I wanted to like this SO MUCH -- the setup is perfect, the plot well-done, good-enough worldbuilding, and I've not seen alcoholism covered in fantasy before, so I was completely onboard to start with.

Unfortunately, I didn't click with the writing style, and it took a while to figure out why. There's much too much 'telling, not showing', meaning I was totally disconnected from the characters throughout. Characters explain things to each other, and then there's little emotional 'impact', it's just onto the next scene. Cliffhangers and leadups to dramatic moments fast-forward to a summary of what happened next & how it was resolved. If this had been a stylistic decision based on the MC's drinking, and it had shifted as he tries to tackle that ... this could have been absolutely epic. As it is, just wasn't for me. 

I would still recommend if you're reading this and thinking "I've never been bothered by something like that!" I'm a definite characters-over-plot reader. 

Noah Ramirez, a triracial trans boy, curates a highly popular Tumblr blog full of adorable meet-cute stories featuring trans people.  The only problem is -- all the stories are fake.

When a troll starts to attack the blog (and perhaps 'troll' is the wrong word, since they are making a fair point!) Noah's life starts to get very stressful indeed, and decides the only way forward is public fake-dating.

I'd recommend reading this as a YA Contemporary with a romance theme, ignore the rom-com labelling.  It has a low rating at SG and GR, and I think a lot of this is because Noah is a very young-feeling 16.  He's extremely entitled, totally self-obsessed, and that growth-arc really isn't for everyone.  I am certain I was like that at 16, I don't feel it's unrealistic at all, but on the flip side, that was a very long time ago, so perhaps teenagers are more caring and empathic these days.  :thinking: :rolling_eyes:  Anyway.  Noah ISN'T.  And has some hard growing up to do in this book. 

The blog itself requires a bit of suspension of disbelief -- in real Tumblr, he'd've been getting external submissions as soon as he went past 100 followers.  If you can roll with that, everything else will probably work out.

Especially liked the approach to alternate pronouns in the story, too, I've not read anything like that before.  And I liked that even in the middle of a blazing row, when you might expect someone to be a dick and mis-pronoun someone else, that never happened.  There was some ||racism / transphobia / dickishness|| but only in service to the plot.

Overall, I had a good time.  Freaking adore Devin and want to give em the world!

 This took a little bit of getting into, since although it is a standalone, it's in a previously-published universe, and I felt like there needed to be just a little bit more world explanation early on, especially around the different alien races. However, the plot pulled me along through that steep learning curve, and the characters made it all worthwhile overall. 

Give it a try if you're interested in sci-fantasy ... it's a great blend of those genres with something like a murder mystery.

16/20.