A review by elliizzzabeth
Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith

emotional hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was sweet and fun but a little strange in places. 2/3rds of the book is a sort of will they won't they between our protagonists Georgia and Pony which is sweet. Then the end takes a bit of a turn. 
Georgia was kind of annoying. I warmed up to her but she is a compulsive liar. But not in a believable way, she instead tells these crazy stories like 'a giraffe broke my car' or 'my dog had kittens'. It came off in the most annoying 'lol I'm so random!!' way it kinda made me hate her at the start. She also is very transphobic ar first which may be hard to read for some people but I thought it was a nice depiction of cluelessness from a straight girl. 
Also Max was almost unbearable. He shames Pony for being stealth and then drops him when he won't do something that could out him. It was so insufferable, I wish he had learnt from his actions in a better way than just reacting to the ending. 
Speaking of the ending: 
I wish that it didn't have to come down to an outing and a hate crime. It just feels very cliche and plays into tropes of queer people having miserable lives. Also Pony standing on stage an outing himself felt more awkward than heroic. It would have been better if we had known about the girls' relationship and knew the stakes rather than it being a surprise.
 
If you want a similar story that is more positive I would recommend the unpopular vote by Jasper Sanchez. I read that one before this and it was a bit of a let down compared to that one
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