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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
lesbianelvira's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
very sweet trans theatre kid story, felt very reminiscent of like, the show trinkets, but more trans. & it’s nice that there are many queer storylines in television to refer back to, and even more possibilities in literature. though i do agree with reviews that with as many issues that are parsed through in the book via dialogue with other characters or dean’s stream of consciousness, the author could’ve and should’ve found a way to more explicitly present zoe’s experience sensitively. we were given a window into the perspectives of other primary characters like ronnie’s and jade’s, which was done to fully form the characters And be realistic depictions for people of their identities. yet despite zoe’s conflicting feelings being a *hugely* essential part of the plot, her grappling with her love for dean and her sexuality didn't feel like it was handled in a way that felt like zoe was being written well as her own character (instead of just the romantic lead opposite our MC that disappoints him), let alone as a lesbian. frankly, the lesbian and trans communities (which aren’t two separate things) have gone through this exact scenario too many times (plus this author said they had sensitivity betas, so what gives) for us to have to write about the experience poorly
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime
Moderate: Dysphoria and Transphobia
Minor: Outing, Homophobia, Suicide, and Deadnaming
thebookpaiges's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Outing, Transphobia, Dysphoria, and Deadnaming
Moderate: Gaslighting and Homophobia
Minor: Lesbophobia
bruhbruh's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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? No
4.0
Made me cry
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Deadnaming, Outing, Hate crime, and Child abuse
Minor: Suicide
ivan_levitt's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dysphoria and Transphobia
Moderate: Homophobia, Outing, and Deadnaming
Minor: Violence
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