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queerbooklover 's review for:
As Far as You'll Take Me
by Phil Stamper
Before starting my mini-review I want to thank @bloomsbury for granting me my wish and allowing me to read As Far As You'll Take Me beforehand and review it.
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TW: homophobia, outing, religious trauma, HP references,anxiety
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As a queer person who has been only reading queer YA and New Adult books for the last 10 months, As Far As You'll Take Me struck my interest immediately. I admit, the gorgeous cover also played a part in it. No one can deny how beautiful this cover looks.
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When it comes to the book itself, there were many things that I enjoyed and a few things that didn't hit the mark for me. Firstly,pros.The book talks about some important issues like mental health. Our main character Marty has anxiety.And I think his anxiety was well written and the fact that he was so well written makes him a relatable character for the readers. At least for me lol. I really related to him in so many aspects.The other point is that the book takes place in United Kingdom.I'm an English Language and Literature major so UK has always been a very interesting place for me. If you are also interested in ever going to UK this book might be interesting for you. It really makes you want to visit the places Marty has visited in the book,I for one would really want to go to UK for a summer holiday. Also,there are many many mentions of Pride which also makes you want to go to a Pride in England. One of the most important thing in the book was about outing and toxic people.So many of us don't understand how we can deal with toxic people.We continue to be friends/lovers with them even though they constantly make us feel like shit . We can't give up on them just because we love them. So I really loved the approach the author took regarding this issue. Lastly,I read The Gravity Of Us which is the authors first book. People had different opinions about that book but I can say that the writing style of this book was better in so many ways.
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Now,cons. These are mostly my personal preferences but I feel like they are important. Firstly,the first 1-2 chapters was hard to get into for me. They weren't as interesting as the rest of the book but once you get over the first 2-3 chapters the rest will follow. Then we have this "Insta Love" trope going on. I'm usually not big on this trope. I feel like you have to get to know the person and bond with the person to fall in love with them. So,I'm not big on this trope. Lastly,this book had a few HP references which I didn't appreciate. I understand that HP played a big part in so many of our lives but we all know what's up with JKR and since this is a queer book it immediately made me uncomfortable. But since I read the e-arc ,the uncorrected version of the book I hope the final version of the book won't have those references.
.
.
TW: homophobia, outing, religious trauma, HP references,anxiety
.
.
As a queer person who has been only reading queer YA and New Adult books for the last 10 months, As Far As You'll Take Me struck my interest immediately. I admit, the gorgeous cover also played a part in it. No one can deny how beautiful this cover looks.
.
.
When it comes to the book itself, there were many things that I enjoyed and a few things that didn't hit the mark for me. Firstly,pros.The book talks about some important issues like mental health. Our main character Marty has anxiety.And I think his anxiety was well written and the fact that he was so well written makes him a relatable character for the readers. At least for me lol. I really related to him in so many aspects.The other point is that the book takes place in United Kingdom.I'm an English Language and Literature major so UK has always been a very interesting place for me. If you are also interested in ever going to UK this book might be interesting for you. It really makes you want to visit the places Marty has visited in the book,I for one would really want to go to UK for a summer holiday. Also,there are many many mentions of Pride which also makes you want to go to a Pride in England. One of the most important thing in the book was about outing and toxic people.So many of us don't understand how we can deal with toxic people.We continue to be friends/lovers with them even though they constantly make us feel like shit . We can't give up on them just because we love them. So I really loved the approach the author took regarding this issue. Lastly,I read The Gravity Of Us which is the authors first book. People had different opinions about that book but I can say that the writing style of this book was better in so many ways.
.
.
Now,cons. These are mostly my personal preferences but I feel like they are important. Firstly,the first 1-2 chapters was hard to get into for me. They weren't as interesting as the rest of the book but once you get over the first 2-3 chapters the rest will follow. Then we have this "Insta Love" trope going on. I'm usually not big on this trope. I feel like you have to get to know the person and bond with the person to fall in love with them. So,I'm not big on this trope. Lastly,this book had a few HP references which I didn't appreciate. I understand that HP played a big part in so many of our lives but we all know what's up with JKR and since this is a queer book it immediately made me uncomfortable. But since I read the e-arc ,the uncorrected version of the book I hope the final version of the book won't have those references.