Welcome to Litsy!

I am so sad more people are not reading this!! I loved this story of a relationship before, during and after one of them transitions.
This is a love story, it is a friendship story, it is a 20- something coming of age story. It is both tender and adult. If you want a love story that is also a gorgeous character study this is the book for you. This will be one of my favorites of the year.
4.5/5

"When the train arrives, I climb on and sit opposite a girl who smiles at me. She‘s wearing loose trousers and a stripy top with a cardigan. She has her hair in a bun on top of her head. She looks like an ally. The kind that doesn‘t know any queer people but makes her boyfriend watch Drag Race. I wonder what‘s going on in her head when she looks at me. Probably nonsense. Slay coochie mama queen yes god tongue pop!"
Such a good description!!

"I placed my ear on his abdomen and listened to the low gurgle under his skin. The system beneath it seemed larger and more powerful than the belly of a boy. … I shut my eyes. It was a dark and endless canyon. The deep deep sea, outer outer space."

I am really enjoying the language of this.

This book is primarily about Tom and Ming and their relationship. Tom's coming out. His first gay relationship with Ming. Ming's feelings of not quite being in the right body. The transition. The aftermath.

It's a gritty read, getting down to the rawness of love in all it's forms. Like a microscopic view of individual strands of relationships.

Love, loss, grief, hope runs with fluidity throughout the book. I've laughed and I've cried (alot).

If you feel like the current spate of romance novels give you all the cheesy eye-rolls, my prescription…this book. It really is quite lovely and is as much about the love of friends as romantic love, the friends who hold you close and keep you safe.

Love books that stay with me. Recommend audiobook version if you audio.

I started out liking this story of a couple and their friends in the aftermath of one member of the couple transitioning. She did a great job capturing the complex dynamics, but it was just exhausting to this aro girl reading all that processing!

Tom and Ming have a group of friends and families that appreciate and love them. But when Ming transitions and they breakup, friends choose sides, especially after Ming writes a play about the breakup.