A Fine Bromance

by Christopher Hawthorne Moss

Robby is a senior in high school when he meets new student Andy. Robby s never experienced sexual attraction, and while that doesn t change, something about Andy makes him feel relaxed, and it turns out they have a lot in common. Neither of them fits in very well, and Robby soon learns through the school s bullies that Andy is a transboy. Sticking together makes life better for both of them.

Then some of Robby s Aunt Ivy s jewelry turns up missing, and Robby and Andy must investigate to discover who s to blame."

Genres: LGBT, Mystery, Romance, Queer, Young Adult, Fiction, Contemporary

180 pages, Paperback

First published August 11, 2016

About the author

Kit wrote his first short story when he was seven years old. When summer camp friend Laura and he started their florid medieval saga they called "The Story" Kit became a regular writer, with mostly wry humorous stories written with like-minded friends.

Kit had a stint writing copy for web sites, and he published a nonfiction work in 1991 titles LOVING THE GODDESS WITHIN.

Kit had been participating in a collaborative writing group called Ghostletters on Yahoogroups, at one point starting to rewrite "The Story" from an adult perspective. He realized he had a novel in all these tales and published it as AN INVOLUNTARY KING which he published independently in 2008. It was such a successful experience he decided to make historical novel writing a career.

Since that book he has continued to write stories, articles, reviews, and more novels, most recently with GLBT themes. He is devoted to using historical fiction to solve the erasure of GLBT history. He became the editor of OUr Story: GLBTQ Historical Fiction for GLBT Bookshelf.

Kit is transgender (FTM) and plans to apply the same plans to transgender fiction.

He lives in the Seattle area with his husband and their doted upon cats.

Reviews

[BWT · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

Told from the POV of both Andy and Robby, the story focuses on the two boys during their senior year of high school.

Andy is FTM transgender, and has moved with his family from Olympia to Seattle in order to start fresh for his senior year where no one knows he used to be "Andrea".

Robby has spent the summer "bulking up" trying to become more fit, partially in an effort to realize his own sexuality.

Though if getting buff doesn’t work, he thought as he dressed, I don’t know what will. No matter what he did, from looking at porn to handling himself down there, he couldn’t get his brain to cooperate with the rest of him. Oh, he got hard if he played with himself, and he could bring himself off, but he just couldn’t respond to the sight of a sexy woman’s body. He looked at the pictures, but no matter how suggestive they were, they did nothing for him.

The two hit it off right away, and begin spending time together, which leads to a close friendship.

Andy and Robby deal with some bullies who are determined to make trouble for Andy, Robby’s eighty-year-old great-aunt Ivy has a small mystery to be solved, and there's the normal teenage angst that accompanies that times everyone's teenage lives.

I thought the story suffered a bit from sometimes being overly descriptive of situations and losing focus on the character's relationship and growth.

The relationship between Robby and Andy could have been better fleshed out, as I really didn't think the set-up for them moving into a more romantic relationship was really set up well. I was also hoping for a better explanation and focus on Robby's asexuality, which isn't even really determined until nearly the end of the story.

I'm not going to lie - for me, the asexual representation is what made me want to pick up the book. I was just hoping for a stronger storyline.

For me, I was slightly disappointed in the whole story. The "mystery" was obvious, the other characters, with the exception of Ivy, didn't feel very well fleshed out, and the times spent on the Quiz Kids and history moments, I felt, took away from the character development that could have happened.

I was just hoping for a more character driven story, and I didn't feel like I got that here.

However, if you're looking for an inclusive teenage coming of age story, with a small mystery, a strong friendship that develops to more, overall good writing, and a HEA epilogue, I strongly encourage you to try it for yourself. Maybe you'll have better luck.

Galley copy of A Fine Bromance provided by Harmony Ink Press in exchange of an honest review.

This review has been cross-posted at Gay Book Reviews.

[Jennifer Oliveira · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet, simple book that brings awareness to topics such as transsexuality, asexuality, bullying and acceptance.
I do know about asexuality and the struggle in this book felt real and I very much liked to read about it. In regards to the transgender character, I'm not sure how realistic the situation was because I don't know as much about it as I know about asexuality, but it still felt good to read.
The writing isn't complex, there are a few things that seem rushed when it comes to the plot, specially the development of the main relationship, and the supposed mystery behind the side story didn't get me all that excited either, which is why I'm rating this book a 3.5/5 (which rounds it up to 4). I still recommend it to anyone interested in these topics, it's a good book and there aren't many like it out there.

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

The following review was originally posted on my book blog The Book Challengers.

