A book which truly deserves to be read and lauded by a wide audience for its handling of topics which are usually glossed over.   The conversations about sex & sexuality between Simone and her friends felt honest and relevant.  I loved the sincere relationship with Simone and her fathers without making it seem trite.  And on a broader level, I adored the references to some of my favourite musicals. 

This story broke my heart and yet filled me with hope.   Hope, that young adults will read this and not only find something to understand but to educate them to be the better person in what can sometimes be a world of fear.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Everyone should read this book. There is still too much disinformation about HIV and Garrett does an amazing job of making the subject accessible and understandable while never compromising on the reality of what it must be like to live with the disease. I felt every moment of this story on an emotional level and the plot, while perhaps predictable from a story perspective, was never boring and I felt swept along in it regardless of the familiar beats. I will definitely recommend this book to everyone I know!

I found this an engaging read, I wanted to know what was happening next, I wanted to see more of everyone. I loved that its target demographic was people like the characters - there was no big reveal of "so the thing with me is", as if it were written for the cis, het, white, gaze. And even though Simone has HIV, everything else about her is relatable - and that's the message, just because she has an illness, doesn't make her a different person, or less than a person, or anything else that people might want to throw at her. But because of bad experiences before she fears that people *will* think those things, and it's uplifting when people don't. When people still treasure her for the wonder that she is as person. 

As a cis, het, white, girl, I see myself represented a lot but I learn things from reading other people's perspectives, it's how we grow - putting ourselves in others' shoes. But for so many people (although less and less these days, I hope) *only* other people's shoes are available, and that's not right. We need more books like this one, bringing in other perspectives into the mainstream because people deserve to see themselves represented. They deserve to see people like them be heroes and go on journeys. They deserve to wear their own shoes, or at least ones in a size and style that they might consider wearing.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of Full Disclosure in exchange for my honest review. I’ve rated it 4 out of 5 stars!

Full Disclosure is a contemporary YA novel that follows 17-year-old Simone. She’s smart, funny and musical-obsessed. She’s also HIV positive and no one at her new school knows – not even her best friends and definitely not Miles, the sweet and sensitive lacrosse jock she has a massive crush on. She’s already had to leave one school when someone she trusted outed her and she doesn’t want that to happen again. When Simone and Miles start dating, she begins to receive anonymous notes threatening to reveal her secret to the entire school unless she ends things with Miles. 

I was shocked to hear that Camryn Garrett was just 17 herself when she sold this book. She has successfully tackled extremely serious topics with maturity and sensitivity, yet the book remains fun to read. It’s relatable and humorous – I loved all the pop-culture references, especially as a musical fan myself – and the romance is sweet and authentic. 

My favourite thing about this book, however, was Simone’s relationship with her Dads. They’re so loving and supportive that Simone knows she can share anything with them. I loved how they had honest and open conversations, especially about sex and sexuality. (The whole book is very sex-positive!) It’s always refreshing to a healthy parent-child relationship in YA, when the parents can so often be absent or antagonistic characters. 

Those who want to read a story that deals with important topics, including racism and sexuality, yet remains a fun, somewhat fluffy read and has great LGBT representation will enjoy this novel. I’d recommend it to fans of Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and The Hate U Give.

This book intrigued and informed me on a subject that I knew very little about. I am way out of the teenage reader bracket but think that age group would really enjoy it

I really praise the author writing a book where the main character is living with HIV and how she goes about day to day life and the issues she faces on a daily basis. I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more when I was younger and would definitely recommend to young adults. It’s a very unique coming of age story.

Now I wasn't sure i would be able to finish this book but I finally accepted that I wasn't the target audience for this and persevered - I think it dealt with really difficult subject but I felt at times it was a bit try-hard but that could be because I am not an american teenager!

I really enjoyed this! It's a very sex-positive book, full of insightful and important educational aspects. This doesn't necessarily make it a heavy read, though; it's also an often funny romcom about a teenage girl directing the school musical and falling in love for the first time.

My full review will be up on my blog soon.

Rep: questioning bisexual Black MC, gay parents (m/m), Black love interest, Black side character, Latinx side character, asexual lesbian side character, bisexual side character

CWs: blackmailing, hospitals, HIV, (internalized) biphobia, (internalized) racism, slutshaming

Being a teenager is hard enough, dealing with peer pressure and boyfriends, but Simone is also coping with moving to a new school and having HIV. She hasn’t told her two new best friends yet. She had to move school previously, she told a friend of her condition and then she told others. 

Simone likes Miles but she is afraid to get too close to him. when she gets mystery notes forcing her to reveal to Miles about being HIV positive she is desperate to find out who knows her secret.

