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kayladaila's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- 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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Dysphoria, Homophobia, and Alcohol
Minor: Bullying, Sexual harassment, Fatphobia, Cultural appropriation, Car accident, Abandonment, Death of parent, Hate crime, and Racial slurs
perpetualpages's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-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
4.5
CWs: experiences of homophobia and some homophobic/sexual slurs; references to racism; descriptions of online harassment and some sexual harassment; mentions of parental death; brief mentions of fatphobia, graphic sports injury, and vomit; instances of underage drinking; and some mild sexual content
On the surface, Kiss & Tell promises a simple and straightforward story about a queer boy bander trying to navigate the spotlight, but in true Adib Khorram fashion, it's also so much more! While this is a very different story from Adib's previous books, it has that same level of thoughtfulness and heart at its center.
On the one hand, this is a super fun, fast-paced story about a mega-popular boy band blazing across North America on one of their biggest tours, but it's also asking a lot of deeper questions about the cisheteronormativity of the boy band market and what it means to be "visibly queer" online and on stage.
As a white cis gay boy, Hunter definitely holds a lot of privilege, and the fact that he's able to be out as a gay man with his label and have it be a non-issue is definitely part of that. However, he's still having to deal with people dehumanizing him and reducing him to nothing more than just a label, and he also finds himself being continuously forced into this "token gay boy" box. Whether it's the way he's told to dress, the kinds of press junkets he's allowed to do, or the content he's allowed to post, every aspect of his expression is carefully controlled by the people around him. There's a compelling contradiction between Hunter having an immense platform that comes with an incredible amount of power and also not having a lot of freedom to choose for himself as a result.
I really appreciate how this story makes the reader think about who boy bands are marketed towards and why. Generally speaking, the majority of boy bands are marketed towards younger audiences, and primarily cishet audiences, and they occupy a very strange liminal space where they're expected to be "wholesome" and "virginal" but also attractive and suggestive enough to be "desirable" to their audience. By those standards, Hunter already finds himself at a disadvantage of sorts, because his target audience (young cishet girls) can't romantically project themselves onto him. So his label feels that he has to make up for that quote-unquote "deficit" by really leaning into the stereotypical "twink" styles and mannerisms and molding himself into this perfect, wholesome queer role model for young people.
That dilemma further opens up the question of what it even means to *be* a role model, and how that concept in itself can be even more limiting in some ways. Especially as a queer boy, Hunter finds his every action to be put under a microscope, and he finds it harder to make himself seem "perfect" and "wholesome" when he's constantly being confronted by the misconception that sexuality and queerness is solely about the act of sex, when it's not. When his toxic ex drunkenly releases screenshots of Hunter's private conversations, that onslaught of commentary becomes even more pressing.
I truly appreciate how Adib Khorram has crafted a sex positive story about a young queer man who's constantly being forced to grapple with the conception that he's either "not gay enough" or "too gay." Especially in a world where queer men are often seen as hypersexual, which is then seen as "shameful" (even though there's nothing inherently bad or wrong about sex), this story makes a powerful statement about embracing those parts of yourself that are deemed "imperfect" and being unafraid to to claim all those messy sides of yourself that don't neatly fit into any box. Being openly queer as a public figure is often a matter of Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't. Every action you take is extrapolated and interpreted as a representation of the entire queer community at large when it shouldn't be, and Hunter having to fight against that feels incredibly realistic.
On a lighter note, I also enjoy how this story puts a different spin on the "fake dating" trope. While Hunter and Kaivan are technically dating for real and by their own choice, it still feels like a front at times since the label is intentionally playing it up for press. So you kind of get the best of both worlds, where you get to see this very soft, genuine romantic connection unfold over the course of the story, but there's also your typical "fake dating shenanigans" with all these public-facing dates put on for the fans.
Another highlight is the way the story makes use of multi-media interludes between chapters, where you get to see the snippets from various press junkets or interviews, transcripts from Kiss & Tell's documentary, as well as excerpts of blog posts and think pieces. I love the way those pieces of media are able to indirectly build out the "world" of the story and reveal more about the characters from an outside perspective, and it's even interesting to see how the events of the story are being spun by the press for online consumption. It was also nice to have media inserts that were not just interviews, because those added to the larger commentary of how being a queer boy bander complicates the cisheteronormative narrative popularized in the mainstream.
