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blues'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
5.0
Queste 5 stelle non sono tanto per una trama piena di colpi di scena o per uno stile di scrittura ricercato, ma per tutto quello che questo libro mi ha scatenato e mi ha trasmesso. Come Mason Deaver stess* alla fine, questo è il libro di cui avrei avuto bisogno durante gli anni delle scuole superiori. All'epoca ancora non esisteva, ma sono felice che prima o poi sia arrivato.
Graphic: Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Deadnaming, Transphobia, Medical content, Homophobia, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Vomit
jesse_5'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
4.75
Graphic: Transphobia, Child abuse, and Abandonment
Minor: Vomit
axel_p'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
3.0
Minor: Physical abuse, Vomit, Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Transphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Outing
chris_reads'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: Abandonment, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, and Transphobia
Moderate: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Alcohol
Minor: Cursing and Vomit
maladaptivedaydreamer's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Transphobia and Child abuse
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Homophobia
Minor: Vomit, Gaslighting, and Religious bigotry
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, menstruationpsliz'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: Transphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Mental illness, Child abuse, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Islamophobia, Alcohol, and Vomit
silasreads'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
4.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Deadnaming, Mental illness, Grief, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Transphobia, and Vomit
abrokenmirror'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
3.75
but some of the side plots were a wee bit off to me, ben’s relationship with nathan felt quite unrealistic to me, and after getting used to ben’s personality, then them randomly bringing out the jokes after not wanted to even talk to anyone felt a little ehhhhh? you know, it felt like it wasn’t them
i did love the representation in this book very much, and i feel like its a very good book for non-binary or trans youth to read, but if representation isn’t what you came for, i feel you won’t like this book
Graphic: Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Transphobia
Moderate: Cursing, Dysphoria, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Violence
Minor: Vomit
peachani's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Abandonment, Bullying, Mental illness, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Gaslighting, Medical content, Vomit, Dysphoria, and Physical abuse