- CUTE MUTANTS is one of the most fun rides I've taken in a long time. This book had me the minute it referenced both Buffy and The Good Place in one paragraph, after that I was firmly rooting for this ragtag bunch.
- I know zero about the X-Men, so don't worry about that. Sure, there are a lot of references to specific issues and stuff, but the real heart of this book is a bunch of misfit queer teens finding themselves and their queer family.
- I loved that these kids were messy and bitter and jealous and all deeply in love with each other, both romantically and platonically. It's just a sarcastic, coming of age delight. 

⭐️ a story of secret superpowers, chaotic gays, and most of all, friendship and kindness ⭐️

Reread for the September Wick & Jane Bookclub on Instagram, the theme was Indie Author!

Rep: questioning pansexual female MC with anxiety, trans male side character, Kiwi-Chinese questioning asexual female side character, bisexual Pacific Islander female side character, lesbian Korean female side character, sapphic female side character, biromantic asexual nonbinary parent side character in a relationship with a woman.

CWs: Graphic: Blood, cursing, gore, injury/injury detail, mental illness (anxiety), violence. Moderate: deadnaming/misgendering, dysphoria, medical content, self harm, bullying, sexual assault, racism, general queerphobia/queermisia, transphobia/transmisia. Minor: car accident (crashes into a building and a tree), suicidal thoughts.

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Thank you to Caffeine Tours & the author for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I loved this book so much 😭😭😭. This book is easily in my top ten of the year, and it's tied with Felix Ever After and Sword in the Stars for my favorite book of the year. There's honestly no way to choose between these three, I loved them all so much. But Dylan Taylor is my favorite character to ever exist, I have never related to someone as much as I relate to Dylan.

This book is kind of like an X-men retelling. Dylan Taylor is an average queer person suffering from social anxiety. When she kisses Emma Hall at her party, she ends up with superpowers. Finding out Emma kissed several other people, Dylan is eager to attempt to form a mutant brigade. When an unknown mutant starts causing havoc Dylan is sure they must take care of him, but is the group really up for it?

Cute Mutants Vol 1 is one of the gayest books I've ever read. Having so many books come out this year with amazingly queer casts has been a dream come true. Also this book is truly disaster squad goals.

SAFETY ANNOUNCEMENT: THIS BOOK IS NOT A GRAPHIC NOVEL THANK YOU.

I loved every second of this book. From Dylan's relationship with her non-binary parent called Pear, to the found family of the Cute Mutants, the queer normalized society, and the themes of vigilante justice and whether it was right. The best part of this book was the relationship between this group of friends and figuring out how they could make it work, if at all possible.

Before assembling the Cute Mutants, Dylan spends most of her time at home, hanging out with Pear or with her boyfriend, Lou. But Lou has been having trouble at home due to his parents' transphobia. With this new influx of friends in Dylan's life, he is also unsure of his place in her life and starts to get pretty jealous. It doesn't help that Dani Kim, ice queen extraordinaire (and super fucking hot), is also one of the people who has developed special powers. Dylan can't help but be attracted to her charisma, but there's no way Dani could like her, is there?

Dylan also deals with social anxiety, and so many of her thoughts really resonated with me. So much so that I started to wonder if I might have some form of social/generalized anxiety (the answer was yes). Dylan also questions her gender, and it made me feel like she might be a demigirl like myself. I have so much love for Dylan, my heart is exploding.

Then there's Dylan and Alyse, the sweetest friendship I've ever seen. I love Alyse so much and her effervescence. She is just seriously the best, and I ship her so hard with Emma! Emma is an evil mastermind and I would not be surprised if she became an evil genius. Also my ace goddess! Bianca was such a weirdo, but her character surprised me with how much I loved her! Basically, I need more of this squad ASAP.

I don't know if I really said anything besides just spewing my love of this book, but I cannot recommend it enough!