Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett

Summary

Never before, have I read a story as emotional, entertaining, and inspiring, as Full Disclosure. The book, written by Camryn Garrett, is an intriguing coming-of-age novel about Simone Garcia-Hampton, a 17-year-old girl, who is HIV-positive, adopted, black, and questioning her sexuality. As if these aspects of Simone’s life are not hard enough on their own, she has to live with them, while also managing her love life and dealing with her friends and family. But even worse, Simone’s life takes a turn after she receives a note telling her to end the relationship with her boyfriend, Miles, unless of course, she wants to face the consequences. Not wanting to have to leave her school like last year, due to HIV-related bullying, Simone tries to deal with her problems, learning a lot about her identity and making stronger connections along the way.

Review by Yusef Aboukhatwa

Full Disclosure has got to be my favorite book, hands down. However, no book is perfect, meaning that, in my opinion, the novel has some flaws. For starters, the relationship between Simone and Miles felt slightly rushed. I feel like it was moving too fast, making the truly romantic moments seem forced or fake. As an example, near the beginning, Miles kisses Simone before they started going out. Additionally, the dynamic between Simone, Lydia, and Claudia, the latter two of which are Simone’s friends, was not my favorite. I would have liked to see more emotional moments between Claudia and Simone and less cheesy moments with Lydia. It was like I was reading about two opposite ends of a spectrum, which got to feel out of place and slightly irritating.

At the same time, I have many positives on Full Disclosure. The first and most important positive is that the story itself is wonderful. Full Disclosure serves to educate and raise awareness about the bullying, harassment, and discrimination associated with HIV, as well as struggles related to race, adoption, and sexuality. In addition, the novel, specifically the dialogue, was well-written and made everything feel quite natural, at least for the most part. I also enjoyed the character details because it added depth to the story, and like before, made the story feel natural. Overall, Full Disclosure is a fantastic book, one that is my favorite. If I had to rate it, I would give it an 8.5/10 and recommend it to any type of reader, as long as they don’t mind more adult-related themes, since the book is, as the title implies, a full disclosure.