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Hopeless Romantic
Nick Fraser is a true romantic. He wants the guy instead of the girl, but other than that, he wants everything his favorite rom-coms depict: the courtship, the passionate first kiss, the fairy-tale wedding. But after breaking up with the love of his life, Nick wonders if anything fairy-tale will ever happen for him.
Then he meets Katie, who’s just like a rom-com heroine. She’s sharp, funny, sweet, and as into music and punk culture as Nick is. What’s more, he’s incredibly attracted to her—even though she’s a woman. Nick has never considered that he might be bisexual, but his feelings for Katie are definitely real.
When Katie reveals that she’s transgender, Nick starts to see how much he doesn’t understand about the world, queer identity, and himself. He is hopelessly in love with Katie, but this isn’t a fairy tale, and Nick’s friends and family may not accept his new relationship. If he wants it all, he has to have the courage to make his fantasy a reality.
Then he meets Katie, who’s just like a rom-com heroine. She’s sharp, funny, sweet, and as into music and punk culture as Nick is. What’s more, he’s incredibly attracted to her—even though she’s a woman. Nick has never considered that he might be bisexual, but his feelings for Katie are definitely real.
When Katie reveals that she’s transgender, Nick starts to see how much he doesn’t understand about the world, queer identity, and himself. He is hopelessly in love with Katie, but this isn’t a fairy tale, and Nick’s friends and family may not accept his new relationship. If he wants it all, he has to have the courage to make his fantasy a reality.
254 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2016
2 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
Francis Gideon
50 books43 followersFrancis Gideon is an editor and writer. He has appeared in Microscenes, Gay Flash Fiction, and JMS Books. He lives in Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
March 28, 2017
*1.5 stars*
Woah, this book is just an absolute minefield. I sort of regret even starting it because now I need to unpack and explain all of this baggage.
I usually don't bring authors or their personal lives into my reviews, but I whenever I read a book with a trans character I usually do some quick research to see if it is an "own voices" story from the author. My brief research into Francis Gideon revealed that the author seemed to identify as genderqueer (going by "they" or "he/him," depending on the website) and bisexual, both which seemed promising in terms of this story.
Now the blurb... whew, that was a ride. It *seemed* to me that this was going to be a bisexual discovery story, with the added component that the female MC is trans. I was absolutely fascinated and intrigued into how the author was going to pull that off.
Not-so-spoiler-alert: They don't
I'm not trans, nor am I queer, but I've read many, many stories with trans MCs. As always, I'm going to try to tread as carefully as I can while still stating my opinion.
First issue: Nick's attitude towards Katie's transgendered status.
Katie says during the story that making mistakes are okay when dealing with a trans person. To an extent, I certainly agree with that. Before I knew much about trans people, I had a lot of "well-meaning" misconceptions about being trans. I NOW know that mis-gendering is EXTREMELY damaging and it is important to view a trans-person as *always* being their gender, even when their body didn't match that fact. There is certainly a learning curve when it comes to knowing and interacting with a transgendered person. I'm sure I still make mistakes from time to time, and I'm always trying to grow and correct those mistakes.
Here's the difference: I'm not dating a trans-person.
It is understandable that Nick has to work through learning about what it is to be trans, but to jump into a relationship where hurtful things were OFTEN said, that just felt extremely wrong. I think the author should have had them just be friends or had them not be together as Nick was sorting through his feelings because I had a hard time buying that Katie could just brush off some of his comments.
Things like saying that her having a dick was "having the best of both worlds" and saying how she used to be a man, those comments are NOT the kinds of comments that a person in a relationship with a trans woman should be making, IMO.
I think that it wasn't bad that Nick was learning, it was that he was learning at Katie's expense.
Second issue: The bi-for-you aspect.
Okay, I'll be the first to admit that bisexual discovery stories (aka, what I used to call GFY or, in this case, SFY) are sort of my thing. I know more than one woman who has discovered bisexuality later in life, and I certainly think that it is possible to fall in love with someone unexpected. Basically, there are people who are near one end on the Kinsey scale, but have the capacity for attraction of the opposite/same sex, even if they didn't realize it before.
That in and of itself is SO HARD to pull off. For me to believe that you can develop feelings for a gender that you've never been attracted to before, the author really needs to be able to convince me of a deep connection. However, when you add in the added layer of trans on top of it... it's sort of a mess.
I had a really hard time believing that all of the sudden Nick was into breasts. I really did. I really struggled with feeling that Nick was into Katie for all the wrong reasons, and those reasons had to do with why Katie was misgendered constantly in the story. I just couldn't see how or why his feelings would have changed about a woman that quickly. It was too complicated for me to believe that he was into her as a *woman* after knowing her for such a short period of time. It just didn't work for me.
Third Issue: The way the relationship was depicted.
I struggled with this bit a good deal. It seemed like while the MCs bonded over music, they didn't spend much time getting to know one another. Katie spent a chunk of the book correcting Nick and trying to inform him about herself, but the relationship didn't seem based on much else. I didn't get that surge of chemistry, that feeling of true attraction there (sort of relating to my earlier issues). When it comes down to it, this book is supposed to be selling us on their LOVE, and I had a hard time with that based on their interactions in the story.
While I don't think this book was intentionally malicious, I did think that it was misguided and overly ambitious. While I don't speak for any trans-person, I had a hard time believing that Katie would be so cavalier about constantly being misgendered (coworkers, waiters, strangers, her BOYFRIEND), and that is a point that I had a hard time getting past.
Though the writing wasn't terrible in and of itself, bottom line is that I didn't buy the romance.
*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*
Woah, this book is just an absolute minefield. I sort of regret even starting it because now I need to unpack and explain all of this baggage.
I usually don't bring authors or their personal lives into my reviews, but I whenever I read a book with a trans character I usually do some quick research to see if it is an "own voices" story from the author. My brief research into Francis Gideon revealed that the author seemed to identify as genderqueer (going by "they" or "he/him," depending on the website) and bisexual, both which seemed promising in terms of this story.
Now the blurb... whew, that was a ride. It *seemed* to me that this was going to be a bisexual discovery story, with the added component that the female MC is trans. I was absolutely fascinated and intrigued into how the author was going to pull that off.
Not-so-spoiler-alert: They don't
I'm not trans, nor am I queer, but I've read many, many stories with trans MCs. As always, I'm going to try to tread as carefully as I can while still stating my opinion.
First issue: Nick's attitude towards Katie's transgendered status.
Katie says during the story that making mistakes are okay when dealing with a trans person. To an extent, I certainly agree with that. Before I knew much about trans people, I had a lot of "well-meaning" misconceptions about being trans. I NOW know that mis-gendering is EXTREMELY damaging and it is important to view a trans-person as *always* being their gender, even when their body didn't match that fact. There is certainly a learning curve when it comes to knowing and interacting with a transgendered person. I'm sure I still make mistakes from time to time, and I'm always trying to grow and correct those mistakes.
Here's the difference: I'm not dating a trans-person.
It is understandable that Nick has to work through learning about what it is to be trans, but to jump into a relationship where hurtful things were OFTEN said, that just felt extremely wrong. I think the author should have had them just be friends or had them not be together as Nick was sorting through his feelings because I had a hard time buying that Katie could just brush off some of his comments.
Things like saying that her having a dick was "having the best of both worlds" and saying how she used to be a man, those comments are NOT the kinds of comments that a person in a relationship with a trans woman should be making, IMO.
I think that it wasn't bad that Nick was learning, it was that he was learning at Katie's expense.
Second issue: The bi-for-you aspect.
Okay, I'll be the first to admit that bisexual discovery stories (aka, what I used to call GFY or, in this case, SFY) are sort of my thing. I know more than one woman who has discovered bisexuality later in life, and I certainly think that it is possible to fall in love with someone unexpected. Basically, there are people who are near one end on the Kinsey scale, but have the capacity for attraction of the opposite/same sex, even if they didn't realize it before.
That in and of itself is SO HARD to pull off. For me to believe that you can develop feelings for a gender that you've never been attracted to before, the author really needs to be able to convince me of a deep connection. However, when you add in the added layer of trans on top of it... it's sort of a mess.
I had a really hard time believing that all of the sudden Nick was into breasts. I really did. I really struggled with feeling that Nick was into Katie for all the wrong reasons, and those reasons had to do with why Katie was misgendered constantly in the story. I just couldn't see how or why his feelings would have changed about a woman that quickly. It was too complicated for me to believe that he was into her as a *woman* after knowing her for such a short period of time. It just didn't work for me.
Third Issue: The way the relationship was depicted.
I struggled with this bit a good deal. It seemed like while the MCs bonded over music, they didn't spend much time getting to know one another. Katie spent a chunk of the book correcting Nick and trying to inform him about herself, but the relationship didn't seem based on much else. I didn't get that surge of chemistry, that feeling of true attraction there (sort of relating to my earlier issues). When it comes down to it, this book is supposed to be selling us on their LOVE, and I had a hard time with that based on their interactions in the story.
While I don't think this book was intentionally malicious, I did think that it was misguided and overly ambitious. While I don't speak for any trans-person, I had a hard time believing that Katie would be so cavalier about constantly being misgendered (coworkers, waiters, strangers, her BOYFRIEND), and that is a point that I had a hard time getting past.
Though the writing wasn't terrible in and of itself, bottom line is that I didn't buy the romance.
*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*
March 21, 2017
DNF. Wow DNF.
This is an extremely transphobic book. The author clearly didn't do their research on how to talk about trans people, and regardless of that, looking *just* at this protagonist and his thoughts/beliefs about trans people and how he interacts with the trans woman he's falling for... this character has no business dating a trans person. He misgenders her repeatedly but she is still charmed by him and kisses him IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS EXCHANGE
Under spoiler because holy migendering batman
That scene made me physically feel sick, as did the following scenes where they move on with flirting and joking as if nothing had ever happened and all of his trash statements are completely erased with him being like "now that he was thinking of her as a trans woman and not a dude, everything was super fine" or w/e.
And it just. Continues.
