The Book:
Title: I Wish You All the Best
Author: Mason Deaver
Published May 14th, 2019 by Push
Genre: LGBTQIA+, YA, Romance, Contemporary
Pages: 329
“When Ben De Backer comes out to their parents as nonbinary, they’re thrown out of their house and forced to move in with their estranged older sister, Hannah, and her husband, Thomas, whom Ben has never even met. Struggling with an anxiety disorder compounded by their parents’ rejection, they come out only to Hannah, Thomas, and their therapist and try to keep a low profile in a new school.
But Ben’s attempts to survive the last half of senior year unnoticed are thwarted when Nathan Allan, a funny and charismatic student, decides to take Ben under his wing. As Ben and Nathan’s friendship grows, their feelings for each other begin to change, and what started as a disastrous turn of events looks like it might just be a chance to start a happier new life.” –Goodreads
My Review:
Eh…
I don’t have much about this book to say.
There was LGBTQIA+ representation, and I love to read books by LGBTQIA+ authors. This was the first book written in the POV of a non-binary person. I loved that aspect of the book. I just wish it had been executed better.
Nothing happened. Literally, nothing happened. There was no conflict, no plot, no development. I was utterly bored.
The romance was eh. I thought that would be the entire story but it was barely enough of the book to even call this book a romance.
The writing wasn’t spectacular. I have this new hatred for YA writing because it seems like they want to over-explain everything. Middle schoolers and high schooler’s-the target audience-are not stupid. I am sure they can understand the most basic sentence. You don’t have to repeat things over multiple sentences.
I attended a talk with Deaver for this book. They explained how they have gotten comments like that and said it is an invalid argument because that is YA. I have to disagree because books that shaped the YA genre like Hunger Games, Twilight, The Mortal Instruments, and The Fault in Our Stars don’t read like this. They read so well, albeit a little cringy (but it was early 2010’s).
I read this book for class, so I had to finish by a certain time. But the book felt like I was swimming in a vat of caramel to finish. There was really no growth and no anything to make this story astounding. I don’t know, I hate to not give anything positive about a book, but I honestly cannot think of anything.
As always, thanks for reading,
A Bookie
Star Rating: 1