DISCLAIMER: An advanced reader's copy (ARC) was provided by the publisher (DSP Publications) via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. If you're interested in reading the story yourself, it goes live on August 11th, 2016!

I really wanted to like this story as it seemed rather sweet to me at first. The blurb intrigued me and I felt in the right mood for a book just like this. Unfortunately I felt that there was a bit too much going on for such a short novel - a young guy coming to grips with his sexuality, a young man in a girl's body trying to transition AND a small mystery with the first young man's great aunt. The story would have flowed better for me if the mystery part would have been avoided altogether.

Although I wasn't a fan of the mystery, I quite enjoyed Robby reaching an understanding about his sexuality, I liked how sure Andy was of his gender even though he was born in one he wasn't comfortable in and I quite liked that their relationship seemed really genuine to me. BUT I have to say that maybe the author could have spent a bit more time on showing us the guys together as guys and spewing out less information on quite random history events. More time on the guys together and less time on random facts, please. And what happened to the other guys we got to know in the very beginning? They simply kind of disappeared never to be seen again.

Maybe I am a bit in the wrong age group here as I'm no longer a teen, but if a teen reader does decide to read the book, then maybe for them this book would be a good source of information on different sexual preferences as Hawthorne Moss definitely did his homework on that front.

On the weaker side of things I felt that the contemporary setting was slightly off as I'm pretty sure teens now could find all kinds of information on sexuality and stuff on the Internet without going to a teacher or a priest for advice. I'm quite sure that the contemporary teen would rather do his//her research on the computer than ask someone first.

So, there's that. A sweet YA book that could use some changes in my opinion, but enjoyable to many without that as well, I think.

[Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this, as I haven’t read anything with a trans main character before, but I’m afraid to say that I didn’t enjoy it very much. From the description I was expecting The Hardy Boys with a twist, but the mystery that is mentioned doesn’t really play much of a part in the story at all. To be honest, I don’t know why it was included, as it didn’t add anything to the plot. I would have preferred it if it had been left out and more had been included about the relationship between Robby and Andy. I think we do need strong LGBT characters in YA and other genres so that young people can see that they’re not alone, and they shouldn’t be afraid to be who they are. But, there needs to be a strong storyline to go with it. This just seemed to be a very basic story with lots of LGBT terms thrown in, as though the author had a checklist to include as many diverse characters as possible in the books short length.

I hate being so negative about it, but I was really hoping for more and I didn’t get it. I wish I could recommend it, just for the way it included so many descriptions of the different terms regarding gender and orientation, but I feel the story wasn’t strong enough to keep the average reader interested.

(I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for review.)

[Bárbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley.com for the opportunity to read this for free! And in advance! YAY!

This was just wonderful!
It was a fun, cute little story, with a very educational side.
From what I could understand, it was very respectful and realistic (I'm obviously open to being corrected if I got it wrong). At least for me, it made a lot of things much clearer, and it's always great to put things in perspective. I know I have a lot to educate myself about still, but this was probably a very useful gateway, I think.
One of the things I found weakest was the mystery part, which I think lost strength or relevance with the other part of the arc; in the end, I saw it coming and I was left wishing it had turned out different, I wanted to be surprised. But oh well, we can't have it all.
One thing I especially enjoyed was the variety of characters, they were all very well done, I think.
All in all, awesome book <3
P.S.: I'm still not sure that the "bromance" part of the title was so accurate, but heh, minor thing.

[Joharis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was provided an e-galley through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I was extremely excited for this book. It dealt with transgender, asexuality, and the LGBT+ community in general, however it was a mess. This was an extremely short story, but it had many things going on at the same time which dulled the plot and just left you confused.

Aunt Ivy´s mystery was clear since the beginning, Andy and Robby had no chemistry whatsoever, things were way too rushed, the characters didn´t have any depth to them.

I wish it could have been less jumbled, while it was educational it tried to mix many elements and that combination did not work out for this book.

[M F · Rating 3 out of 5]

I requested this book from NetGalley because the blurb made me sure of trans representation and hopeful of ace representation, too. On that front, I was right, and that's a good thing, but the book itself was a slight letdown.

It was definitely nice to read something that had a canonically asexual character AND a canonically trans character, and which discussed and explored both of those identities and how they felt in relation to each other. However, the book as a whole didn't particularly shine or engage with me personally, and I would say that these LGBT aspects were its main redeeming feature in my view.

Perhaps that was because I know quite a lot about trans and ace issues, so it seemed a little bit basic -- it's not subtle, and in places it's outright didactic, as characters describe and explain terms to each other. However, maybe people who haven't heard about asexuality would find it a good entry point for more research and discussion, and it's always worth having simpler LGBT stories for those who need those first steps, rather than expecting people to already know things.

