Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Afterglow

Another feel-good, very optimistic book about a group of gay boys growing up in a rural American town. Do yourself a favour and read Golden Boys before diving into this one because it is a direct sequel.

I didn't like this book as much as the previous one. The biggest problem is that the four boys lack a distinctive voice and accidentally end up sounding like a hive mind. The previous book had shades of it too, but because each of the boys were in different parts of the world and doing different things, I think it wasn't as big a problem.

Also (this is arguably a more personal gripe because Stamper shouldn't feel pressured to writing about it) but I found it weird that in a book where

one of the characters decides to try out being a drag queen and book banning at the school library are major storylines, there were no transgender characters (or at least implied). This is especially weird to me on the heel of laws in real life where drag is banned for transphobic reasons (that is not to say all drag performers are inherently trans, but they do exist).

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antonique_reads's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

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pey333's review

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emotional funny 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? Yes

4.5

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imstephtacular's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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betweentheshelves's review against another edition

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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? Yes

4.0

Thanks to Bloomsbury YA and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Afterglow by Phil Stamper to review! This is the sequel to Golden Boys, which came out last year. And yes, you definitely need to read that one first because you will miss a lot of character development that is very important in this one!

I actually enjoyed this book more than I enjoyed Golden Boys. The story goes in a bit of a different direction than I was expecting, and we get to see more of the four friends interacting. We didn't get a lot of that in the first book because they all went different places for the summer. Overall, this book felt like a more cohesive story, even though it still had four different narrators. You'd think you'd get overwhelmed by that, but you don't really in this book.

A lot of teens will relate to the boys' fear that after they all graduate, they're going to lose touch with their high school friends. They'll relate to the anxieties of graduating high school, of feeling like you have to have it all figured out. Stamper hits the tone just right in this book, and with the four strong main characters, you'll be sucked right into each of their lives.

I did think that maybe the book was a tad longer than it needed to be, but other than that, this is a great follow up to the first book. If you enjoy Stamper's writing, you'll want to pick this one up!

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