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siggyo's review against another edition
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs, Alcohol, Racism, Sexual content, Homophobia, and Grief
Minor: Vomit and Death of parent
its_vendetta's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-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
3.75
Loved the conversation about how fan culture treats celebrities, especially younger kids and adults, in the spotlight. The discussion on how that further affects queer people and people of color was amazing and needs to be said more.
However the plot felt a little all over the place sometimes, and the inclusion of so many side characters felt overwhelming.
Maybe if the book was dual POV so we could see how Hunter handled being criticized and then switched to Kaivan so he could discuss the struggles that he faces. It felt very competitive whenever Hunter had his meltdown, like a “who has it worse” contest. I wish the book was longer or gave more space to work through all the very serious topics Hunter, Kaivan, and the other band members were dealing with; instead of rushing through the ending in Hunters POV.
Overall, loved how flawed Hunter is as a character. It felt very realistic. However, I wished the side characters were more developed and the plot and struggles they go through were looked at more closely instead of just brushing by them. I also wish that the romance was more developed as well. My enjoyment with this book was about 4.5 stars, but with all my notes and the problems i’d put it at a 3.25.
However the plot felt a little all over the place sometimes, and the inclusion of so many side characters felt overwhelming.
Overall, loved how flawed Hunter is as a character. It felt very realistic. However, I wished the side characters were more developed and the plot and struggles they go through were looked at more closely instead of just brushing by them. I also wish that the romance was more developed as well. My enjoyment with this book was about 4.5 stars, but with all my notes and the problems i’d put it at a 3.25.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Alcohol and Bullying
Minor: Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Cultural appropriation, and Death of parent
donttellmomwhatimreading's review against another edition
3.5
Hunter’s life is a mess. He’s on his first North American tour with his bandmates/friends, recently out of a relationship with his best friend’s twin brother, and said ex just leaked text about their sex life. So having the whole world know details about his sex life isn’t great, but the label trying to market him as “a bottom” means a look that doesn’t feel like himself and constant questions about being queer. Kaivan Is the drummer for their opener and being with him feels great, he’s determined not to make the same mistakes from his prior relationship, unfortunately he’s 17 and has an immense amount of pressure on him that he refuses to share.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Death of parent, Sexual content, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, and Fatphobia
tkhenry99's review
3.0
the book explores some important themes and the format is cool, but i think it tries to tackle too much and there’s poor balance between the scenes of hunter, hunter and kaivan, and hunter and everyone else. the other characters don’t feel important to the story, it’s almost like they’re just there for convenience. so much happens before the book takes place and i felt like i didn’t have a good understanding of why things happened bc it was just summarized for the reader later (literally summarized in the form of interviews). i was disappointed that kaivan’s brothers actually never appear on page (that one 2-line interaction doesn’t count). i also felt like being in the band wasn’t even integral to the story, they could’ve been any other kind of celebrity, bc most of them being a band also happens off-page. also, why did hunter just literally never talk to his friends about anything ever?
tbh it feels like the author set out to write a boyband!AU without making it fanfic and somehow fanfic concepts don’t seem to translate well to regular fiction.
tbh it feels like the author set out to write a boyband!AU without making it fanfic and somehow fanfic concepts don’t seem to translate well to regular fiction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, and Racism
Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Bullying
evelynyle_88's review against another edition
challenging
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: Toxic relationship, Homophobia, and Racism
Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Alcohol
Minor: Death of parent, Fatphobia, and Adult/minor relationship
jgarrin93's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Alcohol
pucksandpaperbacks's review
Content Warnings: Queer and racial microaggressions, racism, f-slur on page, homophobia, sexual content, mention of dieting and calorie counting, underage drinking, sports injury, alcoholism.
I devoured this book like I was eating a plate of poutine. Kiss & Tell is an excellent commentary on sports injuries, kids being thrown into the public eye with no support or resources, and the way the public scrutinizes young queer celebrities; especially gay men. But it doesn’t shy away from the important topics of the way POC are treated in the music industry.
Our main character, Hunter Drake is a 17-year-old boy from Vancouver, BC, a Canucks fan, and a drummer. While on tour with his band, Kiss & Tell, made up of his best friends; Ian, Ashton, Ethan, and Owen, and grieving the loss of his dead and fresh heartbreak, Hunter quickly realizes he’s taking on too much. As he agrees to stage a fake dating with Kaivan, a boy in their opener, PAR-K; an Iranian-American band of brothers, in an attempt at damage control after a controversy strikes.
Hunter is in over his head when The Label demands he dress a certain way and act more feminine to sell the image. The book is a great commentary on how intense the music industry can be. Hunter is a messy character who is self-centered but as his racial biases are checked, he begins to grow. I love how Khorram shows Hunter as a messy boy who holds in his feelings until he explodes and doesn’t give him a pass when his privilege is showing.
Kiss & Tell hit all the right chords and doesn’t shy away from the reality of being a teenage boy. The book is sex positive and open about gay sex and men’s mental health. I had such a fun time reading this book. I highly recommend it! I do hope this isn’t the last we see of Kiss & Tell because I would love to read more books about the other characters because the boys were so much fun to read.