I wasn't entirely keen on how it handled the issue of asexuality, but I think that might be because I haven't discussed it with any amab ace people. It sounded a lot more like an issue of arousal than one of attraction, like a physical response rather than an emotional / mental one, which isn't my own experience. But, to put it simply, I don't have a dick, and it's possible it's different for those who do, with arousal playing a larger part.

As for the trans stuff... well, Andy faces a lot of transphobic bullying and a lot of misgendering which isn't dealt with until the very end, and even the sympathetic characters find themselves thinking of him as a girl sometimes. While understandable, particularly in those less educated on the issue, this occasionally rubbed me up the wrong way, because the narrative didn't call them out on it. It seemed out of place for Robbie to be so accepting of Andy's identity and yet refer to him as having "a girl's body" and wondering if kissing him made him straight, because that seemed to negate the gender stuff. Though for the most part it was an informed and sensitive approach, this book slipped up more than once, I think.

One non-LGBT thing that bothered me was how this seemed a bit old-fashioned for a book coming out in 2016. Robbie wonders if he's gay so he goes to a shop and buys a magazine, despite serious embarrassment? Really? He asks a priest and his gym teacher and so on, but not Google? I mean, the book makes it pretty clear the internet exists, but none of the characters ever seem to use it. I'm pretty sure Robbie could have found AVEN without an unlikely-sounding biology lesson from a visiting representative had he just run a few cursory searches, and that combined with the ignorance of most of the characters about trans and other LGBT issues made me wonder if the book was supposed to be set in the recent past instead of the present.

But who knows. Looking back at this review, and thinking of the writing style and general quality of the book, I'm half convincing myself I didn't like it after all, and that it should get two stars at best. I don't think that's the case, though. Like I said, we need more books about asexuality and so on, and only when they're no longer uncommon can we start to assume that readers will already know the definition. This is "entry level" queer lit and I guess I'm looking for "advanced" queer lit because I've got the basics from personal experience, but that doesn't mean there's nobody out there who needs this book to exist. I also like that it has a happy ending, and that both the ace character and the trans character are able to have a fulfilling relationship that they enjoy. Happy endings for LGBTQ characters are still too rare.

Buuuuut on the whole, this didn't do it for me, and it's probably a 2.5 star read.

[A.J. Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Fine Bromance by Christopher Moss is an educational romantic YA about the LBGTQ+ community especially transgenders and asexuals. The first thing I need to talk about is the cover! The cover of this book looks amazing and it goes well with the story. That little key to the antique egg! Everything is related to the story. So, full points in the cover design department. Now, coming to the story it starts with our introduction to Robby, a senior in high school, and him dealing with own sexuality. He’s asexual but he doesn’t know it yet. Then enters Andy, a transboy and what occurs is the development between these two young boys as they figure things about each other and face prejudice. The book has a lot of knowledge about transgenders and the rest of the queer community. It also handles the queer topics in a delicate manner. There is also a mystery element regarding items being stolen from Robby’s Aunt (which also allows the boys to spend more time together). All in all, A Fine Bromance is a nice little read with more than two queer characters as it shows that love is love regardless of gender and how all of us can do with a little more understanding.

Note: Same review has been posted on Amazon under the name Omer Mujtaba.

[Melissa Mendoza · Rating 3 out of 5]

"'Does that mean you're gay or straight? I mean, if you really like me as Andy, then you're gay. But I don't have what it takes to be your boyfriend, down there. At least not yet.'"

2.5 changing stars!

I really had high hopes for this book!! I just think for the length of this book there was too much going on and not enough time to put it in the correct spots. I loved the whole premise of the book, I love that Robby and Andy come together to seek out a relationship through hardship. I love that Andy is upfront about his being trans and Robby falling for him even more. I think this book had a lot of potential, just not enough time to show it all!


ARC provided by author in exchange for an honest review. Reviewed by Melissa from Alpha Book Club

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. It looked cute: a light mystery with ace and trans rep, a bit of enjoyable queer fluff.

It was beyond disappointing. The writing was just bad: awkward phrasing, poor dialogue, repetition. The mystery the back copy talks about ends up being a tiny and largely irrelevant part of the story. I use the term "story" lightly, as plot points were picked up and then dropped apparently at random.

The characters' motivations were one-dimensional and reactions were so often either way too dramatic for a mundane situation or were way too understated for a serious situation. Characters, like the plot, were picked up and dropped at random. The relationship between Robby and Andy was also bizarre. There was no real emotion in their friendship but all of a sudden they're madly in love?

