A review by avalydia
Bishop by A.E. Via
2.5
Full disclosure: I skimmed through most of this, so it's quite possible the author did a better job of setting the scene than I realized, but I could not figure out when this book was supposed to take place. Like, the social media references were incredibly dated - they were talking about Facebook or "whatever young people use these days" (not a direct quote, just the gist of a comment Edison made) - but also all the "homie" dialogue felt like it was straight out of an early to mid 2000s movie. And it was extra confusing because Bishop and his father were described with a lot of the cliches that are typically used to portray Black men (especially in those early to mid 2000s movies), but I'm pretty sure the author said Bishop was just white with a tan? So that was kind of a weird choice.
And then Edison came off like someone from the fifties or the sixties, the dude was 26 and acted nowhere near like a 26-year-old in the modern era. Like he was so "gosh" and "golly" in a way that just did not work for a book taking place in the 21st century, regardless of how mature he was meant to be.
So I basically spent most of the book trying to figure out when the hell this book was supposed to be taking place lol, and then I come on here and it was published in 2019?!?! Yeah no. Nope. None of this book felt like it belonged in the TikTok era.
After all that complaining, though, I will say that I really appreciated how Bishop and Edison did not let the usual romance-book drama come between them, and they were (mostly) very open and communicative about their needs, and quick to provide reassurance to each other about their feelings. So that was super refreshing! And I enjoyed watching Edison's growth as he learned to stand up for himself more, as well as Bishop's as he pushed himself both professionally and academically. Hence why I kept skimming. :)
And then Edison came off like someone from the fifties or the sixties, the dude was 26 and acted nowhere near like a 26-year-old in the modern era. Like he was so "gosh" and "golly" in a way that just did not work for a book taking place in the 21st century, regardless of how mature he was meant to be.
So I basically spent most of the book trying to figure out when the hell this book was supposed to be taking place lol, and then I come on here and it was published in 2019?!?! Yeah no. Nope. None of this book felt like it belonged in the TikTok era.
After all that complaining, though, I will say that I really appreciated how Bishop and Edison did not let the usual romance-book drama come between them, and they were (mostly) very open and communicative about their needs, and quick to provide reassurance to each other about their feelings. So that was super refreshing! And I enjoyed watching Edison's growth as he learned to stand up for himself more, as well as Bishop's as he pushed himself both professionally and academically. Hence why I kept skimming. :)