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ericawrites's review
3.0
Bad Boy is an ambitious book, and I do not think that a lot of it works. The story doesn't start coming together fully for the reader until 70%; it doesn't surprise me that many people DNF'd this. I haven't read Wake's other books in this series or anything else. I have been on a quest to read adult romances featuring trans masculine people, which is what brought me to Bad Boy.
I wish Wake's author's note to his past self had started the book instead of ending it. As I read it, I had no doubt that Wake wrote most of this book either right before his medical transition or during his early medical transition. The author's note somewhat confirms this. As a fellow trans person, I have a lot of empathy for this and for him writing about the things that he was most scared of in a dark romance / psychological thriller format.
I cannot talk about Bad Boy without spoilers. The book hinges on the gaslighting of Ren, our MC, who's in first-person POV for the entire novel and is a trans man. He is being gaslit by his ex-girlfriend/ex-bff/current roommate Ingrid, who wants him to detransition and be her girlfriend again. Ingrid is a TERF and knows all of Ren's secrets and soft places. She also messes with his testosterone, which messes with his moods, in an attempt to detransition him and sew more doubt into him.
Because of the constant gaslighting, Ren's internalized transphobia, especially around narratives of manhood and being a man and the value-neutral hormone testosterone. A lot of Ren's internal dialogue, along with conversations with Ingrid, read like TERF forums and lies about the trans masculine transition. By the time I got to about 50%, I found myself incredibly frustrated with Ren and questioning the value of the work itself. It wasn't until the scene where Ren gets his period that I knew who the villain was and that she was messing with his testosterone.
(Friends, do not take 4x your T dose; if your levels go too high, it just converts into estrogen. Also, because T is a controlled substance, good luck sorting out that mess with your doctor, pharmacy, and insurance to get more.)
Because this is a thriller, Ren does a lot of violence. He talks about a previous suicide attempt, and a lot of the plot centers around reencountering the man who raped him, but he also beats people up, carries a gun, threatens people with it, and even once kills a guy. Ren is part of a group of queer people, who are primarily afab, called Black Iris, who take revenge on cis men who abuse women.
By the end, I understood how Wake was trying to explore masculinity, transition, violence, how people become monsters, and how their lived gender experience factors into that, but it is not exclusive to that; I do not think it worked. There wasn't enough of an ending reconciliation of Ren's earlier internalized transphobia and the actions he takes because of it.
Ren turns a corner when he and Tamsin (his love interest) physically fight, but they never resolve what that means for them. He also doesn't work it out with his friends in Black Iris, whom he spends most of the novel believing they betrayed him. Instead, we get a HEA with Ren and Tamsin taking Ren's sisters out for a beach day.
I was going to rate this 2 stars, but this is the only adult romance I've ever read with a trans masculine MC on T that talked about bottom growth and portrayed it as sexy in a sex scene. Combine that with Wake tackling a very hard subject, and that's deserving of 3 stars.
I wish Wake's author's note to his past self had started the book instead of ending it. As I read it, I had no doubt that Wake wrote most of this book either right before his medical transition or during his early medical transition. The author's note somewhat confirms this. As a fellow trans person, I have a lot of empathy for this and for him writing about the things that he was most scared of in a dark romance / psychological thriller format.
I cannot talk about Bad Boy without spoilers. The book hinges on the gaslighting of Ren, our MC, who's in first-person POV for the entire novel and is a trans man. He is being gaslit by his ex-girlfriend/ex-bff/current roommate Ingrid, who wants him to detransition and be her girlfriend again. Ingrid is a TERF and knows all of Ren's secrets and soft places. She also messes with his testosterone, which messes with his moods, in an attempt to detransition him and sew more doubt into him.
Because of the constant gaslighting, Ren's internalized transphobia, especially around narratives of manhood and being a man and the value-neutral hormone testosterone. A lot of Ren's internal dialogue, along with conversations with Ingrid, read like TERF forums and lies about the trans masculine transition. By the time I got to about 50%, I found myself incredibly frustrated with Ren and questioning the value of the work itself. It wasn't until the scene where Ren gets his period that I knew who the villain was and that she was messing with his testosterone.
(Friends, do not take 4x your T dose; if your levels go too high, it just converts into estrogen. Also, because T is a controlled substance, good luck sorting out that mess with your doctor, pharmacy, and insurance to get more.)
Because this is a thriller, Ren does a lot of violence. He talks about a previous suicide attempt, and a lot of the plot centers around reencountering the man who raped him, but he also beats people up, carries a gun, threatens people with it, and even once kills a guy. Ren is part of a group of queer people, who are primarily afab, called Black Iris, who take revenge on cis men who abuse women.
By the end, I understood how Wake was trying to explore masculinity, transition, violence, how people become monsters, and how their lived gender experience factors into that, but it is not exclusive to that; I do not think it worked. There wasn't enough of an ending reconciliation of Ren's earlier internalized transphobia and the actions he takes because of it.