This was by far the worst book I've read this year. It was short enough that it only took about an hour to read and even so I'm mad I wasted that much time on it.

[TransBookReviews · Rating 1 out of 5]

Basically this was just…unenjoyable. - Matt

So we have a trans character that’s being bullied, misgendered, attacked… and no one faces any consequences for it. - Laura

You can read our full review here .

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed for Rainbow Gold Reviews Trans Aware event. A copy was provided in an exchange for an honest review.

One of the reasons I picked this book was the mystery that is hinted at in the blurb. I was slightly disappointed that the mystery didn’t feature as much as I thought it would. Robby’s aunt used to teach history and her home has become almost a museum of historical items and kitsch. Some things are worth nothing but others are and items of her collection are disappearing, mostly returned, but not all. I love Robby’s Aunt Ivy because despite her quirkiness she really seems to care about Robby and she is accepting and kind to him and his friend Andy. She is also very full of information. (A fun fact: Aunt Ivy talks about some famous trans men throughout history and one of the names she mentions is featured in a historical museum near my town. I just love when I can relate personally to something in a book.) Though there isn’t a whole lot of sleuthing going on, the boys do catch the thief/borrower. What I enjoyed most were the interactions between Aunt Ivy and the boys and discovering some of the items she has in her house.

Andy is an FTM senior at a new high school. He is trying to get away from those who knew him as a female and might give him trouble. Only thing is somehow everyone at the new school seems to know his secret. And, yes, there is bullying. I love that Robby is very accepting right from the moment the rumors reach him and when Andy slips up on his own gender identity. There was a bit of confusion and anger on my part. The confusion that Andy did refer to himself as female, as did his mom and Robby later in the book. I suppose that since he is fairly young and early on in the coming out process that mistakes might be made. They just seemed like big slips to me. The anger I experienced was not just because of the bullying and assault of Andy’s character. I was really upset with Robby’s sister who should respect her brother’s friend by at least not calling him a her throughout the book only to turn around and defend Andy like she was always on his side. It’s not that it makes the book unrealistic or unreadable, but I was peeved at the characters at times.

Besides the transgender aspect of the book, we get to see another letter get explored as well. Robby has been struggling for a few years, himself, when he finds that he doesn’t really feel attracted to anyone – girl or guy. He’s not really aware of what it means to be asexual at first and through some learning he does in the book, he discovers who he is. And even though he isn’t racing to get into bed with Andy, he is attracted to his personality and wants to see what can happen for them. The declarations of love on Robby and Andy’s parts were a little quick for me. I know for young people emotions build fast, but my gripe is that while Robby was telling Andy he loved him, he was kissing a gay friend to try and discover his own sexuality.

I know I complained about a few things, but I really did enjoy the story. It was an easy to read book. Some of the flightiness of the characters might just be down to their ages. I liked the epilogue of the book, where things wrapped up and we could see that there was a future for these two characters that are different from the usual pairings in most LGBT romances. I would recommend it, especially to those who like history and those who want to learn more about what it means to be transgender or asexual.

8/10 Pots of Gold (80% Recommended) – Compares to 4/5 Stars

[Carrie-Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5
Ok, so let's start with the elephant in the room - this book was badly written, not edited well, felt clunky and awkward and amateur. But I appreciate what the author was trying to do, and i didn't actively dislike it.

This book is about Robby a guy coming to terms with the fact he's asexual, which is a process that is very rarely represented in literature. It also follows Andy, a trans boy who is new to school. Both are drawn to each other and quickly develop a friendship. I thought the way both boys were portrayed - especially in terms of gender and sexuality -was a little 'public service announcement'. I wasn't keen on all the deadnaming (as soon as Andy is introduced we are told his deadname) but upon reading the author bio and seeing Hawthorne Moss is himself trans, I'm sure he had some sort of reasoning for doing so. The asexuality was interesting in the way it was portrayed, because everyone knows that attraction to the same sex exists, but asexuality is a bit of an enigma to a lot of people, including our mc Robby.

Another angle of the story was Robby's Aunt Ivy, an eccentric old lady who loves history and knowledge. Her house is full of random knick-knacks, each with a piece of history. When things start mysterious disappearing and reappearing the boys try to get to the bottom of the mystery. I liked Aunt Ivy, she definitely had more personality and character than most. She seemed like a well rounded, nice old lady, with progressive opinions and a fountain of knowledge. On the other hand there were quite a few underdeveloped characters. The two that jump to mind straight away are Robby's sister and mother. They were the most prominent secondary characters, but his mother seemed like a shell of a parental figure and his sister Claire was quite the antagonist throughout but with no explanation or redemption or development.

