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A review by leahlovesloslibros
I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
When Ben comes out to their parents as non-binary, their worse nightmare comes true: their parents don't accept them. To make things worse, their parents kick them out of the house, immediately, forcing them to go move in with their estranged sister, Hannah, and her husband, whom they have never even met. While most students don't find high school easy, there is an added level of difficulty when you transfer to a new school with only the second semester of senior year remaining, especially when no one knows you are nonbinary so you are constantly triggered by their [unintentional] misgendering. When Ben meets Nathan, the cute boy who has been assigned to show them around, they can't help but feel a bit of a crush for him. But Nathan couldn't possibly be interested in Ben, right...?
This is a hard story of coming out. While some individuals are lucky enough to be accepted by their loved ones, Ben's story is not the same. When they go to live with their sister and her husband, they begrudgingly agree to go to therapy, which may or may not actually be helpful for them. The discussion of mental health, including panic attacks, depression, and anxiety, may be triggering for some, but it is something that is very real to many people, both within the queer community and outside of it. In my opinion, Mason Deaver did a thorough job navigating through the intricacies of being in therapy.
Ben's relationships with their friends, both online and at their new school, presented some complications, both for the characters and for myself as a reader. First off, their best friend lives across the country, which makes it hard for them both to communicate at times. When Ben makes friends at their new school, they feel like they can't be their full self since they are hiding a huge part of who they are (being non-binary). Even through these complications, their friends show up for them, and do their best to make Ben feel loved and included. Deaver wrote the teen narrative in a convincing way, although I wish there would have been a bit more depth to the side characters.
Perhaps the most difficult thing that Ben struggles with, though, is dealing with their parents' disapproval. After they were kicked out of their house, they didn't know what that meant for their relationship with their parents. While part of Ben missed their parents and desperately yearned for their acceptance, another part of them couldn't imagine still loving them or even being in their lives, knowing that they didn't reciprocate that unconditional love. This complex situation presented Ben with many conflicting feelings throughout the book.
There is much to be learned about being non-binary, no matter how much you already know. The fact that this book was written by a non-binary author makes it that much more alluring because we can see some of the struggles that non-binary individuals face through the eyes of an own voices author. That said, remember that everyone's story is different, so just reading one book will not give you all of the information that you need to know.
While I mostly enjoyed this book, and it was definitely a quick read, there were some things left to be desired, especially regarding the relationships between Ben and some of their friends.
Rep: Non-binary MC, BIPOC SC
This is a hard story of coming out. While some individuals are lucky enough to be accepted by their loved ones, Ben's story is not the same. When they go to live with their sister and her husband, they begrudgingly agree to go to therapy, which may or may not actually be helpful for them. The discussion of mental health, including panic attacks, depression, and anxiety, may be triggering for some, but it is something that is very real to many people, both within the queer community and outside of it. In my opinion, Mason Deaver did a thorough job navigating through the intricacies of being in therapy.
Ben's relationships with their friends, both online and at their new school, presented some complications, both for the characters and for myself as a reader. First off, their best friend lives across the country, which makes it hard for them both to communicate at times. When Ben makes friends at their new school, they feel like they can't be their full self since they are hiding a huge part of who they are (being non-binary). Even through these complications, their friends show up for them, and do their best to make Ben feel loved and included. Deaver wrote the teen narrative in a convincing way, although I wish there would have been a bit more depth to the side characters.
Perhaps the most difficult thing that Ben struggles with, though, is dealing with their parents' disapproval. After they were kicked out of their house, they didn't know what that meant for their relationship with their parents. While part of Ben missed their parents and desperately yearned for their acceptance, another part of them couldn't imagine still loving them or even being in their lives, knowing that they didn't reciprocate that unconditional love. This complex situation presented Ben with many conflicting feelings throughout the book.
There is much to be learned about being non-binary, no matter how much you already know. The fact that this book was written by a non-binary author makes it that much more alluring because we can see some of the struggles that non-binary individuals face through the eyes of an own voices author. That said, remember that everyone's story is different, so just reading one book will not give you all of the information that you need to know.
While I mostly enjoyed this book, and it was definitely a quick read, there were some things left to be desired, especially regarding the relationships between Ben and some of their friends.
Rep: Non-binary MC, BIPOC SC
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, and Sexual content
Additional TW/CW: parents kicking child out because of lifestyle, misgendering, smoking reference, depression/anxiety, underage drinking, Harry Potter references