There were two tiny things that kept this from being a five-star book, for me personally. The first is that I wish Hunter's bandmates were a little bit more prominent in the story. Besides Hunter, the rest of Kiss & Tell is made up of more ethnically diverse pop stars—who are Vietnamese-, Brazilian-, and Indian-Canadian—and I wish we could have more directly seen the kinds of pressures that *they* face. There's a small discussion of that towards the end, when Hunter's bandmates sort of call him out for assuming that his queerness is a "bigger burden" than the racism they face online, but I think getting to see those experiences or discussions play out would have made that land even better.
My second tiny note is that I found myself wanting a bit more from the romantic relationship between Hunter and Kaivan. Throughout the story, it's made clear that Kaivan has somewhat of a superiority complex when it comes to the success of boy bands versus the success of traditional bands, some of which is definitely warranted when you consider the vast disparity between them. However, that leads him to saying some controversial things in his interviews where he openly questions the talent-level, creativity, and integrity of boy banders. When that eventually comes to light, it ends up feeling somewhat glossed over. I think there were more conversations to be had between Hunter and Kaivan to meaningfully reconcile those differences in order for me to feel fully on board with their relationship by the end. Even so, overall I did enjoy the romantic element.
As always, I remain absolutely floored by Adib Khorram's ability to craft a deeply meaningful and thoughtful story that's also able to balance humor, romance, and fun. As I said up top, even though this seems like a simple story on the surface, it proves to be so much more and offers the reader a foothold to better grasp deeper questions about societal expectations and self-expression. As with all of Adib's books, I enjoyed this so much, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what he writes next. No matter what it is, I will definitely be reading it!
On the surface, Kiss & Tell promises a simple and straightforward story about a queer boy bander trying to navigate the spotlight, but in true Adib Khorram fashion, it's also so much more! While this is a very different story from Adib's previous books, it has that same level of thoughtfulness and heart at its center.
On the one hand, this is a super fun, fast-paced story about a mega-popular boy band blazing across North America on one of their biggest tours, but it's also asking a lot of deeper questions about the cisheteronormativity of the boy band market and what it means to be "visibly queer" online and on stage.
As a white cis gay boy, Hunter definitely holds a lot of privilege, and the fact that he's able to be out as a gay man with his label and have it be a non-issue is definitely part of that. However, he's still having to deal with people dehumanizing him and reducing him to nothing more than just a label, and he also finds himself being continuously forced into this "token gay boy" box. Whether it's the way he's told to dress, the kinds of press junkets he's allowed to do, or the content he's allowed to post, every aspect of his expression is carefully controlled by the people around him. There's a compelling contradiction between Hunter having an immense platform that comes with an incredible amount of power and also not having a lot of freedom to choose for himself as a result.
I really appreciate how this story makes the reader think about who boy bands are marketed towards and why. Generally speaking, the majority of boy bands are marketed towards younger audiences, and primarily cishet audiences, and they occupy a very strange liminal space where they're expected to be "wholesome" and "virginal" but also attractive and suggestive enough to be "desirable" to their audience. By those standards, Hunter already finds himself at a disadvantage of sorts, because his target audience (young cishet girls) can't romantically project themselves onto him. So his label feels that he has to make up for that quote-unquote "deficit" by really leaning into the stereotypical "twink" styles and mannerisms and molding himself into this perfect, wholesome queer role model for young people.
That dilemma further opens up the question of what it even means to *be* a role model, and how that concept in itself can be even more limiting in some ways. Especially as a queer boy, Hunter finds his every action to be put under a microscope, and he finds it harder to make himself seem "perfect" and "wholesome" when he's constantly being confronted by the misconception that sexuality and queerness is solely about the act of sex, when it's not. When his toxic ex drunkenly releases screenshots of Hunter's private conversations, that onslaught of commentary becomes even more pressing.
I truly appreciate how Adib Khorram has crafted a sex positive story about a young queer man who's constantly being forced to grapple with the conception that he's either "not gay enough" or "too gay." Especially in a world where queer men are often seen as hypersexual, which is then seen as "shameful" (even though there's nothing inherently bad or wrong about sex), this story makes a powerful statement about embracing those parts of yourself that are deemed "imperfect" and being unafraid to to claim all those messy sides of yourself that don't neatly fit into any box. Being openly queer as a public figure is often a matter of Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't. Every action you take is extrapolated and interpreted as a representation of the entire queer community at large when it shouldn't be, and Hunter having to fight against that feels incredibly realistic.
On a lighter note, I also enjoy how this story puts a different spin on the "fake dating" trope. While Hunter and Kaivan are technically dating for real and by their own choice, it still feels like a front at times since the label is intentionally playing it up for press. So you kind of get the best of both worlds, where you get to see this very soft, genuine romantic connection unfold over the course of the story, but there's also your typical "fake dating shenanigans" with all these public-facing dates put on for the fans.