The book deals with bullying, homophobia and most of all transphobia, but because the writing isnt at a great standard it isnt really explored in a nuanced or sensitive way.

This book missed the mark on a lot of things, but on the other hand i didnt dislike it or feel bored while reading. If you take it with a pinch of salt (perhaps read it as if it were the first story written by a teen wanting to explore the lgbtq+ community) you can appreciate what the author was trying to do when they set out with this idea.

[Molly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really exited going into reading this book cus I'm ace myself and i will eat up any and all representation we get, unfortunately this book was a huge let down. There was nothing wrong with the rep as far as i could tell but it was barely talked about till the very last chapter and that really annoyed me, i read this whole thing for that??? No thank you (there was also trans rep that was talked about a good bit more but I'm not trans so i don't feel like its my place to talk about it)

The biggest let down of this was the writing, dear god the writing. It was so bad. It was written like a children's book but talked about s*x a lot?? It reminded me of stuff 12 me had written, IT WAS SO BAD. It kind of made me uncomfortable to read about all these mature topics written in such a childlike way. It was genuinely the worst book i have ever read.

If you're thinking about reading this book, don't.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the plot is intriguing, I found the characters flat and underdeveloped. I think part of this is due to how the book is written, as well as the dialogue. It was all so proper and more tell than show. Robby and Andy tended to over explain everything, and much of their speech came off as if they were saying it for the readers benefit and not actually as a way to drive the plot forward.

I liked Robby and Andy's relationship, but I could never really feel the tension and mystery that the author was obviously trying to create. Every bit of mystery or drama was instantly dismissed or downplayed before you could even feel any fear or anticipation for the characters. Because of this, the story lacked that sense of satification when the heros triumphed or mysteries were solved.

To some it up, I'd say A Fine Bromance is cute but unsatisfying, hence why I'm giving it 3 stars.

[Emma Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trying to find nice things to say about this book but I don't have anything I'm afraid.

I was really excited about a queer romance and a trans male character but everything about this book was flat. The writing was very dull and basic, the romance didn't develop at all, the mystery never took off and the trans character was unrealistically far into their transition for their age

I don't know why I finished this book when I knew from the first chapter I didn't like it, but I was really hopeful that it would pick up. It didn't. But points for trying and inclusivity.

[vampire pills · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t like it I don’t like how the other characters talk about the trans guy the other mc calls him “a girl he kissed” i know he was figuring things out but still I don’t recommend it to other trans guys who are into guys to read this it makes you feel shitty and dysphoric there is better gay trans men romance books out there also there’s so much more other problems in this book about how the other characters talk about the trans guy

[Gabrielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first Young Adult book I have read that talks, in depth, about asexuality. Could be a great resource to any youth in the process of learning about themselves. The only problem I had while reading it was that the actual writing of the novel seemed at a lower reading level than the content itself, which was slightly off-putting. Overall a good book.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great read. I've never read about an asexual character and ftm trans couple before, but its really cute. And I'm satisfied with the ending.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come

[aspeccharactersoftheday]

https://aspeccharactersoftheday.tumbl...

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good enough ideas but could be better written and edited.

[coralines cousin · Rating 2 out of 5]

haven't read teen dialogue that unnatural in a while

[D. · Rating 1 out of 5]

A quick note before I get into the review:

Please forgive me/educate me if I write about the Trans character in a way that is not accepted by the Trans community. I personally don’t know anything about what it is like to go through this, but I am indeed a supporter of the LGBTQA+ community so I am not trying to purposefully be hurtful or use incorrect terminology. Also, the phobic words that appear in my review were used in the book, and I am commenting on their usage when I use them here. Thank you for your understanding in this matter!

So I did not like this book at all. I really wanted to because the premise sounded pretty cool, but it turned out to be a poorly written mess.

The biggest problem that I had with this book (other than the bad writing itself) was that the inclusion of a transgender and an asexual character seemed like they were just there to seem hip to the ongoings of the community to gain readers. I honestly hope that this author had good intentions and they just got bungled due to writing/editing issues.

Robby is the asexual character, but his potential asexuality barely came up. His parents kept asking him if he was gay, and he talked to Andy about it when they kissed. Otherwise it seemed like it didn’t exist. Throughout the book he came across as the master of LGBTQA+ knowledge, but he had no idea what asexuality was or any clue about his own sexual identity. It would be okay that he was confused, but the author did not make it believable that he could be both, and he came off as preachy.