Not to mention the splash of acephobia at the very beginning of the book
From other reviews, he apparently doesn't stop being gross the entire novel. And his ~*acceptance*~ (if you can even call it that) of her trans-ness is seen as romantic, instead of, idk, basic human decency? Katie deserves better - someone who doesn't have to wrestle with himself for an entire book to see her "as a woman."
This book is gross, caused me a lot of really intense anguish as it parallels a lot of my fears with my own gender identity not being respected, and I cannot even imagine the harm it could do if it was given to an actual trans person to read.
ALSO. THAT COVER. To me, it looks to intentionally depict two hot cis men, possibly to not ostracize m/m readers. Yet Katie is described as passing so seamlessly into society that no one realizes she is trans until she tells them. So what the fuck is with that cover, hmm? Her breasts are mentioned numerous times even in the first 25%. So. *stares at long-haired person on right* where are they.
EDIT (03/21/17) TO SAY: What bothers me the most about this book and books like it... is that other reviewers, the ones that give it 4 and 5 stars, are saying things like "wow I really learned a lot about trans people!" from reading *this* book. Which just makes me cringe. This?? This is not a good representation of trans people, how to treat trans people, or anything. And yet people who have never read a trans character are picking it up and going "Oooooh so *that's* what it's like." And I just really, really hate that. Go read an #OwnVoices book about this, please.
This is an extremely transphobic book. The author clearly didn't do their research on how to talk about trans people, and regardless of that, looking *just* at this protagonist and his thoughts/beliefs about trans people and how he interacts with the trans woman he's falling for... this character has no business dating a trans person. He misgenders her repeatedly but she is still charmed by him and kisses him IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS EXCHANGE
Under spoiler because holy migendering batman
That scene made me physically feel sick, as did the following scenes where they move on with flirting and joking as if nothing had ever happened and all of his trash statements are completely erased with him being like "now that he was thinking of her as a trans woman and not a dude, everything was super fine" or w/e.
And it just. Continues.
Not to mention the splash of acephobia at the very beginning of the book
From other reviews, he apparently doesn't stop being gross the entire novel. And his ~*acceptance*~ (if you can even call it that) of her trans-ness is seen as romantic, instead of, idk, basic human decency? Katie deserves better - someone who doesn't have to wrestle with himself for an entire book to see her "as a woman."
This book is gross, caused me a lot of really intense anguish as it parallels a lot of my fears with my own gender identity not being respected, and I cannot even imagine the harm it could do if it was given to an actual trans person to read.
ALSO. THAT COVER. To me, it looks to intentionally depict two hot cis men, possibly to not ostracize m/m readers. Yet Katie is described as passing so seamlessly into society that no one realizes she is trans until she tells them. So what the fuck is with that cover, hmm? Her breasts are mentioned numerous times even in the first 25%. So. *stares at long-haired person on right* where are they.
EDIT (03/21/17) TO SAY: What bothers me the most about this book and books like it... is that other reviewers, the ones that give it 4 and 5 stars, are saying things like "wow I really learned a lot about trans people!" from reading *this* book. Which just makes me cringe. This?? This is not a good representation of trans people, how to treat trans people, or anything. And yet people who have never read a trans character are picking it up and going "Oooooh so *that's* what it's like." And I just really, really hate that. Go read an #OwnVoices book about this, please.
June 19, 2017
DNF @ ~45%
For a book written by a nonbinary author, this is one of the most transphobic novels I have ever had the misfortune of reading.
Read the full review on my blog.
For a book written by a nonbinary author, this is one of the most transphobic novels I have ever had the misfortune of reading.
Read the full review on my blog.
March 2, 2017
Hopeless Romantic by Francis Gideon
4.5 Stars
I know, I’m hopeless romantic. Do you?
Book Lovers you know I love the books that make me all warm and fuzzy, the unicorns and rainbows stories but you know I also love no drama, no angst, that the story that are sugary sweet are my crack, that's my thing!
Well, even though this is kind of sugary sweet it really touches home to some sensitive subjects, and I love that this is a romantic love story with two people just finding the one.
When I first came across this title, the cover alone sold me. Seriously that cover is epic, I love it very much. Hopeless Romantic is coming of age story told by Nick’s POV. I haven’t read a book without dual POV in a while, this this took me a little while to stop wanting to read Katie’s POV.
Hopeless Romantic takes us on the journey through Nicks eyes, as he figures out his relationship with Katie, find out more about his own identity along with Katie’s teaches all of us that sometimes love can be found anywhere, that you don’t fall in love with what is between each other’s legs, that YOU will in love with one’s HEART!
I have seen a lot of reviews, that many reviewers didn’t enjoy this story, that the author didn’t do it correctly, I don’t care what they all think. I actually really enjoyed the way Francis told his story of Nick and Katie.
I personally think he told a beautiful love story, letting us watch two lovely souls be one!
What I enjoyed most was, watching them fall hopelessly in love with each other, they took a chance on something they both were not expecting and ran with it. I also loved all the punk rock references, and most of all the MOVIE references, I am a massive 80’s brat pack fan, all the John Hughes fan. So that alone was just the coolest.
It’s because of them movies I am the person I am today, I can relate to the music and the movies referenced in this book.
When they were getting to know each other the question’s they asked each other, I was totally asking myself.
Hopeless Romantic, isn’t filled with angst and drama but it does touch some very REAL topics.
“But there’s something you need to know and understand about all of this, though. Okay?”
“Okay,” he said, though he shifted under the weight of her gaze.
“There is no magical transformation at the end of this. If you continue to see me, this is not going to be like the trans stories you see on TV. We’re not going to be some wonderful heterosexual couple after I get the final surgery. Even if I do change my mind ten years down the line—there’s no rising above and becoming a phoenix.”
For what it is, I absolutely loved this story, and I am looking forward to check out more from this author.
Advanced Review Galley copy of Hopeless Romantic provided by Riptide Publishing via NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.
PNR Book Lover Reviews
4.5 Stars
I know, I’m hopeless romantic. Do you?
Book Lovers you know I love the books that make me all warm and fuzzy, the unicorns and rainbows stories but you know I also love no drama, no angst, that the story that are sugary sweet are my crack, that's my thing!
Well, even though this is kind of sugary sweet it really touches home to some sensitive subjects, and I love that this is a romantic love story with two people just finding the one.
When I first came across this title, the cover alone sold me. Seriously that cover is epic, I love it very much. Hopeless Romantic is coming of age story told by Nick’s POV. I haven’t read a book without dual POV in a while, this this took me a little while to stop wanting to read Katie’s POV.
Hopeless Romantic takes us on the journey through Nicks eyes, as he figures out his relationship with Katie, find out more about his own identity along with Katie’s teaches all of us that sometimes love can be found anywhere, that you don’t fall in love with what is between each other’s legs, that YOU will in love with one’s HEART!
I have seen a lot of reviews, that many reviewers didn’t enjoy this story, that the author didn’t do it correctly, I don’t care what they all think. I actually really enjoyed the way Francis told his story of Nick and Katie.
I personally think he told a beautiful love story, letting us watch two lovely souls be one!
What I enjoyed most was, watching them fall hopelessly in love with each other, they took a chance on something they both were not expecting and ran with it. I also loved all the punk rock references, and most of all the MOVIE references, I am a massive 80’s brat pack fan, all the John Hughes fan. So that alone was just the coolest.
It’s because of them movies I am the person I am today, I can relate to the music and the movies referenced in this book.
When they were getting to know each other the question’s they asked each other, I was totally asking myself.
Hopeless Romantic, isn’t filled with angst and drama but it does touch some very REAL topics.
“But there’s something you need to know and understand about all of this, though. Okay?”
“Okay,” he said, though he shifted under the weight of her gaze.
“There is no magical transformation at the end of this. If you continue to see me, this is not going to be like the trans stories you see on TV. We’re not going to be some wonderful heterosexual couple after I get the final surgery. Even if I do change my mind ten years down the line—there’s no rising above and becoming a phoenix.”
For what it is, I absolutely loved this story, and I am looking forward to check out more from this author.
Advanced Review Galley copy of Hopeless Romantic provided by Riptide Publishing via NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.
PNR Book Lover Reviews
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
do-not-read
June 6, 2017Based on my experience reading another book by the author that centered a trans character (review here) and reading this review which quotes the text of the book, I have decided not to read this book. Warning: the review itself is rather transphobic, so I am going to reproduce the quote from the text here that convinced me not to read this book, in case you want to see that without wading through the review.
Warning, the quote I put under the spoiler warning is deeply transmisogynist and cissexist.
This is a huge nope for me.
I will also say that I was worried, just based on the blurb and the premise itself. And based on this quote, which presents intense transmisogyny and cissexism intertwined with a moment that I think was supposed to be romantic, I am not going to give it the benefit of the doubt. Especially since I was burned with a 2014 book I tried despite my concerns about the blurb and the premise. There is no reason for me to believe this is going to be better, even with a different publisher.
Warning, the quote I put under the spoiler warning is deeply transmisogynist and cissexist.
This is a huge nope for me.
I will also say that I was worried, just based on the blurb and the premise itself. And based on this quote, which presents intense transmisogyny and cissexism intertwined with a moment that I think was supposed to be romantic, I am not going to give it the benefit of the doubt. Especially since I was burned with a 2014 book I tried despite my concerns about the blurb and the premise. There is no reason for me to believe this is going to be better, even with a different publisher.
February 12, 2017
When Nick Fraser meets Katie he's a bit confused. He's attracted to her, which, as he identifies as gay is a bit confusing. When he meets up with her again he finds out Katie is actually transgender, but Katie is also smart, funny, sweet, and as into music and punk culture as Nick and the more time he spends with her, the more his feelings grow, which sets Nick on a path to figure out if he bisexual or maybe gay with an exception.
Hopeless Romantic is a coming of age new adult story told entirely from Nick's POV. It navigates his relationship with Katie, what it means for his own identity, and how falling in love can sometimes be even more complicated than we anticipate.
Hopeless Romantic is not quite what I was expecting, but I learned a lot. I really liked how it taught me without being preachy or heavy-handed about it. I did find it a bit slow in parts, and sometimes a little too prose-heavy, but, on the whole, Gideon creates a world that was easy to get lost in for a few hours.
If you're looking for an outside of the box, hopeful romance with well-fleshed out characters, inclusivity, some sweet romance and sexy times, and a HEA, you should check it out.
Advanced Review Galley copy of Hopeless Romantic provided by Riptide Publishing via NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.
This review has been cross-posted at Gay Book Reviews.
Hopeless Romantic is a coming of age new adult story told entirely from Nick's POV. It navigates his relationship with Katie, what it means for his own identity, and how falling in love can sometimes be even more complicated than we anticipate.
“But there’s something you need to know and understand about all of this, though. Okay?”
“Okay,” he said, though he shifted under the weight of her gaze.
“There is no magical transformation at the end of this. If you continue to see me, this is not going to be like the trans stories you see on TV. We’re not going to be some wonderful heterosexual couple after I get the final surgery. Even if I do change my mind ten years down the line—there’s no rising above and becoming a phoenix.”
Hopeless Romantic is not quite what I was expecting, but I learned a lot. I really liked how it taught me without being preachy or heavy-handed about it. I did find it a bit slow in parts, and sometimes a little too prose-heavy, but, on the whole, Gideon creates a world that was easy to get lost in for a few hours.
In a blink, he saw Katie as a young boy who hated basketball, as a teen who loved Blink 182, and then as an adult who really, really wanted to do something with music because nothing else made sense. But Nick also saw her now, in his living room, in the middle of a pillow fort they had made with her hair still slightly damp from a shower after swimming all night.
In all of these worlds, she was beautiful.
“I . . .” Nick wanted to tell her he loved her. It was no longer a question of I think I’m falling for you; it was I am so deeply in love with you it’s terrifying. But he couldn’t open his mouth. She already knew how he felt. And he could only hope one day she’d say it back too.
If you're looking for an outside of the box, hopeful romance with well-fleshed out characters, inclusivity, some sweet romance and sexy times, and a HEA, you should check it out.
Advanced Review Galley copy of Hopeless Romantic provided by Riptide Publishing via NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.
This review has been cross-posted at Gay Book Reviews.
April 11, 2017
I enjoy reading new to me things. I’ve read a few books that featured a transgender person as the main character. The blurb here got my interest so I gave it a whirl. Now keep in mind that I’ve never had any interaction with a transgender person in real life. I’d like to think I wouldn’t have some of the misconceptions that Nick did. I’d like to think I’d get the necessary pronouns right but honestly who knows. I did enjoy reading Nick and Katie and how they figure out how to make their attraction and pure enjoyment of hanging out turn into something more.
Nick Fraser is a gay man. He’s always known he is a gay man. Meeting Katie turns out to be a very perplexing situation for him. He’s immediately attracted to Katie. He enjoys every moment they spend together. They share an interest in the same tastes in music and enjoy the same romantic comedies. Nick just has to work around his attraction to a woman. Once Katie shares that she’s transgender that when the real relationship problems develop. Nick is initially ecstatic. He believes that he has the best of both worlds. This raises all sorts of problems for Katie and where she is in her transition and living happily as she is.
I really wish Hopeless Romantic would have had alternating points of view. Francis Gideon gave readers all of this solely from Nick’s point of view. Nick doesn’t always handle Katie and where she is with her transition well. He makes many mistakes. This is all part of them working their way to a happily ever after but it would have been nice to see how Katie handles it all. I believe she did a fantastic job of explaining many things to Nick but that connection to her as a character was missing for me.
You’re going to go through all of LGBTQIA with this title. There is a ton of Q's in the questioning. To quote Katie, due to what’s actually in her pants this is on the surface this could be seen as an mm romance to some but in reality there is so much more going on. Does Nick’s desire to be with Katie now make him bisexual? He ponders just that quite a bit. Katie adds the T into the mix as she is transgender. Where she is in her journey I had some questions that were never answered but in reality it is her business and not my right to question any of it. I’m just left curious as to why she wants some things but not others where her anatomy is concerned. Her surgical wants and dislikes are mentioned in one of her many conversations with Nick. To keep working through those letters an asexual roommate is thrown into the mix. That aspect seemed random at best. It all was a bit overwhelming at times.
Nick Fraser is a gay man. He’s always known he is a gay man. Meeting Katie turns out to be a very perplexing situation for him. He’s immediately attracted to Katie. He enjoys every moment they spend together. They share an interest in the same tastes in music and enjoy the same romantic comedies. Nick just has to work around his attraction to a woman. Once Katie shares that she’s transgender that when the real relationship problems develop. Nick is initially ecstatic. He believes that he has the best of both worlds. This raises all sorts of problems for Katie and where she is in her transition and living happily as she is.
I really wish Hopeless Romantic would have had alternating points of view. Francis Gideon gave readers all of this solely from Nick’s point of view. Nick doesn’t always handle Katie and where she is with her transition well. He makes many mistakes. This is all part of them working their way to a happily ever after but it would have been nice to see how Katie handles it all. I believe she did a fantastic job of explaining many things to Nick but that connection to her as a character was missing for me.
You’re going to go through all of LGBTQIA with this title. There is a ton of Q's in the questioning. To quote Katie, due to what’s actually in her pants this is on the surface this could be seen as an mm romance to some but in reality there is so much more going on. Does Nick’s desire to be with Katie now make him bisexual? He ponders just that quite a bit. Katie adds the T into the mix as she is transgender. Where she is in her journey I had some questions that were never answered but in reality it is her business and not my right to question any of it. I’m just left curious as to why she wants some things but not others where her anatomy is concerned. Her surgical wants and dislikes are mentioned in one of her many conversations with Nick. To keep working through those letters an asexual roommate is thrown into the mix. That aspect seemed random at best. It all was a bit overwhelming at times.
April 14, 2017
Rating: 4.5 stars
Originally reviewed for Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words.
Hopeless Romantic has the feeling of a coming of age story, but the characters are older than average. Which created the illusion of reading to parallel stories. Nick’s re-discovery of his sexuality and how he acted around his friends being one and his conversations with Katie about philosophy and music showing their maturity, the other.
I’m not a music person, but I’m part of the same generation the characters used to connect with each other. I might not know all the references, but the author provided enough context to understand how their conversations were part of their self-expression. And since I am a perpetual student too, I love the over-the-top exchanges.
Both main characters had a strong arc. Not only we get to know them personally but in relationship to their friendships and families. They didn’t live in a vacuum. The world around them was as important as their intimate moments. Even when some of those aspects were too juvenile for their characterization.
I’m glad Katie felt comfortable enough to be open to a relationship with someone that didn’t know everything about what her transition meant to her and to others. She was patient and perhaps too ready to forgive him, but in the end, it worked for their particular situation.
Nick’s characterization started blatantly transphobic, biphobic, and uninformed in relation to asexuality and other areas of the spectrum, but I think he represents many people in and out of the LGBTQ community. He reads as an insensitive prick, but I think that was the author’s intent. To show how misconceptions are hurtful and plain damaging. We get to experience Nick’s growth and how Katie and Tucker were there for him, even when it wasn’t their responsibility to educate him.
The secondary characters are lovely and the settings descriptions detailed enough to bring the reader into the different locations. There’s a lot happening in the story, many references to music and philosophical topics, but those never take over the story. Everything is interconnected to create a fictional atmosphere with enough consequence to be realistic.
There are some points the author is trying to show that seem a bit clinical. I think the book is more about Nick’s journey than anything else. As a couple, the main characters are sweet and their growing love ever present. Plus, they aren’t shy with each other. It’s one of the points they discovered/worked together.
ARC provided by Riptide, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Originally reviewed for Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words.
Hopeless Romantic has the feeling of a coming of age story, but the characters are older than average. Which created the illusion of reading to parallel stories. Nick’s re-discovery of his sexuality and how he acted around his friends being one and his conversations with Katie about philosophy and music showing their maturity, the other.
I’m not a music person, but I’m part of the same generation the characters used to connect with each other. I might not know all the references, but the author provided enough context to understand how their conversations were part of their self-expression. And since I am a perpetual student too, I love the over-the-top exchanges.
Both main characters had a strong arc. Not only we get to know them personally but in relationship to their friendships and families. They didn’t live in a vacuum. The world around them was as important as their intimate moments. Even when some of those aspects were too juvenile for their characterization.
I’m glad Katie felt comfortable enough to be open to a relationship with someone that didn’t know everything about what her transition meant to her and to others. She was patient and perhaps too ready to forgive him, but in the end, it worked for their particular situation.
Nick’s characterization started blatantly transphobic, biphobic, and uninformed in relation to asexuality and other areas of the spectrum, but I think he represents many people in and out of the LGBTQ community. He reads as an insensitive prick, but I think that was the author’s intent. To show how misconceptions are hurtful and plain damaging. We get to experience Nick’s growth and how Katie and Tucker were there for him, even when it wasn’t their responsibility to educate him.
The secondary characters are lovely and the settings descriptions detailed enough to bring the reader into the different locations. There’s a lot happening in the story, many references to music and philosophical topics, but those never take over the story. Everything is interconnected to create a fictional atmosphere with enough consequence to be realistic.
There are some points the author is trying to show that seem a bit clinical. I think the book is more about Nick’s journey than anything else. As a couple, the main characters are sweet and their growing love ever present. Plus, they aren’t shy with each other. It’s one of the points they discovered/worked together.
ARC provided by Riptide, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
May 26, 2017
This is an odd book. Other reviewers have talked about how the author is clearly not trans and some have called the book transphobic. I am not trans and don't feel qualified to speak on that, but I will say that it made me very uncomfortable when the waiter at the restaurant calls them "gentlemen," and Katie brushes it off, saying that she gets called "sir" all the time. This also makes no sense, as it has been established earlier in the book that she doesn't look male. Nick sees her as a woman from the moment he meets her, and he has no reason to do so if she doesn't look female. So, either he is really stupid and/or blind, or everyone else is.
The writing is awkward and weird too. It's very tell-y. During make-out and sex scenes, we are told that Nick and Katie exchange "passionate kisses," but there is little passion or heat in the text. I felt nothing. Then, oops, they're in love. I was left wanting so much more.
