The story centers on two actors in a popular fantasy show, Galaxy Spark. The first person narrator, Lily, who has been out as queer for a while now, is in a gender identity crisis, which isn't helped by her mother's plan to have Lily's next gig be a heteronormative modern Cinderella story. Lily convinces Galaxy Spark's producers to create a queer romance for Lily's character Morgantha and co-star Greta's character Alieta, and of course that's followed by a fake offscreen romance. Meanwhile, Lily is living a true life as Frey in an online questing game, where they first identify themself as trans with some help from a new member of the band, Aida.

When I went to check out what others said about the book on Goodreads, I noted a lot of rancor. Readers accuse author Ellor of being misogynistic and lesbophobic. I looked around for an inciting incident but didn't find it, so I'm unclear if Ellor, a trans man, did something egregious, or if the commenters are TERFy. Therefore I read the book with as much awareness and care as I can summon as a ciswoman. I did find that Lily paints womanhood with a femme brush and denies that femmes can be queer.

"...you can't see a trace of queer on me. I'm stuffed in a tight green dress, frilled and fitted with a wide bust. My shoulder-length hair is curled and stacked high on my head. Heavy makeup covers my zits, and my blush and eyeliner are bright and camera-ready."

I think there are hella queer femmes who would live their best lives in a premier gown.

Also, "Thank god I didn't pick up on the conditioning that gives so many girls in Hollywood a problem with food. Maybe that should have been my first clue I wasn't a girl at all."

I will note that I appreciate the lowercase "god."

I've got more quotes to back up my thoughts on Frey/Ellor's narrow definition of queer, but there are other aspects of the book I want to amplify, like Greta being asexual and Frey's journey with whiteness and using their/his platform for pushing back against racism, as well as homophobia. The Galaxy Spark creators assemble a diverse cast and then kill off the non-normative characters at the first opportunity for maximum emotional manipulation. It's Frey's half-brother, who is Black and another actor on the show, who kicks off the rebellion, expanding Frey's understanding of who all is othered in the industry, and suddenly everyone is on board, with a female executive saying, "When I came into this business, I was fighting with all I had just to carve out a space for me. But a space for me, a cis white lady isn't good enough."

Ellor gives us a view into coming into yourself as a sexual minority even within sexual minorities with Frey wondering, "Maybe I'm just nebulous and weird. Maybe I made all this dysphoria up for attention." and "It's harder to say 'I'm nonbinary' or 'I'm asexual' without getting into a big debate defending that your identity exists." For me the struggle went a little long, but ymmv. There are important realities conveyed in this queer teen romance. I'm eager to learn what others more vulnerable to misportrayal have to say about the book.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the free DRC.