Kathryn Ormsbee

Fame and success come at a cost for Natasha "Tash" Zelenka when she creates the web series "Unhappy Families," a modern adaptation of Anna Karenina--written by Tash's eternal love Leo Tolstoy.

Tash Hearts Tolstoy

Mellanie Ann Duque

I’ve read a lot of romance novels before, and I’ve been so picky about romance books; Tash Hearts Tolstoy is one of my newest favorite romance novels this year! 

 If you are looking for a light and easy read for summer this one is for you! The story is really cute! I just love everything about this book. 

 First the cover, it’s really adorable the color used for the cover is so stunning, it’s pretty much simple but looks cute! plus say hi to the guy on the cover (Leo Tolstoy). The story is about a girl who loves Tolstoy she literally talks to her Tolstoy posters (that’s so cute!) She got recognized for her Unhappy Families YouTube series which shocks her and everything quite change. She felt pressured about things.

 It also talks about family, I like Tash’s family it wasn’t perfect like everyone have but they are so cute together. 

 Tash is really a lovely girl; jolly and do everything for the things that makes her happy and that’s what I love about her! 

 It also talks about happines, the real meaning of happiness. I made me realize a lot of this like in order to have genuine happiness we should first be true to ourselves and that what we really call BLISS.

 The friendship of Tash, Paul and Jake is really unbreakable. They support each other no matter. 

 (I wanted to talk about more about this book but I’m afraid I might spoil you all hehe.)

 All in all I love the book and I highly recommend it to all. I hope you love it too!

Jamieson

“I guess I mean I always feel like I’m . . . waiting. Waiting until I get older so people will finally take me seriously and I can do what I want.”


Tash Hearts Tolstoy follows Tash, who, as the title suggests, loves Tolstoy. When the modern adaptation of Anna Karenina her and her best friend Jack are making for youtube goes semi-viral overnight and then is nominated for an award, Tash is suddenly thrust into the fandom spotlight.

This is a YA contemporary with almost everything I love in YA contemporaries!
 ➩ friends making art on the internet
➩ the internet playing a large role in the characters lives
➩ a queer main character
➩ complex family and friend drama
➩ references to classics and old-timey stuff 
➩ nerds


This reminded me a lot of Fangirl, Eliza and Her Monsters and Radio Silence so if you like any of them you'll probably like this. For me it wasn't as great as Radio Silence, but I liked it more than Fangirl and about equal to Eliza and Her Monsters. 

Although this is about Unhappy Families, the series Tash makes with Jack, it's more about Tash's shifting relationships with her friends and family. Tash is also asexual and how this affects her life and relationships, especially her budding relationship with a fellow vlogger, plays a large role in this. 

The family and friend aspects are much the same to any other YA contemporary I've read. Aspects were predictable and the resolutions weren't special to me. But the inclusion of asexual representation and the strong focus of that rep, as well as the internet as a central plot point and all the Leo Tolstoy references elevated this a little for me. I ended up enjoying it a lot and it isn't just the typical YA contemporary. Although it probably didn't hit me as hard as similar books like Radio Silence, this is still really enjoyable and well worth the pick up if you like books that deal with fandom culture, online fame, and fraught family/friend dynamics. Also if you're looking for more books with asexual main characters.

From the author of Lucky Few comes a “refreshing” (Booklist, starred review) teen novel about Internet fame, peer pressure, and remembering not to step on the little people on your way to the top! After a shout-out from one of the Internet’s superstar vloggers, Natasha “Tash” Zelenka suddenly finds herself and her obscure, amateur web series, Unhappy Families, thrust in the limelight: She’s gone viral. Her show is a modern adaption of Anna Karenina—written by Tash’s literary love Count Lev Nikolayevich “Leo” Tolstoy. Tash is a fan of the 40,000 new subscribers, their gushing tweets, and flashy Tumblr gifs. Not so much the pressure to deliver the best web series ever. And when Unhappy Families is nominated for a Golden Tuba award, Tash’s cyber-flirtation with a fellow award nominee suddenly has the potential to become something IRL—if she can figure out how to tell said crush that she’s romantic asexual. Tash wants to enjoy her newfound fame, but will she lose her friends in her rise to the top? What would Tolstoy do?

Ary Dias 

Izza

5 stars | Yes, Yes, Yes! I absolutely adored this book! I love this realistic fiction. The plot is amazing, pretty original and believable. The pacing is excellent. The characters feel real. I love Tash and I want to hug her. I was a bit concerned about the Ace rep part of the story before I started it, but it was GREAT!

Anna Cashman

I wouldn’t say this was amazing or inspiring or any superlative BUT it made me feel things. Like it might be a comfort book that I go back to multiple times. I feel like I’m a mix of Tash and Jack, and I love Paul. Also some pretty good Ace rep, and even if you’re not ace I’d recommend reading it just for the insight please and thank you

jess

On a whole, I enjoyed Tash Hearts Tolstoy a LOT. 

