All the better part of me
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Very cute. A nice pallet cleanser. Typical, cute, coming of age story. The romance was super cute and I was so glad we got to see representation of supportive parents. Not Sinter’s obviously, but I just completely fell in love with Andy’s parents, family and friends. If anyone needs a guide on how to be a support system for someone queer in your life, take lessons from them. It made my heart melt.

Sinter Blackwell, a young actor, who is coming to terms with his bisexuality, grapples with his feelings for his best friend Andy. As Sinter navigates his complex emotions and the challenges of coming out, he must also confront the pressures of his acting career and family expectations.
🚨Possible spoiler alert. But it happens like right in the middle so it’s not too spoilery. 🚨
The main plot is: he knocks up the director of the movie he’s working on, and he has to decide if he wants to take on the baby or let the mother release to an adoption agency.
Which, as far as I have been told, is like a great fear amongst gays dating bi men? Apparently? I get it wouldn’t be a fear if it hadn’t happened in human history many times before. But it feels like an exemption, not to be doomed as a rule.
Being bixexual, myself, we have consistently felt like we don’t belong anywhere. To the straights, we are just “confused” or we are just h0rny little gremlins. And unfortunately with our own community there is still the hesitation, “no, guys are just gay trying to be straight, or women are just straight, trying to lesbian, You’ll see…” Come on.
Though, I am ELATED at the addition of bi representation, in recent years, I feel like THESE plots just perpetuate the irrational fears and insecurities, our own community projects onto us, even furthering the invalidity of our identities.
I’ve heard plenty of, “no, pick one.” - “no, you’re married to a man, you’re straight.” So I think we need to have more stories representing bisexual JOY. I feel like getting a woman pregnant and but falling in love with a man is a very bi coded problem. I would like to see a normalized bi character with the same problems as everyone else. Does any of this make sense? 😅

I loved this book. OMG I loved every part of this book. I loved Sinter. I loved his text messages back and forth with Andy. I loved the hints we got of the history of their friendship in those early chapters. I loved his acting career and even the antagonism that was the undertow of the novel with his relationship with his family. (I think, without that, this would simply have been a far too saccharine sweet book, so it balanced nicely).

I LOVED that I had already decided how much I loved this book, and knew exactly the kind of story I was reading, when it completely went and flipped itself on its head before we got to the halfway point.

Sinter is, of course, an actor. He, like Andy, is Oregon born however he loves being in the UK and travels there for his career on a work visa as often as is possible. He's merely minding his own business in his side gig as a bartender when writer and director of an upcoming film, Fiona, comes into his bar and immediately decides she wants to have him in for a casting call.

Just as things happen to be turning out great for Sinter on one side of the world, Andy's boyfriend breaks up for him and Sinter has... feelings that stem from realising he's back to being the most important person in Andy's life again. Inconveniently timed, of course, given they are on two different continents and, at the same time, a flirtation with Fiona has started up around the set.

One thing leads to another and suddenly Sinter is quitting his job for a full time acting gig that pays well. He's texting Andy more and more flirtatiously and considering bisexuality for the first time. Yes, at 25 years old. There's a reason for this in his aforementioned intensely homophobic parents and extended family.

But his feelings won't be silenced. After a one night stand with Fiona, Sinter can't deny how much he wants to go to Seattle and at least try to see if anything can come of this attraction he's been feeling for Andy.

There's only one problem once there... Fiona, it turns out, is pregnant.

This incredible story combines great characters with a nostalgic feeling for the 80s, some fittingly outdated points of view from parents, a long term friendship that is soft as fuck and the angst of things happening unexpectedly and also at really inconvenient times. It is a book that, once picked up, I reckon most people would devour like I just did.

As a bisexual, this book was supposed to be my jam.
It wasn't. It felt like reading about teenagers, and honestly as a 30 something woman, I'm kind of done with YA, so I couldn't finish this book.

What an amazing journey! I really loved reading Sint's story. Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes in books and it was done beautifully in this book. Sinter's struggles to accept his sexuality felt real and relatable. I also really loved his storyline with Fiona. It was unexpected and beautiful and I loved the character development. It was a fantastic book that I enjoyed very much. It made me laugh, it made me tear up and it warmed my heart. If you enjoy new adult contemporary romance with LGBT characters I highly recommend this book.

I absolutely adored this story and the characters!! The writing style just sucks you in right beside them whilst you’re reading and I adore that in a book!
I read this in one sitting

While intrigued by the synopsis, this ultimately fell flat for me. Too much seemed to rely on trauma porn tactics, which was unfortunate because I'm always so excited to see more bisexual representation in books.

example of why women shouldn’t write mlm stories, it’s harmful and hurtful. not a good story at all. craft was bad as well

This was a coming out story and i love how theres more unapologetically bisexual characters getting representation. but these were meant to be older characters but they simply read as teenagers to me which i didnt like.
hated the fact characters were forced out of the closet by other lgbt characters i HATE HATE HATE that. honestly the book made me angry and i didnt like it

I recieved this as an eARC from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions are my own.

