A review by summerlebel
Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith

3.0

This is a book I am so conflicted over. In a lot of ways, it was really sweet and I loved seeing some actual trans main character representation, especially where it's about more than just discovering your identity. Don't get me wrong, we need plenty more of those too, but it's delightful to see an expansion in the genre.

The problem is that I don't like how a lot of things were handled. First, I don't like how much one of the other characters puts pressure on Pony (the lead) to tell people that he's trans. I understand the points that said character was making, and it's absolutely a reasonable discussion to have,

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but it should only be a discussion and never an ultimatum of friendship.

It's really toxic and I don't feel like that's made clear enough in the story. I don't want young trans kids (or anyone at all) thinking that's acceptable. I also don't like the fact that the love interest

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is not very understanding and then doesn't properly apologize, and it ends up being really that the blame is on Pony. People should be allowed a chance to grow and also to take time with something like this, but I really would love to see this presented more as her understanding how difficult this was for Pony and less blaming Pony for lying because he didn't feel comfortable revealing something so personal to everyone.

The ending ends up feeling quite rushed because of this as well.