First of all, I can relate to Tash very, very deeply, because I, too, love a classical author to death and have, on multiple occasions, called him my buddy. (He was mentioned in the book. I screamed a bit. The author is Victor Hugo, by the way. I own four copies of Les Miserables.) I've never read Anna Karenina - the only Tolstoy I've had exposure to is the small stretch of War and Peace covered in Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, but Kathryn Ormsbee does a really good job of getting the important details out there. For such a long, complex book, I was minimally confused. The webseries thing was pretty cool, though I'm not really a webseries person (I like watching gaming on YouTube), so I didn't quite understand all of that and wasn't as into it as I was into the characters and their lives. 

I loved all the characters. They were decently complex, but Tash really was the highlight. I loved her narration, her personality, her character development. She grew a lot during the course of the novel, and yes, she has done some selfish and embarrassing things, but she's a teenage girl who is learning to find herself. I found her really cute and endearing, honestly. I loved her chemistry with Paul as well. I was totally rooting for them. (view spoiler)[I kind of thought that Thom would end up being an asshole because he seemed too good to be true, and guess what, he was. (hide spoiler)] I did not like Jack quite as much as I did most of the other characters - she seemed to be rooted in scary tough girl - but I related to her repressing her emotions about her dad getting cancer, because yeah, same. There was a lot packed into the novel, but it never felt like too much. I wish I saw more of Tash and Klaudie's relationship, though. 

Another wonderful thing: the ace rep! THE ASEXUAL REP, GUYS. This is the first time I've ever seen a character say, out loud, that she is asexual. It was so well written and I am so happy. Ormsbee does a great job of explaining asexuality (and by extention, aromanticism, since Tash is asexual and heteromatic) to readers who may not have heard of it before. The book is not an asexual book, though it takes up its fair share of plot and is a point of conflict - it was really well balanced. 

I think that this is an awesome addition to the YA LGBTQ+ canon and YA as a whole, and I am very happy with it.

Steph L 

If you are looking for a fun book with an ace lead I recommend this one! I just loved this book a lot, and I wish that it was talked about more. It was such a fun read, and yet also very emotional at times!

Flavia Louise

Why do these books get me over and over again.
I see the recurring themes but in the end I loved this quite a lot.
4.25 stars

Archer

THIS BOOK Y'ALL. Like legit. The main character was ace (asexual) af and like she even said the legit word a bunch of times. I'm pretty sure I cried most of those times. The voice was soooooo good and I also have decided to adopt Tash, so she is now officially my child. She is pure and innocent and I want to hug her so badly. She has gone through some shit, but I love her so much.

The pacing was good, even though the ending felt rushed. Some parts were unnecessary, but they were fine. I also don't know if it was #ownvoices, but eh, it was great ace rep.

But, overall READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!

Posted on: https://bookishlythinking.com/

Carolina

AL FIN LEÍ ESTO Y AMIGOS. AMIGOS.
Tipo es fluff. O sea no porque es todo amor y corazones pero porque nada, toca temas de la vida pero no trata de ser súper profundo ni nada. Pero no sé, lo amé. Tash te amo sori que en mi cabeza sos Tasha.
Y la representación????' un mil. O sea. No sé no quiero ni describir en detalle porque no quiero spoilear, no es que es tan importante pero solo amé cómo está escrito. Nada, no sé, me encantó. Libro súper tranqui, súper recomendable si quieren un libro sobre adolescentes encontrando su lugar en la vida y toda la movida. Muy cute. Muy nice.

Jasmin 

The worst book I've read this entire year. The only reason that I didn't DNF is so that I can give it a 1* review. But even this one star is more that this book could ever deserve.

The depiction of asexuality in this sad excuse for rep is super toxic and harmful - had I read this whilst still questioning my identity it would have caused me significant pain and selfhatred. 

All of the characters are flat and onedimensional, they lack any depth and only have one characteristic each. The girls are not like other girls(TM). It's painful to read. The sibiling relationship is super unrealistic and who calls the parents of their lifelong best friends Mrs/Mr Last Name?! (if this is a thing yall do in the USA tell me).

Anyhow, the rep. Its BAD.
(view spoiler)[
- p 100: a character asks Tash, wether her internet friend is hot. She is at a loss for words. Can't even bear to hear that word.
- p 110: a character makes a joke about Tash having sex. She is permanently shocked and can't understand why anyone would even say that.
- p 110, 111: she compares not feeling romantic attraction to people to being a robot. So - aromantic people are robots?
p 113, 114: Tash talks about having done research on forums but could never convince herself that being ace was okay. She wonders wether all of the peope on said forums are just confused.
p 116: not liking sex is not the same as being asexual (feeling no sexual attraction) 
p 153: being asexual is not a lack of sexuality
p 154: she totally erases ace struggles (eg diescrimination by medical professionals, preassure from others to "be normal and get a family and kids", consummation laws and even corrective rape. Aces are amongst those with the highest suicide rate amongst teens.
p 207: Tash thinks allosexual people are animalistic and that being sexually attracted to others is superficial. Also, she wonders whether she is missing something essential.
p 268: Tash thinks that if everyone was ace, she wouldnt be the freak. 
p 269: Tash feels like she needs to be fixed.
p 285: Asexuality is described as a lack of sexuality. AGAIN.
p 314: aphobia by her love interest. He says that she can't know she's ace cause she is only 17. At least here she disagrees. But again, asexualty is depicted as just not wanting sex. This aphobia goes on for several pages.  (hide spoiler)]

As an asexual aromantic reader, this book made me mad. I wanted to like it, and the concept was so good, but the execution was terrible. Even if the ace rep gets ignored.

