Tiffany Preston

Fantastic

Revisado: 11-07-21

Kacen Callender does it again! I adored This is Kind of an Epic Love Story and the world building they did within that story, and once again they’ve crafted such a beautiful, meaningful story! Almost every part of Felix’s journey resonated with me, especially his struggle with his gender identity. What I loved and appreciated the most about this book was that Callender didn’t hesitate to lean into the heavy shit. Felix lives out a nightmare that an unfortunate majority of trans folks can probably relate to, being publicly deadnamed within a space you thought was safe and having all of that security ripped away from you. Felix handles it as well as one could, he’s a brave and bold individual, and watching him grow into his identity and into his own self-love was heart-wrenching, heart-warming, and fulfilling. All of the other characters were also wonderfully fleshed out, they were people that were easy to love and hate at the same time. This book was a delight to read, I can always recommend a Kacen Callender novel.

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We stan an author that calls out biphobia in their reader base

Revisado: 11-07-21

This book came to me highly recommended by a good friend whose taste in books is impeccable. Somehow it took me too long to actually read, but now that I have I can’t get it out of my head. Perfect on Paper starts out like your typical queer high school romance, a girl is in love with her best friend but too afraid to tell her. However, this girl, Darcy, also happens to give anonymous love advice to her entire school. She has a fairly high success rate, so it’s no surprise that someone finally manages to suss out who exactly is behind locker 89 (the locker through which she runs her questionably legal advice business). Unfortunately for Darcy, it’s perfectly annoying Alexander Brougham that discovers her, and in exchange for his silence, she must agree to become his personal dating coach so he can win back his ex-girlfriend. The unexpected beauty of this book is the blatant discussion of biphobia and internalized-biphobia. As a bisexual reader, this meant a lot to me, because it’s so rare to see. Sophie Gonzales has even stated herself that “this book is a subtweet” to the backlash she received from a previous book featuring a bisexual character that ends up in a “straight-passing” (male/female) relationship.

It may not be common knowledge to general society or even common knowledge to monosexual queer folks (as is shown in the book), but bisexual folks experience phobic behaviors from all sides. From straight folks, from other queer folks, and from themselves, because it’s that deeply ingrained. I’m glad Gonzales took the opportunity to discuss it, and validate any bisexual reader that happens across this book because the relationship that you are currently in does not define your sexuality. Rather than being “half-gay” or “half-straight”, bisexuality on its own is a whole, valid identity. Also, worth mentioning: enemies-to-lovers storyline (more like begrudging-acquaintance-to-lovers), trans representation (side-character), and some cheesy relationship advice.

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