I voluntarily read and reviewed and advanced copy of this book, received through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I started reading All the Better Part of Me with very high expectations. The colours of the cover, the summary, the fact that -finally- we seem to be getting more novels about bisexuality. I was ecstatic. And the book delivered for approximately the first third of the novel. After that, let's call it like this for the sake of avoiding spoilers, came "the surprise".

The first part of the book was great. I was very excited about it. Sinter is this adorable theater geek who -kind of- looks like a rebel and has all the emotional baggage that make this book so compelling. His relationship with his parents is strained at best, but the relationship with Andy, even if most of it is seen through messages in this part, is CUTE with capital letters. I. was invested in that couple from the very first line. Sinter is a really endearing character, he can be awkward, he can make. mistakes, but the author narrates it in a very compelling way, reflecting the constant feel of confusion Sinter feels over Andy and Fiona, the director of his first big acting role.

What I call the second part of the book, or the other two thirds, comes after "the surprise" Sinter finds out about when he decides to go back to the USA and work out what his relationship with Andy is going. "The surprise" makes Sinter reconsider everything he had wanted until that moment and has a big impact in his life, affecting his relationship with many people, including Andy. While the writing style was still good and engaging, I couldn't enjoy the book as much as before from this part. To me, "the surprise" was an excessively dramatic element and maybe a tad too cliché. I would have preferred if Sinter was made to examine his life choices because of another reason instead of this one, it just felt unnecessary. Also, something else I wasn't thrilled at all was Andy's pressure on Sinter to come out AND something that, once again for the sake of avoiding spoilers, I'm calling "the incident". Another unnecessarily dramatic cliché.

Overall, 'All the better part of me' is a cute and fun YA novel in some aspects, not so good in others. Many of the conventional elements from the YA genre (questioning your sexuality, falling for your best friend, pursuing your dreams) are there, even some of them fell flat. If the summary seems interest, it's worth giving it a chance, it's an enjoyable light read with an endearing main character.

I liked this story but it didn’t live up to my expectations to love it. The blurb and the letter written by the publisher excited me and I couldn’t wait to start. But when I did, I quickly realized this wasn’t as appealing as I’d hoped. I hate to admit this but I read a few chapters and stopped for a few days and then went back and read a chapter and stopped. Somewhere around the time Sinter came back to the US, I decided to DNF. And then I pushed a little farther and Sinter’s BFF, Andy, snagged me. Before I knew it, I was not only engaged by Andy, but I started to like Sinter, at least enough to keep going.

Life happens even when we are deeply immersed in a story, and I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that sometimes outside forces in real life heavily influence my mood, which in turn heavily influences my enjoyment of a book. In this case, waiting awhile helped me. And after Sinter was given exciting, or rather shocking, news from Fiona, his English girlfriend, I started to read in earnest. Andy was a wonderful character: a strong friend, a kind lover, a brilliant developer, and a source of many of my tears. No spoilers, but I will say that he does indeed provide tear fodder in both a positive and a negative way. But I loved him even more by the last page.

Sinter? I struggled with Sinter. From his total cluelessness about Andy’s feelings to his free love with Fiona, to his decision to let Andy go to Toyoko, there were so many instances in which I wanted to smack him, I can’t even list them all. But there were positives, including his decision about being a family man. Again, no spoilers, but what happened, and how he managed it, changed my opinion of him. He didn’t fall apart when his world teeter-tottered, and he faced major decisions with grief, good grace, and humor.

The author’s writing style is polished, the main characters interesting, and the host of secondary characters, from friends to family, were diverse and supportive. I advise readers to keep going if, like me, the early chapters don’t grab you. Overall, I can now say I liked the story, and after all my false starts, I enjoyed how it played out. It’s a good story for those who enjoy friends to lovers, sexuality awakening, long-distance lovers, and for those who enjoy a sprinkle of UK in their books.

My main conundrum with this one was the two disparate narratives (the pregnancy and the coming out) which never quite married up. It felt a bit like two novels mashed together and it didn't always gel as well as it could. For a book marketed as being explicitly about bisexuality (hence the cover!) I was disappointed in the weight given to the pregnancy storyline. I felt also that this book suffered from the same problem that many books about mlm written by women has, which is the potential fetishisation of mlm. I'm not sure there is a way around that beyond being aware of it.

Aside from those queries, I found it enjoyable. The narrative voice was always consistent and engaging, and Ringle is a highly competent writer. The book was a quick read in the best ways; the prose flowed and it never jarred, which is a compliment indeed. I think if perhaps it had been marketed as less of a book about bisexuality and more about one man's life experience outside of but including his sexuality, I would have got on with it better. It's a good book and I'm glad I read it.

So, despite the author's note at the start of this book, somehow the first half of this still came off as a straight woman writing her m/m fantasy love story. There was just something about it that didn't feel wholly right. I did like Sinter and Andy, and eventually their story felt more real, but Andy remained a one-dimensional character throughout. There was no depth to him, there was no personality there. He was kind of just THERE, super quick to accept that Sinter liked him despite never having outwardly shown an interest in guys before, he was extremely okay with sleeping with his lifelong best friend without commitments, and he was totally on board with raising a kid he didn't really want. It just felt as though everything was about Sinter and what Sinter wanted and needed out of life and how Andy just kind of molded into that.

Which, like, yeah, he was a great boyfriend, I suppose. But I also just wanted to see something real there. I wanted some actual emotion between the two of them rather than just Sinter suggesting something and Andy immediately being on board.

I loved Fiona and Sebastian and low key wish we could have gotten more of them because they were grand and I need them to live happily ever after. I liked Fiona and Sinter's relationship and the fact that he actually wanted to keep the baby while she didn't. I feel like that's not something we really see a lot of in these kinds of situations; a man wanting to be a father and a woman not. I really loved that.

Overall, it was a decent enough love story, and I think the baby definitely made it more interesting, because before that, the whole first half of the story was rather bland and meh. But baby Verona made everything a tad bit better.

A really sweet friends to lovers book. Poor Sinter is going through a lot, and you just want the best for him.

I liked this book. It took me a few days longer to read than usual for me (for this length of book), I think because I wasn't particularly drawn back to it with any urgency as I have been with others recently.

Don't get me wrong, it is a nice read. It is everything I thought it would be - a m/m romance, struggles with questioning sexuality, family, friends, coming out, homophobia, unaccepting parents. At one point near to halfway I did think, this is too nice (other than Sinter's mum and dad being unsupportive), I can't see where it is going! But then an event occurs which in hindsight I should've seen coming, but I didn't so it came as a good twist at just the right moment. The plot picks up pace from there on with another event which again moves things on for the characters involved.

It is the first book I've read with a bisexual main character so that for me was very interesting to see how he was portrayed and his interactions with both men and women. It is also my first New Adult read, straying away a little from my usual Young Adult titles. I can see a distinctive difference between YA and NA that I wasn't sure would be there, but I liked it! It is still young, fun characters but with more “grown-up” issues without being middle aged humdrum.

Whilst addressing some important issues this book is a light, nice read. Ideal Summer reading, to take on holiday or just spend a couple of days relaxing with.

*I received an e-arc of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Thanks to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

To start here, the reason I requested this book is because I'm bisexual. The cover immediately pulled me in. And then to read the summary about a 25-year-old man considering his sexuality for the first time, which is not a plot you hear of often, I was really excited. Unfortunately, this book missed the mark in a big way in my opinion.

All the Better Part of Me by Molly Ringle follows Sinter, a 25-year-old actor who is exploring his sexuality and trying to find work as an actor. Upon reflecting back on his friendship with Andy, he realizes that he's been in love with his best friend all along. The only trouble is that Sinter is London, working on a film directed by Fiona, a woman who has strong feelings for Sinter. The story continues from there, following Sinter and Andy as they try out a friendship with benefits and develop feelings.

I had a hard time with this book because up to about the 50% mark, I enjoyed it well enough. Nothing life-changingly amazing, but a book I liked enough for a 3 or 3.5 rating. It seemed we'd run through most of the plot summary, so I was getting curious where the rest of the book would go... And then... the baby plot started. Now, personally, I find surprise baby plots to be some of the least interesting twists. It's just not interesting, it's never discussed in seriousness. It's always some kind of half-consideration of abortion with a vague reasoning for why they can't, and then someone convinces someone to keep the baby by saying that it'll change the meaning of their life. As someone who doesn't plan to have children ever, this always rubs me the wrong way. And this book even tries to show a character like me, and it still just didn't land for me. The "You either want a kid or you don't, so don't bother doing any other research into how much work it takes to raise a kid!" discussion did not sit well with me. Neither did the "even if my kid's a neo-Nazi, I'll find a way to bond with them!" reflection from Sinter. That just isn't something I can get behind ever, but especially not in our current climate. And having seen the note about sensitivity readers in the acknowledgments, yikes, where y'all at? The more I type and reflect on this book, the more I do see some of the earlier problems. The idea that Sinter can't be bi without touching a dick, Sinter saying he's "livin' the bi life with Andy," Andy worrying that Sinter will leave him for a woman (if I never read this kind of plot with a bisexual character again, it will be too soon), Andy essentially pushing Sinter out of the closet with no empathy. Wow. Yikes all around. Not to mention, the insistence that you should never cut off communication with your parents no matter how terrible they are... Sinter even tries to cut them off and it lasts... oh, maybe a month. I can't get behind it.

