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A review by danwyn
Arthur and Teddy Are Coming Out by Ryan Love
2.0
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
So here’s the honest part: I didn’t enjoy this book. It was a slog from start to finish. I read multiple other books in the time it took me to read this one as I kept picking it up and putting it back down. If I wasn’t going to review it, I would have DNF’ed. The premise was really cute, which is what made me request it from NetGalley in the first place, but the execution was incredibly lacking in my opinion. The writing style left a lot to be desired. It’s heavy on dialogue and straightforward statements to describe things with very little narration or character building. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters, and the multiple conflicts that arise are solved with no actual character development by anyone actually on page. There was a lot of potential in every part of this story. The characters could’ve been really endearing and interesting. The plot had a lot going for it and points that could’ve drawn the reader in but they play out in such a bland way that I found myself just not carrying at all. It also felt very disconnected from the real world. It’s set in England and I’m American, so maybe there’s something lost in cultural translation there but I read plenty of contemporary fiction set in the UK and don’t usually have this issue. In all honesty, this felt like a first draft. All the plot points are there. The basic vibe is there. Now the author needs to go back and actually make it compelling.
Something I did like was Arthur and Madeleine’s relationship. It felt like the most honest and developed of everything. I would’ve liked to see the care put into writing their relationship in the rest of the book.
There was basically nothing I liked about Teddy’s storyline.
I gave it 2 stars but that might have been generous. There may be an audience out there for this book, but it wasn’t me.
So here’s the honest part: I didn’t enjoy this book. It was a slog from start to finish. I read multiple other books in the time it took me to read this one as I kept picking it up and putting it back down. If I wasn’t going to review it, I would have DNF’ed. The premise was really cute, which is what made me request it from NetGalley in the first place, but the execution was incredibly lacking in my opinion. The writing style left a lot to be desired. It’s heavy on dialogue and straightforward statements to describe things with very little narration or character building. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters, and the multiple conflicts that arise are solved with no actual character development by anyone actually on page. There was a lot of potential in every part of this story. The characters could’ve been really endearing and interesting. The plot had a lot going for it and points that could’ve drawn the reader in but they play out in such a bland way that I found myself just not carrying at all. It also felt very disconnected from the real world. It’s set in England and I’m American, so maybe there’s something lost in cultural translation there but I read plenty of contemporary fiction set in the UK and don’t usually have this issue. In all honesty, this felt like a first draft. All the plot points are there. The basic vibe is there. Now the author needs to go back and actually make it compelling.
Something I did like was Arthur and Madeleine’s relationship. It felt like the most honest and developed of everything. I would’ve liked to see the care put into writing their relationship in the rest of the book.
There was basically nothing I liked about Teddy’s storyline.
I gave it 2 stars but that might have been generous. There may be an audience out there for this book, but it wasn’t me.