A review by betweentheshelves
Act Cool by Tobly McSmith

emotional sad 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

 Thanks to Quill Tree Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book to review! I am actually completely in love with this cover. The color pallette is amazing and I think it really fits the story. I also read Stay Gold last year and was interested to see what this author did next!

Unfortunately, this book missed the mark for me. I just don’t think McSmith’s writing style is for me. Stay Gold was a book that didn’t really seem to know what it wanted to do, and I felt much the same about this one. August acts so much in this story that it’s difficult to pick out what his actual identity is. He loses himself in his love for acting, and this isn’t quite resolved by the end of the book.

Additionally, the romance in the book felt forced to me. Honestly, I don’t even think this story needed the side romance; there’s so much here with August dealing with his parents that I think this plot line could have been completely removed. Instead, I wanted more from August and his Aunt. This was the best aspect of the book as the two of them gain the courage to breakaway from August’s parents. That’s the redeeming quality of book, in my opinion.

While I understand the acting was a huge part of August’s journey, I wanted to see more resolution in terms of breaking away from transphobic parents. Also, I thought we had finally gotten away from inculding deadnames in books with trans main characters, but I guess not. It’s been done in other books, so let’s keep that trend!

Anyway, there were good aspects to this book, but overall, it wasn’t really for me. I can see some teens relating to it, though! 
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I just don't think McSmith's writing style is for me. This book was very much a mixed bag for me. Full review to come next week!
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