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jackiehorne's review
4.0
ARC supplied by the publisher.
An enjoyable, if not really cohesive, collection of six "sweet" (the collection's term, not mine) LGBTQ stories. The first two (by Alexis Hall and Delphine Dryden) are fantasy, with the other four contemporary. Dryden's story, which she wrote for "to finally publish something my kids could read and enjoy" reads as if its intended audience is middle grade readers, those who like the How to Train Your Dragonbooks, and would be a good introduction to thinking about same-sex liking for readers of that age.
The other stories are suitable for teens as well as for adults. Hall's, set in a technologically dystopian future, focuses on two members of a wildly popular manufactured boys band, with one member's realization that the other's gender identification is not as boyish as everyone believes.
The other four stories work better together, focusing on high school and college-aged teens struggling with how and when to come out, and how to navigate their first forays into romance. North's story features a boy with on the Autism spectrum teaching an apparently straight boy how to knit, as part of the boy's required probation, with romance ensuing; Cousins writes of a transsexual teen whose finds a friend, and perhaps a boyfriend, in the coffee shop where she takes refuge from her unaccepting family. Albert's narrator is a young man who grew up in a rural setting going to college in NYC, in large part so he can find validation for his gay identity; Cannon's is a college-bound young woman debating whether it is worth it to tell her best friend (whom she's been carrying a torch for for ages) that she's gay.
For parents who'd like their kids to read about gender and sexual identity issues in the form of stories rather than nonfiction, but who'd like to stay away from the details of sex.
All proceeds for this book benefit The Trevor Project, the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ+ people ages thirteen to twenty four.
An enjoyable, if not really cohesive, collection of six "sweet" (the collection's term, not mine) LGBTQ stories. The first two (by Alexis Hall and Delphine Dryden) are fantasy, with the other four contemporary. Dryden's story, which she wrote for "to finally publish something my kids could read and enjoy" reads as if its intended audience is middle grade readers, those who like the How to Train Your Dragonbooks, and would be a good introduction to thinking about same-sex liking for readers of that age.
The other stories are suitable for teens as well as for adults. Hall's, set in a technologically dystopian future, focuses on two members of a wildly popular manufactured boys band, with one member's realization that the other's gender identification is not as boyish as everyone believes.
The other four stories work better together, focusing on high school and college-aged teens struggling with how and when to come out, and how to navigate their first forays into romance. North's story features a boy with on the Autism spectrum teaching an apparently straight boy how to knit, as part of the boy's required probation, with romance ensuing; Cousins writes of a transsexual teen whose finds a friend, and perhaps a boyfriend, in the coffee shop where she takes refuge from her unaccepting family. Albert's narrator is a young man who grew up in a rural setting going to college in NYC, in large part so he can find validation for his gay identity; Cannon's is a college-bound young woman debating whether it is worth it to tell her best friend (whom she's been carrying a torch for for ages) that she's gay.
For parents who'd like their kids to read about gender and sexual identity issues in the form of stories rather than nonfiction, but who'd like to stay away from the details of sex.
All proceeds for this book benefit The Trevor Project, the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ+ people ages thirteen to twenty four.
lifeand100books's review
3.0
Another wonderful collection of short stories that supports a great cause.
My favorite was A SONG FOR SWEATER BOY by Vanessa North. I loved everything about this story. The characters, their emotions, their stories, their journeys.....everything. It was a perfect story and I wish more shorts were as emotionally fulfilling as North's was.