Another highlight is the way the story makes use of multi-media interludes between chapters, where you get to see the snippets from various press junkets or interviews, transcripts from Kiss & Tell's documentary, as well as excerpts of blog posts and think pieces. I love the way those pieces of media are able to indirectly build out the "world" of the story and reveal more about the characters from an outside perspective, and it's even interesting to see how the events of the story are being spun by the press for online consumption. It was also nice to have media inserts that were not just interviews, because those added to the larger commentary of how being a queer boy bander complicates the cisheteronormative narrative popularized in the mainstream.
There were two tiny things that kept this from being a five-star book, for me personally. The first is that I wish Hunter's bandmates were a little bit more prominent in the story. Besides Hunter, the rest of Kiss & Tell is made up of more ethnically diverse pop stars—who are Vietnamese-, Brazilian-, and Indian-Canadian—and I wish we could have more directly seen the kinds of pressures that *they* face. There's a small discussion of that towards the end, when Hunter's bandmates sort of call him out for assuming that his queerness is a "bigger burden" than the racism they face online, but I think getting to see those experiences or discussions play out would have made that land even better.
My second tiny note is that I found myself wanting a bit more from the romantic relationship between Hunter and Kaivan. Throughout the story, it's made clear that Kaivan has somewhat of a superiority complex when it comes to the success of boy bands versus the success of traditional bands, some of which is definitely warranted when you consider the vast disparity between them. However, that leads him to saying some controversial things in his interviews where he openly questions the talent-level, creativity, and integrity of boy banders. When that eventually comes to light, it ends up feeling somewhat glossed over. I think there were more conversations to be had between Hunter and Kaivan to meaningfully reconcile those differences in order for me to feel fully on board with their relationship by the end. Even so, overall I did enjoy the romantic element.
As always, I remain absolutely floored by Adib Khorram's ability to craft a deeply meaningful and thoughtful story that's also able to balance humor, romance, and fun. As I said up top, even though this seems like a simple story on the surface, it proves to be so much more and offers the reader a foothold to better grasp deeper questions about societal expectations and self-expression. As with all of Adib's books, I enjoyed this so much, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what he writes next. No matter what it is, I will definitely be reading it!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Racism, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Vomit, and Sexual content
foreverinastory's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
4.5/5
This was really great! I feel like it could've been longer to really explore some of the discussions presented. Kiss & Tell follows the incredibly popular boy band "Kiss & Tell" and Hunter Drake, the only gay member in the band. Hunter has been an icon for queer youth everywhere, but after his breakup with his boyfriend and texts are leaked, his image is put into question. Hunter never wanted to be the Label's perfect queer kid, but navigating the line between keeping the Label appeased and being himself is hard enough without thousands of fans and parents talking about his actions like they know him.
Then there's Kaivan, the drummer of PAR-K, the opener for Kiss & Tell on their North American tour. Hunter and Kaivan start a flirty friendship when Kaivan comes out to him. Hunter thinks this could develop into something romantic, but when the Label gets involved, Hunter doesn't know what to do.
This was such a great story about the pressure of being in the spotlight and how that affects people. Hunter is a white cis gay boy and he has a lot of privilege. It was very interesting to see all the things he dealt with and how he centers himself. Three members of Kiss & Tell are BIPOC, but when Hunter finally talks to them, he realizes that he's not the only one dealing with stereotypes and microaggressions. Hunter is a bit selfish and closed off in the beginning of this, but we see him start to come out of his shell and begin to listen. I wish this book was longer so we could've seen more action from Hunter as he comes to all these realizations.
I do wish Hunter had taken a bigger role in educating himself. Maybe it's because he's Canadian, but I think it stems more from being white. But Hunter is constantly educated by the people of color in his life and I can't imagine how tiring that was for them. I do like that by the end he's finally more receptive to what their saying and how racism is different from queermisia, but is still just as damaging.
I did like Hunter's character. He's only a teenager and he doesn't have everything figured out. Plus with private texts leaked by his ex, he's dealing with a lot. His image and reputation are in question and Hunter doesn't know how to navigate this, especially as a gay boy. The Label wants him to become more of a femme/twink persona even though that's not him. He spends a lot of time internally debating how to navigate this and what he should do.
I really enjoyed Hunter and Kaivan's friendship/relationship. Kaivan was so cute and I wanted more of him. The past interviews with him definitely made me worried. I liked how he did eventually talk to Hunter about all of it. There was so much interesting presence about heteronormativity, and toxic masculinity. We do get some discussions of it and I was glad for that. I would've loved more, but ultimately, I really enjoyed this book.
