Stories 5-7

Look at me, back with part 2 of Fools in Love.
I personally love the queer twist on classic tropes and suggest reading it for that reason alone, getting a revamp on old and outdated stories.

What Makes Us Heroes – Julian Winters

• trope: Hero vs. Villain

• Shai sits in his favourite coffee shop as he waits for Logan to walk in. Logan. His ex-boyfriend. His mom wants them to try to get back together, because the connection with a “level 1” white hero family will help them get their name out there. He’s still waiting when Kyan walks in and stands above him. Shai is supposed to hate him. They’re rivals after all. But when Kyan helps him out without even being asked, maybe things change.
• ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
  • This story was really good and I really enjoyed it. The premise of racial inequality affecting relationships and jobs was wonderful and so important. My only complaint is that the “hero vs. villain” trope was not really that present, which was a little disappointing if I am being honest. But I would seriously recommend reading this one.

And – Hannah Moskowitz

• • *pre-reading note*: if this doesn’t end up being a polyamourous relationship, I’m suing for emotional damages.
  • *post-reading note*: YES! THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE A GOOD LOVE TRIANGLE

• • trope: Love-Triangle

• • You’ve been dating Billy for 3 years now. And you love him. But you meet Enzo and something draws you together. You know you love Billy, and if you had to choose of course Billy, your boyfriend since the start of high school. But why do you have to choose? What if you don’t want to? What happens then?

• • ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• • This was the best use of 10 pages ever. Love triangles are an incredibly hurtful experience for the two love-interest, which is often brushed off and looked over by authors. If you’ve ever heard me talk about love-triangles, you know that I think they are extremely problematic. Mostly because they are rooted in anti-polyamorous and heteronormative ideaology: the idea of cheating and choosing one in the end, instead of healthy communication and choosing to forgo heteronormative notions. If your character loves two other characters, then they love them both and, as long as there’s communication between everyone involved, then there’s nothing wrong with having them not choose. And this story just proves how love-triangles should be handled and how society messes it up. Also, it’s written in 2nd person which is so cool.

My Best Friend’s Girl – Sara Farizan 

• trope: Best Friend’s Girlfriend

• Alia’s best friend Hal is special. And not in a normal human way. In a superhuman way. Because he has decided that he needs to save the city at any sign of trouble, Alia is forced to cover hime, something that involves lying to his girlfriend, Claire, who Alia also happens to be in love with. With his life, everything else in Hal’s life is taking a backseat, including his relationship, pushing Alia and Claire closer together.
• ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
  • This was a story that did the best it could with the trope it has. This trope is destined for failure in my opinion, and so a 3.5 star review is the best it was gonna get. Morally, this was the only way it could have gotten, but this trope completely ignores the hurt that dating a friend’s ex can cause, even with a similar dynamic to Hal and Alia. It’s a problematic trope that needs to stop being used (especially in queer stories, but that’s a completely different conversation.) But Alia and Claire are adorable so if this trope does not piss you off, I think you will like it a lot more than me.

Stories 1-4

This is an anthology made with the intention of update in romance tropes and making them gay

Silver and Gold – Natasha Ngan 

• trope: snowed in together
• Mila is competing in the biggest dog sled race of the year. Through treacherous hills and jagged rocks for 9 long days. As she is nearing the end, the weather turns bad and she gets caught in it and ends up snowed in with her. Ru. The two are stuck together and forced to confront what happened in last year’s race.
• ⭐️⭐️⭐️
  • While I enjoyed the idea and would love a full story, I feel like this being only 17 pages did it a major disservice. I would have loved more back story on everything, the race and Mila especially because we learned way more about Ru then we did Mila. But overall, its a solid read and I enjoyed it.

Five Stars – Amy Spalding 

• trope: mistaken identity

• Krista Parker is leaving school after staying behind in an attempt to make friends at her new school, when her car gets carjacked. Or at least she thinks so. Turns out someone mistook her for their “rydr” (aka uber) driver. And that someone happens to be none other than Audrey Kim. Her crush. So naturally, she’s too shocked to say anything and pretends to be her driver instead. As the drive goes on, the two bond as Krista frets over how to tell Audrey the truth.
• ⭐️⭐️⭐️
  • I think this is a really cute rom-com. However, mistaken identity/lying is one of my least favourite tropes. It’s incredibly stressful and problematic, and causes me a lot of anxiety to read about. It’s incredibly unrealistic and problematic how they can just do this and have zero consequences. Other than that, cute romance.

Unfortunately, Blobs Do Not Eat Snacks – Rebecca Kim Wells

• trope: Kissing Under the Influence

• Everything seems to be going wrong. Tess knew there had to be a train to Leeside because she had checked. A lot. And yet, here she was, no train to Leeside and trapped working on an exam, her last exam, with Diana Winters, the last person she wants to be with right now. This exam is her last step before she graduates from her magic school, yet here she is, trapped with the more insufferable and irrational girl in school.
• ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐
  • My biggest (and only real) complaint is that the trope is “kissing under the influence” when it really should be “confessing under the influence.” Not only does this just annoy me because it is labeled wrong, but also the trope of kissing under the influence has a large potential to be problematic and is morally grey (depending entirely on the situation), whereas there is nothing wrong with confessing under the influence. I honestly loved the world building in this, even with what was achieved in a few short pages. If we could get a full novel, or even a series, building up to this moment and then continuing the story, I would be very happy.