Poor Andy, the transgender male character, seemed like the book’s punching bag. Also I understand about including conflict/bullying/whatever because a character is trans, but on the other hand how often do you need to use terms like “dyke,” “trannie,” and “fag”? I am not a sensitive person, but it really seemed like these words were overused to prove that Andy was getting bullied.

I don’t want to read or hear those words, but I’ll accept them as something coming from a bully– up to a point. After that it gets really uncomfortable to read the trans character getting constantly bashed throughout the book when there was little to no character development. It came off like trans people can’t be anything but victims, and it bothered me a lot.

It felt like the characters were asexual and transgender just to have them in the book, to tag it a certain way. Nothing was really done with either aspect, other than to either mention it offhand or to have someone bash them. There was the whole awkward, “I like you” / “are you gay” / kissing thing, but it was really awkward like the author didn’t think it through other than to just have these characters be a certain way.

This was complicated by the language and writing style of the book. The language used in this book was probably intended to make the main kids seem like they were good with the LGBTQA+ community. However, the majority of it came off as pretty phobic, or at least too focused on people’s sexualities/genders.

For example, Robby gets home and his sister is complaining about a new “dyke” in school (Andy the transgender boy) and then Robby thinks to himself:

“Surely Rhonda would’ve said if there was a new lesbian in class.”

Firstly, Rhonda was a one off character at the beginning of the book, so when would she have mentioned it to him? Secondly it was offensive to me that Robby assumed she would have outed someone to him randomly. Who would do that to someone?

The actual plot of the book was less of a plot and more of a poorly handled mess of unrelated things shoved together. It was like the author couldn’t make a decision about a plot, included everything they thought of, and then didn’t write it well. There was transgender angst, asexual angst, graduation, a kidnapping, bullying, a mystery… It doesn’t seem like much but when you are reading the book everything gets kind of jumbled and frustrating.

It was dizzying to try to keep up with everything particularly because the language was also incredibly stilted and awkward. What I really wish the author had done was focus on the mystery about Aunt Ivy’s missing trinkets, and then reveal stuff about the characters instead of making a big stink about their sexual and gender identities and then doing nothing with it.

This entire book just frustrated me greatly and if you read it and I am just missing something please tell me. Now I just want to read a well written book about a trans character and an asexual character solving mysteries.


Originally posted over at Just Love Romance: https://justloveromance.wordpress.com...

[Lexxi Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

*I received this book from NetGalley and Harmony Ink Press in return for a fair review.*

Unfortunately this book is just slightly different than I expected. The description, or probably more accurately, the idea that I got from the description, lead me to picture a book about two male friends just starting their senior year in high school. With a slight difference from most other boys in the school – one of the two is asexual; the other is transgender (FTM – female to male). They would come together and face the world as friends.

What I found? Well . . . that, but slightly not that. As I noted, the book is only slightly different, not completely different. Instead of an asexual and a FTM person meeting and becoming friends, the book instead has more and less than that. Robby, the asexual of the pair, hasn’t a clue what he is (at first) – he enters the book knowing that there is something ‘different’ about him (no sexual attraction to either women or men), but not why that might be, or why he is different (the feeling is ‘why he is broken’ though I am not sure if that exact phrase is used by him). There’s a really huge amount of stuff (okay, not really, but more than I wanted to read), about how he is able to give himself an erection, but only if he happens to rub himself. Picturing anyone at that moment, male/female/etc., does nothing to add to the situation. Seeing/feeling/hearing/being near men or women does nothing to spontaneously generate a ‘boner’. And, added to the ‘more than expected part’, is the part wherein the two, the asexual and the FTM, decide to have an actual romance (while it is true that the book includes ‘bromance’ in the title, I’ve only ever heard/seen it used for two men who are friends – not two men who have a romantic relationship with each other).

And so.

Andy has great parents and brother. When he realized that he had been born in the wrong body, and finally got around to expressing this belief to his family, they accepted him. Helped him. The father even changed jobs and the whole family moved so that Andy could go to a new high school so that he wouldn’t have to interact with people who only know/knew Andy as a young woman. He is self-conscious about his small size, and how people might react if they found out that he calls himself a boy, is a boy, but currently inhabits the body that has characteristics more in keeping with a woman (breasts/pussy). As he explained it in the book, Andy has the brain of a man, and the body of a woman.

On his first day at his new school, Andy bumps into a bunch of young men. Who immediately accept him as a man. And befriend him. One in particular, a man named Robby, is a tad friendlier than the others in the group, at least in the sense that he helps this other boy try to find his first class, and develops a closer connection to the new kid than the others in the group do.