I've seen some other reviews where people have loved this book, and I'm glad it's working for other readers. It just ticked so many tropes that I don't like, and I didn't enjoy it.

This may be one of my favorite reads of the year. I absolutely needed a story about an emo guy in his twenties who comes out (eventually) and fall in love with his gay best friend. There were many pieces of this book that made it special for me, first off the bi representation, then the emo music references, the theatre jobs, the adorable text/email conversations, and the romance. As someone who came out as bi at just about the same age as Sinter, I found a lot to relate with him about. Honestly, I just loved this one. I cannot wait to get a physical copy when it is released.

This was no Red, White & Royal Blue.
Another amateurish dip into the oversaturated New Adult romance market.
This was worse than the normal bad NA book because it was both pretentious and dumb at the same time.
The decisions the characters made didnt make any sense (other than to fuel the plot) and if I hadn't been sent this book for review by the publisher then I wouldnt have finished it.
Once again diversity wasn't enough.

A lot has already been said about the plot, so I will just note that I loved the developing relationship between Sinter and Andy with all of its twists and turns and revelations and growth.. This is a quick and easy read with two heroes who work hard to find their happy ending, along with numerous secondary characters who share in their story and contribute to the plotline. Recommended!

What a book! AtBPoM follows Sinter Blackwell, an aspiring actor who is beginning to question his feelings for his best friend, Andy. A quick and easy read, this novel did a great job of bringing up timely (but universal) topics such as sexual identity and homophobia, and kept me up all night long in order to see if there would be a happily ever after. I really identified with Sinter and his struggle to choose between continuing a relationship with his homophobic and religious parents, verses striking out and finding his own happiness. Overall, a joyful and romantic romp!

A special thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is definitely a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ book!!

It was hard reading what Sinter goes through with his sexuality. Not it specifically but how he is treated by the people who are supposed to be his family. He has his best friend Andy who had come out as gay years before and I am so glad he has him in life. Their friendship goes through struggles, Sinter goes through his struggles with himself and there’s an unexpected life event. This book was truly amazing and I found myself crying through the entire 2nd half.

This comes out September 3 and when it does, I highly recommend it.

All The Better Part of Me follows Sinter Blackwell, a 25 year old aspiring actor temporarily living in London who, at the start of the book, is beginning to question his sexuality and his feelings for his childhood best friend, Andy. The book follows Sinter as he struggles to define his identity, both to himself and those around him, alongside his burgeoning career and personal relationships.

This was a quick, easy read with an engaging main character and a sweet central relationship that you could root for. Sinter was a unique voice to follow as he balanced his career, his relationships, and coming to terms with his own identity. Queer new adult books are hard to find, especially those that feature a bisexual male MC, so I definitely applaud this book for its representation – one of the side characters is trans, too, which is great, although we don't see them much.

Whilst I enjoyed the book, I think it could have had more weight focusing on just Sinter's sexual identity exploration and less on the drama happening around and to him. I also didn't really like that he was essentially given an ultimatum by the person he loved on coming out to his family, who were homophobic throughout the book and would not have given Sinter a safe space to express himself. Coming out is incredibly personal and should only be done on your own terms, not those of someone who is pressuring you into it.

My Thoughts: I really loved this story, I fell in love with Sinter right from the beginning he was such a likeable character and someone I was rooting for.

Seeing him slowly realise that not only might he be bi, but that he also has feelings for his gay best friend was for the most part nice to read about, but I did find myself feeling sorry for him when he started doubting wether Andy would feel the same, whereas to us as a reader it seemed obvious and felt like a given.

I also liked the fact that we had parents/families at the opposite end of the spectrum, firstly we have Andy’s who are very accepting of the fact that he is gay and it turn very loving towards Sinter when he comes out as Bi.

And then we have Sinters family who are VERY religious and are not very accepting of Sinters sexuality, which results in him hiding it for a long time.

I adored the parts with Andy and Sinter falling in love and discovering each other, however I couldn’t help but feel the storyline between Sinter and Fiona wasn’t really needed? – although what it created was beautiful.

If you’re looking for a lovely LGBTQ+ story then I can highly recommend this one.