Edges – Ashley Herring Blake

• trope: the grumpy one and the soft one

• Mac eats lunch by herself, everyday since her sister left to attend a performing arts highschool in California. She believes that all her friends that she had were simply Imogen’s and they were only tolerating her to hangout with her sister, so she put them out of their misery and left them alone because that’s what they want (according to her). Her only real interactions are with popular girl Clover Hillock, who she teaches art to after school. Maybe there’s something else happening behind those closed doors. While to most, this angsty recluse and upbeat popular a worlds apart, maybe opposites really do attract.
• ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
  • I absolutely loved this story. The two girls were so incredibly cute together, and I loved the angst that was sprinkled in. However, I would not personally count this as “the grumpy one and the soft one.” Yes, these two are definitely opposites, but I would not consider Mac grumpy or Clover as soft. They’re more like a pessimist-optimist relationship, or an energetic – tired dynamic. That is not really a negative that should be taken from the story, but if you’re like me and expecting a far more drastic difference between the grumpy and soft characters, then this is not going to fit that specific vibe. It’s more of a personal preference because I, apparently, have a “flair for the dramatic.”

Jason June

(3 stars)

Normally, the way I would write a review would be more like my previous posts. However, in the spirits of the book, this one will be a little different. If you want to understand why, you’ll have to read the book.

Why you should read this book

• Star 1: The side characters.
  • These characters are definitely the reason that I kept reading the book. They’re each so different and show the diversity of what the queer community looks like.
• Star 2: The terrible jokes.
  • Seriously, they are so bad, but I laughed more than I should have. But it definitely added something to the humor of the book
• Star 3: The (mostly) stress-free romance.
  • Despite what it might seem like later in the review, I do like the romance between Jay and Albert (and the one between Max and Reese even more because they’re incredible). If you like the pace of Heartstopper, you will definitely like this. Nothing ever goes wrong for very long. It gets resolved within 2 chapters.
• Star .5: The cover and title.
  • Listen, I know you don’t judge a book by its cover, but who doesn’t want to be seen reading a book called Jay’s Gay Agenda. It’s a really good vibe, trust me.

The problems with the book

• Is this a good book? Yes. Did I get quite annoyed with some of the things that Jay did and excused? Also Yes.
• Everyone forgives Jay really quickly.
  • The climax occurs really quickly before the resolution. It feels like the author didn’t want to dwell on the negative aspects of a relationship.
  • Normally, this would not bother me, except it feels like it steps on the message of the book – if you want a message about how actions can hurt others, then you should show them as hurt for longer than a chapter or two, when it is not a misunderstanding.
• Albert deserved better.
  • The way that Jay just does things without any real considerations for Albert’s feelings and not even telling him the truth about what was going on. 
  • It should take more than just a simple apology for him to be forgiven. He deserved a very dramatic apology in public, followed by a very genuine apology in private. Jay treated Albert terribly, but gave a very superficial apology in public and almost no private apology.

Important messages and lessons from the book

• Life is not a rom-com and will not always end in your favor.
  • We see Jay do all the dumb things that a lot of rom-com characters do and it backfires on him.
  • Love triangles are really terrible thing to do to the people involved (even the one that “wins”)
• Just because you can justify your actions and you don’t do anything wrong, doesn’t mean that it won’t hurt others or that they have to be okay with it. 
  • We see Albert and Jay both agree what happened might not be “wrong,” but Albert was still hurt by what happened.
• Doing things because you feel like you are supposed to will only end up hurting you and others.
  • Jay feels like he is supposed to lose his virginity, and to check of the items on his “Gay Agenda” leading him to come across as though he is using people. It also lead to him becoming desperate to do something with a man and getting hurt because of it

Scenes that we deserved to see

• An angstier apology scene that matches the vibe of everything that was done.
  • Seriously, the apology scene was somewhat lame.
• Or, if we’re set on a brighter apology, then make it something like Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You
• More Max and Reese scenes
  • or even a whole book because those two are way better than Jay and Albert – maybe I’m just a bigger fan of second chance than love at first sight.
• A little more focused on Jay and Albert after the fight
  • definitely an angst fan

Why Reese is actually the best character

• He’s not gonna take anyone’s shit
• He’s unapologetically himself and doesn’t care what anyone thinks about him.
• Realist: he doesn’t view love as this universal bandage that can fix anything and everything, and that a relationship requires more than just love to work out.

Favorite quotes

• “Turned out, I didn’t need a Gay Agenda, I just needed a Jay Agenda. Being gay was a part of me, and I deserved to experience and enjoy all those firsts. But being gay wasn’t the only part of me that mattered.” (348)
• “That day, kissing in the rain, was I ready to cross first love off my agenda? Not quite. But I didn’t think it would take too long.” (350)
• “That’s why we’re so good together,’ Max said. ‘We’re both drama queens.” (317)
• I had to leave him. I knew if we stayed together, I wouldn’t focus . My whole world was him, so much that I missed three auditions and my agent threatened to drop me. I couldn’t find the balance. I had to leave but I didn’t…” (293)
• “You make an ass of Jay and me,’ Max said, then frowned. ‘Wait. That’s not right, is it?’  ‘No actually it is,’ Reeses said. ‘You and Jay are total asses.” (316)