As is somewhat normal for me, I did what I kind of always do in situations like this – I started off, at least when I turned to the plot section, describing things in reverse order. At least in terms of POV. Since the book opens in the POV of Robby. Even the first meeting between Robby and Andy is from Robby’s point of view, despite my reversing it here. Though Andy does have his own point of view, and it does begin immediately adjacent to this first meeting.

This is an interesting book. There are certain issues that I had with it – like how much kissing this ‘asexual’ man got into (hey, he’s young and doesn’t know what he is and is somewhat frantically attempting to find out, a little experimentation is normal, eh?); and falling into a boyfriend type of relationship at a drop of a hat was also unexpectedly faster than I expected to find (well, considering I didn’t expect a relationship at all, any relationship, I guess, would have been quicker than expected, eh?). But still, despite my ‘issues’ (expressed and unexpressed (there’s one I thought throughout the book but I do not know how to express the idea – the part wherein the writing was a little less than smooth than I would like, though that isn’t exactly the issue, and hence my indication that I do not know how to express this issue), I still enjoyed my dip into this book.

I’ve read several books now that include asexual characters. It is vaguely strange how many of them involve said characters kissing a lot and getting into relationships, but eh. Overall, I would probably rate this book somewhere around 3.15 to 3.35 stars.

August 3 2016

[Lakin Aleyse · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this book because it seemed to suggest there would be trans representation and asexual representation, and I suppose it did that. BUT there are problems. The story is too short. There isn't room for character development, the "mystery" is extremely obvious from the get-go, and there is no punishment for the bullies or attackers of Andy. Sure, one "flees" to South America, (huge eye roll btw) but that's about it. Robby's own sister calls Andy a girl until the end of the book, but receives no reprimand for it. Like, I get it. There are towns where transgendered people are misunderstood, there is a large lack of education about transgender people, but there should be a "Come-to-Jesus" moment when people realize that what they were doing was wrong. The attack would be perfect for that if people were properly punished.

I appreciate what this novel is trying to do, but there are things that need to be worked out before this story is ready to better the world of diversity. I liked the characters and the overall idea, it just fell a little flat for me. I like it, it just needs work.

Thank you NetGalley and Harmony Ink Press for letting me read this book.

[Belle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free digital copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
You can also read this review on my blog at Belle's Book Nook!

I was so excited to read this book. An ace boy who befriends and falls for a boy who's transgender. Yes, please! This book was published by Harmony Ink Press, the same publisher of We Awaken, which I've also read and written a review for. So, I really appreciate Harmony Ink for yet again publishing a novel that features queer identities--in this case, asexuality and transgender--and perfectly and clearly explaining these identities and the myths commonly associated with each. Besides this, this book also mentions the term genderqueer! A Fine bromance, then, is great for people, queer or otherwise, who are familiar with the queer community, as well as for those who may not be but are interested in learning more.

I also just thought the relationship between Robby and Andy was so pure and wonderful, full of many cute moments, and I adored how unequivocally Robbie accepted and loved Andy for who he was and, later, how Andy was so patient and understanding as Robby came out to him as asexual.

Now for the not-so-great.
This was a difficult book to rate, and I was swaying between two and three stars. Honestly, if I could give this book two ratings, I would give it a three for the story and a two for the actual writing. While I really appreciated this story, I found a similar issue in A Fine Bromance as I did inWe Awaken where I just thought the dialogue was incredibly stilted and unnatural and didn’t read as how people would actually speak-- more so in this novel, I’d say. No matter what, I can’t completely get into a story if the characters don’t come alive and I’m unable to connect with them. That is, they don’t come across as real people. A lot of the time, this story felt more like one of those older classic novels, and sometimes even like a children’s novel--you know, before dialogue in books progressively became more and more realistic. To me, the the dialogue was just incredibly flat in this book.

Besides this, there were a few other things here and there that I wasn't completely sold on:

1. I found it pretty alarming that Andy had already gotten a hysterectomy, considering he’s still in high school. Also, that’s a major surgery. It’s not like getting hormone treatment. I was really surprised that his parents would just be perfectly okay with this. Also, is that even legal for a doctor to perform a hysterectomy on a minor?!

2. I really would have liked more of a resolution with Claire and her relationship with Andy, considering that she treated him horribly throughout the entire novel. To me, it simply wasn’t enough to say, She just hung out with the wrong crowd, but she’s learned her lesson now! I wanted Claire herself to formally address all of this and to apologize to Andy for how she treated him.

3. For me, the ending was just a liiiiittle too cheesy, with the flash forward revealing Robby and Andy eventually getting married. Not that I didn’t want them to get married. I just would have preferred for it to have been left more up in the air, like most other romance novels tend to do. Truly, we readers are perfectly happy just knowing that Andy and Robby are together. We don’t need to know how their entire future panned out!

