A review by endemictoearth
The Boy Who Came In From the Cold by B.G. Thomas

challenging fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

1.75

This is a strange book. Own voices m/m, which I’m trying to read more of, but it’s a coming out/Cinderfella situation, which I wasn’t fully expecting (I just sort of jumped in on the title.) I think the hardest part to get through were their respective backstories. Todd had a fairly standard internalized homophobia commentary running through his head, the same few phrases from his stepfather playing over and over on repeat, and Gabe has a twisted tale of love gone wrong (where he actually doesn’t come off as a good guy, just not the worst guy in the situation—
Spoilerwaiting until the day a formerly abused kid becomes ‘legal’ to have sex with him isn’t sweet. It’s BARELY decent.)
Throw in some outrageous side characters, and we’ve got . . . a very weird story. Everyone apart from the two main characters is written as an over the top caricature (nearly quit at the gross fatphobic descriptions of the evil lazy landlord who kicked Todd out.) This book was published seven years ago, but seems a lot older than that. There were some insights that seemed particularly male/own voices, but other than that, it was a fairytale peppered with slurs.