My favorite was A SONG FOR SWEATER BOY by Vanessa North. I loved everything about this story. The characters, their emotions, their stories, their journeys.....everything. It was a perfect story and I wish more shorts were as emotionally fulfilling as North's was.
misssusan's review
3.0
okay i'm partway through this and enjoying the heck out of it but i figured i'd better start the review now while the individual stories are still fresh in my mind
trunorth by alexis hall: the one about a sad boybander who discovers the magic of love and cabaret. :D i dug it, alexis hall is very good at writing that kind of lowkey situational depression where everything is grey and you're not miserable really but not a whole lot feels like it matters. also i feel like 1d fans will be into this bc reasons
unexpected dragons by delphine dryden: the one about the career woes of teen dragon shifters. cute stuff but it's possible i'm scoring it extra points because i enjoy being able to say i am reading about an enormous fire breathing dragon stressing over whether he will be able to pursue his TRUE passion: accounting :D
A Song for Sweater-boy by Vanessa North: autistic high school dude with a love for knitting also maybe loves other stuff? like the rly attractive dude who sings in a band and has the locker next to him? THIS WAS SO CUTE. i like hid my face in my hands and called my friend halfway through because i couldn't cope, i'm PRETTY sure this is going to be my favourite read in this collection.
the taste of coffee and cream by amy jo cousin: also very cute, i feel like that's gonna be my theme word for this collection. jude's having a rough time on account of how many important people in her life labour under the misapprehension she's a boy and do not enjoy being educated otherwise. at least she gets to dress like herself every saturday in the coffeeshop out of town though? this does have a happy ending lovelies so please read with the reassurance that jude is gonna be OKAY by the end
first in line by annabeth albert didn't enjoy this quite as much as the last few (writing was a bit clunky) but i am still proud of how my son and protaganist ethaniel did The Thing That Scared Him. good job bb
extinction level events by geonn canon: a little boring i am sry2say but it did give me some movie recs so that's cool
overall? pretty good collection though it falters a bit towards the end. and i am for sure going to give vanessa north another chance now. 3 stars
trunorth by alexis hall: the one about a sad boybander who discovers the magic of love and cabaret. :D i dug it, alexis hall is very good at writing that kind of lowkey situational depression where everything is grey and you're not miserable really but not a whole lot feels like it matters. also i feel like 1d fans will be into this bc reasons
unexpected dragons by delphine dryden: the one about the career woes of teen dragon shifters. cute stuff but it's possible i'm scoring it extra points because i enjoy being able to say i am reading about an enormous fire breathing dragon stressing over whether he will be able to pursue his TRUE passion: accounting :D
A Song for Sweater-boy by Vanessa North: autistic high school dude with a love for knitting also maybe loves other stuff? like the rly attractive dude who sings in a band and has the locker next to him? THIS WAS SO CUTE. i like hid my face in my hands and called my friend halfway through because i couldn't cope, i'm PRETTY sure this is going to be my favourite read in this collection.
the taste of coffee and cream by amy jo cousin: also very cute, i feel like that's gonna be my theme word for this collection. jude's having a rough time on account of how many important people in her life labour under the misapprehension she's a boy and do not enjoy being educated otherwise. at least she gets to dress like herself every saturday in the coffeeshop out of town though? this does have a happy ending lovelies so please read with the reassurance that jude is gonna be OKAY by the end
first in line by annabeth albert didn't enjoy this quite as much as the last few (writing was a bit clunky) but i am still proud of how my son and protaganist ethaniel did The Thing That Scared Him. good job bb
extinction level events by geonn canon: a little boring i am sry2say but it did give me some movie recs so that's cool
overall? pretty good collection though it falters a bit towards the end. and i am for sure going to give vanessa north another chance now. 3 stars
frogy927's review
3.0
The thing about a collection of short stories is that by the law of averages it's always going to get three stars. Some of the stories were great and others less so. I'd particularly skip the last one. Or at least read them out of order and don't end with it because the writing was such a boring drag. The first two were sci-fi/fantasy that I wasn't expecting and would have read whole novels of them. The middle was a lot of cute, standard YA.
alisonalisonalison's review against another edition
4.0
As is usual for an anthology, it's a mixed bag--there are two awesome stories, four pretty good stories, and one that really didn't work for me at all. I bought this because of the Alexis Hall story and it was worth it--that story was full of wonderful atmosphere and humour and a lovely use of language, and it was a bit barren and bleak at the same time. It's quite well done. My other favourite was Vanessa North's story, which was delightful and sweet and awkward and triumphant. Also very well done. This was worth it for those two stories alone.
veethorn's review against another edition
3.0
Sweet anthology about first loves. Diverse settings and enough salt to temper the sugar.
captainraccoon's review against another edition
5.0
ALL the proceeds from any sales go to The Trevor Project - need I say any more?
