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A review by mxbluet18
Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
tense
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? No
5.0
Trigger warnings for Stay Gold include: transphobia, misgendering, deadnaming, homophobia and suicidal ideation.
☆
☆
🔷“Pony, you are not alone. All these people love and support you without even meeting you. This hard time will pass. You just be strong.”🔷
•
This book is everything I could want in a romance book. It's fairly light-hearted for the most part, but still discusses some more sensitive topics with due care.
~
It had trans representation, in multiple forms, both from the perspective of out and proud trans people, and stealth trans people. I also like that the romance was present but not exactly the full focus (which is how I prefer my YA romance books to be).
~
It might sound stupid, but even in fiction, having a trans or non-binary character's deadname brought up feels gross and wrong. That's one piece of information I'd never once even think of wanting to know about any trans person, nor would I ever use it for them (unless asked) even if I didn't like them.
~
🔷“Well, now you have a son named Pony, and if you don’t accept that, you will lose him. Maybe we all will.”🔷
•
I think this is an important note to end on, even if it's somewhat of a delicate and hard topic to talk about. Accepting trans people, and using the name and pronouns they ask is literally suicide prevention. The statistics of trans youth who either make an attempt on their life, or sadly end their life, are far too high. But making small changes to the words used to talk about and to those trans people might just save a life.
☆
☆
🔷“Pony, you are not alone. All these people love and support you without even meeting you. This hard time will pass. You just be strong.”🔷
•
This book is everything I could want in a romance book. It's fairly light-hearted for the most part, but still discusses some more sensitive topics with due care.
~
It had trans representation, in multiple forms, both from the perspective of out and proud trans people, and stealth trans people. I also like that the romance was present but not exactly the full focus (which is how I prefer my YA romance books to be).
~
It might sound stupid, but even in fiction, having a trans or non-binary character's deadname brought up feels gross and wrong. That's one piece of information I'd never once even think of wanting to know about any trans person, nor would I ever use it for them (unless asked) even if I didn't like them.
~
🔷“Well, now you have a son named Pony, and if you don’t accept that, you will lose him. Maybe we all will.”🔷
•
I think this is an important note to end on, even if it's somewhat of a delicate and hard topic to talk about. Accepting trans people, and using the name and pronouns they ask is literally suicide prevention. The statistics of trans youth who either make an attempt on their life, or sadly end their life, are far too high. But making small changes to the words used to talk about and to those trans people might just save a life.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts