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proseandpucks 's review for:
Act Cool
by Tobly McSmith
Thank you to NetGalley and Quill Tree Books for the ARC!
tw: transphobia, homophobia, misgendering, deadnaming, suicidal thoughts and ideation, religion, conversion therapy
August Greene is an aspiring actor from a tiny town in Pennsylvania that just landed a spot at his dream high school, the School of the Performing Arts in New York City. The issue? His parents, who refuse to let August transition and insist that's he's "sick" and the only way to "fix" him is by sending him to conversion therapy, do not want him to attend the school. Thankfully, August's aunt steps in and gets him his audition and offers him a place to live in New York while he attends the school of his dreams. To get his mother to agree,, August promise's he won't transition and will stay his mother's daughter while in school. Can August keep his life together while trying to live the way everyone else wants him to in a new school?
First of all, I love that this book starts out with trigger warnings. I read Tobly's Stay Gold book and while I really enjoyed it, I was super unprepared for how dark it really got. So, I appreciate the heck out of this one for telling up front there are some harsh and very real things discussed in this book.
I really loved this book. August trying his best to live the way that he thought everyone in his life wanted him to be was just such a relatable experience to me. He talked a lot throughout the book about how he acted every day to be the daughter his mother wanted, even though he knew he was her son. I loved that the book connected that to August's love of acting and how that was affecting him as a person.
This book dealt with so many intense, important things (and I think it will help to spark a lot of important discussions) but it didn't feel too heavy and ultimately was an uplifting story of a trans teenager finding himself, and the importance of family- chosen, found, or biological. I definitely cried a few times, and I adore August and the crazy group of friends he found at SPA.
If the trigger warnings are something you can handle, I definitely recommend picking this one up. I enjoyed it immensely.
tw: transphobia, homophobia, misgendering, deadnaming, suicidal thoughts and ideation, religion, conversion therapy
August Greene is an aspiring actor from a tiny town in Pennsylvania that just landed a spot at his dream high school, the School of the Performing Arts in New York City. The issue? His parents, who refuse to let August transition and insist that's he's "sick" and the only way to "fix" him is by sending him to conversion therapy, do not want him to attend the school. Thankfully, August's aunt steps in and gets him his audition and offers him a place to live in New York while he attends the school of his dreams. To get his mother to agree,, August promise's he won't transition and will stay his mother's daughter while in school. Can August keep his life together while trying to live the way everyone else wants him to in a new school?
First of all, I love that this book starts out with trigger warnings. I read Tobly's Stay Gold book and while I really enjoyed it, I was super unprepared for how dark it really got. So, I appreciate the heck out of this one for telling up front there are some harsh and very real things discussed in this book.
I really loved this book. August trying his best to live the way that he thought everyone in his life wanted him to be was just such a relatable experience to me. He talked a lot throughout the book about how he acted every day to be the daughter his mother wanted, even though he knew he was her son. I loved that the book connected that to August's love of acting and how that was affecting him as a person.
This book dealt with so many intense, important things (and I think it will help to spark a lot of important discussions) but it didn't feel too heavy and ultimately was an uplifting story of a trans teenager finding himself, and the importance of family- chosen, found, or biological. I definitely cried a few times, and I adore August and the crazy group of friends he found at SPA.
If the trigger warnings are something you can handle, I definitely recommend picking this one up. I enjoyed it immensely.