I really enjoyed this book. Simone is a strong very likeable character, it’s rare to read about a teenager being HIV positive and this was written in an honest and sensitive way.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

“Simone Garcia-Hampton is HIV-Positive... and is positive HIV won't define her.”

Simone is funny, beautiful, sharp and fiercely caring (you would definitely want her to be your best friend); she’s also the new girl, the director of the school play and navigating a crush on a boy called Miles. However, like SLAY, FULL DISCLOSURE also features a young Black girl whose biggest secret is held to ransom by an anonymous bully. In this case, someone is threatening to out Simone’s HIV status to the whole school. Camryn Garrett’s story is compelling and Simone is a complex and endearing narrator; I devoured this in an afternoon.

I’m adding Simone to my list of characters I’m protective of. She’s a musical theatre nerd and in that way reminds me of myself (I quit ballet at 5 to make popcorn and watch MGM musicals with my mum on Saturday mornings!). Lots of the YA books I’ve read recently have featured Black protagonists who are honour students, singers, gamers, historians, athletes, musicians, mathematicians, rappers, artists, chefs, scientists and dancers, and it’s nice to see that as more authors are writing their own stories, we are starting to get to a level of representation that means that more and more young people can see themselves in the books they read. 

I was struck by how candid FULL DISCLOSURE was. The novel opens with Simone at the gynaecologist asking questions about her sexual health; her fathers are pretty “liberal” and great at communicating their feelings (perhaps too much!); for the most part, Simone and her school friends have frank conversations about their sexuality (the vibrator scene & the trench coats!); her support group friends have non-PC conversations about their experiences; Simone and Miles are very open with each other quite early on (Miles especially - I am definitely #TeamMiles). Because of this candidness, this book is a fantastic educational tool and dispels a lot of ignorance-based fear surrounding HIV (also google is free). FULL DISCLOSURE is about more than Simone disclosing her HIV status, there are some pretty great models of healthy communication in all kinds of relationships which is something everyone could use an example of. This feels like an important book.

This book tries to do a lot of things on a lot of levels and frankly, I think it sometimes struggles with the amount of ground its trying to cover in the page count it has. Simone is a black bisexual teenage girl with HIV, two dads and a lot of baggage – and, having just found a boy she really likes, is having to face the fact that she needs to prepare to disclose her HIV status to him before they get anywhere close to having sex.

I think that for a teen, this book is a really good starter to get them comfortable with everything that goes with HIV and the realities of living of it – which are often very boring. Which is great! But if this book is supposed to ultimately educate teens about being safe and sexually active with HIV, it fails to practice what it preaches. I started out very pleased with all the discussion of how to stay safe with partners of any gender (and in any circumstance), what methods to use and how to be responsible – but in the single sex scene we have in this book, after a number of these conversations (including two conversations about dental dams), Simone’s boyfriend gives her oral sex without even using a dental dam! After all that build-up? Come on.

The real issue – aside from that really strange omission – is that the author tries to work with so many different strands that the friendships and relationships between characters start to get lost in the mix. I would have liked so much more of Simone’s complicated friendship with Claudia and Lydia, with the kids at her HIV support group, her relationship with her brother – but her relationship with her boyfriend took over, and the snippets of her friendships we did see seemed confusing and strangely painted. I would have loved to see more care taken there, and more care taken with Lydia’s bisexuality and Claudia’s asexuality – for example, we know that Claudia’s girlfriend has been pressuring her for sex, and Claudia gave it a go and didn’t like it, but that’s part of such a big, long conversation that needed to be in some way present to give weight to what happened – not to be brushed off so lightly.

Really, as I said, this is a good book exploring the issue of being HIV positive as a teen, and dealing with the unnecessary stigma around it – but it needed to take more time with its non-romantic relationships, its queer characters (at one point we have two queer characters positioned as antagonists, one specifically because they are queer and have an unrequited crush on Simone’s boyfriend) and just give much more time to the queer elements of the book entirely, and paint everything with a much more even hand.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for sending me and ARC of this book in return for an honest review. 

Simone is just your average teenage girl finding her place in a new school but when she starts to make moves on her crush Miles Austin things take a turn as she starts to receive mysterious notes from someone threatening to reveal that she is HIV positive if she doesn't stop hanging out with him. 

Full Disclosure discusses something that I haven't seen in any other book of this genre talking frankly and honestly about HIV, those who live with it and how it affects them and those around them. 

I have to say I learnt a lot that I didn't know about HIV from this book such as how when CD4 count gets above a certain level is virtually undetectable and there's a low risk for transmission and about the preventative measures that can be taken both by the person with the disease but also by the person they will be having sex with. I also liked that it places importance on having frank open discussions about HIV and disclosing that you have the disease with partners even if you have a low risk of transmitting. 

