’t Say, Jay Coles, acclaimed author of Tyler Johnson Was Here, shows us a guy trying to navigate love in all its ambiguity — hoping at the other end he’ll be able to figure out who is and who he should be.