Ren turns a corner when he and Tamsin (his love interest) physically fight, but they never resolve what that means for them. He also doesn't work it out with his friends in Black Iris, whom he spends most of the novel believing they betrayed him. Instead, we get a HEA with Ren and Tamsin taking Ren's sisters out for a beach day.
I was going to rate this 2 stars, but this is the only adult romance I've ever read with a trans masculine MC on T that talked about bottom growth and portrayed it as sexy in a sex scene. Combine that with Wake tackling a very hard subject, and that's deserving of 3 stars.
bmg20's review against another edition
2.0
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Renard Grant is a popular transgender vlogger who is also a vigilante saving terrorized women in his spare time. If your immediate thought is “that’s a bit of a mouthful” you would be right. Grant’s story is a rousing tale of discovering your true identity; something that Wake can speak from the heart about because his emotions shown clearly through the delivery. The transformation process is discussed in much detail and it’s enlightening and informative, shedding light on something with many pre-conceived notions.
I adored [b:Unteachable|20877902|Unteachable|Leah Raeder|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1395677357s/20877902.jpg|25207434]and while Black Iris and Cam Girl both had their fair share of flaws, there was still much to love and the writing style is something to behold. The issue I had with [b:Bad Boy|23430487|Bad Boy|Elliot Wake|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1467043527s/23430487.jpg|42991010] is there’s simply far too much going on in the few pages there are. There was already enough of a story recounting the experience of transitioning without adding in the concept of a masked vigilante group protecting women. It’s a great concept, the only problem is the transition story was a far more compelling one and the superfluous addition only caused it to pale in comparison. On top of that, the combination of many of Wake’s previous characters from Black Iris and Cam Girl was overwhelming. Each of her characters can hold their own as the star of the show and having them all grouped together, battling for attention, felt like some sort of all-consuming motley (and not in the best way). [b:Bad Boy|23430487|Bad Boy|Elliot Wake|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1467043527s/23430487.jpg|42991010] is still no doubt well worth the read for the edifying aspect alone.
I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Renard Grant is a popular transgender vlogger who is also a vigilante saving terrorized women in his spare time. If your immediate thought is “that’s a bit of a mouthful” you would be right. Grant’s story is a rousing tale of discovering your true identity; something that Wake can speak from the heart about because his emotions shown clearly through the delivery. The transformation process is discussed in much detail and it’s enlightening and informative, shedding light on something with many pre-conceived notions.
I adored [b:Unteachable|20877902|Unteachable|Leah Raeder|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1395677357s/20877902.jpg|25207434]and while Black Iris and Cam Girl both had their fair share of flaws, there was still much to love and the writing style is something to behold. The issue I had with [b:Bad Boy|23430487|Bad Boy|Elliot Wake|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1467043527s/23430487.jpg|42991010] is there’s simply far too much going on in the few pages there are. There was already enough of a story recounting the experience of transitioning without adding in the concept of a masked vigilante group protecting women. It’s a great concept, the only problem is the transition story
Spoiler
and the revenge story on the man that raped Renard when he was still known as SofieI received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
colecordium's review against another edition
5.0
If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would. Review coming closer to release date.
findmebetweenthecovers's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book. I think it might be my favorite book of Elliot's. I laughed - he writes hilariously sarcastic characters. I cried - once in the story, and through the entire acknowledgment. I gasped from shock, from disappointment in a character. I sighed -in that swoony kind of way when you're proud of the character and his growth. And I, I think most importantly, had my mind and heart opened to what a transperson thinks/feels/goes through. I've always tried to be open and loving and compassionate and empathetic to lgbt+ people, but no amount of love or acceptance could give me the insight this book has. Ren, by way of personal reflection, and in his vlogs answered so many questions that are impolite and inappropriate to ask a transperson. This book is a treasure. It's entertaining and enlightening. I loved Elliot's writing style and ability when I read Unteachable, and I've read each of his next books as they came available with as much rapt interest as the first. I imagine publishing this book was scary in the current transphobic society, but this story didn't turn me off of Elliot's work, instead it solidified what I already knew - that I'll follow him and his writing wherever it takes us next.
megatsunami's review against another edition
The author has some beautiful, lyrical writing. Certain plot elements are intriguing and work well together (like the main character trying to separate out what parts of his experience come from testosterone vs his overall mental health vs the environment and situations he's in). The portrayal of someone who's still wrestling with what his gender identity means in the world, five years after transitioning, was vivid and in-depth. The V-logs were a good counterpoint to the story.
Some parts of the plot just did not work and the pacing was weird. The whole idea of Black Iris wasn't totally convincing to me. Characters make weird choices and strange inferences (Ren: "She's not answering my question! That means she's setting me up and trying to kill me!"). Timing was unclear, like when the character says "we've been doing X for months" but as a reader, I thought it had only been a couple of weeks. I hadn't read the previous books in this series so it was WAY too many characters to keep track of, and they all seemed kind of one-note. Cressida/Tamsin seemed like the femme fatale of Ren's fantasies, more than an actual person. I did not find it believable that Ren was experienced at torturing people (i.e. the sexist jerks they target), something which is briefly alluded to a couple of times in the book - just didn't fit with the character.
