A review by oliviaskye
Stay Gold, by Tobly McSmith

2.0

I was really disappointed by this book. I came into it with high hopes, but it really let me down. The reasons why contains spoilers, so read at your own risk. 
Spoiler I hated Georgia. I can understand not being comfortable with being with someone who is transgender, but the way she said she was worried that other people would think she was a lesbian if they found out, was so gross. Like the author should have kept it at Georgia explaining that she simply wasn’t comfortable because what she said was not only transphobic but lesbophobic as well. I understand that showing the challenges trans people face when dating is important, but to have it done with so much homophobia was not needed. Especially because at the end, Georgia really only seemed to come around because she noticed that there were more LGBT people at her school than she thought, which again, is an important realization, but for that to be the reason she becomes okay with being with Pony just didn’t sit right with me. 
The other thing I didn’t like was Pony’s friend Max. Max was very open about being transgender, which is great, but I hate how he basically pressured Pony into coming out as well. Like that wasn’t Max’s choice to make for Pony; it was Pony’s. Trans people don’t owe it to their general peers to reveal that they’re trans. Being trans and proud is amazing, but it’s also okay if you don’t want to share that with people. I wish that was the message this book gave instead, especially because Pony was passing.
 
Overall, just very disappointed with the representation. 
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