When Carter meets Layla, he fumbles to charm her. He adores her sense of humor and her poise. But when she vanishes in the middle of the night, he’s left confused and determined to solve the mystery of who she is.
As their school year begins, their high school embraces a policy of intolerance, and both Declan and Carter know they must stand up. Carter is tired of being a coward and wants to prove he can be a knight in shining armor. Declan is sick of being bullied and wants desperately to be himself. If they team up, it could be a fairy-tale ending, or a very unhappy ever after. (Pub Date: Jul 02, 2018)
Declan isn't sure what he is some days, just that he's been faking his life and wearing his sister's clothes whenever he has an opportunity. When she catches him, she convinces Declan to go with her to Carter's party while assuming the identity of a cousin visiting from Chicago, Layla. Carter, Declan's dream boy for years, falls for Layla. But after changing everything he used to think about himself, she disappears without a word.
2.5, rounded up because the second half saved the book after the first dragged so painfully.
I had a hard time getting through the first half of the book, I was even wondering what to grade it because it had been a definite 2-star if not less. I wasn't ready for the part of the story he was Layla to be so overwhelming. It wasn't because of the crossdressing, Layla was a character that got to my nerves. It really didn't seem like Declan was going out as her for the first time but that he had lived as a woman his whole life.
The lowest point for me was when he started giving feminism lessons to the guys on how women are treated. No. No. The speech took too long in the book and made no sense coming from someone who had been living like a man. To make things worse, the speech started being reproduced as "all the other girls said the same but only when Layla told me did I understand". I don't even think that's what the target reader here needs to read. And not what I wanted.
Finally, the story happened. Although when Declan couldn't be Layla anymore, he really didn't seem to mind that much going back to his false identity, I was so relieved the story I wanted to read was finally starting!
So, about the second half, I think Declan had a complete personality change all of a sudden, which was good because he was unbearable before but also unjustified. Still, I enjoyed the book a lot more. I liked knowing about the other characters, and I especially liked the conclusion. To be honest, I was a little iffy about why some things were happening the way they were and all felt explained.
Not sure if it's a book I would recommend, I don't know if it did a good job talking about being gender fluid but it's not a read I recommend against. It does get better and it even gets very cute.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment