Love Is Love by Mette Bach

Emmy is dating Ty, a guy her friends Tiana and Michelle along with her mum and subsequently her stepfather, don't approve of because of him being bad news. Emmy can't take their criticism anymore and decides to stay with her aunt, cousin and uncle, back in Vancouver where her dad was previously before he passed away.

Whilst out there, she unexpectedly finds herself falling for Jude a transgender man whom she met briefly years before by her cousin Paige when he was still Judy.

The two's relationship develops through shared interests of creative subjects from music to poetry and acceptance of each other showing they are creative and open minded individuals.

Through the book we see Emmy struggle and compares herself to Paige and other women around Jude, feeling inadequate because of being the bigger girl and comfort eating away her emotions instead of helping herself feel better in other ways as she learns to bike around as she can't drive around for example and use that as a stress reliever.

Emmy also had a complicated background with her dad and her uncle gives her old notebooks of his along with telling her about his love of Kurt Cobain of Nirvana hinting that maybe her dad's drinking was to do with depression possibly.

The book dealt with complex issues surrounding Emmy and her friend's lives. It was a great read and appreciative of all people and a celebration of acceptance.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!