Tilly in Technicolor by Mazey Eddings

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Title: Tilly in Technicolor
Author: Mazey Eddings
Published by: Wednesday Books
Release Date: August 15, 2023
Format: eARC
Pages: 313
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult, Coming of Age
Source: NetGalley
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2023 COYER Chapter 2, Lenoreo's 2023 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2023 Netgalley and Edelweiss Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:

Blurb:

Tilly in Technicolor is Mazey Eddings's sparkling YA debut about two neurodivergent teens who form a connection over the course of a summer.

Tilly Twomley is desperate for change. White-knuckling her way through high school with flawed executive functioning has left her burnt out and ready to start fresh. Working as an intern for her perfect older sister’s start up isn’t exactly how Tilly wants to spend her summer, but the required travel around Europe promises a much-needed change of scenery as she plans for her future. The problem is, Tilly has no idea what she wants.

Oliver Clark knows exactly what he wants. His autism has often made it hard for him to form relationships with others, but his love of color theory and design allows him to feel deeply connected to the world around him. Plus, he has everything he a best friend that gets him, placement into a prestigious design program, and a summer internship to build his resume. Everything is going as planned. That is, of course, until he suffers through the most disastrous international flight of his life, all turmoil stemming from lively and exasperating Tilly. Oliver is forced to spend the summer with a girl that couldn’t be more his opposite—feeling things for her he can’t quite name—and starts to wonder if maybe he doesn’t have everything figured out after all.

As the duo’s neurodiverse connection grows, they learn that some of the best parts of life can’t be planned, and are forced to figure out what that means as their disastrously wonderful summer comes to an end.

My Review:

I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

4.5 stars — My regret?  That I didn’t read this earlier and faster so that I could have met Ms. Eddings in person this past weekend.  Ah well.

Why is it that sometimes the hardest reviews to write are the really good ones?

The biggest thing I can say about this book is that I feel seen.  While I don’t have an official ADHD/ADD diagnosis, I can categorically say that I have some kind of executive dysfunction up in this brain of mine…and I only even remotely saw it as a possibility in the last few years because of the awareness being spread on the internet.  So seeing Tilly working through what it means for her, reading her wonderful thoughts on how her brain is different, and how she wishes the world would catch up and accept that different doesn’t mean bad?  Oh yeah, that got me all in the feels (and had my highlighting finger a buzzin).  And it wasn’t just Tilly’s neurodivergency, but reading from Oliver’s perspective as well.  The thing that is so fascinating about NDs is that it varies so widely.  So there were elements that I totally understood from a personal perspective, and there were elements that I was able to understand for the first time (and maybe see in people I know).  It was an extremely strong part of the story, even while it wasn’t really the whole story…it was just an element of who they both were.  It really was just like any YA — a story of characters growing and changing and learning to deal with all of that.  And connecting along the way.

I absolutely adored Tilly.  She may have been SO MUCH, but she was delightfully perfect just as she was.  I loved her exuberance, her loudness, her obsessions, her hopefulness.  I vibed with her need to be herself, even if that sometimes meant she was lonely.  I totally understood her awkwardness and her quickness to assume rejection and bug out of those situations (even as I cringed from an outsider perspective).  She was just sunshine and rainbows and aching heart and sensitive soul, and I loved her.

And Ollie was absolutely delightful as well.  He was so much the opposite of Tilly in so many ways, but I absolutely adored his fascination with colours and seeing the world’s beauty in colours.  I loved his perspectives on the world.  I loved that he was already on the path and doing okay at navigating the world from his perspective and trying not to mask who he was.  I LOVED that he had such supportive friends and family in his life, so that when he got stuck, they could give him some outside perspective.

And OMG, they were so delightfully cute together.  Like, frustration and butterflies and happiness and giddiness.

It was interesting to have different family situations from both of them.  It was like we got to see them sort of at different stages along the path of figuring out how to navigate the world as themselves.  I ached for Tilly, but there were also some fantastic moments along the way for her, especially near the end.

All in all, this was just what I needed.  And I sincerely hope it helps some kids who feel different feel seen as well.