I also enjoyed the protectiveness her Dad's show throughout the book, they constantly remind her about taking her meds and appear to be over cautious and try to tell Simone that abstinence is the best way to avoid spreading HIV which seems like bad adivce, however when you take into account the fact that they grew up during the AIDS crisis in the 80s and probably saw a lot of their friends die because of it so this reaction really fleshes them out as real people. 

Another excellent thing in this book is the representation Simone herself is black and throughout the book is questioning if she's bisexual, she was adopted by a gay mixed race couple, her crush Miles is also black and her two best friends are Lydia an Asian bisexual girl and Claudia who is an asexual lesbian. 

All in all this is an incredibly cute and funny YA contemporary romance which made me laugh and cry and I would definitely recommend checking it out!

Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett, reviewed for Netgalley.

Camryn Garrett is a young up and coming author, this is her debut novel. After reading the synopsis and looking at the cover,? I thought this book could be really good! 

Full Disclosure is a young adult book, suggested for plus 13yr olds. Upon reading it, I felt that it leans closer to the older teen if I’m honest. There’s some sexual content that I feel be too much for my 13yr old.
The book begins with explaining who the important people to Simone are. Simone has two Dads, who she differentiates by one being Dad and the other as Pops. Simone has two close friends who she hooked up with quite quickly when she joined her new school. She also has her eye on someone who quite frankly, she finds ‘super fit.’
The main love of Simone’s life though, are musicals. All of them! New and old. Her ideal job? Broadway shows!

I like the characters within this story, especially Simone. She comes across as having ‘her head screwed on.’
It becomes difficult to say who I found myself disliking without giving too much away, huge spoilers!

I felt very emotional throughout this book, it made me feel 15 or so all over again. The memories of school life and how rumours spread like wildfire. Simone has dealt with difficulties among her peers in her former school and doesn’t expect this school or her friends to be any different. 

I loved how serious issues are addressed in this story. I think Camryn has written a brilliant book that can reach young adults and adults alike, showing how ignorance isn’t bliss for everyone and I fact we should take it upon ourselves to educate ourselves before sounding off without knowing the correct information. 
I will climb down off of my ‘soap box’ now. Although this does go to show how much emotion this book has ruled within me! 

I felt cross and elated with Simone and would love to see this as a film! I look forward to more from Camryn Garrett.

There are many positives about this book. It covers an issue (living with HIV) which is simply not spoken about any more and still has so much fear and misunderstanding about it, I am sure the novel will go along way to providing a positive message about a little understood and much feared condition. However, there were elements of the novel I disliked. 

Firstly, the issue seems only to have arisen because the protagonist, Simone, is considering how she can have a sexual relationship. Whilst I predicate this is huge part of the problem, it is not the only reason she would face prejudice and I would hazard a guess life would have fished out more obstacles before this even came up. 

Secondly, I did value the exploration of whether a sexual relationship could be an option, particularly in the way this was handled: the main character did advocate meaningful sexual relationships. I also thought there was value in a female lead owning her own sexual desires without any shame. However, there were times when I just got fed up of only hearing about sex, sex, sex. Surely there are other areas of life that matter, and also Simone’s love interest at least did her the courtesy of valuing her for more than just what she could offer sexually. Could our narrator say the same thing about poor Miles? (There were times when I felt she was actually a bit of a pain to be around). Also, I understand this is a brave new world but does literally every character we read about now have to spend hours considering what label they want to define themselves as? If everyone is so relaxed about sexuality now, why does it have to be such a huge deal in every YA book I read? I am starting to feel like it is too much of an issue, when most of us couldn’t care less one way or another, it should be the story of the romance I care about, not which gender, or non-gender is involved. 

I realise I am old, and probably stuck in the past, so will just end by saying this is a valuable read, I’d recommend for readers 15 up and does teach us a lot about living with HIV, especially in terms of having a sexual relationship. The sex scenes are not graphic but there is an awful lot of talk about sex, most of which is handled in a down to earth and informative way.

An unbelievably refreshing read.

A come of age story with a difference.

Full of detail and depth, giving a different view on HIV and just what it involves not only for the person who has it but for others too, family, friends and the general population.

I was intrigued and felt rather emotional for the characters involved.

This is one of those books that everyone needs to read.

Sending out a message of positivity and empowerment.

Great for readers young and old.

This is an incredible book with a wonderful voice, a really strong plot and great characters. There is so much intelligence and depth to this book, it's full of knowledge about HIV and how a young teen might battle stigma and overcome social ignorance to live her best life. I really liked Simone and the guy who caught her eye, Miles, who is the sweetest fictional boyfriend. I don't think I've read such a powerful YA book for some time!

