Scan barcode
A review by ihateprozac
Autoboyography by Christina Lauren
4.0
If I had to describe this in two words they would be “cute” and “refreshing”.
Cute because it features an adorable fluffy queer male-male romance, a super supportive ally family, and a great best friend. Refreshing because we get an on-page bisexual boy who is out to his family and the narrative isn’t about him coming out.
The family dynamic is an absolute highlight of this story, as Tanner’s family can only be described as “aggressively supportive”. They love their bisexual son SO MUCH and their array of queer slogan aprons, buttons, and stickers just made my heart sing! It was amazing to see a father figure wholly embrace his queer son and not lowkey pass off his homophobic attitudes as him “fearing for his son’s future”.
Another thing this story does well is critiquing the Mormon religion and attacking the system rather than the individual people who choose to practice it. I didn’t know much about Mormonism going into this story - I was only familiar with the underwear and missions - and this taught me a lot about the religion while also highlighting the problematic attitudes that still exist. The authors didn’t bash individual people, because well, Mormons seem to be anything but rude!
I enjoyed the romance between the two boys, but I ultimately wanted a little more passion from it. I was invested in their relationship but when they invariably hit some conflict, it didn’t tug at my heartstrings the way I thought it would. As a reader it was a fluffy rather than all-consuming kind of romance.
I found myself much more interested in Tanner’s complex friendship with Autumn! I love nothing more than painful unrequited love and mistakes made in the height of passion, and this friendship had BOTH.
This was my first Christina Lauren read and I will definitely be picking up more of their work in the future! I loved the writing style, the subject matter, and while I wanted to feel a little more emotion when it came to the romance, it was a super enjoyable fluffy contemporary read. So much cuteness!
Representation: bisexual male main character, gay male love interest, practicing Mormons, POC Polynesian minor character
Cute because it features an adorable fluffy queer male-male romance, a super supportive ally family, and a great best friend. Refreshing because we get an on-page bisexual boy who is out to his family and the narrative isn’t about him coming out.
The family dynamic is an absolute highlight of this story, as Tanner’s family can only be described as “aggressively supportive”. They love their bisexual son SO MUCH and their array of queer slogan aprons, buttons, and stickers just made my heart sing! It was amazing to see a father figure wholly embrace his queer son and not lowkey pass off his homophobic attitudes as him “fearing for his son’s future”.
Another thing this story does well is critiquing the Mormon religion and attacking the system rather than the individual people who choose to practice it. I didn’t know much about Mormonism going into this story - I was only familiar with the underwear and missions - and this taught me a lot about the religion while also highlighting the problematic attitudes that still exist. The authors didn’t bash individual people, because well, Mormons seem to be anything but rude!
I enjoyed the romance between the two boys, but I ultimately wanted a little more passion from it. I was invested in their relationship but when they invariably hit some conflict, it didn’t tug at my heartstrings the way I thought it would. As a reader it was a fluffy rather than all-consuming kind of romance.
I found myself much more interested in Tanner’s complex friendship with Autumn! I love nothing more than painful unrequited love and mistakes made in the height of passion, and this friendship had BOTH.
This was my first Christina Lauren read and I will definitely be picking up more of their work in the future! I loved the writing style, the subject matter, and while I wanted to feel a little more emotion when it came to the romance, it was a super enjoyable fluffy contemporary read. So much cuteness!
Representation: bisexual male main character, gay male love interest, practicing Mormons, POC Polynesian minor character