I understand that YA has teenage characters. But they read like they were 12 or 13 instead of 17+. All other rep is superficial and not explored beyond stating that it is a thing or made into a running gag (yes I am refering to the Buddhist rep).

tl;dr the ace rep sucks and everything else does, too. If you want amazing rep read Loveless or Radio Silence by Alice Oseman.

Alex Hill 

I honestly didn't know how I was going to feel about this book. But I really enjoyed it. Full review will be up on my blog soon.

Luna

tw: cancer, death, unchallenged acephobia 


the good:

- the first half was really good. i felt a lot for the main character and loved the representation
- the web series aspect really brought out my closeted theater kid
- paul was super fun. most of the time. in the first half

the not so good:

- the ace representation definitely could’ve been handled better in the latter half. specifically, more “indirect” acephobia from the MC’s best friends goes completely unchallenged and everyone acts like she needs to apologize for her sexuality ... but somehow they act like that’s not acephobic. 
- thom being the love interest instead of paul (or anyone else) was really weird. the MC starts off by saying he makes her uncomfortable, and then she’s suddenly into him???

the bad:

- can we get a trigger warning for cancer PLEASE. it’s a serious theme throughout this (specifically prostate cancer, if anyone needs to know)
- the friends and family kind of suck. this is a thing i’ve seen in every YA contemporary, where the majority of the book just ends up being *messy* because the friends and family treat the MC like absolute shit, and it’s not cute. the relationships were so unhealthy, and everyone turning on the MC because she treated them badly (sometimes she wasn’t great, sometimes she straight up didn’t do anything wrong) when they always treat her even worse? gross. 



overall, i just wish this was less messy and dramatic. i don’t want to have unhealthy relationships thrown at me and be expected to support them. but the representation was pretty wholesome and hopeful for the most part, so i really appreciate that.

Alexia Cambaling

I don't read a lot of contemporary anymore, whether it be YA or Adult. Nowadays, I mostly stick to genre fiction. However, I discovered Riveted Lit, Simon & Schuster's YA focused website which allows you to read full books for free when you sign up. I did and decided to read Tash Hearts Tolstoy. I think it was the name which drew me into it.

Tash Hearts Tolstoy is, for the most part, a story involving Tash and her friends. At first, I was expecting something more romance heavy, but Tash being asexual despite being heteroromantic made her not really want to pursue a relationship- of course, this gets resolved later on. It is also fairly typical YA fare and reads like it. The story doesn't take an eternity to read through and it might take a fast reader just a day or so. It's very fast-paced and mostly focuses on Tash's friendships, family issues, and her newfound fame- includig dealing with haters on the internet.

The characterization of Tash and her friends are pretty strong. Tash can be a problematic character and I love how she gets called out for it. The negative things she does aren't brushed under a rug but are dealt with by her and her friends. Their friendships don't have to suffer from miscommunication because they actually deal with it. I can't speak regarding how asexual people are treated here because I'm not asexual, but I did enjoy the exploration presented of what asexuality means to a teenager who lives in a society where being sexual is the norm.

My main gripe is how rushed the ending seems to be. Thom's character isn't nearly as strong as the other ones are, partly perhaps because he only really shows up near the end. The plot is there but it kinda meanders in between all the drama that wasn't advertised in the synopsis. In fact, the thing with Thom seems almost like a footnote.

Overall, Tash Hearts Tolstoy is a cute book about a girl whose newfound fame starts to affect both her and everyone around her. It also explores human sexuality (and the lack of) rather well, I think. It's a nice contemporary for those who want a contemporary fix.

This review can also be found on my blog  The Bookworm Daydreamer

Kate

4.5* Tash Hearts Tolstoy is the kind of book that's impossible to put down. It is so easy flowing that, before I knew it, I found myself almost finished, having to force myself to stop reading because I had to 'life' instead. There were so many aspects to this book that are unfortunately not all that common in YA and I loved them. It had a cast of characters with various religions, sexualities, upbringings and individual stories. The MC was asexual which was fantastic to read. This gave such a great insight into a sexuality which is so often overlooked. I think my favourite part of this book was following Tash's journey of discovering and coming to terms with her asexuality, it was written in such a natural way and intertwined with the rest of the plot with such a brilliant balance. I also absolutely adored reading about her relationships with her family and friends (especially Paul, oh how I adored Paul!) 
As someone who's on YouTube a lot, it was so much fun to have that as such a prevalent storyline and all the different elements that were touched on within that. I loved that it wasn't presented in a wholly negative way and instead showed how much work can go into creating, no matter how big or small your channel may be!

Overall, this was such a lovely read. It touched on so many individual topics, in a way that created a comfortable, easy read but one that was also incredibly informative and thought provoking. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would without a doubt highly recommend it.

Tash Hearts Tolstoy

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