Scan barcode
readingtempeh's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Outing, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness
Moderate: Homophobia and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Sexism, Violence, Pregnancy, and Misogyny
raquelrose's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, Mental illness, Alcohol, Homophobia, Cursing, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, and Suicidal thoughts
fcksnotfound's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Transphobia
Minor: Deadnaming and Misogyny
donutlookaway's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Transphobia, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia
Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, Misogyny, and Child abuse
emily_mh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
On the other hand, I think some other rep and information was not done well. For example, I really wish Nathan had been fleshed out as a character. It kind of felt like Deaver took the stereotypical "golden retriever" LI archetype and left it at that, giving him no motivations or desires unrelated to Ben. While it was obvious Ben and Nathan had a connection, one I was rooting for, it still felt like I barely knew Nathan. This is the book's biggest issue, because I think it is an example of the situation that readers and reviewers of the global majority have been pointing out for ages, where white authors write a LI of the global majority whose only purpose in the book is to assist the white MC in their development. If I am wrong here or out of my lane, I will fully delete this review. I wanted to flag it in case I wasn't.
On top of this, the book presents some misinformation about being gay, ace, and aro. It implies that a nonbinary person like Ben cannot be gay because being gay is about being attracted to the same gender, and as Ben doesn't have a gender, they cannot experience same-gender attraction. In reality, being gay is simply about non-women being attracted to non-women. This is the quote I am referring to:
"And besides, I don’t exactly have a gender, and being gay implies being interested in the same gender."
It also implies that to be ace or aro is to be touch averse, when only some aces and aros are touch averse - it's this very piece of misinformation that means so many aces and aros don't realise they are asexual or aromantic for ages. Literally a simple "some" in this sentence would have fixed this misinformation:
“'Touch aversion can be common in people who deal with panic attacks, or people dealing with anxiety. In fact, there are some people who are just born or develop that way, like asexual or aromantic people.'”
So, yeah. Do with this what you will.
Rep: bisexual NB MC, bisexual LI of the global majority (ethnicity not explicitly stated), Bahraini Shia Muslim pansexual NB SC, Chinese-American SC, SC of the global majority (Ben's therapist Dr. Taylor, whose ethnicity is also not explicitly stated), Black SC (implied, ethnicity not explicitly stated), Korean-American SC with ADHD
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Transphobia
Moderate: Abandonment and Cursing
Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, Death, Physical abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Misogyny, Outing, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
Major: disownment, misgendering (mostly uninformed as Ben isn't out to most people) Moderate: body dysmorphia Minor: one implied use of the transphobic t-slur, suicidal ideation, off-page use of the homophobic f-slur, 1 HP reference, menstruationluananki's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Dysphoria, Medical content, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny
Minor: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Vomit, and Outing
kaii's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, and Mental illness
Moderate: Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Abandonment
Minor: Islamophobia, Outing, Physical abuse, Stalking, Misogyny, and Alcohol
anastasialuoivsbooks's review against another edition
- 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
I really like Ben and Nathan together. Ben struggling with anxiety and depression are moments I really related to him and Nathan is kind of like the comedic character here and I related to him in that aspect. Their relationship starts off with Nathan trying to get close to Ben and Ben not really reciprocating that. It's a friends to lovers romance and I think the relationship is really believable. I know it's the bare minimum, but Nathan being considerate and patient with Ben truly made me really like his character.
I like Hannah and her husband, neither of them are perfect, especially Hannah. Her husband isn't really fleshed out here. This book tackles with Hannah and Ben's relationship and how her guilt for leaving may have impacted her decisions and how Ben's lingering resent is justified. Hannah's flaws are present here in this book, especially when their parents show up. It shows how the trauma you may have experienced in childhood still really shows even as an adult. You can see the teenager in Hannah that is still really hurt and angry. Their parents are despicable. I have encountered too many people far too similar to them. The father is misogynistic and the mother lets the bible influence her decisions and they expect that all the trauma that they have made on their children would be gone immediately. I appreciate that they went to therapy, but they cannot expect that the damage they'd do would disappear. They place so much pressure on their children it makes me sick.
We can see a change in Ben's character throughout the book. From them wanting to wear clothes they didn't think they could, to them wearing nail polish outside when they removed it when they first wore it. Hannah was very encouraging throughout this, but you can see how society has truly engraved in our heads systems that shouldn't be. Example is when both of them were looking at clothes for Ben and Hannah immediately went to the guys section without thinking.
Overall I really like this book and recommend it so much! It deserves more attention than it gets.
Graphic: Homophobia, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Misogyny
Another thing that may be triggering is when religious beliefs are the reasons for homophobia. Keep this in mind. Please search up the trigger warnings for this book and be mindful when you recommend this to others.