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A review by katekate_reads_
Always the Almost by Edward Underhill
5.0
I loved this book and know I can’t possibly write a review that lives up to it. So I highly suggest you skip the rest of this review and just go start reading Always the Almost instead.
This is a story about Miles. Miles is a 16 year old gay trans boy who sets 2 New Year’s resolutions - get back together with his ex Shane and beat his arch-nemesis Cameron at the annual piano competition.
Like all of my favorite books - the plot isn’t enough to tell you why I loved this book so much. It’s full of characters that felt so real. It’s full of people who are doing their best - but still sometimes letting each other down.
It’s also full of joy. Joy is my word for 2023 so I am particularly aware of it and I loved the ways it showed up in this story. And in the author’s note, Underhill wrote “Miles’s journey is about finding himself, in spite of everyone else. About fully, shamelessly, and triumphantly forging and inhabiting his own moments of joy. I wrote this story because I believe, firmly, that joy can be an act of resistance in challenging times. And trans and queer kids, especially now, deserve all the joy.”
I can’t believe this is a debut and can’t wait to read what the author writes next! Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the free advance reading copy. I’ll also be buying a copy to put on my favorites shelf.
This is a story about Miles. Miles is a 16 year old gay trans boy who sets 2 New Year’s resolutions - get back together with his ex Shane and beat his arch-nemesis Cameron at the annual piano competition.
Like all of my favorite books - the plot isn’t enough to tell you why I loved this book so much. It’s full of characters that felt so real. It’s full of people who are doing their best - but still sometimes letting each other down.
It’s also full of joy. Joy is my word for 2023 so I am particularly aware of it and I loved the ways it showed up in this story. And in the author’s note, Underhill wrote “Miles’s journey is about finding himself, in spite of everyone else. About fully, shamelessly, and triumphantly forging and inhabiting his own moments of joy. I wrote this story because I believe, firmly, that joy can be an act of resistance in challenging times. And trans and queer kids, especially now, deserve all the joy.”
I can’t believe this is a debut and can’t wait to read what the author writes next! Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the free advance reading copy. I’ll also be buying a copy to put on my favorites shelf.