The writing is awkward and weird too. It's very tell-y. During make-out and sex scenes, we are told that Nick and Katie exchange "passionate kisses," but there is little passion or heat in the text. I felt nothing. Then, oops, they're in love. I was left wanting so much more.
Read
February 24, 2017I was wary of the premise of this book and I should have listened to myself and not picked it up.
I got 1/3 of the way in and there was a conversation the was basically misgendering and then correction, and then a lack of understanding followed up by a kiss? And it just made my skin crawl.
I got 1/3 of the way in and there was a conversation the was basically misgendering and then correction, and then a lack of understanding followed up by a kiss? And it just made my skin crawl.
to-not-read
March 27, 2017Please notify me if this book is re-released after being read by a sensitivity reader.
April 17, 2017
After running into each other, literally, and then running into each other again in the more figurative sense, Nick Fraser and Katie Miller discover their common love of music and 80s and 90s rom-coms, and it sparks some of the conversations that make this novel such a sweet and charming read. I’m a huge fan of an author who knows how to use dialogue to not only advance the story but help readers get to know the characters, and these two charmed my socks off with their debates and banter and the more serious conversations as well. There was never a moment where I thought, “Guh, why don’t they just talk to each other already?” which, as a non-fan of the Big Misunderstanding because characters avoid the tough conversations, this made me kinda giddy.
As a growing awareness of the attraction Nick feels towards Katie develops, and the resulting confusion it inspires in Nick—who’s never in his life identified as bisexual—the revelation that Katie is transgender begins to make sense to Nick in the wrongest of wrong ways, so very wrong. But, after opening his mouth and inserting both feet more than once, it gives Katie the opportunity to school Nick on why he’s insulted her, even if it’s unintentional. The greatest thing about Katie is that she's in control, she allows Nick the mistake of his ignorance so that she can teach him why he's wrong, which is sometimes part of the learning process—everyone makes mistakes; growing is learning not to keep repeating them. I felt Katie's patience with Nick not only revealed that she’d been through this so many times before, all the things cisgender people take for granted, but it also gives readers the chance to know Katie as a strong, confident, independent and intelligent woman, despite the things that still cause her anxiety. There was never a point where Katie needed saving or played the damsel in distress to Nick’s knight in shining armor, and I loved that the author avoided that tired romantic trope. Between the two, Nick did all the growing as a character, all thanks to Katie, and watching him fall for her was really the defining romantic moment in the story.
Some things in Francis Gideon’s Hopeless Romantic will either feel retro to you or make you feel nostalgic (which is the kinder, gentler way of saying old). I loved the nostalgia parts of this story, with all the movie and music references, which endeared Nick and Katie to me all the more because it’s those two things that drew them together—some of the ways they started to bond even reminded me a little of Rachel Cohn and David Levithan’s Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, complete with the meet-cute. In fact, this book reads as if it could have been scripted from the template of some of those great rom-coms of the 80s and 90s, even including the “James Spader friend” who makes you wonder why he’s a friend—until, in Levi’s case, he does something really human and listens to Nick and proves he knows how not to be an arsehole all the time. And I loved that Nick’s love and loyalty was to Katie, always, and that he’s even given the great monologue scene where he gets to say out loud all the things that make her special to him.
One of my favorite quotes has always been, “love is friendship set to music.” I love it in the metaphorical sense, and I love that in the case of Hopeless Romantic, it works in the most literal sense too, but most important, in the end, is that this book lives up to its title. Nick and Katie’s love story really is hopelessly romantic.
Reviewed by Lisa for The Novel Approach
As a growing awareness of the attraction Nick feels towards Katie develops, and the resulting confusion it inspires in Nick—who’s never in his life identified as bisexual—the revelation that Katie is transgender begins to make sense to Nick in the wrongest of wrong ways, so very wrong. But, after opening his mouth and inserting both feet more than once, it gives Katie the opportunity to school Nick on why he’s insulted her, even if it’s unintentional. The greatest thing about Katie is that she's in control, she allows Nick the mistake of his ignorance so that she can teach him why he's wrong, which is sometimes part of the learning process—everyone makes mistakes; growing is learning not to keep repeating them. I felt Katie's patience with Nick not only revealed that she’d been through this so many times before, all the things cisgender people take for granted, but it also gives readers the chance to know Katie as a strong, confident, independent and intelligent woman, despite the things that still cause her anxiety. There was never a point where Katie needed saving or played the damsel in distress to Nick’s knight in shining armor, and I loved that the author avoided that tired romantic trope. Between the two, Nick did all the growing as a character, all thanks to Katie, and watching him fall for her was really the defining romantic moment in the story.
Some things in Francis Gideon’s Hopeless Romantic will either feel retro to you or make you feel nostalgic (which is the kinder, gentler way of saying old). I loved the nostalgia parts of this story, with all the movie and music references, which endeared Nick and Katie to me all the more because it’s those two things that drew them together—some of the ways they started to bond even reminded me a little of Rachel Cohn and David Levithan’s Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, complete with the meet-cute. In fact, this book reads as if it could have been scripted from the template of some of those great rom-coms of the 80s and 90s, even including the “James Spader friend” who makes you wonder why he’s a friend—until, in Levi’s case, he does something really human and listens to Nick and proves he knows how not to be an arsehole all the time. And I loved that Nick’s love and loyalty was to Katie, always, and that he’s even given the great monologue scene where he gets to say out loud all the things that make her special to him.
One of my favorite quotes has always been, “love is friendship set to music.” I love it in the metaphorical sense, and I love that in the case of Hopeless Romantic, it works in the most literal sense too, but most important, in the end, is that this book lives up to its title. Nick and Katie’s love story really is hopelessly romantic.
Reviewed by Lisa for The Novel Approach
Read
April 4, 2017Trigger warnings for transphobia and acephobia.
It’s funny how some reviews write themselves and sometimes it is really hard. I guess, if Hopeless Romantic wasn’t a book with a trans character by a known to me author, I wouldn’t have picked it up, because contemporary romance usually doesn’t appeal to me that much. Or well, at least not all the books all the time ;-) I liked reading this story, though. It is sweet and romantic, takes its time to develop the characters and their love. I appreciate that there’s no unnecessary angst here and issues get resolved quickly and reasonably. The book also plays with the theme of being hopelessly romantic and finds a nice balance between cheesy classical romance tropes and defying those, on the other hand.
In the past, I feel it has been easier for me as a cis reader to review books with trans characters because they were mostly books that had cool trans characters doing cool stuff but weren’t as focused on being trans as this book. I will still give you my impression on the portrayal of transness in this book, but please also look for reviews by other (trans) readers.
I should mention that several characters in the book react in a transphobic way towards Katie and some readers may find that triggering. There is both open hostile transphobia by one of Nick’s friends that was really vile and the book also shows how Nick himself, while battling with his own identity, fucks up pretty badly. I’m quoting Katie’s reaction towards it here, which will additionally give you a glimpse into her character.
Nick definitely isn’t the perfect educated character who does no wrong. It didn’t bother me, however, because I saw that he wants to do right and learn, and that he actually does, but other readers may, of course, have different reactions to it.
I thought it was odd how quickly Nick excuses his friend’s transphobia later on in the book, though. He just assumes the best and lets it go, which I wasn’t ready to do, if at all. I would have liked to see more cause for his forgiveness and think this was missing.
I am really not sure why the plot developed in such a way that Katie .
On the other hand, I liked that the trans character gets a happy ending and is portrayed in a loving and respectable way. That is something that really should not even be necessary that I mention, but I fear we’re not there yet. I also love that it becomes clear that there isn’t the one trans experience and that everyone is different, has different preferences and limits and so forth.
There’s also a secondary asexual character in the book, Tucker, Nick’s German Philosophy studying roommate, whom I adored. He has a loving platonic relationship with Nick and I liked reading about it. I want to add, though, that there is acephobia in the book, which might be problematic for some readers as well.
I think it’s pretty easy to just hate on Levi (really, this guy, I want to punch him), but Nick here is our protagonist and when he reduces Tucker to a person who gets a lot of work done, it makes me cringe and is, to me, harder to deal with, since I’m supposed to root for him. Nick doesn’t know how to deal with his friend’s acephobia and transphobia and it takes a while for him to learn and get better at it.
The writing style, the pacing etc. is solid if nothing to shout out about. There are some funny, romantic, and sexy scenes that I really enjoyed and thought to be well done and, all in all, I had a nice time reading this book.
____________________________________
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tags: F/M Pairing, Trans Character/Trans Woman, Bisexual Character, Asexual Secondary Character, Music/Movies
Content Warning for: Transphobia, Acephobia, Mention of Past Addiction
Rating: 3.5 stars
Blog: Review for Just Love
Disclosure: ARC for Review
It’s funny how some reviews write themselves and sometimes it is really hard. I guess, if Hopeless Romantic wasn’t a book with a trans character by a known to me author, I wouldn’t have picked it up, because contemporary romance usually doesn’t appeal to me that much. Or well, at least not all the books all the time ;-) I liked reading this story, though. It is sweet and romantic, takes its time to develop the characters and their love. I appreciate that there’s no unnecessary angst here and issues get resolved quickly and reasonably. The book also plays with the theme of being hopelessly romantic and finds a nice balance between cheesy classical romance tropes and defying those, on the other hand.
In the past, I feel it has been easier for me as a cis reader to review books with trans characters because they were mostly books that had cool trans characters doing cool stuff but weren’t as focused on being trans as this book. I will still give you my impression on the portrayal of transness in this book, but please also look for reviews by other (trans) readers.
I should mention that several characters in the book react in a transphobic way towards Katie and some readers may find that triggering. There is both open hostile transphobia by one of Nick’s friends that was really vile and the book also shows how Nick himself, while battling with his own identity, fucks up pretty badly. I’m quoting Katie’s reaction towards it here, which will additionally give you a glimpse into her character.
“And I’m not going to say that I am kind of like a guy so you can feel more secure being gay and having this attraction towards me. That’s not my fault.”
