Reviews tagging 'Biphobia'

Borrowing Blue by Lucy Lennox

1 review

galleytrot's review against another edition

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  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

READ: Sep 2023 
FORMAT: Audio 

BRIEF SUMMARY: 
In this contemporary romance, Blue is at the bar of the vineyard he’s spending a week at for a wedding, stewing over his ex attending with a young and attractive plus-one attached to his arm (and his face), when he meets and hits it off with Tristan. Supposedly-straight Tristian decides making out with Blue would be the best way to get one over on the ex, but a kiss soon proves not to be nearly enough when fireworks explode between himself and Blue. When they learn the following morning that the wedding they’re attending is between their brother and sister, an awkward outing turns into a doubling-down on the ruse, and the boys commit to a week of debauchery and reassessment of their lives before they will go their separate ways and live said lives anew. 

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 4 / 5⭐ 
Wow, this book. What a surprise. 

So I have strong opinions against insta-love, and this book is the epitome of the trope, with our guys committing deeply to each other in a matter of days. This book does its best to try to establish reasonable grounds for it, though. The scene where they meet plays out like a first date with excellent chemistry where they are very open and expressive about their lives and families and relationships and personal interests, providing each other with a solid foundation of knowledge (except of course, for any reveal that they’re both here for the same wedding – because story’s gotta story). 

I expected this book to take the exhaustive tone of the fake boyfriend trope where everything results in a “what’s real and what’s for show” angst-fest, but that really is the least of these guys’ concerns. Their commitment to each other is sickeningly sweet, the story’s tone is always hopeful, and any opposition they face comes from the two or three awful people who clearly exist to be the book’s villains. I am pleasantly surprised that this book is not what I though it was going to be based on its synopsis. I was looking for something to waste my time on and give my brain a rest, but I found something that genuinely delighted me and kept my interest the whole way through. 

TECHNICAL / PRODUCTION: 4 / 5⭐ 
This book surprised me in a number of other ways, too. Every time I found something problematic in the writing that made me feel squirmy or gross or like the author (whom I am new to) probably shouldn’t be writing about this subject matter, that very issue would be addressed and corrected some time later and to my wonderment. There were multiple times where I made a note to the effect of: “Yeah, no, this isn’t how that works,” and then the author would eventually write, “but that’s not how it works,” and it would sooth my bristly soul. 

Dean as a narrator really does give this performance his all, to a degree where I sometimes found myself laughing or grinning right along with him, although there was maybe one or two occasions where it felt like a little bit much and it took me out of the head space. I had to check my reading logs from the past two years to see if I’ve listened to Dean’s narrations before; I found three books from last year, two of which I did not enjoy (by their content, not by any fault of the narration) so it’s not entirely a surprise that I could not recall his name. 

FINAL THOUGHTS - OVERALL: 4 / 5⭐ 
Truly, this book took a direction I could not have predicted. If I squint past the obscene insta-love and the blatant setup for the next books within the series (and I’ll tackle my thoughts on the coincidental Oops! All Gay family within a following review, I’m sure), then we have an intense and sweet and compelling story of love and growth and discovery. I am definitely interested in continuing with the series, and seeking out more by the author. 

This book has representation for gays and lesbians. There is otherwise little in the way of diversity. I will say, however, that some wording in Tristan’s description along with the narrator’s choice of voice for him allowed me to mentally assign him as a black man, despite the book cover clearly depicting two white men.

The following elaborates on my content warnings. These may be interpreted as spoilers, but I do not go into deep detail. 
This book contains: Alcohol use; bi-erasure; homophobia; mentions of rapes, hate crimes, domestic violence, physical abuses, assaults; past gaslighting, manipulative relationship; multiple past incidences of infidelity; fatphobia in media; panic attacks, hyperventilation; off-page cancer, death, grief/loss; and, vomiting (stress/anxiety).
 
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