And ultimately I was troubled by:
(1) the objectifying description of women and sex with women, which I guess kind of fits the genre, and the main character justifies it by blaming testosterone ("oh, once you're on T you can't help but look at women's asses all the time") but... it's still an authorial choice which I did not like and did not think was necessary.
(2)
Some parts of the plot just did not work and the pacing was weird. The whole idea of Black Iris wasn't totally convincing to me. Characters make weird choices and strange inferences (Ren: "She's not answering my question! That means she's setting me up and trying to kill me!"). Timing was unclear, like when the character says "we've been doing X for months" but as a reader, I thought it had only been a couple of weeks. I hadn't read the previous books in this series so it was WAY too many characters to keep track of, and they all seemed kind of one-note. Cressida/Tamsin seemed like the femme fatale of Ren's fantasies, more than an actual person. I did not find it believable that Ren was experienced at torturing people (i.e. the sexist jerks they target), something which is briefly alluded to a couple of times in the book - just didn't fit with the character.
And ultimately I was troubled by:
(1) the objectifying description of women and sex with women, which I guess kind of fits the genre, and the main character justifies it by blaming testosterone ("oh, once you're on T you can't help but look at women's asses all the time") but... it's still an authorial choice which I did not like and did not think was necessary.
(2)
Spoiler
The fact that the ultimate villain ended up being a queer woman. Yes, a transphobic queer woman, but still. It seems weird in such a purportedly feminist novel. I also just did not find the character of Ingrid convincing, nor did I believe she would go the crazy lengths she went to in this book. I get that as a trans writer Wake maybe wants to show the danger of anti-trans sentiment within the LGBTQ community but it really just didn't ring true - like, would anyone ever do this? - and also honestly it felt like kind of some horizontal hostility, finding the ultimate villain out to be someone from within the community. Another authorial choice I didn't agree with and thought had problematic implications.haley_j_casey's review against another edition
4.0
Reading about a trans man, written by a trans man, in a story that's short, sweet, and full of a cast of characters I already love from previous books? YES PLEASE.
court_of_stories's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
- 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
scrollsofdragons's review
5.0
I can't believe I have no Elliot Wake Novels left to read now but honestly no one does messed up characters you can't help but love the way he does it and Ren was just a precious boy I wanna protect at all costs.
kaylakaotik's review against another edition
5.0
This is the fourth book by Elliot Wake (previously published under Leah Raeder) that I've read. It's the fourth book of his that I've fallen in love with. He's one of my instant read authors. New book coming out? Doesn't matter what it is, I want it now.
Throwing this out there real quick, why is reviewing books that we love harder than reviewing books that we don't? I've probably said it a million times, but I really suck at explaining why I loved something. I'd rather just shove the book at you and tell you to read it yourself. It's amazing, what more do you need?!
I love Elliot's characters. They're real. They're broken, flawed, raw people. They're full of grey areas and they're messed up. These are the characters I love. These are the characters I can read about endlessly. No one, and I really mean no one, can do characters like Elliot Wake. It's an art form and he's perfected it.
Speaking of art form, the writing. If you've read Elliot's work before, you probably know what I mean. If you haven't, you're missing out. And there's something special about Bad Boy. The writing is even more refined and sharp than in his previous works. I didn't think it could get any better, but it did. I'm blown away at how skillful of a writer he is.
As for the story, I won't talk about it much. I don't want to spoil anything at all. I will say it's unbelievable (in a good way, that is). It kept my on my toes throughout the entire book. I loved it from beginning to end.
Read this book. Read every book from Elliot Wake. Don't deprive yourself of good books.
* This book was received from Atria Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. *
Throwing this out there real quick, why is reviewing books that we love harder than reviewing books that we don't? I've probably said it a million times, but I really suck at explaining why I loved something. I'd rather just shove the book at you and tell you to read it yourself. It's amazing, what more do you need?!
I love Elliot's characters. They're real. They're broken, flawed, raw people. They're full of grey areas and they're messed up. These are the characters I love. These are the characters I can read about endlessly. No one, and I really mean no one, can do characters like Elliot Wake. It's an art form and he's perfected it.
Speaking of art form, the writing. If you've read Elliot's work before, you probably know what I mean. If you haven't, you're missing out. And there's something special about Bad Boy. The writing is even more refined and sharp than in his previous works. I didn't think it could get any better, but it did. I'm blown away at how skillful of a writer he is.
As for the story, I won't talk about it much. I don't want to spoil anything at all. I will say it's unbelievable (in a good way, that is). It kept my on my toes throughout the entire book. I loved it from beginning to end.
Read this book. Read every book from Elliot Wake. Don't deprive yourself of good books.
* This book was received from Atria Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. *