[…]
“Identify however you want—bisexual, gay with an exception, or even straight, I don’t care. But don’t fit me into a box that’s labeled as male just to make yourself feel better. Because I won’t have it.”
Nick definitely isn’t the perfect educated character who does no wrong. It didn’t bother me, however, because I saw that he wants to do right and learn, and that he actually does, but other readers may, of course, have different reactions to it.
I thought it was odd how quickly Nick excuses his friend’s transphobia later on in the book, though. He just assumes the best and lets it go, which I wasn’t ready to do, if at all. I would have liked to see more cause for his forgiveness and think this was missing.
I am really not sure why the plot developed in such a way that Katie .
On the other hand, I liked that the trans character gets a happy ending and is portrayed in a loving and respectable way. That is something that really should not even be necessary that I mention, but I fear we’re not there yet. I also love that it becomes clear that there isn’t the one trans experience and that everyone is different, has different preferences and limits and so forth.
There’s also a secondary asexual character in the book, Tucker, Nick’s German Philosophy studying roommate, whom I adored. He has a loving platonic relationship with Nick and I liked reading about it. I want to add, though, that there is acephobia in the book, which might be problematic for some readers as well.
Nick added, “I may bring Tucker, my roommate. Would that be okay?”
“Roommate like . . .” Levi made a jerk-off motion.
Nick shook his head. “Pretty sure that man is asexual.”
“Ew.”
“Not ew,” Nick said quickly. “Just different. He gets a lot of work done.”
I think it’s pretty easy to just hate on Levi (really, this guy, I want to punch him), but Nick here is our protagonist and when he reduces Tucker to a person who gets a lot of work done, it makes me cringe and is, to me, harder to deal with, since I’m supposed to root for him. Nick doesn’t know how to deal with his friend’s acephobia and transphobia and it takes a while for him to learn and get better at it.
The writing style, the pacing etc. is solid if nothing to shout out about. There are some funny, romantic, and sexy scenes that I really enjoyed and thought to be well done and, all in all, I had a nice time reading this book.
____________________________________
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tags: F/M Pairing, Trans Character/Trans Woman, Bisexual Character, Asexual Secondary Character, Music/Movies
Content Warning for: Transphobia, Acephobia, Mention of Past Addiction
Rating: 3.5 stars
Blog: Review for Just Love
Disclosure: ARC for Review
April 20, 2017
Full review - http://allaboutromance.com/book-revie...
Rated - B
What a treat to read a genuinely sweet romance that includes a gay male and a trans main character. Hopeless Romantic is a genre romance. Boy meets girl, boy courts girl etc., etc. complete with HEA.
Nick Fraser is a gay guy who wants all the trappings of the rom-com movies he loves, except with another guy of course. He doesn’t think that sort of thing is for everyone and doesn’t promote it as such, but he does want the fairy-tale courtship, romantic gestures and fairy-tale wedding. So far he hasn’t met someone who will commit to him or his fantasy – and then he meets Katie.
Both Katie and Nick are university students. Nick is doing his PhD in English and Katie her degree in Art. They come from very different backgrounds and have different life experiences. Nick’s parents are totally accepting of his sexual identity, are middle class and fairly affluent. Nick struggles with student poverty and seems pretty stubborn about accepting help especially from his parents. He shares a flat with a friend, Tucker who is also a student but helps out when he can.
When his car breaks down and will take time and money he doesn’t have to fix, Nick finds himself dependent on public transport. It is on a bus trip that he properly meets Katie to talk to. She is pretty and likes the same music and they both love 80’s movies. Nick finds himself attracted to Katie, which confuses him as he has always identified as gay.
Katie invites him along to a gig her friends are playing, giving him the flyer she designed for them. He goes and the two of them bond over their mutual love of punk and indie rock. Later that night, the news that Katie is a trans female confuses Nick, and he is a little hurtful when he suggests he is attracted to her because he must have realised somehow she was ‘a dude’.
Katie makes him realise that she isn’t and never has been male and as he gets to know her better, he realises the truth of this, so much so that he questions himself and the label he has always identified with. His friend Tucker – who doesn’t really label himself, but accepts he is asexual – makes Nick realise the flexible nature of human attraction and that it is possible to fall for a person and not a gender. Nick is quite happy to identify as Bi if that is a label people will give him if he is with Katie.
Katie introduces him to some of the realities of being trans including taking him to meet a good friend who is a tattoo artist and does her laser hair removal. Katie bought the machine, and her friend gives her treatments in return for storing the machine and recommending her trans friends go there for hair removal at a regular price. Katie works as a bartender and does artwork to pay for her hormone treatment, but she decided long ago she didn’t want any operations on her genitalia. Her reasons for this are well explained and work well in this context where her love interest is a gay male. Despite this there is a brief reference to ‘a strap-on’, but the sex scenes are not overly explicit or long.
This is a romance and the whole affair is structured around the upcoming wedding of one of his group of straight, long-standing friends, where Nick is a going to be a groomsman.
I enjoyed reading Hopeless Romantic, which is well written, and is a romance rather than a polemic on being trans. It shows how easy it is to accept those who are different without being scared of doing or saying the wrong thing simply by being a kind and genuine person. Nick falls for Katie before he knows anything about her other than their shared interests and expectations. Although he says some unthinking things at first, Nick wants to learn what Katie likes and needs because he likes her and wants to please her, NOT just because it is politically correct...
Rated - B
What a treat to read a genuinely sweet romance that includes a gay male and a trans main character. Hopeless Romantic is a genre romance. Boy meets girl, boy courts girl etc., etc. complete with HEA.
Nick Fraser is a gay guy who wants all the trappings of the rom-com movies he loves, except with another guy of course. He doesn’t think that sort of thing is for everyone and doesn’t promote it as such, but he does want the fairy-tale courtship, romantic gestures and fairy-tale wedding. So far he hasn’t met someone who will commit to him or his fantasy – and then he meets Katie.
Both Katie and Nick are university students. Nick is doing his PhD in English and Katie her degree in Art. They come from very different backgrounds and have different life experiences. Nick’s parents are totally accepting of his sexual identity, are middle class and fairly affluent. Nick struggles with student poverty and seems pretty stubborn about accepting help especially from his parents. He shares a flat with a friend, Tucker who is also a student but helps out when he can.
When his car breaks down and will take time and money he doesn’t have to fix, Nick finds himself dependent on public transport. It is on a bus trip that he properly meets Katie to talk to. She is pretty and likes the same music and they both love 80’s movies. Nick finds himself attracted to Katie, which confuses him as he has always identified as gay.
Katie invites him along to a gig her friends are playing, giving him the flyer she designed for them. He goes and the two of them bond over their mutual love of punk and indie rock. Later that night, the news that Katie is a trans female confuses Nick, and he is a little hurtful when he suggests he is attracted to her because he must have realised somehow she was ‘a dude’.
Katie makes him realise that she isn’t and never has been male and as he gets to know her better, he realises the truth of this, so much so that he questions himself and the label he has always identified with. His friend Tucker – who doesn’t really label himself, but accepts he is asexual – makes Nick realise the flexible nature of human attraction and that it is possible to fall for a person and not a gender. Nick is quite happy to identify as Bi if that is a label people will give him if he is with Katie.
Katie introduces him to some of the realities of being trans including taking him to meet a good friend who is a tattoo artist and does her laser hair removal. Katie bought the machine, and her friend gives her treatments in return for storing the machine and recommending her trans friends go there for hair removal at a regular price. Katie works as a bartender and does artwork to pay for her hormone treatment, but she decided long ago she didn’t want any operations on her genitalia. Her reasons for this are well explained and work well in this context where her love interest is a gay male. Despite this there is a brief reference to ‘a strap-on’, but the sex scenes are not overly explicit or long.
This is a romance and the whole affair is structured around the upcoming wedding of one of his group of straight, long-standing friends, where Nick is a going to be a groomsman.
I enjoyed reading Hopeless Romantic, which is well written, and is a romance rather than a polemic on being trans. It shows how easy it is to accept those who are different without being scared of doing or saying the wrong thing simply by being a kind and genuine person. Nick falls for Katie before he knows anything about her other than their shared interests and expectations. Although he says some unthinking things at first, Nick wants to learn what Katie likes and needs because he likes her and wants to please her, NOT just because it is politically correct...
April 3, 2017
I was given a copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads.
I really struggled with this story. The author attempts to explore complex ideas about gender and sexuality but the result feels more like an ill-informed and not terribly sensitive sex-ed resource than an actual romance.
Starting with Nick’s ‘straight for you’ storyline. He doesn’t understand his attraction to Katie and as a reader, there was never anything that made me believe the connection between the two of them was special enough to make him fancy a woman. His awkward blunders with regards to Katie’s gender and sexuality are enough to make more intimate moments uncomfortable rather than sexy. I wasn’t ever convinced he really liked her girl bits.
Again, for a romance, Katie is too uncomfortable in her own skin. She delays sex with Nick like a virgin Christian teenager. The awkwardness between these two means that there was very little heat or chemistry - and a good romance needs both.
The romance and the connection between Nick and Katie focuses on their shared love of obscure punk bands and romantic films. Some of the banter between the two is entertaining, but it feels like the author was trying to use classic romantic film references to make up for the absence of any sort of genuine romantic emotions in this story.
Beyond the romance, Nick and Katie are 29 and 31 respectively. Yet they both live and act like teenagers. Pretentious hipsters and perpetual students, I had very little time for either character. It’s fun to follow obscure bands and live on ramen noodles at 18. Or even at 21. At 29, Nick accepting money from his affluent parents is awful. I really couldn’t take these two seriously.
I also struggled with the negative comments about Nick’s roommate’s Ace identity. In a book focusing on gender and sexuality, the Ace slights seem thoughtless and they go unchallenged.
This is the second book I’ve read by this author. I loved ‘The Taste of Ink’ but I found myself disappointed by this one.
I really struggled with this story. The author attempts to explore complex ideas about gender and sexuality but the result feels more like an ill-informed and not terribly sensitive sex-ed resource than an actual romance.
Starting with Nick’s ‘straight for you’ storyline. He doesn’t understand his attraction to Katie and as a reader, there was never anything that made me believe the connection between the two of them was special enough to make him fancy a woman. His awkward blunders with regards to Katie’s gender and sexuality are enough to make more intimate moments uncomfortable rather than sexy. I wasn’t ever convinced he really liked her girl bits.
Again, for a romance, Katie is too uncomfortable in her own skin. She delays sex with Nick like a virgin Christian teenager. The awkwardness between these two means that there was very little heat or chemistry - and a good romance needs both.
The romance and the connection between Nick and Katie focuses on their shared love of obscure punk bands and romantic films. Some of the banter between the two is entertaining, but it feels like the author was trying to use classic romantic film references to make up for the absence of any sort of genuine romantic emotions in this story.
Beyond the romance, Nick and Katie are 29 and 31 respectively. Yet they both live and act like teenagers. Pretentious hipsters and perpetual students, I had very little time for either character. It’s fun to follow obscure bands and live on ramen noodles at 18. Or even at 21. At 29, Nick accepting money from his affluent parents is awful. I really couldn’t take these two seriously.
I also struggled with the negative comments about Nick’s roommate’s Ace identity. In a book focusing on gender and sexuality, the Ace slights seem thoughtless and they go unchallenged.
This is the second book I’ve read by this author. I loved ‘The Taste of Ink’ but I found myself disappointed by this one.
June 21, 2017
I absolutely loved this book. I don't know anything about people who are transgender, so I can't speak about the books accuracy, but the book made me feel hopeful and sappy and I loved every minute of it! The book begins with Nick, who despite several failed relationships, he is a hopeless romantic. One day he (literally) bumps into a girl wearing a tee shirt of a band he loves as well and nothing is the same ever again. He finds himself attracted to a girl in perhaps the very first time in his life and he is very confused. The confusion grows when he realizes that Katie is transgender. What does that make him now?
For me this asks the question, can you be attracted to or have feelings for someone who is physically nothing like your "type." I'd like to think we can. Obviously this is very extreme, but it still makes me wonder. I found this romance sweet and realistic and plan to read it again very soon.
For me this asks the question, can you be attracted to or have feelings for someone who is physically nothing like your "type." I'd like to think we can. Obviously this is very extreme, but it still makes me wonder. I found this romance sweet and realistic and plan to read it again very soon.
May 6, 2017
I enjoyed reading this. Nick, a gay man, meets and falls for Katie. He is puzzled because he is gay and has only ever liked men and yet here he is falling for a woman. When he finds out that Katie is trans he immediately thinks he understands why he was attracted to Katie. To him because Katie is trans he feels that he is attracted to Katie because she was once a man.
Wrong!
And so Nick's education and questioning begins and he goes through the process of learning that Katie is a woman.
“You can ask questions. That’s how people learn. But be respectful, okay?”
But then he is left with questions about his own sexuality. Katie is a woman so what does that then say about him? Does it mean that he has been bisexual all along? How will he explain this to his friends and family, but does he need to explain this to them etc and these are a few of the issues that Nick explores and Katie is there by his side as he does so.
And so Nick gradually falls in love and this is what he wants because he deeply desires to have a happy ever after. He wants his own romance, children and family, and maybe Katie is the one, but can he relate to Katie with integrity? Can he love her as the woman she is?
I thought it was an interesting story because it emphasises the uniqueness of the individual. Gender identity is a very individual issue but it is expressed within society and still not well understood. At the very heart of this issue are questions about freedom, respect and acceptance. Katie is very clear about who she is. Nick is also very clear about who he is, but for the first time in his life this is being challenged because he is attracted to a woman.
And so the story explores the relationship between the two of them.
It is a pleasant story, one of discovery and courage and love. Nick has to discover who he is and who Katie is and he finds it challenging, risky but at the same time exciting.
The story grew on me as it developed. Early on in the book I felt that the characters were a bit boring and for me this is because the first part of the book tried too hard and told us about 'being trans' instead of showing us a young man who falls head over heels in love. Why does Nick suddenly fall so hard for this young woman after only dating men all his life? Why does Katie fall in love with this young man knowing that he is gay? And knowing these things what draws the two of them to take the risk and fall in love? I don't think the first part of the story explored this sufficiently, instead it kind of emphasised the correct way to approach the issue of transgender, the correct language etc etc
But the story comes into its own during the second half of the book.
The two characters share a deep love of music and movies and this is explored and given depth in the second half of the story. Although most of the music and film stuff went over my head, and it shows the two of them finding something that they both have in common and it shows how they go from being strangers to friend, and friends to lovers, which was beautifully done.
I think the story takes off at this point because Nick and Katie decide to date and both of them go out of their way to create romantic dates. “It seemed like for the first time in both of their lives, they could really have fun with the typical idea of romance as it was depicted on the screen.”
I didn't find this book to be transphobic. For me it was simply a story about a young man who is forced to question himself when he falls in love with someone who is trans and how he comes to understand Katie as a woman and not a man, and what this means for his own sexuality. It is a story which explores issues of gender identity and intimacy and I think in real life this isn't an exact science and this is what the story portrays.
Nick shows a willingness to learn even though he gets it wrong occasionally. Katie doesn't feel that she needs to educate him but she reveals who she is as part of the process of getting to know another person.
Nick has to explore what it means to be with Katie especially since Katie hasn't had a complete sexual reassignment surgery. Is he then with Katie because she can have sex in a way that satisfies him? What would happen if Katie decided to have a complete physical gender reassignment (for want of a better word). And does this mean that Nick is gay or is he bi? Katie takes the lead by finding her own way to express sexual intimacy but these are questions that only Nick and Katie can answer for themselves. The story tells about two individuals facing these questions but their story is not everyone else's stories. This book is not telling how it is for everyone, but how it is for Katie and Nick, and for me that is what I found interesting. This isn't the story of my trans colleagues and their stories will be very different or could be similar. So for me I didn't see Nick as being transphobic. I saw a young man grappling with real questions and real changes in his life.
I do wish the story explored a bit more about Nick's feelings towards himself and how he went so easily from being gay to being with a woman. The story also illustrates that there is so much in a relationship that goes beyond gender, identity and sexuality
It is well written story, a bit dry and factual in places but a story which grew on me, made me think and reflect, and one I wont be forgetting any time soon.
Copy generously provided by Riptide Publishing via Netgalley. Much appreciated.
April 2, 2017
When I requested this on NetGalley, there weren't any other reviews up yet. The blurb made it sound like an interesting bisexuality discovery story with a love interest who was trans, and the author is non-binary so I assumed it would be an excellent own-voices read.
I read the first couple chapters, and they were okay but not really catching my interest. I came onto GR to see other reviews and was shocked by what I read. Lots of misgendering that's excused and brushed off by the trans character. I won't be continuing this one.
DNF at 12%.
I read the first couple chapters, and they were okay but not really catching my interest. I came onto GR to see other reviews and was shocked by what I read. Lots of misgendering that's excused and brushed off by the trans character. I won't be continuing this one.
DNF at 12%.
no-intention-of-reading
May 6, 2017
That cover is so misleading to me... This is a M/F romance.
You (me) will not enjoy this because the main character is an idiot.
March 2, 2017
Hopeless Romantic by Francis Gideon is a good introduction to Transgender topics, because it's light and funny, but it still address certain aspects of transgender culture.
My only criticism is that it's too light. I feel that the book would have more depth and interest if the author included Katie's perspective. It's interesting to be apart of Nick's journey as he navigates through his sexual identity and his relationship with Katie, but I really wanted to be apart of Katie's journey as well, as she learns to let someone into her life.
My only criticism is that it's too light. I feel that the book would have more depth and interest if the author included Katie's perspective. It's interesting to be apart of Nick's journey as he navigates through his sexual identity and his relationship with Katie, but I really wanted to be apart of Katie's journey as well, as she learns to let someone into her life.
wish-list
February 4, 2017Just saw the cover-reveal and another book I can't resist... hometown skyline on cover. :)
August 27, 2017
Reviewed for Rainbow Gold Reviews. A copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
I have read a few books with trans characters in the past and so far each one has been pretty different. I have read a book that would be considered children’s about a boy who wanted to be a girl, a few books with gay transmen who fall for other men, a YA book with a straight teen boy who falls for a long time friend who transitioned from male to female, another YA book with a romance between a young trans man and a young man who identifies as asexual, and now with Hopeless Romantic I have read a romance between a gay man and a bisexual trans woman.
I guess I should clarify that by the end of the book Nick, who has been attracted to men 95% percent of the time, comes to the realization that he might be bisexual. Nick is the hopeless romantic that the title refers to. He loves romance movies especially ones from the 1980’s. I guess I can relate to his love for cheesy romances even if I’m not on his wavelength when it comes to the punk rock music he loves. He is a struggling grad student with debt and a broken car and the inability to ask for help.
Nick meets Katie when she bumps into him at school. She loves art and punk music and all the same movies that Nick does. She helps him even when he is afraid to ask. She is perfect for him except that all his relationships have been with men. This is what appealed to me in this story. This is like a Gay For You romance in reverse. (I am a sucker for GFY books. I know that gay for you is usually bisexuality but sometimes it might just mean that a person fell for who another person is rather than what is under their clothes. It appeals to me so much that love can break through what you thought you knew about yourself and leave you changed.)
The nature of their relationship involves a few mistakes and hiccups where Nick accidentally says something that is offensive but from the moment that he acknowledged his interest in Katie his intentions are all for the good. The romance between them had me feeling all sappy and smiley like I would feel at the end of one of the romantic comedies they watch in the book. It’s a very sweet book with some hot sexy scenes, too. I really loved the book and would definitely recommend it.
10/10 Pots of Gold (100% Recommended) – Compares to 5/5 Stars
I have read a few books with trans characters in the past and so far each one has been pretty different. I have read a book that would be considered children’s about a boy who wanted to be a girl, a few books with gay transmen who fall for other men, a YA book with a straight teen boy who falls for a long time friend who transitioned from male to female, another YA book with a romance between a young trans man and a young man who identifies as asexual, and now with Hopeless Romantic I have read a romance between a gay man and a bisexual trans woman.
I guess I should clarify that by the end of the book Nick, who has been attracted to men 95% percent of the time, comes to the realization that he might be bisexual. Nick is the hopeless romantic that the title refers to. He loves romance movies especially ones from the 1980’s. I guess I can relate to his love for cheesy romances even if I’m not on his wavelength when it comes to the punk rock music he loves. He is a struggling grad student with debt and a broken car and the inability to ask for help.
Nick meets Katie when she bumps into him at school. She loves art and punk music and all the same movies that Nick does. She helps him even when he is afraid to ask. She is perfect for him except that all his relationships have been with men. This is what appealed to me in this story. This is like a Gay For You romance in reverse. (I am a sucker for GFY books. I know that gay for you is usually bisexuality but sometimes it might just mean that a person fell for who another person is rather than what is under their clothes. It appeals to me so much that love can break through what you thought you knew about yourself and leave you changed.)
The nature of their relationship involves a few mistakes and hiccups where Nick accidentally says something that is offensive but from the moment that he acknowledged his interest in Katie his intentions are all for the good. The romance between them had me feeling all sappy and smiley like I would feel at the end of one of the romantic comedies they watch in the book. It’s a very sweet book with some hot sexy scenes, too. I really loved the book and would definitely recommend it.
10/10 Pots of Gold (100% Recommended) – Compares to 5/5 Stars
March 10, 2017
Full disclosure: I received this ebook from the publisher via NetGallery in return for an honest review.
Warning: this review contains spoilers
A thought-provoking meditation on trans identity
For me, one quote sums up the novel, when transwoman Katie tells her boyfriend, Nick—who (previously) identified as gay: “People can handle talking to people — but identity categories make them fuck up” (p.182).
What I like is that this novel offers no neat solution. The protagonists and minor characters continue to try to work out how to think and talk about trans issues, causing unintentional hurt along the way, but striving to learn so as to not repeat their mistakes.
The protagonists bond over a shared fascination for punk and 80s movies. Even though I didn’t get most of the music references, it didn’t matter because they built the characterisation regardless, showing two people who’d struggled to understand and be understood and who were using shared cultural references as a way to connect and explain their perspective.
Warning: this review contains spoilers
A thought-provoking meditation on trans identity
For me, one quote sums up the novel, when transwoman Katie tells her boyfriend, Nick—who (previously) identified as gay: “People can handle talking to people — but identity categories make them fuck up” (p.182).
What I like is that this novel offers no neat solution. The protagonists and minor characters continue to try to work out how to think and talk about trans issues, causing unintentional hurt along the way, but striving to learn so as to not repeat their mistakes.
The protagonists bond over a shared fascination for punk and 80s movies. Even though I didn’t get most of the music references, it didn’t matter because they built the characterisation regardless, showing two people who’d struggled to understand and be understood and who were using shared cultural references as a way to connect and explain their perspective.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 6, 2017
I am so glad to see a transgender as a leading love interest. Thank you! It isn't important to me that there are errors with what it means to be transgender. The author put it out there and it makes people question their perceptions, do some research, and maybe begin to see past their own preconceived ideas. I hope that the author takes what they've learned in feedback from others about being trans and keeps writing them as leads and love interests.
As far as the characters, I so liked Katie. She's strong, independent, giving and vulnerable. She allows Nick to ask questions, but corrects him when he's wrong or hurtful. She impressed me with her ability to decide what is right for her. Nick is great. He struggles a bit with his own world view but in the end it revolves around Katie. Terrific ending.
Adult read
As far as the characters, I so liked Katie. She's strong, independent, giving and vulnerable. She allows Nick to ask questions, but corrects him when he's wrong or hurtful. She impressed me with her ability to decide what is right for her. Nick is great. He struggles a bit with his own world view but in the end it revolves around Katie. Terrific ending.
Adult read
May 25, 2017
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The characters are realistic and memorable. The situation is interesting--what would it be like to be a cisgender individual in a relationship with a transgender individual? What challenges would both people face?
I feel that the book is more geared toward cisgender readers than trans readers. The POV is from the cisgender male, and Nick does mess up in his early interactions with the trans Katie. He needs to be educated, and I feel that that is partly what this book is trying to do--educate readers.
The book is quite romantic and fun. I would have liked a little more conflict--maybe a big fight or misunderstanding, but that's me. I love sloppy makeup sex.
I feel that the book is more geared toward cisgender readers than trans readers. The POV is from the cisgender male, and Nick does mess up in his early interactions with the trans Katie. He needs to be educated, and I feel that that is partly what this book is trying to do--educate readers.
The book is quite romantic and fun. I would have liked a little more conflict--maybe a big fight or misunderstanding, but that's me. I love sloppy makeup sex.
June 16, 2018
I actually disliked this less than expected given all the other reviews and stuff I've read about this.
I do think that Hopeless Romantic has a great setup and handles many important topics that are not common in the genre, but the way some things were handled and the combination of it all wasn't great.
My main issue with this book was Nick, the protagonist. He's impossible. I can't even 100% describe what about him bothered me so much, but the way he behaved, what he said and his thoughts frequently made me speechless and extremely uncomfortable - all of that things that occured way before he learns that Katie, the love interest, is trans, and the subsequent mess.
Hopeless Romantic has several main topics:
One is that Nick falls in love with Katie, who is trans, which Nick knows very little about. He makes a lot of mistakes, saying and thinking things that hurt and misgender her. He also talks a lot with her and she corrects and calls him out a lot. Does Nick learn a lot? Yes, definitely. Does he always learn gracefuly? ... not really? He accepts what she says immediately and doesn't repeat mistakes directly, but somehow his "oh yeah sorry, I know" reactions felt a bit like he was brushing her off. I cannot tell if it was meant that way deliberately, but that was how it felt to me.
I do think that books about characters who are still learning about what it means to be trans and be with a trans person have their place, and can be very important - but in this specific case it felt like a wrong decision for the book.
Another big topic is that Nick realizes he's bisexual, when he identified as gay his entire life. The discovering bisexuality plotline isn't exactly new, but I have never read it from the perspective of someone who previously IDed as homosexual instead of hetero.
On it's own, that storyline I think is handled rather well. There are important conversations about bisexuality itself, and the whole "gay man falls for a woman" is handled very sensitively.
But.
Big but.
I find that storyline combined with how Nick treats Katie after she tells him she's trans.... not good.
Let me elaborate: The two of them meet by chance and after a while end up spending a long day together where they have a lots of fun. The entire day, Nick is very attracted to Katie, and very confused about why he is attracted to her given that she is a woman and he's a gay man. Later, as they talk, Katie brings up her being a trans woman - having assumed that Nick knew she was trans, which Nick hadn't. At no point previous to that does he even question her being cis (though I guess there are "hints" dropped for the reader - her voice cracks, she is pointed out to be tall, her hands are big but soft... which is a bit questionable in itself, but made worse by how awkward and unnatural the writing is at parts, especially when it comes to describing the characters). So when she tells him she's a trans woman.... Nick's first feeling is relief. Because "that explains why he, as a gay man, is attracted to her". Katie immediately calls him out on how wrong that kind of thinking is - that he is implying she is not really a woman - but.... god. It's just so uncomfortable. And combined with Nick having previously established himself as a huge asshole I really wasn't feeling it.
While talking about Nick being an asshole: Nick has a roommate, Tucker, who is a-spec (another minor thread is about Nick and Tucker's friendship). At some point Nick talks to his friends about Tucker, mentioning he might be asexual, to which his friends reply with "Ew". Nick replies with "Not ew, just different" and.... that's it. No further comments or thoughts are spared to this interaction that left me entirely speechless.
Nick's friends in general made me really uncomfortable, not just because one of them is a bigot and horrible in so many ways, but also how that makes Nick behave.
While Nick learns a lot over the course over the book, the first 20 % are really hard, and the improvements only really take place after the 50% mark. I understand why so many people DNF'ed this, and to be honest, the only reason I didn't DNF was because I was bored at work.
Even as the book improves, some things still made me side-eye it.
I greatly appreciated that at no point Katie is put in danger for being trans - there are no direct confrontations where she is involved. But there are direct confrontations between Nick and other people about her. Which felt weird: Nick defending her, telling people Katie's genitals or how he has sex with her are non of their business, and what he says in those scenes in itself is good, but it was weird that there were so many conversations explicitly ABOUT Katie with third parties, yet she wasn't there for any of them.
So.... there's some of my thoughts about this mess. I'm sure I forgot to mention many things, and there's many reviews out there by more relevant voices abotu this than mine.
Ultimately I didn't dislike this book as much as I thought I would, I like the topics that it handles, but I'm not convinced by the execution, and Nick is just plain the wrong character for a story like this in my optinion.
I do think that Hopeless Romantic has a great setup and handles many important topics that are not common in the genre, but the way some things were handled and the combination of it all wasn't great.
My main issue with this book was Nick, the protagonist. He's impossible. I can't even 100% describe what about him bothered me so much, but the way he behaved, what he said and his thoughts frequently made me speechless and extremely uncomfortable - all of that things that occured way before he learns that Katie, the love interest, is trans, and the subsequent mess.
Hopeless Romantic has several main topics:
One is that Nick falls in love with Katie, who is trans, which Nick knows very little about. He makes a lot of mistakes, saying and thinking things that hurt and misgender her. He also talks a lot with her and she corrects and calls him out a lot. Does Nick learn a lot? Yes, definitely. Does he always learn gracefuly? ... not really? He accepts what she says immediately and doesn't repeat mistakes directly, but somehow his "oh yeah sorry, I know" reactions felt a bit like he was brushing her off. I cannot tell if it was meant that way deliberately, but that was how it felt to me.
I do think that books about characters who are still learning about what it means to be trans and be with a trans person have their place, and can be very important - but in this specific case it felt like a wrong decision for the book.
Another big topic is that Nick realizes he's bisexual, when he identified as gay his entire life. The discovering bisexuality plotline isn't exactly new, but I have never read it from the perspective of someone who previously IDed as homosexual instead of hetero.
On it's own, that storyline I think is handled rather well. There are important conversations about bisexuality itself, and the whole "gay man falls for a woman" is handled very sensitively.
But.
Big but.
I find that storyline combined with how Nick treats Katie after she tells him she's trans.... not good.
Let me elaborate: The two of them meet by chance and after a while end up spending a long day together where they have a lots of fun. The entire day, Nick is very attracted to Katie, and very confused about why he is attracted to her given that she is a woman and he's a gay man. Later, as they talk, Katie brings up her being a trans woman - having assumed that Nick knew she was trans, which Nick hadn't. At no point previous to that does he even question her being cis (though I guess there are "hints" dropped for the reader - her voice cracks, she is pointed out to be tall, her hands are big but soft... which is a bit questionable in itself, but made worse by how awkward and unnatural the writing is at parts, especially when it comes to describing the characters). So when she tells him she's a trans woman.... Nick's first feeling is relief. Because "that explains why he, as a gay man, is attracted to her". Katie immediately calls him out on how wrong that kind of thinking is - that he is implying she is not really a woman - but.... god. It's just so uncomfortable. And combined with Nick having previously established himself as a huge asshole I really wasn't feeling it.
While talking about Nick being an asshole: Nick has a roommate, Tucker, who is a-spec (another minor thread is about Nick and Tucker's friendship). At some point Nick talks to his friends about Tucker, mentioning he might be asexual, to which his friends reply with "Ew". Nick replies with "Not ew, just different" and.... that's it. No further comments or thoughts are spared to this interaction that left me entirely speechless.
Nick's friends in general made me really uncomfortable, not just because one of them is a bigot and horrible in so many ways, but also how that makes Nick behave.
While Nick learns a lot over the course over the book, the first 20 % are really hard, and the improvements only really take place after the 50% mark. I understand why so many people DNF'ed this, and to be honest, the only reason I didn't DNF was because I was bored at work.
Even as the book improves, some things still made me side-eye it.
I greatly appreciated that at no point Katie is put in danger for being trans - there are no direct confrontations where she is involved. But there are direct confrontations between Nick and other people about her. Which felt weird: Nick defending her, telling people Katie's genitals or how he has sex with her are non of their business, and what he says in those scenes in itself is good, but it was weird that there were so many conversations explicitly ABOUT Katie with third parties, yet she wasn't there for any of them.
So.... there's some of my thoughts about this mess. I'm sure I forgot to mention many things, and there's many reviews out there by more relevant voices abotu this than mine.
Ultimately I didn't dislike this book as much as I thought I would, I like the topics that it handles, but I'm not convinced by the execution, and Nick is just plain the wrong character for a story like this in my optinion.
June 6, 2017
A fun story with a happy ending.
January 1, 2018
Well done. Wonderful story. Not much of a pinnacle moment, but still a well rounded novel. Definitely would recommend!
April 12, 2017
A Joyfully Jay review.
4 stars
Based on the blurb for this story, and later in the actual text, I know that Nick identifies as gay. When he’s running around with the bridal party for the wedding of one of his friends, these other male characters’ actions and words, as well as Nick’s internal monologue, make it clear this is his identification. The things is…the blurb isn’t actually part of the story and these college-buddy scenes are well after Nick’s figured out he’s romantically attracted to Katie. In fact, there is precious little enough in the first chunk of the book to clue the reader into the fact that Nick even is gay…so when he first meets Katie and immediately has a physical attraction response, it’s not clear to me, the reader, why this is such an odd thing for Nick.
It’s clear from the get-go that Nick and Katie have chemistry. In hindsight, I find it interesting that Nick’s crisis-of-identity as to whether or not he will or can continue to identify as “just” gay does not come during the several scenes when he and Katie are together and Nick is unaware Katie is anything but a cisgender woman, but only after Katie explains what she thought Nick already knew: that she is a trans woman.
Much of the book focuses on this dynamic of their relationship, but I loved that it was done via showing and not just telling. As a reader, I felt very included in the discussions Katie and Nick had as they learn how to be a couple. Yes, this involved a lot of instruction from Katie to Nick and Nick on the internet. Rather than coming off as preachy or as a how-to, however, it was more like an intimate look at two people learning how to nurture the spark they already felt between them. They discussed what made them feel good and not so good as people and as partners, which may be something average hetero- or homosexual just assume given prevalent archetypes.
Read Camille’s review in its entirety here.
4 stars
Based on the blurb for this story, and later in the actual text, I know that Nick identifies as gay. When he’s running around with the bridal party for the wedding of one of his friends, these other male characters’ actions and words, as well as Nick’s internal monologue, make it clear this is his identification. The things is…the blurb isn’t actually part of the story and these college-buddy scenes are well after Nick’s figured out he’s romantically attracted to Katie. In fact, there is precious little enough in the first chunk of the book to clue the reader into the fact that Nick even is gay…so when he first meets Katie and immediately has a physical attraction response, it’s not clear to me, the reader, why this is such an odd thing for Nick.
It’s clear from the get-go that Nick and Katie have chemistry. In hindsight, I find it interesting that Nick’s crisis-of-identity as to whether or not he will or can continue to identify as “just” gay does not come during the several scenes when he and Katie are together and Nick is unaware Katie is anything but a cisgender woman, but only after Katie explains what she thought Nick already knew: that she is a trans woman.
Much of the book focuses on this dynamic of their relationship, but I loved that it was done via showing and not just telling. As a reader, I felt very included in the discussions Katie and Nick had as they learn how to be a couple. Yes, this involved a lot of instruction from Katie to Nick and Nick on the internet. Rather than coming off as preachy or as a how-to, however, it was more like an intimate look at two people learning how to nurture the spark they already felt between them. They discussed what made them feel good and not so good as people and as partners, which may be something average hetero- or homosexual just assume given prevalent archetypes.
Read Camille’s review in its entirety here.
April 29, 2017
First, a little insight into why I read some of the books that I do. I stayed away from the LGBTQIA genre for a long time because I didn't think I could relate to the characters. I was wrong on so many levels. I can see that now. My go-to books and authors now include a pretty wide array of LGBTQIA, some of which have even helped me learn a little bit about myself, who knew? I've only read a handful of trans books, and not knowing anyone who is trans I couldn't tell you which ones have come closer to portraying a true trans man or woman. To me, that's not the point. I'm not trying to be insensitive, just the opposite. I try to read books that may help me understand where people from all walks of life are coming from. Hopefully, it's making me a better person in the long run. Maybe, maybe not, but since I live in a community where I'm sure the full spectrum of LBGTQIA people live right beside me, but for many reasons (family, church, neighbors, school, etc.) don't feel safe being themselves, reading this genre is the only way I have of gaining even a little bit of understanding. Hopefully, one day, that will change, but I don't see it happening any time soon.
For all those reasons, I'm not really sure how to write this review. I try not to read other reviews before I write mine, but this one was hard because the reactions were intense. This is the first book by Francis Gideon I've read, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I liked the story and the insight. If nothing else, it's made me want to read more transgender books, because honestly, just like every other person on the planet, I would imagine that no two transgender people are the same or handle things the same way.
Again, I'm not trying to be insensitive, but I could relate to Nick. He was learning and yes, he may have faltered... a lot, but he was trying. He was also a bit flustered because being attracted to Katie kind of threw him. He had identified as gay his entire life and finding out that Katie was trans, relieved him in a way. I'm not saying that was right, it wasn't. He just grasped at it in an effort to come to terms with the fact that he was attracted to a woman. Once he did come to terms with it, he still slipped a little, but he was trying.
Katie was an amazing character. She was patient with Nick, but she didn't let him get away with his pre-conceived ideas and she made him take a good hard look at himself, more than once. She could have kicked him to the curb and left him more than once, but she saw something in him that wouldn't let her. Love is love after all. ;) On a side note, the thing that I noticed more than once was that from the very beginning, Nick only saw Katie as a woman. People around them, total strangers could see the masculine side of Katie, but Nick never did. To me it meant that he saw her for who she truly was... just a thought.
So, Hopeless Romantic may not have been the perfect portrayal of a trans/gay couple, but for me it was a sweet romance between two people that loved each other. Nick may have come off as insensitive to some, probably rightly so, but I can't say for sure that I wouldn't make the at least some of same mistakes, but not purposely. Wrapping your head around something you've never experienced before isn't always easy, but knowledge is powerful and sensitivity goes a long way regardless of who you are.
I received Hopeless Romantic in exchange for a fair and honest review.
For all those reasons, I'm not really sure how to write this review. I try not to read other reviews before I write mine, but this one was hard because the reactions were intense. This is the first book by Francis Gideon I've read, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I liked the story and the insight. If nothing else, it's made me want to read more transgender books, because honestly, just like every other person on the planet, I would imagine that no two transgender people are the same or handle things the same way.
Again, I'm not trying to be insensitive, but I could relate to Nick. He was learning and yes, he may have faltered... a lot, but he was trying. He was also a bit flustered because being attracted to Katie kind of threw him. He had identified as gay his entire life and finding out that Katie was trans, relieved him in a way. I'm not saying that was right, it wasn't. He just grasped at it in an effort to come to terms with the fact that he was attracted to a woman. Once he did come to terms with it, he still slipped a little, but he was trying.
Katie was an amazing character. She was patient with Nick, but she didn't let him get away with his pre-conceived ideas and she made him take a good hard look at himself, more than once. She could have kicked him to the curb and left him more than once, but she saw something in him that wouldn't let her. Love is love after all. ;) On a side note, the thing that I noticed more than once was that from the very beginning, Nick only saw Katie as a woman. People around them, total strangers could see the masculine side of Katie, but Nick never did. To me it meant that he saw her for who she truly was... just a thought.
So, Hopeless Romantic may not have been the perfect portrayal of a trans/gay couple, but for me it was a sweet romance between two people that loved each other. Nick may have come off as insensitive to some, probably rightly so, but I can't say for sure that I wouldn't make the at least some of same mistakes, but not purposely. Wrapping your head around something you've never experienced before isn't always easy, but knowledge is powerful and sensitivity goes a long way regardless of who you are.
I received Hopeless Romantic in exchange for a fair and honest review.
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