beesarenotflies's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Homophobia and Transphobia
whosfernn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Deadnaming, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Medical content, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death, Drug use, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia
Moderate: Alcohol, Mental illness, Infidelity, Abandonment, and Bullying
Minor: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Grief, and Religious bigotry
journey2's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
But I wanted to see how it ended.
~☆~ minor spoilers~☆~
Stay Gold was not a good read for me. I found this book frustrating. The characters annoyed me and everyone seemed extremely superficial.
Pony is relentless about the "friend zone" thing with Georgia. She continues to say no to his advances and he continues to pursue. Yes, she likes him, but she has clearly said no and he will not give up and keeps asking for more; including love bombing her with a grand gesture, until he can eventually win her over.
Our main love interest, Georgia, is so obsessed with her image and social standing right til nearly the end and her change of heart is supposed to be endearing, but by the time we got there I was just so tired of how fake she was.
I know that in high school everybody's figuring out who they are and who they want to be, but absolutely every character was so fake and two dimensional. In the end, superficial apologies and excuses like "it's just locker room talk" etc seem to 'fix' every off-colour comment or remark. Pony's dad was absolutely horrible to him throughout the entire book and his mom was kind of just complacent and didn't fight for him. A couple sentences at the very end of the book are supposed to redeem him but they just felt forced. Even though lots of things ended up being happy or at least happier, I found this book extremely problematic, frustrating and annoying and I do not recommend it.
I'm curious as to what the purpose of the storyline about Pony's job served. It didn't really go anywhere except to allow Pony to be nosy and intrusive into somebody else's business and then he got to have a warm fuzzy feeling afterwards. On that note, Pony continued to stick his nose into business that is not his own and it was very annoying. There was a time when Pony and Georgia stuck their noses into something so personal that I actually took time away from the book because I was exasperated. He was rewarded for it eventually, but it was annoying to read.
This book was 100% not for me and was just completely filled with red flags.
I could go on, but I won't!
Also it's list of trigger warnings is a mile long
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Outing, Rape, Sexual violence, Deadnaming, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Drug use
short_circuit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
it’s hinted at a couple times earlier throughout the book, but those pages are the only instances where the full name is mentioned.
for people wanting to avoid it, skip georgia’s section when she talks to pony’s dad in the car.
Graphic: Transphobia and Physical abuse
Minor: Transphobia
yakman's review against another edition
4.25
It felt like I got sucker punched
Spoiler
when they started beating Pony up and the thoughts going through his head, because that's like my biggest fearGraphic: Transphobia and Violence
infariveronaa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, and Bullying
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
beastbark's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Hate crime, Sexual assault, and Violence
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Sexual content
stailysh1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
**Please read the content warnings before diving into this book.**
Graphic: Bullying, Dysphoria, Lesbophobia, Outing, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Hate crime
Moderate: Biphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Deadnaming, and Infidelity
Minor: Alcohol
rebecca_simard's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
For starters, the characterization is abysmal, this might improve throughout the book but by 1/3rd of the way in we should have at least a few likable characters. The female lead suffers from "not like other girls" symptom, being the cheerleader who secretly is into important things like reading and journalism. Good basis for a character but it is used as a way to show how she is better than the other girls. Not a fan. The male lead has some internalized misogyny when it comes to her "not like other girls" isms as well. How exciting is it that there's actually a cheerleader worth his time and who isn't an idiot? While the best friend, Max, did not make a lot of appearances so far, reviews suggest that he is also a prominent character and his only scene so far had me cringing.
This leads to my next point, that the dialogue is bland and filled with long outdated phrases and references to try and sell the youth of the characters, obvi girl, 10 pride flag emojis. This is both emersion-breaking and difficult to read.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the plotline of a trans character being pressured by their support network to come out because not doing so is dishonest is concerning. Trans people do not owe anyone a description of their genitals as a means to promote honesty. One's medical history is theirs and theirs alone to disclose. I hope no trans or queer youth feel pressured by this rhetoric.
In summary, I had high hopes and I hope that the author continues to write as trans voices are vital, now more than ever. The blurb is good, showing that McSmith has good stories to tell. I hope they refine their characterization and writing style and move away from the overdone at best and problematic at worst pressure to come out stories. It's a good premise, but the execution needs work.
Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Bullying, Outing, and Suicidal thoughts
sage_alexandra's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Hate crime, Transphobia, and Outing
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship
Minor: Deadnaming