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A review by craftychelc
All the Better Part of Me by Molly Ringle
3.0
All the Better Part of Me follows Sinter Blackwell, a 25 year old aspiring actor temporarily living in London who, at the start of the book, is beginning to question his sexuality and his feelings for his childhood best friend, Andy. The book follows Sinter as he struggles to define his identity, both to himself and those around him, alongside his burgeoning career and personal relationships.
If this book had just been about Sinter exploring his sexuality and coming to terms with it, I think I could have loved it. Sinter was an engaging main character with a great voice, and his relationship with Andy was sweet and one you could easily root for. His antagonistic relationship with his parents was tough to read, but very much an unfortunate reflection of what many LGBT+ kids have to go through, so felt like an honest portrayal, albeit with a happy ending. And explicitly defining bicurious AND bisexual in a book, especially with regards to a male character, is so rarely seen that this book should definitely be celebrated for doing so.
I just.. didn’t gel with the unnecessary drama in what could have been a really poignant identity story. Yes, it was good to show Sinter hooking up with men and women (after all, the whole definition of bisexuality) but the pregnancy added an entire new layer onto this story that I felt it could do without. I felt at points like I was reading two separate stories: one about Sinter exploring his sexuality, and one about Sinter stepping up as a father.
I’m also not ever really a fan of using trauma to advance a romance plot, and especially not when it is your gay character suffering. There are so many instances of this in queer literature that it feels old, and the almost ‘bury your gays’ trope isn’t ever fun to read. There are so many ways to move around a problem (healthy communication!!!!!) that including an almost-fatal car crash for shock value and to kickstart a character into action feels cheap.
So while I enjoyed the characters I have to say I’m a little dismayed that I didn’t totally love this book, especially considering there are barely any queer new adult books out there with a bisexual MC. And, whilst I do appreciate the rep, it is always easy to see when a queer book has been written by someone who is not really part of the community – just the little things, like the idea that you have to figure out your sexuality as a teenager, or the sex scenes – but it is encouraging that these books are written, and will hopefully carve a little niche in the market for openly queer authors to write openly queer characters.
If this book had just been about Sinter exploring his sexuality and coming to terms with it, I think I could have loved it. Sinter was an engaging main character with a great voice, and his relationship with Andy was sweet and one you could easily root for. His antagonistic relationship with his parents was tough to read, but very much an unfortunate reflection of what many LGBT+ kids have to go through, so felt like an honest portrayal, albeit with a happy ending. And explicitly defining bicurious AND bisexual in a book, especially with regards to a male character, is so rarely seen that this book should definitely be celebrated for doing so.
I just.. didn’t gel with the unnecessary drama in what could have been a really poignant identity story. Yes, it was good to show Sinter hooking up with men and women (after all, the whole definition of bisexuality) but the pregnancy added an entire new layer onto this story that I felt it could do without. I felt at points like I was reading two separate stories: one about Sinter exploring his sexuality, and one about Sinter stepping up as a father.
I’m also not ever really a fan of using trauma to advance a romance plot, and especially not when it is your gay character suffering. There are so many instances of this in queer literature that it feels old, and the almost ‘bury your gays’ trope isn’t ever fun to read. There are so many ways to move around a problem (healthy communication!!!!!) that including an almost-fatal car crash for shock value and to kickstart a character into action feels cheap.
So while I enjoyed the characters I have to say I’m a little dismayed that I didn’t totally love this book, especially considering there are barely any queer new adult books out there with a bisexual MC. And, whilst I do appreciate the rep, it is always easy to see when a queer book has been written by someone who is not really part of the community – just the little things, like the idea that you have to figure out your sexuality as a teenager, or the sex scenes – but it is encouraging that these books are written, and will hopefully carve a little niche in the market for openly queer authors to write openly queer characters.