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kingrosereads's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Noah reminds me of some friends I had in middle/high school, and yeah they were selfish and our friendship was pretty one sided, but they’re better people now, because that’s kind of what it’s like to be a teen. Teens are just self-absorbed assholes with no real forethought. They’re reckless and act on impulse. Noah’s also obsessed with the idea of romance and having this epic romance. Enter Drew. Freshly graduated Drew is cute and the perfect distraction as Noah stays in Denver for the summer while his parents make the move to California. Noah writes two meet cute stories based on the two run-ins that he has with Drew and Drew happens to be an avid follower and figures out Noah must be the Meet Cute Diary’s mod. Is this far fetched? Yes, but it’s a romance novel, hardly anything in these books are ever plausible.
After Noah’s blog gets called out for being fake (which it is), he loses a bunch of followers and Drew offers to help out by fake dating and being “proof” of the meet cute stories ending up in love. Noah is desperate to save the Diary and as a romantic he assumes the fake dating will turn into real dating soon enough. He puts all his effort into steering the perfect relationship despite Drew clearly being too different and never taking Noah’s interests into account. From the start Drew gave me the ick. He’s 18, practically in college, and starts being very clingy and physical with Noah from the get without even asking Noah if it’s okay. A lot of the things Drew does, Noah just puts up with and accepts all in the name of the Diary and his idea of love.
Noah’s selfishness finally catches up with him when his best friend (back in Miami), Becca, calls him out on his shit and asks for time apart. Noah is a spoiled child that is forced to get a summer job after spending $400 in a week on his parents’ credit card. Noah complains about having to get a job, and complains about the job he gets at a summer camp because he hates children (look, relatable). This is when he meets Devin in a not-so-meet-cute and Devin stress vomits on Noah. Noah does take his frustrations out on Devin at this point, but eventually they develop a nice friendship.
Noah learns that Devin went to his high school (again a bit out there) and Devin’s the trans girl that gave him the tools and courage to come out as a trans boy. Except Devin isn’t a trans girl, e made a mistake and e’s actually non-binary (not really a mistake more of a journey to finding eir true self). For a moment Noah feels betrayed but reins it and tells Devin how eir bravery in coming out met so much to Noah. Devin even feels comfortable enough to try out different pronouns with Noah and Noah without missing a beat accommodates em.
As it turns out, though Drew and Noah end up real dating, it’s completely toxic. Drew’s controlling, handsy, and it seemed to me it was implied that he was dating Noah because Noah has a vagina and breasts (he tells his friends he’s not gay and Noah’s “just special”). Given everything else he’s done it just seems creepy and not genuine. Which does throw Noah into a bit of a spiral as his Diary is also going down in flames.
In the end, it’s a queer teen story about love, self, and friendship. Despite knowing himself and being confident, Noah put a lot of his self-worth into online validation. He puts a lot of importance on romantic love instead of familial or friend love, which a lot of teens do. But he learns from this in the end and actually ends up dating someone who doesn’t consume all of his time and he actually becomes a better friend, brother, and son. I love that his brother is so supportive, makes mistakes with pronouns, but just accepts Noah and Devin. He adjusts accordingly and probably spends time looking up things he doesn’t understand. And he’s quick to call out anyone that misgenders his brother or invalidates him. Noah’s parents might be shocked and struggling with the name change, but by the end of the summer they’re more confident in using his name and pronouns without having to speak slowly to ensure they’re using the right words.
I loved that this book took place shortly after Noah comes out so there are new things Noah’s learning about himself. I like that he isn’t this All-Knowing Queer and even he has to look up the pronouns Devin has him try out on em or the gender/sexual identities Devin thought e was before landing on non-binary. I like the representation of not just a trans boy (which there seems to be more FTM love stories than MTF) but a trans boy comfortable in the body they currently have (as comfortable as a teen can be) who’s also a POC. I like the non-binary and asexual representation, the fact that Noah still likes the occasional dress and Devin likes makeup sometimes. I especially like the contrast between Noah’s confidence and Devin’s hesitance. The mental illness representation and the reality of anxiety attacks. This is where Noah starts to actually have some empathy.
That being said, Noah was really hard to like and the way the blog was written was very silly. The flow of the book was a little over the place. I still think it’s a cute queer YA, that just struggles with either being a quirky queer romcom and a deep coming-of-age (it doesn’t just naturally mesh the two). It’s a fairly quick read which is good for the summertime, but it only just scratches the surface on the deep issues. I think this is fine to start a conversation, but I wish it was more in-depth. This is definitely a 3.5/5.
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria
Minor: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Transphobia
longlost's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, Transphobia, and Vomit
Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Racism, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
aseel_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
vike's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Transphobia
foreverinastory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Rep: Triracial (white, Japanese, Afro-Caribbean) bisexual trans male MC, questioning genderqueer androphile asexual love interest with anxiety, lesbian side character.
CWs: Alcohol consumption (including underage), drug use, dysphoria, gaslighting, mental illness (anxiety), panic attacks/disorders, toxic relationship, transphobia/transmisia, mentions of past coming out, discussion of past suicidal thoughts and attempt, mentions of past bullying, arophobia/aromisia.
Graphic: Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Outing
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia
emily_mh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The main criticism of this book that I see other people have is that Noah is a bad main character. I want to challenge this as I think for the most part that's an unfair reason to dock the book stars. First of all, his narration is conversational and engaging. People say he is annoying, when really he is just cocky and confident which is a trait lauded in other beloved fictional characters (e.g. Tony Stark). And yeah, he's definitely not a perfect person, but that's a lot to expect 16 year-old - plus, he does undergo character development during the novel and recognises his own flaws. Finally, his flaws make him intensely relatable. Everyone messes up, especially at that age, and Noah's character shows how you can grow from those experiences. I really think that the ending of the book is just the beginning for his personal development. This is not to defend some of the decisions he makes, but to drive home the point that imperfection doesn't equal a bad character!
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
Minor: Drug use, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury
puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia
Minor: Suicide attempt
hannahmayhere's review against another edition
- 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
The MC is 16 and is a little immature at times, but he has these lots of shining moments and does a lot of growing throughout the book.
Even though I knew exactly where this plot was going, I still absolutely adored this book. I loved the representation and the arc and it was a great read of trans joy!! Looking forward to more books to come from the author!
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Transphobia, and Vomit
Minor: Bullying and Suicide attempt
Context for minor bullying and minor Suicide attempt content warnings: a character mentions a history of bullying and suicide attempt, but nothing happens on the pagewordwilderness's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Transphobia
betweentheshelves's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This has a lot of great things going for it, with a few flaws along the way. Mostly here for the side characters, as they definitely helped carry the story. Stay tuned for a full review later this week!
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia
Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide, Vomit, and Suicide attempt
The suicide mentions are referencing something from the past, it doesn't actually happen within the events of the book.