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sglance9's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Bullying, Transphobia, Outing, Deadnaming, and Dysphoria
Minor: Suicide
bookishmillennial's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
This was a lovely debut!!!!
Although I wanted to throw hands for my precious baby Dean at times, I felt that Ray wrote a tender and moving coming out story for Dean.
What I loved most was that even though some characters got it wrong or fumbled pronouns at times, Ray wrote compassion and determination into almost all of them. They all wanted to do better and to try for Dean.
I especially appreciated Dean’s theatre teacher, saying “I’m not experienced with this but how can I be here for you? How can I help?” Often, when we (humans) are presented with something new, we get anxious, fearful and defensive…. and unfortunately, we will often respond accordingly. However, for Dean’s teacher to not only acknowledge his own shortcomings in not being well-versed in the trans experience, he had the capacity to pause and ask what he could do for his student. He didn’t center himself or his own insecurities; he directly asked a student who felt safe enough to share with him how he could support them. I know this seems so small, but it was a powerful moment for me as an educator.
So grateful for this book and I highly recommend it!
This was a lovely debut!!!!
Although I wanted to throw hands for my precious baby Dean at times, I felt that Ray wrote a tender and moving coming out story for Dean.
What I loved most was that even though some characters got it wrong or fumbled pronouns at times, Ray wrote compassion and determination into almost all of them. They all wanted to do better and to try for Dean.
I especially appreciated Dean’s theatre teacher, saying “I’m not experienced with this but how can I be here for you? How can I help?” Often, when we (humans) are presented with something new, we get anxious, fearful and defensive…. and unfortunately, we will often respond accordingly. However, for Dean’s teacher to not only acknowledge his own shortcomings in not being well-versed in the trans experience, he had the capacity to pause and ask what he could do for his student. He didn’t center himself or his own insecurities; he directly asked a student who felt safe enough to share with him how he could support them. I know this seems so small, but it was a powerful moment for me as an educator.
So grateful for this book and I highly recommend it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Deadnaming, Outing, Bullying, Violence, and Transphobia
capriqueen's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This is a solid story, fairly basic in terms of what it teaches the audience about trans issues (probably would’ve enjoyed more when I was younger)
I think it covered a lot of good and relevant issues, but the coverage felt a little… shallow isn’t the right word but I wish it had really delved in. Overall it just felt a little flat; no soaring highs but also no terrible lows
I think it covered a lot of good and relevant issues, but the coverage felt a little… shallow isn’t the right word but I wish it had really delved in. Overall it just felt a little flat; no soaring highs but also no terrible lows
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia and Bullying
Moderate: Deadnaming and Outing
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
yelloweyedbeta's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.75
to sum it up by the author’s words:
“Queer and trans people everywhere: You are an endless source of wisdom, motivation, inspiration, imagination, innovation, beau-ty, joy, and resilience for me. Were here, and were not going any-where.”
“Queer and trans people everywhere: You are an endless source of wisdom, motivation, inspiration, imagination, innovation, beau-ty, joy, and resilience for me. Were here, and were not going any-where.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Bullying, and Violence
Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, and Deadnaming
khakipantsofsex's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Dysphoria, and Bullying
Moderate: Homophobia, Hate crime, and Outing
Minor: Suicide
sopesock's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
i really liked reading this.
"Between perfect and real" follows dean as he comes out as trans during his last year of high school.
so far i've only read books with trans characters who were already out, so this was a new perspective.
as a cis (?) person (????? as a person who is not currently considering correcting people assuming i am cis? ) it's difficult to imagine JUST how hard that entire process of coming out is. that phase when not everyone knows yet, someone taking your choice to come out away from you, and having to deal with cis grief all while managing transphobia and dysphoria - these were all themes stoeve depicted very well.
i think this book is so important and informative in that way.
considering the fact the book does and has to touch onto some potentially triggering topics (see cw's), i want to say well done to how the author executed this.
dean going by that name even before he was out was a smart way to avoid dropping his deadname.