As a hockey fan and someone who grew up in the One Direction fandom era, this was such a treat!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Homophobia
Queer and racial microaggressions, racism, f-slur on page, homophobia, sexual content, mention of dieting and calorie counting, underage drinking, sports injury, alcoholism.elskabee's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-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
3.0
I mean you get what it says on the tin! It's a fairly straightforward teen romance starring an openly gay boy band member. The writing was very YA, easy to read and very simple. I felt like the discussions about fame were fairly surface level and at times very repetitive. The romance was sweet but it has the typical third act break up and the fight was messy in an uncomfortable way that made their getting back together at the end a little questionable. I might have given it a higher rating if it weren't for the rushed and messy breakdown the character has. It lasts all of like 1 or 2 hours despite how extreme it is and no one comes away with any genuine takeaways aside from "don't bottle up shit and tell your friends about said shit". I also could help but think throughout the book about how the character is a minor and his sexts got leaked and the public are speculating about his sex life and how the fact that he is only 17 is hardly ever mentioned? It might have been better if the characters were aged up a bit so that I wouldn't have to constantly be distracted and think "why are people talking this way about a minor without any of the implications being mentioned".
One aspect I really liked was the emails between the PR and management and co. They gave an extra insight that we don't get from the main character and the way they talk in the emails is brutal because it's where our main character doesn't see. They way they talked about him as if he was a product was - I'm not sure how to put it - disgusting as hell. However, it felt realistic in a painful way and I think that element of management controlling everything the group says or does should have been even more intense to be even more realistic. The other inserts of social media posts and articles were very hit or miss for me, some added while others just felt unnecessary.
The main thing that boosted this book's rating for me was that the main character was very self-centred in a very believable and somewhat sympathetic way. Like he did have a lot of shit to deal with and that made him make some questionable decisions and impact his relationships with others. But also, he was so self-involved that he didn't stop to consider things from anyone else's point of view and that ultimately made things worse. A teenager dealing with that much bullshit I could totally believe would act that way and then thankfully learn from it! The only part that this didn't work for was the poorly handled stuff in the third act I mentioned in the spoilers above.
One aspect I really liked was the emails between the PR and management and co. They gave an extra insight that we don't get from the main character and the way they talk in the emails is brutal because it's where our main character doesn't see. They way they talked about him as if he was a product was - I'm not sure how to put it - disgusting as hell. However, it felt realistic in a painful way and I think that element of management controlling everything the group says or does should have been even more intense to be even more realistic. The other inserts of social media posts and articles were very hit or miss for me, some added while others just felt unnecessary.
The main thing that boosted this book's rating for me was that the main character was very self-centred in a very believable and somewhat sympathetic way. Like he did have a lot of shit to deal with and that made him make some questionable decisions and impact his relationships with others. But also, he was so self-involved that he didn't stop to consider things from anyone else's point of view and that ultimately made things worse. A teenager dealing with that much bullshit I could totally believe would act that way and then thankfully learn from it! The only part that this didn't work for was the poorly handled stuff in the third act I mentioned in the spoilers above.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Alcohol, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexual content and Racism
there's a lot of slut-shaming including internalised stuff with the main character. The main character is harrassed by fans several times throughout the book, including non-consensual touching (e.g. being grabbed). Near the the end of the bookparasolcrafter's review
emotional
lighthearted
sad
tense
fast-paced
- 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
0.5
this book SUCKED you guys dont even know how glad i am to be finished with it. my god.
the characters are underdeveloped and some hinge solely on stereotypes, a couple are barely there (like why were owen and especially ian there so scarcely??? makes no sense!!!) despite the fact that the book focuses on a boy band who are all, seemingly, best friends, and overall none of them are all that likeable. hunter is a self-obsessed boy who seems to think the world revolves around the fact that hes a bottom (did the author think if he didnt mention the fact that hunter is a bottom in every chapter that we'd forget??? made me so mad. shut up about it.), kaivan is okay but has almost no personality, aidan is the stereotypical bitter ex, and ashton is just...there. nothing of note really happens in the book either...? like it doesnt break any ground. doesnt do anything new. doesnt really pose any questions about society. it was all so shallow
the characters are underdeveloped and some hinge solely on stereotypes, a couple are barely there (like why were owen and especially ian there so scarcely??? makes no sense!!!) despite the fact that the book focuses on a boy band who are all, seemingly, best friends, and overall none of them are all that likeable. hunter is a self-obsessed boy who seems to think the world revolves around the fact that hes a bottom (did the author think if he didnt mention the fact that hunter is a bottom in every chapter that we'd forget??? made me so mad. shut up about it.), kaivan is okay but has almost no personality, aidan is the stereotypical bitter ex, and ashton is just...there. nothing of note really happens in the book either...? like it doesnt break any ground. doesnt do anything new. doesnt really pose any questions about society. it was all so shallow
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Alcohol, Body shaming, Classism, Cultural appropriation, and Racism
Minor: Fatphobia and Death of parent
jailene's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Alcohol and Homophobia