***
Pre-review...
Alexis Hall, Vanessa North, and Amy Jo Cousins contributing stories to an antho where all the proceeds go to charity?
I am on it like a car bonnet.
heathersreading's review
4.0
What a great little anthology for a wonderful cause! I enjoyed all the stories. Vanessa North's A Song for Sweater Boy was my favorite. So sweet!
poultrymunitions's review
4.0
all proceeds from the sale of this book benefit the trevor project, which supports LGBTQ youth in crisis.
***NOW AVAILABLE!!! MAKES A GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT!!! YOU SHOULD TOTALLY BUY ONE OR TWO!!! OR SIX!!! JUST SAYING!!!***
i'll be reviewing these as i read them; stay tuned.
TruNorth, by [a:Alexis Hall|7032108|Alexis Hall|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1424386893p2/7032108.jpg].
excesses in voice and lapses in copy editing and proofing proved extremely distracting, while obvious parallels to current pop-culture touchstones were sometimes as unintentionally funny as they were effective at defining the focus of the story.
and yet despite this indifferent execution i found myself occasionally both entranced and moved by a carousel of memorable side-characters, sliding in and out of the narrative like clever stage props, to leave their mark on what turns out to be—in the main—a lovely story.
for instance, the culture of the cabaret, while almost carelessly rendered, nonetheless so strongly reminded me of the doomed love affair in baz lurmann's moulin rouge that i arrived at this story’s ending already singing the wistful chorus of rufus wainwright’s version of complainte de la butte:
imperfect, like my singing voice. but simultaneously bleak and lovely, like my memories of that film. two stars.
Unexpected Dragons, by [a:Delphine Dryden|2975763|Delphine Dryden|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1413950808p2/2975763.jpg].
...yikes. at least hall's slapdash story had a plot, even if it was dangerously close to I Stalk Because I Care.
this one is a series of lectures that were so crushingly dull i fell asleep on three separate occasions trying to read it.
no plot. nothing happens. just, you know, conversations, and then The End.
the fourth time i treated it like assigned reading, grimly working my way through a number of after-school specials that appeared to be chiefly concerned with whether this dragon shifter teen would be allowed to be an accountant in his dragon-shifter village of dragon-shifter warriors and dragon-shifter croftsmen and whatnot.
[idek, i never got why they were all there or who they were supposedly there to guard or what; i was just too thrilled to have gotten through it at all on the fourth try to bother with picking obvious nits.]
but man, this one was brutal.
i mean, the overriding message here was literally 'yes, you can be a dragon-shifter accountant! follow your heart!'
which.
like.
...wut?
dragons have long been famed for their ability to value gems and precious metals, but tax planning—that's the stuff, amirite?
meanwhile, in the land of stories that make actual sense, you got every teenager in the history of ever like OMG I DON'T WANT TO BE AN ACCOUNTANT WHY CAN'T I JUST BE A DRAGON? one star.
A Song For Sweater-Boy, by [a:Vanessa North|6436063|Vanessa North|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1403298176p2/6436063.jpg].
you know a short story is good when your pleasure in it is only matched by your desperate unhappiness when it ends.
every scene hinges on an achingly familiar dynamic i remember from my own terribly awkward and tempestuous youth, and to see these things written so deftly and with such compassion was to feel as if i'd been given the warmest hug.
written with respect, too.
vanessa north never makes the mistake of pretending a teenager is unaware of sex, or of how sex can be fun, or an exploration, or a promise of love. and because these characters are in this way authentic—real to me—they feel as much like bits of myself as they feel like my friends.
i'm not autistic. and i'm not a bisexual goth with a tongue-piercing, nervously licking his lips.
but reading this story made me forget i wasn't—and for a few glorious pages i was living in the skin of those two boys and of my former self as intensely as i live in this old bag of bones now. five stars.