All in all, this was definitely a cute read, and I do appreciate A Fine Bromance for featuring a relationship with two different queer identities--something that I definitely think we need to see more of. But for me, the writing just didn't quite measure up, and I felt that it lacked the palpable characters and authenticity that so defines young adult literature.

[inaword · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a word: Maybe read the thing? I really wanted to like this one. The premise was an interesting one and I’m still having a hard time finding books with asexual leads. But I just didn’t like it. Robby and Andy are good characters, in theory, and I really wanted to read their story. But I just couldn’t with the writing. The writing annoyed me and the romance was basically nonexistent. Also a lot of characters acted horribly with barely any consequences. What originally drew me to the story was the idea of Robby learning that he is asexual and falling in love with his new friend (who happens to be trans) while they solve a mystery. What I ended up with was a story that was almost nothing like that, and was also badly written with a very obvious mystery and an inconsistent romance and tone. I recommend this one on the premise alone, the execution leaves a lot to be desired, and it’s not really a book I’d read again. To be fair, I’m not the target audience (this book is YA), but I don’t think that excuses much here. Teens deserve better.

[read the full post at In A Word]

[FantasyLiving · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Hearts

Robby cannot figure out what is wrong with him. He thought by his senior year he would know if he was gay, bi, or straight, but nothing. His body just doesn’t seem to want to wake up. Nothing he tries seems to work and he is feeling like an outcast. When he meets Andy on Andy’s first day of school, he finds the boy really interesting, and invites him into his life, enjoying his company, and standing in the way of Andy and the school bullies.This distracts him from the question of his sexuality for a little while, and he is content to get to know his new friend. It isn’t until a few weeks later that the bullying taunts start indicating that Andy is trans, and Robby realizes that Andy has been hiding a secret. Undeterred by this fact, their friendship strengthens, and they start spending a lot of time together, at Robbie’s Aunt’s house.

I gotta say, I liked both Robby and Andy. Their characters were easy going, and they seemed to fit together really well. They were both able to open up to each other in an easy way, especially once Andy realises Robby is not going to judge him, and their friendship strengthening over time.

In this friendship story, attraction was touched on, but not really explored in depth. There was something missing from how this relationship would play out. It felt incomplete, and the story seemed to centre around the “mystery” of Aunt Ivy’s things going missing. I wanted their relationship to be pushed just that little more into the depth of emotion required for things to feel solid with them. There was a whisper of it, and I think the author tried to convey it, but it just missed it for me.

Let’s talk about the Mystery. It made the story drag. I actually didn’t like it’s placement as a sub plot. I thought that it could have been scrapped altogether in place of something else. Someone younger, or less into crime fiction may possibly enjoy it better than me. I do know I used to love this sort of thing when I was a kid, so it may appeal more to a younger audience, except for the fact that there is adult language. For me, I was more interested in how Robby and Andy would navigate their desire for a relationship.

The epilogue was a bit of fun, and the explanation at the end about the epilogue was also nice. Aunt Ivy’s treasures would have been something I was obsessed with when I was younger. My favourite childhood memories with my Grandmother was going to antique shops with her and finding all manner of ancient furniture and nic nacs. I can relate to why Robby loved being among all those old things.

This is recommended for those who enjoy romance at a much slower pace, and as a sub-plot to friendship.

An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest opinion

[Anya · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not easy for me to review this book..

Perhaps it's more a three star read than a four, but I felt I needed to point out that I loved reading that one, and thought it has many flaws what's really important about a book is to be enjoyable, and leave the reader feeling better and richer than before.

The book deals with some very delicate and controversial matters such as asexuality and transgender people, but still (as the title suggest) it always remain a lighthearted read, sweet but a bit superficial. You would expect so much depth from a book dealing with such serious matters! But perhaps this is the weak point and the strong one at the same time. It seemd to me it should be classed as a YA book because this is how young people need to relate with those difficult matter, especially if they are personally involved in some of them.

So I could say that while the first few pages were really hard for me (I was thinking it seemed to be wrote by an adolescent, and I could not believe how superficial it was), than I come to love the lighthearted feeling, and could relate to some characters even if they were a little flat and seemed to be too much optimistic (no real adolescent in their situation would feel like that). In the end I looked at it like a YA book sending a message of love and hope, and seeing it like that it was worth four stars, because it leaves you with good feelings, and could help young people to understand themselves and accept theirs differences, or those of their friends.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Author for giving me the chance to read it through giving me ad advance copy in exchange for an honest rewiew.