This Is Me Trying

LoveReading Says

Previously published as Can I Stray, Jenna Adams’ This is Me Trying packs an immensely thought-provoking punch as it explores big issues around consent, the age of consent, what it means to make informed sexual choices, and the emotional imbalance of age gaps. In fact, a second reading revealed exactly why this was a LoveReading Debut of the Month, and much-deserving of Star Book status — it’s powerfully authentic, honest and nuanced, inviting consideration of questions around culpability and the impact of co-dependency across a page-turning tale of first love, first sex, and coming-of-age through low self-esteem, depression and self-harm to find one’s place in the world.  

Told in three acts, across three periods, the stage is set on the literal stage of a school production of Romeo and Juliet, when 14-year-old Brooke and 18-year-old Matt are cast in the lead roles. Naïve, hopelessly romantic and emotionally immature (she is, after all, only 14), Brooke falls for Matt big time, and though he initially cools things down, they wind up having a secret relationship, and sex.   

While they try to maintain their relationship when Matt moves away to uni, an excruciating sequence of events spirals out of control, until — with support from good people — Brooke finds a healing way through past traumas.

Balancing hard-hitting impact with emotional sensitivity — a tightrope that’s no easy feat to tread — This is Me Trying is a tremendously powerful novel.

Reviewed by Joanne Owen
Joanne Owen’s lifelong love of reading and writing began when she was growing up in Pembrokeshire, and very much wished that witches (and Mrs Pepperpot) were real.
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