(i'm thinking of the melissa/george debacle -- as a bookseller it really gets you in a tricky situation when the character is consistently deadnamed throughout a book because that makes recommending it extremely difficult and confusing; also and more importantly it might make it seem like an okay thing to do to uninformed readers)
it is just completely irrelevant to the reader to know the mc's deadname, so i was glad it was never mentioned.
in general there was just a good balance between depicting trans- and homophobia realistically without it being too violent or triggering.
plot-wise -- i liked that not everything works out for him and romance was not the end goal. i'm having a hard time reviewing this, but the point is i enjoyed it, even if it wasn't a five star read as i did have some problems with how zoe's and dean's relationship was written.
((((slight spoilers from here)))
it was basically clear from the beginning that things wouldn't work out between them, but i was so confused at times bc there were so many little moments of support from zoe that seemed very genuine only for her to suddenly make problematic comments out of the blue. i felt like it wasn't in character, or that her character just wasn't well thought out. the way we got to know her in the beginning, i would have expected her to talk openly about her concerns with dean's transition, not suddenly be bitchy about it. i guess i was a little disappointed in how all that was executed.
so i really can't give five stars.
nevertheless i will be recommending this --
it's as much a book for the community as it is from the community to people looking to understand what it means to be trans.
"Between perfect and real" follows dean as he comes out as trans during his last year of high school.
so far i've only read books with trans characters who were already out, so this was a new perspective.
as a cis (?) person (????? as a person who is not currently considering correcting people assuming i am cis? ) it's difficult to imagine JUST how hard that entire process of coming out is. that phase when not everyone knows yet, someone taking your choice to come out away from you, and having to deal with cis grief all while managing transphobia and dysphoria - these were all themes stoeve depicted very well.
i think this book is so important and informative in that way.
considering the fact the book does and has to touch onto some potentially triggering topics (see cw's), i want to say well done to how the author executed this.
dean going by that name even before he was out was a smart way to avoid dropping his deadname.
(i'm thinking of the melissa/george debacle -- as a bookseller it really gets you in a tricky situation when the character is consistently deadnamed throughout a book because that makes recommending it extremely difficult and confusing; also and more importantly it might make it seem like an okay thing to do to uninformed readers)
it is just completely irrelevant to the reader to know the mc's deadname, so i was glad it was never mentioned.
in general there was just a good balance between depicting trans- and homophobia realistically without it being too violent or triggering.
plot-wise -- i liked that not everything works out for him and romance was not the end goal. i'm having a hard time reviewing this, but the point is i enjoyed it, even if it wasn't a five star read as i did have some problems with how zoe's and dean's relationship was written.
((((slight spoilers from here)))
it was basically clear from the beginning that things wouldn't work out between them, but i was so confused at times bc there were so many little moments of support from zoe that seemed very genuine only for her to suddenly make problematic comments out of the blue. i felt like it wasn't in character, or that her character just wasn't well thought out. the way we got to know her in the beginning, i would have expected her to talk openly about her concerns with dean's transition, not suddenly be bitchy about it. i guess i was a little disappointed in how all that was executed.
so i really can't give five stars.
nevertheless i will be recommending this --
it's as much a book for the community as it is from the community to people looking to understand what it means to be trans.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Deadnaming, Transphobia, Dysphoria, Outing, Homophobia, and Bullying
matheo's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Transphobia, Bullying, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Outing, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia
Moderate: Drug use, Hate crime, Sexual content, Violence, Body shaming, Racism, and Suicide
hildayay's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is one of the best depictions of trans(masc mostly) youth you can find in a book according to me, the trans and queerness in it doesn’t feel forced and I can relate to it a lot. It’s also not based on a bunch of stereotypes (like a lot of other trans books I’ve read), most likely because it’s actually written by a trans writer. However, sometimes I feel like the plot was a bit rushed (might’ve just read it too fast though lol) and the sentences were a bit hard to read now and then. Overall: lovely book!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia and Bullying
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Dysphoria, Outing, Physical abuse, Deadnaming, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Suicide
charlotteiisobel's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Bullying, Transphobia, and Dysphoria
Minor: Deadnaming and Suicide
shershenk's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This is a YA I wish I had read when I was in high school. This is realistically raw without romanticizing or exploiting the pain that can exist for trans teens. This didn't end neatly with all ends tied up as many books often do when touching on LGBTQIA+ issues, but it also was largely optimistic. I was so satisfied with how it ended--what a truly beautiful story to read. I loved the fleshed-out supporting characters. They were diverse and mindfully written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia and Bullying
Moderate: Violence and Deadnaming
Minor: Suicide