The synopsis led me to believe this would be a different story than what it was. A bit too much of the picking on with the suffering of lgbtq+ characters.

For the most part, this book relies HEAVILY on the lack of communication between characters as a basis for the drama. And then tosses in a surprise pregnancy, a non-fatal car accident and international moves for more drama.

I never got what I wanted from this book and I don’t know what the author wanted to do with it either.

I wasn’t a fan of this book, the plot was weak and too much lack of communication just irritated me to no end. And why did there have to be so many smiley faces in the messages? In the audio book they’re even read out loud and it was so cringe worthy. For a book with so many heavily emotional moments, I just wasn’t invested in the characters enough to feel anything.

I’m all for more 20+ characters exploring their sexuality and I want so many more stories like that. I cannot and will not claim to speak to the accuracy of this, but encourage you to read own voice reviews.

The audio book is only about 4 hours long on 2x speed, and I was so fed up with it when I was done. I just really don’t like miscommunication/lack of communication as a main plot force. Good god, people are not mind readers, talk to each other.

New Adult? Theatre? London? Great Bi rep? I am in love! This book is bursting at the seams with joy!

Unfortunately this was not was I was expected. I didn't love the ultimatum part of the story, nor the pregnancy part of the story. I thought this book was slightly problematic for bi representation and for the coming out part of this story, but I suppose some partners could give their significant others ultimatums. Sinter and Andy also spoke and felt really immature. This story also dragged for me and sadly didn't live up to my expectations.

It was nice to read a story about discovering ones sexuality outside of a Teen/YA setting, particularly bisexual representation which is less common, but some parts of the plot felt cliched and a bit unbelievable.

This review is all my own thoughts and opinions!

One of the best books I’ve read in a long time. There really needs to be more coming- out/lgbtq stories like this one. Amazing read, couldn’t put it down. Really fell in love with the characters, especially Sinter. Really shows the reality of life for bi-sexual/lgbt people. “But both love and drama seem determined to find him”

Read it to find out ;)

DNF
I tried to read this and lost interest. I ended up DNFing this novel; however, I do still want to try to finish reading it at some point in the future! I just don't think that now was the right time for me and this book.

I did not care for the book. The conflict was drummed up. There was not character development for me to get attached to them. It didn't feel authentic.

I didn't care for this book. For me, I didn't connect with the writing which was really unfortunate because I wanted to love it. Hoping it would have been more cohesive in nature.

A cute bisexual romance between Sinter, an actor, and his best friend Andy. The story was a bit predictable at times, but overall I enjoyed the theme and tone. The writing is beautiful, the story takes you through personal conflicts and self-discovery.

Enjoyable read! Some elements we’re just not my cup of tea but other than that it was a good quick read!

Spoilers below.

I genuinely enjoyed this book. I felt, at times, it fell perhaps a bit too much into the territory of clichés, but there really wasn't a moment where I didn't enjoy it. I try to rate books accordingly with their marketing and genre (so I do not end up being either unduly harsh or positive), so I do still feel that my original five-star rating stands, given that.

As a bisexual former emo kid who did theatre (and, at one point, entertained the idea of trying to make it as an actor), some part of me wonders whether this book was written specifically with me in mind. Personally, I don't remember many other emo kids in my theatre program, though plenty of us were (or have since come out as) bi.

It was actually really refreshing to read a coming out story where the main character is legitimately bisexual - and even more so when, after coming out as bisexual, that main character gets together in the end with someone of the same gender. Yes, being bisexual means that we can be involved with anyone of any gender, but media so often treats it as a side note in an otherwise heterosexual life story (which it absolutely is not), so it's a pleasant change of pace when the male main character, at the end of the novel, decides to be with the man he loves.

The running theme of New Romantics and the playlist in the back were a nice touch, and the actual film setting made me want to actually watch the film being discussed.

The book fell into some clichés (surprise baby and the MC stepping up to be a good dad despite not planning on having the kid; and another potentially life-altering event that seemed... a bit out of nowhere, if I'm honest), but coming from my specific experience (wherein I mentioned specific lines and memories of Sinter's to my friends because they were just a bit too on the nose for me, personally), I perhaps let the "bisexual emo theatre kid" angle outweigh that, personally.

Overall, a book I'd be happy to read again, and an ARC I'd be happy to actually purchase.

This is a bisexual romance between actor Sinter and his best friend, Andy. This is a great story about self-discovery, the difficulty with coming to terms with your identity, and coming out years after most expect it. My only issue is that this was written by a self-proclaimed straight woman, so there's nothing own-voices about this.