For younger readers, The Queer Girl is Going to Be Okay has the potential to be like a warm hug full of reassurance. For older readers, Queer Girl can be a reflection on one of the earliest and most pivotal transitions in our lives. Regardless of your age, this book has something in it for you to relate to. 

The initial reading experience is rough and feels much more juvenile than the book sets itself up to be. Thankfully, this changes at the 30% mark, where Walls’s writing really starts to shine. At this point, the plot really starts to develop into a full-fledged coming-of-age story and the characters start to feel truly real. The initially too-perfect characters quickly become realistically flawed, and their lives get messy and complicated. The change mirrors the book’s examination of queer love, as the characters begin to recognize while love is beautiful it isn’t perfect. 

There are a number of themes explored in depth in the book, with the most important themes being friendship and love. The friendship between Dawn and her friends is very real in how they interact and support each other. While there are times when their relationships with each other feel a bit too… cinematically idealistic, this is well juxtaposed with the variety of relationships the girls attempt to navigate throughout the story. The Queer Girl is Going to Be Okay examines love in the context of queer love, and does so with exceptional care. From the very real struggle of being queer in a religious household to learning how to love oneself. 

The Queer Girl is Going to Be Okay is a deeply relatable read that explores many important themes. It has the potential to be a positive influence on the lives of young queer readers looking for a version of themselves between the pages of the book. Queer Girl boasts relatability but doesn’t manage to set itself apart with particularly unique or consistent writing. At the end of the day, it is a thoroughly enjoyable book that will make you feel stressed at times, but ultimately warm because we can be comforted with the knowledge that the queer girl is going to be okay.