Fade to Us is a story about found families, the bond of sisterhood, and the agony and awe of first love.

Brooke’s summer is going to be EPIC— having fun with her friends and a job that lets her buy a car. Then her new stepfather announces his daughter is moving in. Brooke has always longed for a sibling, so she’s excited about spending more time with her stepsister. But she worries, too. Natalie has Asperger’s–and Brooke’s not sure how to be the big sister that Natalie needs.

After Natalie joins a musical theater program, Brooke sacrifices her job to volunteer for the backstage crew. She’s mostly there for Natalie, but Brooke soon discovers how much she enjoys being part of the show. Especially sweet is the chance to work closely with charming and fascinating Micah — the production’s stage manager. If only he wasn’t Natalie’s mentor…

When summer comes to an end, will Brooke finally have the family she so desperately wants–and the love she’s only dreamed about? (via Goodreads)

I received an eARC from St. Martin’s Books, courtesy of Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Y’all know I’m autistic, as is my younger brother. That’s our reality. I’ll be real with you guys – I went into this book expecting it to be terrible. I have read so many books about kids with autistic siblings, And I have never, ever actually liked one of them. That isn’t me being hyperbolic. Never has one of these books actually been enjoyable. Until today.

So much fiction about autistic people is obnoxiously ableist, and this is the first one that I’ve found that didn’t play into most of the tropes that I’m so used to seeing. It was still a lot of autism 101, but that’s okay, since a lot of what we saw as readers was through our neurotypical main character’s thoughts.

I actually really liked the autism rep in Fade to Us. I loved how I got pulled into their family. That being said, I didn’t love the romance. Micah was sweet and all, but I never felt any kind of romance developing throughout the book. I would have loved to see more of Micah working with the play, instead of Brooke just telling us how great he was at it.

Overall, I thought Day did a good job with pulling into the setting, and the autism rep pushed this from meh to excited for me. You can pick up a copy for yourself on Amazon or Indiebound!

Disclaimer: All links to Indiebound and Amazon are affiliate links, which means that if you buy through those links, I will make a small amount of money off of it.