Reviews

Arthur and Teddy Are Coming Out by Ryan Love

zeliie's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

juhudit's review

emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

claire_michelle18's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A sweet story about coming out and living your life on your own terms 

theodoors's review against another edition

5.0

Nice, page turner, heartwarming coming out book. I especially loved Arthur and his story, and his personality.

claudclaud's review against another edition

inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

franthebooknerd's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

helloooooree's review against another edition

emotional funny informative inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

laurawurz's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

indiekay's review against another edition

4.0

I'm kind of struggling with the star rating for this one. Some parts of this book are quite sweet, but it also hits some VERY heavy topics, including suicide and a lot of homophobia, and I'm not sure if those topics were always handled with the amount of sensitivity I would have preferred? It's not badly done by any means, just a bit heavy-handed sometimes.

I liked most of Arthur's POV chapters. His relationship with his wife was wonderful, as was his friendship with Oscar.

Teddy's POV chapters weren't AS exciting as Arthur's, and the romance element fell pretty flat, but if I'd read it as a standalone story I'd probably have still given it 3 or 4 stars.

One thing I wasn't a huge fan of with this book was Teddy's mother. She reacted terribly to both her father and son's coming out, and both men forgive her for it immediately. Which I can understand, a lot of people will put family above everything - BUT. I really wish after she'd apologised Teddy had had a conversation with her about how controlling she is, and that he'd set some boundaries with her.

annineamundsen's review against another edition

4.0

3.5⭐ "In every potential coming out scenario he had run through his head over the last few years, the one thing he had not accounted for was the possibility of being beaten to it by his granddad."

Liked the coming out plots, especially with Arthur, and I think I would have preferred if the book was only about him. I didn't like Teddy's romance plot.

CW: negative reactions to coming out, pressure to come out, discussion of hate crimes (beating), discussion of conversion therapy, off-page suicide by minor side character, homophobia, previous death of a parent