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peskilanim's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia, Biphobia, Deadnaming, and Misogyny
Minor: Lesbophobia and Blood
gncilluffo's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia
Minor: Blood
sage_alexandra's review
funny
lighthearted
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Deadnaming, and Transphobia
Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Medical content
Minor: Blood, Dysphoria, Excrement, Biphobia, Alcohol, Misogyny, and Ableism
I only gave it 4 stars because I'm not a huge fan of reading queer fiction that isn't "anyone who is queer is established as such from the get go."novella42's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-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? It's complicated
4.0
Queer romance with an enby love interest, an autistic-coded protagonist, and tons of phenomenal food writing? Yes, please!
(For context, I'm a cis omnisexual woman with a partner of 11 years who came out as genderfluid three years ago. At this point I'm the only cis person in a polycule of five, so I made a lot of the same mistakes Simone made.)
I read this in two days. While I wish it had spent more time on the romance than the discrimination the characters went through, the discrimination was 100% believable and the author did a damn good job of telling the story they wanted to tell. The protagonist/audience gets a friendly and thorough primer in Trans 101, so if you're new to all of this or want practice learning about the transmasc and nonbinary queer experience, this would be a great place to start.
The food descriptions were my favorite part. Lines like "her patience was dissolving like salt in boiling water." Love this characterization, she is SUCH an Enneagram 5:
""Yes, but the kale craze is pretty much over by now," Simone pointed out. A few years before, it had been pomegranates, which Simone had hated passionately. They were the least logical fruit ever conceived. If something was that difficult to open up, it should be allowed to keep its secrets, was her opinion."
I really enjoyed how well Ray and Simone worked together once they warmed up to each other. I think that can sometimes fall by the wayside with the enemies-to-lovers trope, and seeing two people genuinely vibe well and complement each other was a pleasure. I just wanted more time with them!
(For context, I'm a cis omnisexual woman with a partner of 11 years who came out as genderfluid three years ago. At this point I'm the only cis person in a polycule of five, so I made a lot of the same mistakes Simone made.)
I read this in two days. While I wish it had spent more time on the romance than the discrimination the characters went through, the discrimination was 100% believable and the author did a damn good job of telling the story they wanted to tell. The protagonist/audience gets a friendly and thorough primer in Trans 101, so if you're new to all of this or want practice learning about the transmasc and nonbinary queer experience, this would be a great place to start.
The food descriptions were my favorite part. Lines like "her patience was dissolving like salt in boiling water." Love this characterization, she is SUCH an Enneagram 5:
""Yes, but the kale craze is pretty much over by now," Simone pointed out. A few years before, it had been pomegranates, which Simone had hated passionately. They were the least logical fruit ever conceived. If something was that difficult to open up, it should be allowed to keep its secrets, was her opinion."
I really enjoyed how well Ray and Simone worked together once they warmed up to each other. I think that can sometimes fall by the wayside with the enemies-to-lovers trope, and seeing two people genuinely vibe well and complement each other was a pleasure. I just wanted more time with them!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Deadnaming
Moderate: Medical content and Blood
Minor: Child abuse and Domestic abuse
maeverose's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
3.5
I was worried based on the synopsis that it would be overly cheesy but it’s really not. It is funny though, and the humor worked for me. You can tell a trans person wrote this book, they definitely understand trans issues and it’s reflected in the book. I loved the conversations about how trans people shouldn’t be expected to teach cis people everything about gender.
My only complaints are the misunderstanding trope and how long it takes for them to finally get together. I do like how everything played out in the end but it was mild torture having to read Simone constantly convince herself Ray didn’t like her. I just wanted them to make out already. But those are mild complaints, overall I had a good time.
I do want to note that there is a lot of misgendering of Ray throughout the story. For the first half everyone, including the main character uses she/her pronouns for them because they aren’t out yet, then once they do come out the antagonists of the book purposefully misgender them every time they interact, and it’s quite infuriating. So if that’s a trigger for you I’d be prepared for that.
I do want to note that there is a lot of misgendering of Ray throughout the story. For the first half everyone, including the main character uses she/her pronouns for them because they aren’t out yet, then once they do come out the antagonists of the book purposefully misgender them every time they interact, and it’s quite infuriating. So if that’s a trigger for you I’d be prepared for that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual content, Transphobia, Bullying, and Deadnaming
Moderate: Dysphoria, Homophobia, Medical content, and Vomit
Minor: Blood, Excrement, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, and Cursing
Graphic: misgendering, handling of bodily fluids after surgerynerdyprettythings's review
2.5
So... hmm. I liked some things about this book. The NB MC (Ray) is a really fun character, and the POV character
(Simone) grows on you a lot over the book. But for a lot of the time, the cis POV MC is mostly asking dumb questions for Ray and Simone's trans roommate to answer. Additionally, the MCs are a thinly veiled Claire and Brad from the BA test kitchen, and I get the ick - it feels like the (white) author saw the way the racism and lack of pay for video appearances went down at BA and said "let's make
that about me." Neither of the main characters sees the lack of POC at the magazine or in front of the camera as
their issue, despite Simone realizing this is the case once it's pointed out to her). In the end, the book does what BA did. All of the POC characters are very minor side characters that always appear as a group and never have their own projects, and the lack of POC in the company only ever comes up once or twice more when one of the POC mentions it as an add-on to Ray's reasons for leaving the magazine.
(Simone) grows on you a lot over the book. But for a lot of the time, the cis POV MC is mostly asking dumb questions for Ray and Simone's trans roommate to answer. Additionally, the MCs are a thinly veiled Claire and Brad from the BA test kitchen, and I get the ick - it feels like the (white) author saw the way the racism and lack of pay for video appearances went down at BA and said "let's make
that about me." Neither of the main characters sees the lack of POC at the magazine or in front of the camera as
their issue, despite Simone realizing this is the case once it's pointed out to her). In the end, the book does what BA did. All of the POC characters are very minor side characters that always appear as a group and never have their own projects, and the lack of POC in the company only ever comes up once or twice more when one of the POC mentions it as an add-on to Ray's reasons for leaving the magazine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia and Deadnaming
Moderate: Blood
ichewonpushpins's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-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
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Deadnaming
Moderate: Blood
friendofdorothea's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
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
4.75
Really great trans representation
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Transphobia, and Biphobia
Moderate: Deadnaming and Dysphoria
courtneyclouts's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Blood
Moderate: Deadnaming, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Bullying, Biphobia, Dysphoria, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Gaslighting
tarynreadss's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-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
4.0
This was such a cute romance. It’s workplace romance, grumpy/sunshine (kinda?), educational, funny, cute, sweet, and a quick read! I really enjoyed It. I’d never read a romance with a non-binary love interest and this was truly a great book. I loved that they worked in the food industry too! It made it even cuter, I don’t know why. Ray and Simone are so good together I absolutely adored them. I do wish the pacing would have been a little bit faster, I think it was slightly rushed at the end. I wanted more of their romance!!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Minor: Blood