A review by atticusbinch
I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver

lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

I wish I liked this book as much as other people do. It may seem silly, but as someone who's nonbinary and already come out to their partners, I found it particularly hard to believe that Ben's parents knew the meaning of the word enough to understand that it should be labeled as 'deviant.' There wasn't a bunch of background info given about them, so I can't speak on their knowledge of gender politics, but I found this aspect hard to believe. They'll accept that their child might be gay as a consolation (later in the book), yet they find being nonbinary really bad? It doesn't add up for me. Also, I'm unsure if it was the fact that I listened at 1.5-2.0x speed, but I felt the pacing was super fast for the book to have barely had anything going on in it. We didn't even know that Nathan liked Ben until the last moments of the book. The payoff of enduring the story didn't feel good. There was no relief and happiness when they got together for me. More like an acknowledgment of its occurrence. It's disappointing and underwhelming in a way I didn't expect. I'll give Mason Deaver another chance because the book wasn't horrible -- just not good? Character development needs a lot of work too!