But, there’s always going to be mean people in real life and in books that say horrible things. It was a really great representation of diversity. I really loved how no big deal was made out of it to begin with. So, Mika’s mother is Japanese, which means, for once, a YA protagonist is a POC. The little ‘What’s In It?’ circle that is iconic for Hot Key Books used the terms ‘pride’ and ‘prejudice’, which was pretty accurate. Originally, their relationship was only faked to get a girl off Dylan’s back, but fake relationships usually evolve into something more. They understood not to judge each other by their family situations and eventually worked out their differences.

Oh, it was the return of my favourite love-hate relationship filled with banter and resentment and angry make out sessions. Sometimes, because the plot was so jam-packed, it felt a little cluttered and lacking focus, but I prefer lots happening rather than too little.

There was never a boring moment in this book. ‘Fish Out Of Water’ follows fish loving Mika as she tries to deal with her grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s, living with her family, racist comments, friends keeping secrets, and the extremely annoying but extremely cute rich boy that comes to work at AnimalZone with her. I was also really in the mood for a nice contemporary romance, which was exactly what I got. I picked this book up on a whim because of the quirky cover, and I usually trust whatever Hot Key Books publishes. Where to Find: Goodreads | Author | Amazon

Fish Out of Water by Natalie Whipple