To say that Love and Other Natural Disasters was our most anticipated summer YA release, would probably be an understatement. And listen. It delivered all that we were hoping for & more.
So if you’re looking for a sweet sapphic rom-com, absolutely do not look further. Maybe just read our reviews and let us convince you in more words that you should read this one! And listen to our mix while reading it, of course!
Before all that, though, follow Misa Sugiura on twitter!
When Nozomi Nagai pictured the ideal summer romance, a fake one wasn’t what she had in mind.
That was before she met the perfect girl. Willow is gorgeous, glamorous, and…heartbroken? And when she enlists Nozomi to pose as her new girlfriend to make her ex jealous, Nozomi is a willing volunteer.
Because Nozomi has a master plan of her own: one to show Willow she’s better than a stand-in, and turn their fauxmance into something real. But as the lies pile up, it’s not long before Nozomi’s schemes take a turn toward disaster…and maybe a chance at love she didn’t plan for.
Love and Other Natural Disasters
Misa Sugiura
Rep: Japanese American lesbian mc, Japanese American lesbian li, Taiwanese American sapphic li, Black bi side character, Japanese American gay side character, Filipino American gay side character
CWs: homophobia
Release: 8th June 2021
Charlotte’s Review
Love and Other Natural Disasters is the romcom of your dreams, trust me on this. It combines fake dating to make an ex jealous, a prickly love interest, and nuanced conversations on coming out. It is, in short, pretty much perfect.
In a book where I loved basically everything, let me first start with how much I loved the main character. Nozomi is a romantic at heart, a little bit clumsy, and almost chaotically positive. She is, in all honesty, a bit of a mess (as her brother keeps reminding her. Accurate sibling relationship right there). And she’s an eminently sympathetic character. I know a few reviews have called her selfish, or whatever, but she’s a teen! What a surprise! And actually, she isn’t, not compared to some I’ve read.
But I didn’t actually mean to get into complaining about people misreading her. I wanted to talk about loving her. I find that, in YA contemporary above almost all else, the main character has to be what makes the book. They tend to be quite character-driven over plot-driven, so you have to at least like the main character to actually like the book. And here, Nozomi is the perfect character for that. You’re rooting for her, chaotic and clumsy as she is, and as messy as she can be. She makes mistakes, and she grows from them. She’s pretty much all you want in a YA protagonist.
And then there’s the whole fake dating plot. Fake dating, above all other tropes, feels like it produces the classic romcom effect for me, and that’s doubly so here because of how convoluted that trope gets (in a good way!). Nozomi fake dates Willow because Willow wants to get back together with her ex, and it goes from there. There’s more chaos and hijinks that I won’t mention because of spoilers, but it’s a romcom that’s just a whole lot of fun to read.
On top of that, though, it does delve into more serious topics along the way — grief, divorce, and coming out. Of those, perhaps the discussion around coming out was my favourite. There’s a lot more nuance to coming out than a YA contemporary has (in the past, at least) suggested, particularly when it comes to stories outside the usual cis and white narrative. So, I loved that here.
All of which means, if you haven’t already picked this book up, make sure it’s the next one you do!
Anna’s Review
We always shout about how we want a fake-dating book, but actually the only one that will ever matter from now on is Love & Other Natural Disasters. Not only because it understands the trope, but importantly: turns it on its head.
For the fake-dating trope to work you need two characters who are already into one another but assume it’s only unrequited feelings, so that the pining can make your heart hurt. But here, it becomes meta in a way. First of all, Nozomi is very aware that Willow doesn’t have a crush on her, but unlike a character in your favourite fic, she actively tries to change that. She treats her life like a rom-com which she is a script writer and director of, and she doesn’t stop until she will get the happy ever after that she envisioned.
But Love & Other Natural Disasters is more than just a bunch of movie-perfect dates, every single one not ending the way anyone would have expected (least of all the girls on them). It spends a lot of time talking about coming out. About how it’s not a single event, but something you have to do over and over again. About how sometimes it’s hard to come out because you have to consider if you’re safe enough in any given situation to actually be true to yourself. About how sometimes you hide parts of yourself from a family member you love because you don’t want them to stop loving you.
A lot of focus is also on familial relationships. Mainly on how complicated they tend to be. Sugiura is clear on the fact that there’s ever a black-and-white kind of situation when it comes to family; that most of the time you can be hurt but still care for someone, you can feel you’re in the right only because someone spared you the details to avoid hurting you more. It’s visible in the way Nozomi treats her mother, her father, her grandmother, in the way Nozomi’s uncle treats her grandmother, in the way Nozomi’s brother treats their mother. There’s always more than one side to look at things from, but it’s never an attempt to get you to forgive someone who hurts solely because they’re your family.
Speaking of family, Nozomi and Max are probably the best siblings in all of young adult literature. I know I’m right.
Love & Other Natural Disasters is a very smart book about second chances; learning to love people the right way that they need & deserve; recognising your own mistakes and prejudices. And it touches on all of that while masquerading as a cute and silly rom-com.
So, have we convinced you that you want to read this book?