***NOW AVAILABLE!!! MAKES A GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT!!! YOU SHOULD TOTALLY BUY ONE OR TWO!!! OR SIX!!! JUST SAYING!!!***
i'll be reviewing these as i read them; stay tuned.
TruNorth, by [a:Alexis Hall|7032108|Alexis Hall|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1424386893p2/7032108.jpg].
excesses in voice and lapses in copy editing and proofing proved extremely distracting, while obvious parallels to current pop-culture touchstones were sometimes as unintentionally funny as they were effective at defining the focus of the story.
and yet despite this indifferent execution i found myself occasionally both entranced and moved by a carousel of memorable side-characters, sliding in and out of the narrative like clever stage props, to leave their mark on what turns out to be—in the main—a lovely story.
for instance, the culture of the cabaret, while almost carelessly rendered, nonetheless so strongly reminded me of the doomed love affair in baz lurmann's moulin rouge that i arrived at this story’s ending already singing the wistful chorus of rufus wainwright’s version of complainte de la butte:
the stairway up to la butte
can make the wretched sigh
while windmill wings of the moulin
shelter you and i
imperfect, like my singing voice. but simultaneously bleak and lovely, like my memories of that film. two stars.
Unexpected Dragons, by [a:Delphine Dryden|2975763|Delphine Dryden|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1413950808p2/2975763.jpg].
...yikes. at least hall's slapdash story had a plot, even if it was dangerously close to I Stalk Because I Care.
this one is a series of lectures that were so crushingly dull i fell asleep on three separate occasions trying to read it.
no plot. nothing happens. just, you know, conversations, and then The End.
the fourth time i treated it like assigned reading, grimly working my way through a number of after-school specials that appeared to be chiefly concerned with whether this dragon shifter teen would be allowed to be an accountant in his dragon-shifter village of dragon-shifter warriors and dragon-shifter croftsmen and whatnot.
[idek, i never got why they were all there or who they were supposedly there to guard or what; i was just too thrilled to have gotten through it at all on the fourth try to bother with picking obvious nits.]
but man, this one was brutal.
i mean, the overriding message here was literally 'yes, you can be a dragon-shifter accountant! follow your heart!'
which.
like.
...wut?
dragons have long been famed for their ability to value gems and precious metals, but tax planning—that's the stuff, amirite?
meanwhile, in the land of stories that make actual sense, you got every teenager in the history of ever like OMG I DON'T WANT TO BE AN ACCOUNTANT WHY CAN'T I JUST BE A DRAGON? one star.
A Song For Sweater-Boy, by [a:Vanessa North|6436063|Vanessa North|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1403298176p2/6436063.jpg].
you know a short story is good when your pleasure in it is only matched by your desperate unhappiness when it ends.
every scene hinges on an achingly familiar dynamic i remember from my own terribly awkward and tempestuous youth, and to see these things written so deftly and with such compassion was to feel as if i'd been given the warmest hug.
written with respect, too.
vanessa north never makes the mistake of pretending a teenager is unaware of sex, or of how sex can be fun, or an exploration, or a promise of love. and because these characters are in this way authentic—real to me—they feel as much like bits of myself as they feel like my friends.
i'm not autistic. and i'm not a bisexual goth with a tongue-piercing, nervously licking his lips.
but reading this story made me forget i wasn't—and for a few glorious pages i was living in the skin of those two boys and of my former self as intensely as i live in this old bag of bones now. five stars.
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