haileylouise's Reviews (167)

Very slow as an audiobook, had to turn up the speed to 1.3x-1.5x at times. But very informative and although this writing style isn’t my favorite, the journey Strayed takes readers on is a motivating one. 

The concept of this book was what intrigued me the most. Boy band, drama, dating, public eye aspects, the articles, and emails. MMC Hunter Drake is in a popular Canadian (they really like to emphasize this) boy band Kiss & Tell. He is by far one of the most unaware characters that sort of makes me mad in how they react and the route this character takes to show growth. 

I don’t really get how as a cis white gay guy can say they recognize they should not be the face of LGBTQ+ youth and it should be the people of color and trans people who started the movement, all while also not recognizing that his band mates who are also POC, are struggling with being in the public eye and facing racist remarks. 

It takes him at least three talks about this same topic with three different people in his circle to understand that his problems and backlash are not just unique to him  being gay. And that all mostly happens within the last 100 pages of the book. To me, it doesn’t feel like there was a good resolution to all of this and the stakes felt very low in how Drake’s relationships and the press panned out. There’s no solidified, impactful moment that says, ‘this is the turning point. And this is what I’m going to do to be better and do better.’

SPOILERS

I think I had the most problems with some of the chapters breaks. More specifically with the fanfiction type of stories that mention sex between two minors and the ratings being explicit and such. Now, I know, minors could be writing this about other minors, but it still gave me the ick. Alongside this, the other problem I have is the lack of PR management or decent PR at all. They boys clearly don’t have great PR training and it’s seemingly their first time handling such public perception. And with Jill being the only manager without any other of the boys’ parents present it kind of ticked me off on how much stuff could’ve been avoided if The Label prepped them more or gave more support. My last problem, comes with the one article that talks about how Hunter Drake isn’t leading the talk to being a sex positive figure for the youth. And my problem with that, is that this is seemingly an adult writing this article about a MINOR. To put pressure on them to openly talk about sex and sex education, is not a fair take and it shouldn’t be his job to share something so personal as a teenager. That is not something he should be criticized for not doing on top of the gossip about his breakup with Aiden. Also! Can I just say, this story takes place seemingly over a month or two. And for Hunter to move on so quickly from the relationship (or maybe he was checked out a long time ago I don’t know) and date Kaivan without taking the time for himself and the tour is wild to me.

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