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A review by linda_1410
Beta Test by Annabeth Albert
3.0
While I liked this book for many of the same reasons that I liked Status Update, this one suffers from being a variation on the same theme. Two guys, one quasi-closeted from an ultra conservative family and the other one openly gay and from a not quite as conservative family meet and fall in love while on a road trip, where they have to make an unexpected stop when their van dies. The plot was just too "I just read this" for me to be all that interested in the story's progression.
There are differences. The characters themselves aren't exact replicas of Adrian and Noah (who make very brief appearances in this book), and their backgrounds are pretty different, and the reasons for Tristan being on the downlow are much different from Noah. I was kind of with Ravi at first in the "just lose 'em" mentality when Tristan's parents were putting so much pressure on him to "be discreet," but as we learn more about the situation it makes a lot more sense. I also didn't feel like Ravi was as pushy with Tristan as Adrian was at times with Noah, though they both only have the others' interest at heart.
Also, there was no actual beta testing going on in this book. Relationship-wise, sure, I guess, but on the tech front? Not so much. Just in case anyone was going into this with dreams of geek love blooming over technobabble innuendo.
Given the extremely problematic books we've seen recently in M/M when it comes to characters of color, I found it refreshing how Ravi was written here. Never did I feel the need to cringe about what might possibly be coming, and never did I feel like Ravi's ethnicity was just set dressing. The author didn't make a big deal out of it when describing him, but there were little things throughout that can and do happen to people of Asian Indian descent, or really anyone with even a hint of brown in their skin - like being mistaken for a Muslim and therefore a terrorist (this has happened to so many people I know, and we're Hispanic, y'all), or someone making a comment that ethnic guys are hot (as if it were a kink, which I've heard at least some POC complain about). Even Tristan asks if everyone in Ravi's family watches Bollywood movies - and immediately apologizes for his ignorance of Indian culture. It's not sinister and isn't taken that way. It's asked in much the same way you might ask someone from England if they like tea. Ravi's race is not the focus of the story or his characterization, but it's not ignored either, and I feel like it was handled respectfully and realistically. If there were problematic elements to it, I didn't pick up on them.
There are differences. The characters themselves aren't exact replicas of Adrian and Noah (who make very brief appearances in this book), and their backgrounds are pretty different, and the reasons for Tristan being on the downlow are much different from Noah. I was kind of with Ravi at first in the "just lose 'em" mentality when Tristan's parents were putting so much pressure on him to "be discreet," but as we learn more about the situation it makes a lot more sense. I also didn't feel like Ravi was as pushy with Tristan as Adrian was at times with Noah, though they both only have the others' interest at heart.
Also, there was no actual beta testing going on in this book. Relationship-wise, sure, I guess, but on the tech front? Not so much. Just in case anyone was going into this with dreams of geek love blooming over technobabble innuendo.
Given the extremely problematic books we've seen recently in M/M when it comes to characters of color, I found it refreshing how Ravi was written here. Never did I feel the need to cringe about what might possibly be coming, and never did I feel like Ravi's ethnicity was just set dressing. The author didn't make a big deal out of it when describing him, but there were little things throughout that can and do happen to people of Asian Indian descent, or really anyone with even a hint of brown in their skin - like being mistaken for a Muslim and therefore a terrorist (this has happened to so many people I know, and we're Hispanic, y'all), or someone making a comment that ethnic guys are hot (as if it were a kink, which I've heard at least some POC complain about). Even Tristan asks if everyone in Ravi's family watches Bollywood movies - and immediately apologizes for his ignorance of Indian culture. It's not sinister and isn't taken that way. It's asked in much the same way you might ask someone from England if they like tea. Ravi's race is not the focus of the story or his characterization, but it's not ignored either, and I feel like it was handled respectfully and realistically. If there were problematic elements to it, I didn't pick up on them.