I loved this book so much I finished it in one day! this read like fan fiction in the best way possible. were the major plot points over dramatic? yes. but this is a compelling and wonderful love story that captures a very real experience. I am also kind of biased because I am a huge fan of new wave music and I love any book with a playlist. definitely read this one if you were a fan of simon vs. the homo sapien agenda, the cure, or just romance in general. thank you so so much to netgalley and central avenue publishing for the ARC.

All the Better Part of Me has so much going on. I found myself wishing certain parts had been explored more thoroughly, but the plot moves too quickly and the parts I loved felt rushed due to this.

This book isn't mind-blowing. It didn't change my life. I didn't learn anything from it. I didn't relate to any of the characters (except maybe Fiona to some degree) and that wasn't because we had nothing in common - it was because the characters had no depth whatsoever. Fiona was unique, sure, but she often came across as whiny for no apparent reason. The book started off fairly promising. I liked that Sinter was figuring out his sexuality later on in life, I liked all the scenes on set because of my own background in film, and I liked the descriptions of Seattle because I just came back from a holiday there. But that was it. Everything else was average and flat. None of the characters had a distinct voice, they all sounded the same and spoke as though they were polite acquaintances to each other. Everyone was always so supportive and understanding and politically correct (I'm all for being politically correct, but it was as if the author was afraid to have any morally grey or antagonistic characters, just in case she offended someone. Like even Sinter's parents lacked complexity!) It just read like a fanfic written by a young teenager who is still working out how to write a book. I know that sounds mean, but that's how it came across to me and I'm still not sure how I feel about all the big plot points in the book... (SPOILERS - the unexpected pregnancy, the car crash, Andy forcing Sinter to come out)... It just felt like everything took a turn around the halfway mark and I didn't really like where it was going. Like, I felt as though the blurb and the marketing didn't properly match the book. It's being sold as the latest book with a strong bi protagonist, but it doesn't even feel like it's in the same ballpark as any of the other books I've read in this new (and great) trend. I'm a little disappointed.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book at 50%. I just wasn't interested in anything that was happening. It felt very surface level, lacked any real depth and I didn't particularly like any of the characters. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it felt really iffy on its portrayal of sexuality. It just really didn't seem to portray bisexuality well, with some just plain wrong perceptions of bisexuality coming through (such as Sinter not being 'bi' until he's actually had sex with a man). Having now read through some of the other reviews, which mention scenes I hadn't reached at point of DNF (forced outing) I'm glad I chose to DNF. This book has a very 'straight white woman' feel to it - which is fine, I'm sure a ton of people will like that. I just wasn't one of them.

I have a confession to make. When I first started reading this book I didn’t think it was going to be anything special, especially because of the whole homophobia in this book (Sinter’s parents) and honestly I was going to give it 2 or maybe 3 stars but then I pushed myself to finish the book and then decide the rating. And boy I am so glad that I did! I can’t even find the right words to describe this book.
Okay so you have Sinter who is an actor and who early in the book discovers that he has a crush on his BFF who is gay. He goes from being afraid of what his parents might think of his boyfriend (and what they might think of him having a daughter without being married to the mother) to being this popular tv-show star, a dad of a two year old girl called Verona and a husband! This is what I call character development people!
After the crash he outs himself and tells his parents about his daughter and after a while his mom leaves his dad and accepts him for who he is. And at the wedding his father accepts him too. And the fact that they (Andy and Sinter) get a wedding in the end!!! I seriously recommend this book! It may not be a book for everyone but I certainly enjoyed it!

I'm a bit hesitant over my feelings for this book. On the one hand, I did really enjoy parts of it: I liked that it had an older main character discovering he was queer later in life, but on the other hand there were a few scenes of forced outing that ... were upsetting to say the least.

The main character, Sinter, was a great character. He was sweet and charming, and quite funny. And I found it so intriguing that while he was developing feelings for his childhood friend, Andy, he ends up impregnating a woman. She doesn't want the child so he decides to become a single parent -- which is something I've never seen in any fiction: a male single parent. And I found it so sweet that Sinter and Andy begin to raise their daughter together.

However, I really didn't like the scenes were Andy tries to force Sinter out of the closet. As a queer person, Andy should 100% know better and that sometimes "being out of the closet is no way to live" just doesn't apply for some marginalised people. I was also incredibly frustrated by Sinter's continual insistence that the only way he could "confirm" his bisexuality by sleeping with a man. That's ... not accurate at all. Bi men -- or any bi people == are still bi, no matter what gender they sleep with, or if they sleep with no one.

Anyway, this book had a lot of potential and while it had some great scenes and lovely moments, I think I was frustrated with the book more than I enjoyed it.