I want to preface this review by saying that this book is by no means bad. It is a good book, but a lot of my ratings come from my personal enjoyment of the book, and based off of that, this one just didn't hit for me.
The biggest reason why this book wasn't for me was the main character. Hunter is the only queer member of the five member boy band that he's in, and he feels the constant pressure of answering for his queerness from his record label, social media, and his fans. Where this story just wasn't hitting for me is the fact that Hunter believes that neither his current boyfriend (Kaivan - Iranian and queer) and his bandmates (three of whom are BIPOC) don't face the constant scrutiny that he does. He is completely ignorant to the fact that Kaivan and his bandmates are constantly facing discrimination based off of their ethnic and racial identities, and intersectionality when it comes to Kaivan is just completely lost on him.
And y'all this was exhausting to read. The fact that this privileged white boy had to constantly have BIPOC reminding him that they've been living with this type of examination their whole lives was too much for me.
I understand the importance of these stories and there are lots of people in the white queer community guilty of this as well, so characters like Hunter need to be on page. That being said, as someone whose lived experience has always been constantly examined and scrutinized based simply off of my skin color and appearance, this wasn't anything new or eye opening for me.
The biggest reason why this book wasn't for me was the main character. Hunter is the only queer member of the five member boy band that he's in, and he feels the constant pressure of answering for his queerness from his record label, social media, and his fans. Where this story just wasn't hitting for me is the fact that Hunter believes that neither his current boyfriend (Kaivan - Iranian and queer) and his bandmates (three of whom are BIPOC) don't face the constant scrutiny that he does. He is completely ignorant to the fact that Kaivan and his bandmates are constantly facing discrimination based off of their ethnic and racial identities, and intersectionality when it comes to Kaivan is just completely lost on him.
And y'all this was exhausting to read. The fact that this privileged white boy had to constantly have BIPOC reminding him that they've been living with this type of examination their whole lives was too much for me.
I understand the importance of these stories and there are lots of people in the white queer community guilty of this as well, so characters like Hunter need to be on page. That being said, as someone whose lived experience has always been constantly examined and scrutinized based simply off of my skin color and appearance, this wasn't anything new or eye opening for me.