Last thing I'll say is that this cover is RUDE and screams pansexual vibes and then there was no pan characters and I was sad. Oh well :(
Rep: white Canadian gay cis male MC, Iranian-American gay cis male side character, white Canadian gay cis male side character, white Canadian cishet male side character, Vietnamese-Canadian cishet male side character, Brazilian-Canadian cishet male side character, Indian-Canadian cishet male side character, Black queer nonbinary drag monarch side character, white American gay cis male side character, various queer & BIPOC side characters briefly mentioned.
CWs: Body shaming, slut shaming, homophobia/homomisia, racism, sexual harassment. Moderate: alcohol consumption, sexual harassment, sexual assault, outing, consensual sexual content, grief, past death of parent. Minor: Car accident.
4.5/5
This was really great! I feel like it could've been longer to really explore some of the discussions presented. Kiss & Tell follows the incredibly popular boy band "Kiss & Tell" and Hunter Drake, the only gay member in the band. Hunter has been an icon for queer youth everywhere, but after his breakup with his boyfriend and texts are leaked, his image is put into question. Hunter never wanted to be the Label's perfect queer kid, but navigating the line between keeping the Label appeased and being himself is hard enough without thousands of fans and parents talking about his actions like they know him.
Then there's Kaivan, the drummer of PAR-K, the opener for Kiss & Tell on their North American tour. Hunter and Kaivan start a flirty friendship when Kaivan comes out to him. Hunter thinks this could develop into something romantic, but when the Label gets involved, Hunter doesn't know what to do.
This was such a great story about the pressure of being in the spotlight and how that affects people. Hunter is a white cis gay boy and he has a lot of privilege. It was very interesting to see all the things he dealt with and how he centers himself. Three members of Kiss & Tell are BIPOC, but when Hunter finally talks to them, he realizes that he's not the only one dealing with stereotypes and microaggressions. Hunter is a bit selfish and closed off in the beginning of this, but we see him start to come out of his shell and begin to listen. I wish this book was longer so we could've seen more action from Hunter as he comes to all these realizations.
I do wish Hunter had taken a bigger role in educating himself. Maybe it's because he's Canadian, but I think it stems more from being white. But Hunter is constantly educated by the people of color in his life and I can't imagine how tiring that was for them. I do like that by the end he's finally more receptive to what their saying and how racism is different from queermisia, but is still just as damaging.
I did like Hunter's character. He's only a teenager and he doesn't have everything figured out. Plus with private texts leaked by his ex, he's dealing with a lot. His image and reputation are in question and Hunter doesn't know how to navigate this, especially as a gay boy. The Label wants him to become more of a femme/twink persona even though that's not him. He spends a lot of time internally debating how to navigate this and what he should do.
I really enjoyed Hunter and Kaivan's friendship/relationship. Kaivan was so cute and I wanted more of him. The past interviews with him definitely made me worried. I liked how he did eventually talk to Hunter about all of it. There was so much interesting presence about heteronormativity, and toxic masculinity. We do get some discussions of it and I was glad for that. I would've loved more, but ultimately, I really enjoyed this book.
Last thing I'll say is that this cover is RUDE and screams pansexual vibes and then there was no pan characters and I was sad. Oh well :(
Rep: white Canadian gay cis male MC, Iranian-American gay cis male side character, white Canadian gay cis male side character, white Canadian cishet male side character, Vietnamese-Canadian cishet male side character, Brazilian-Canadian cishet male side character, Indian-Canadian cishet male side character, Black queer nonbinary drag monarch side character, white American gay cis male side character, various queer & BIPOC side characters briefly mentioned.
CWs: Body shaming, slut shaming, homophobia/homomisia, racism, sexual harassment. Moderate: alcohol consumption, sexual harassment, sexual assault, outing, consensual sexual content, grief, past death of parent. Minor: Car accident.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia
Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Grief, Outing, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Alcohol
Minor: Car accident
armontheroad's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-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
5.0
I was given an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I finished reading KISS & TELL in roughly ten hours, which should tell you just how enthralled and in love with this story I was. Adib Khorram, once again, writes a fantastic novel with amazing characters and vital conversations. I cried several times whilst reading this, excitedly screamed my head off, and mourned the fact it ended. I want more books with these characters! This book is going to be so important to so many people and the conversations had will, no doubt, positively impact the young readers this book gets into the hands of. This is worth so much of your time!!
Content Warnings: Racism, slut shaming, fetishization, homophobia, infantilization, outing, sexual harassment, sexual assault, parental death, grief, burnout, alcohol, car accident.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Homophobia, Outing, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Car accident
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