FAMILY & LOVE YA: Indestructible Object Review

Summary (from the publisher):

81CxOVihawL For the past two years, Lee has been laser-focused on two things: her job as a sound tech at a local coffee shop and her podcast “Artists in Love,” which she cohosts with her boyfriend Vincent.

Until he breaks up with her on the air right after graduation.

When their unexpected split, the loss of her job, and her parent’s announcement that they’re separating coincide, Lee’s plans, her art, and her life are thrown into turmoil. Searching for a new purpose, Lee recruits her old friend Max and new friend Risa to produce a podcast called “Objects of Destruction,” where they investigate whether love actually exists at all.

But the deeper they get into the love stories around them, the more Lee realizes that she’s the one who’s been holding love at arm’s length. And when she starts to fall for Risa, she finds she’ll have to be more honest with herself and the people in her life to create a new love story of her own.

Funny, romantic, and heartfelt, this is a story about secrets, lies, friendship, found family, an expired passport, a hidden VHS tape, fried pickles, the weird and wild city of Memphis, and, most of all, love.

My Rating: 4/5 Stars

My Thoughts:

As much as I love my YA contemporary books where romance is the focus, I really enjoy YA contemporaries that are much more about character growth and family, including Mary McCoy’s recent release, Indestructible Object. Also, important sidetone that I am obsessed with this book’s cover, especially the color scheme. The book takes place in Memphis, and I love all the nods on the cover to places in the story.

Of course, Indestructible Object does have something to do with love and romance. Just having graduated from high school, Lee’s life feels like it’s falling apart- her parents are finally separating (and despite having relationship problems for quite some time, they actually seem to be leaving each other this time..) and to top it all off, Lee’s boyfriend has just broken up with her on their podcast about art & love. After snooping through some of her parents’ things, Lee teams up with a family friend, Max, and a new friend, Risa, to figure out what happened with her parent’s relationship to cause their split and unravels so much about Lee’s own life that she wasn’t expecting.

Indestructible Object caught my attention for the semi-podcast inspired premise, but the book quickly grew into something more. I though the book would ‘just’ be about Lee coming to terms with the end of important relationships in her life through friendship and podcasting, but Lee soon finds herself going down a rabbit hole as she learns more about her parents’ past and their tight group of best friends. This book was just so unique and not what I was expecting at all, as the book takes a slightly more serious and almost philosophical approach to Lee coming to terms with some life changes and who she is. I really liked the mixed formatting between Lee’s narrative and her podcast interviews with her parents & friends. I read this book in less than 24 hours because it was such a cozy page-turner, with the end of each chapter often led me to want to unpack what was just revealed previously.

Everyone knows that I am a big romance fan, even in my contemporary books, but it was really refreshing to have a YA contemporary that was so much about family. Yes, there is some romance/relationships included, between Lee and her ex-boyfriend, Vincent, working out their relationship, Lee’s feelings for Risa, and Lee’s sexuality. The book has some of the most diverse representation, especially surrounding sexuality, that I’ve seen in YA – Lee identifies as bisexual, there is a non-binary character, and a few other characters identify as queer. Lee’s boyfriend, Vincent, is one of the few Black people in their social circle, and there are some discussions in the book about Lee and Vincent feeling like they don’t fit into Memphis for their identities.

Overall, Indestructible Object by Mary McCoy is an under-the-radar book you should check out if you’re looking for a YA contemporary about family and love that features really diverse representation surrounding sexuality.

This review is based on a review copy provided by the publisher. By no means did receiving this review copy affect my thoughts & opinions.