From the summary of this book I knew it was going to be amazing and I wasn’t disappointed. Full disclosure is about Simone, a 17 year old girl who is just like all of the others, she falls in love, has two very supportive parents (dads), has her bffs who love and support her and oh she has HIV. There’s so much prejudice still with HIV and the fear of AIDS, the misinformation, how people react and this book does such a good job on exploring this from the point of view of a teenager while also being super positive.

Four out of five vibrators to Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett

I had no idea until I looked the book up on Goodreads that Camryn Garret was only 17 when she sold this book. Um. Wow. Now that I know it does make sense because Full Disclosure there was a real coming-of-age flavour to it; a young person grappling with her independence and life choices.

I really enjoyed Full Disclosure. Our heroine is Simone, a 17-year-old black girl who’s HIV positive. She’s already had to move schools once because people found out about her HIV (and as more details kept slipping out about that it was such a painful story) and it’s obviously made her very wary. But now there’s a guy she fancies and she’s torn between wanting to fuck him and the fear of what will happen if she tells him the truth. To make things worse, someone’s sending anonymous notes threatening to expose her to the entire school if she keeps on hanging around with him.

I really liked Simone. In nearly every way she’s a quite ordinary teenager, but there’s this one area of her life which she has no choice but to be incredibly mature about. At least, she does have a choice but last time she rebelled she got pneumonia, so you can see why she’s being sensible. It’s not just for herself, either. She’s constantly having to think about other people: taking care not to endanger them, knowing she must disclose that she’s HIV positive before having sex, and of course her constant fear over how they will react if and when they find out. She has a lot to deal with, and that’s on top of everything else she has going on, from racism to questioning her queer identity.

There are some great supporting characters too, especially Simone’s friends. Lydia seemed super sweet and I really enjoyed Claudia, who’s having her own problems due to her asexuality and her homophobic parents. The relationship between the three of them was really interesting, their support for one another, the way things crumble, and the way it ultimately ended up. I liked it a lot.

Simone’s two fathers, Dad and Pops, were totally lovely but not perfect. They love their daughter so much that they haven’t quite realised that she’s practically an adult and is capable of managing her condition and making her own decisions. It’s not a big part of the story, but it’s there in the background and you can tell that it’s always a slight irritant for Simone even though she loves them. Again, I really liked the way this relationship developed throughout the novel.

As for the Simone-Miles-anonymous-letters plot, oof. We do find out, eventually, exactly what’s going on there and I was pleased with the way it was handled. It felt real and I liked that all the ends weren’t tied off neatly. Oh, so stressful though! First obviously I’m furious that someone’s literally trying to blackmail her. And the problems for Simone in trying to deal with it are so hard. Because if she tells the school authorities she’s being threatened she’s going to have to tell them why. And that means banking on them being supportive about her HIV and keeping it quiet. Yikes.

I also really like the sex positivity in Full Disclosure. There are teens and they are having sex, the way teens do. I like the way they’re responsible about it, Lydia’s friends help her get birth control. They buy vibrators together and it’s fun and silly and honest. I especially like that there’s an asexual character included in all of this. There’s no point in being sex positive if we don’t also acknowledge the people who don’t want to have sex. Plus all the gayness and bi-ness was delightful! 

On the whole I thought Full Disclosure was really good. Camryn Garrett obviously really knows her stuff when it comes to HIV – I learned quite a bit! The story is really good and the stakes felt high. Perhaps the writing isn’t my favourite style, but it was still good. And I loved the main character, Simone. Definitely recommended.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

WOW. I don't really know what to say. I really enjoyed this book because it was original and like a breath of fresh air. I truly enjoyed reading this because it not only taught me more about HIV but it did it in a way that didn't feel awkward, demeaning, or like a lecture. We've also got a bit of a mystery element which kept the novel moving forward!

Most of all... I enjoy just how sex-positive this book is. YA is known for toning down the sex but I loved seeing the main character go to an actual sex shop and pick out a vibrator, having an honest conversation with her partner about her HIV and the reaction she received. I think more books need to be more sex-positive because right now YA doesn't take that conversation - it makes a few jokes but never seriously speaks about it. 

I think story is going to blow people away and I can't wait for people to fall in love with this novel.

Simone is a teenager. She loves musical theatre and is student director of a play at her new school. She’s the adopted daughter of two dads, and has two best friends. She’s funny and loyal, and she has a huge crush on a boy at school, Miles. She also happens to be HIV positive, something she is determined to keep secret after a bad experience at her old school. 

When Simone and Miles start dating, she seeks advice from her doctors and support group, because she knows she needs to tell him about her status before they can sleep together. But things get complicated when Simone starts receiving anonymous notes threatening to disclose her status unless she stops seeing Miles. 

This is a cleanly written YA novel about a really important subject, handled with sensitivity but also in a direct way that really gets the message across and will help it have a powerful effect. The characters are appealing and believable, and Simone cuts an inspiring figure.