McSmith's work is always a life-affirming, nuanced, necessary depiction of what it means to be a trans teen today, and this was no exception. Loved every page.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I am not interested in the book anymore. I had an issue with my ereader shortly after receiving this title and was not able to read it. Now my reading taste has changed and I am not interested in reading and reviewing this title. I also now have heard several mediocre reviews from friends and other readings about the execution and character development of this book, which is unfortunate. And at this time, I am not interested in reading this title. However, I appreciate and am grateful to have received this title for review and any other e-galley's in the future. Thank you.

I really enjoyed this! I believe it is such an important read for a YA audience. As someone who grew up with theatre I really supported August and cannot imagine the weight of his decisions. All in all, it was worth the read and I recommend it for anyone.

I enjoyed this one, gave me what I needed after being in a bit of a reading slump and invigorated me back into the reading Mojo. Can always count on YA to do just that.

It looks like his rural Pennsylvanian parents are going to send him to conversion therapy, so August runs away to supportive Aunt Lil in New York City. Drama has been August’s refuge as he played the role of obedient daughter of conservative parents and his skills land him in a spot at a prestigious performing arts high school. It all happens so fast - new friends, auditions, a role in the fall musical - so August finds himself still acting in his new role as the confident trans kid. There’s no time to lament and process the pain of rejection and loss he’s experienced, so it’s not surprising that a hostile response from a director sends August into an emotional tailspin. A supportive trans classmate and his loving aunt point August toward therapy and accepting that healing is a step that can’t be skipped. Lovers of musical theater will be especially pleased.

4.75/5⭐ to Act Cool by Tobly McSmith. Thank you so much to HCC Frenzy/HarperCollins Canda for an ARC to review! I read Tobly's last book, Stay Gold, in 2020 and really liked it which is why I was so excited for Act Cool! Plus, the broadway/musical theatre elements hooked me to the story as they've been the premise of so many other favorites. We follow August who dreams of acting on the Broadway stage and actually gets into a prestigious school in NYC that could help him work towards his dreams. The only problem is, he is trans and the only way his conservative parents will let him move to New York with his aunt and attend that school is if he agrees not to transition. This brings up an important theme that carries August throughout the book and his personal growth: what is worth giving up to achieve your dreams? Obviously, he decides he needs to do both, and it's worth hiding his transition until absolutely necessary from his parents. The plot comes around to this again at the climax & resolution of the book in a way that I felt was affirming but potentially triggering for someone who has gone through a similar scenario. This idea of choosing or making a decision was also brought up when August gets a callback for what would be his first major acting role outside of school. While it is for an important director and theatre company portraying a fellow trans guy, the role comes with trauma and an approach to transness August doesn't agree with. He must make a decision whether he is emotionally capable of taking this role and if it's worth his mental health and morals. Slightly segueing, another large element of the book and August's character was his development as an actor. These scenes were fascinating for me not coming from an acting background and really built the atmosphere of the story alongside the characters themselves. Speaking of, the side characters in this book really made my heart happy!! This group of schoolmates and friends is why I love YA contemporaries so much. Not only were they fun, quirky, wonderfully diverse, and theatre-loving but I think their interactions & acceptance of August really highlighted the theme & importance of friendship. Friendship, which oftentimes, is overshadowed by romance in contemporary stories. I thought it was such a wonderful reminder to readers! Needless to say, Act Cool didn't disappoint, and I very much look forward to the next Tobly McSmith book!

Being a cis reviewer I don’t want to speak over any trans voices that can be present in the conversation about this book. What I found though when I read this book was a cute, and wonderfully well written novel about a teenager who I could relate to myself in other ways. I will be checking out any books this author puts out in the future!

I really liked this book! For fans of I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver, Act Cool follows a trans teen who escapes his unaccepting parents to live with his aunt in New York. This leads the main character on an adventure of auditioning for art school, engaging in theater, and reinventing himself with his new life.

I think the character development August goes through in this book was written fantastically, and I think the author does a great job of writing the trauma August goes though in a real and sensitive way.

Overall I highly recommend for anybody, especially lovers of theater or those looking to expand their bookshelves with books about trans characters!

I absolutely loved this book. It had very difficult subject matter but was written so well. It broke my heart that August’s family couldn’t accept him. I learn so much reading books written about the Trans community. I can’t imagine how heartbreaking it would be to be dead named and having to hide who you are authentically. Fantastic and important read. Highly recommend

I really enjoyed Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith, so I was super excited to get a chance to read Act Cool!

As a former theater club kid, I loved the focus on high school theater and the dream to make it big on Broadway. The queer representation in the novel is *chef's kiss,* and although my situation wasn't quite as traumatic, I could definitely relate to August's experience of being rejected by religious parents after coming out. I thought it was handled really well in the novel--McSmith acknowledged the trauma but also provided hope for readers through August's aunt.

I highly recommend Act Cool for fans of Between Perfect and Real by Ray Stoeve.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for the eARC!

Thank you to Harper Collins Canada for sending me an eARC of this book and exchange for an honest review.

First off I would like to say that just like Tobly McSmith’s debut book Stay Gold, this book is a very important story and needs to be on the shelves for many young teens. It tells a story and gives a voice that is not always heard in YA books.

That being said, I found this book tried to do a little too much in a short period of time. This book follows August as he has run away from home, and is now living in New York with his aunt. He ran away from home because he realize that his parents would not recognize him as transgender and needed to start a life with you. Luckily, with his aunts connections he gets an audition to one of the most prestigious arts school across the country and nailed it. Now he has a new identity, a new school, a new city and this is very overwhelming and instead of trying to find himself he decides to act with every interaction he has. He decides to play a part before entering a class or a party or conversing with another character. I really like this element in the story. I felt like it is something that many people can relate to. No matter who we are or how confident we are in ourselves, all of us have felt like we had to act a certain way around people and situation.

I really enjoy watching theatre but I’m not into any of the production of theater. Therefore, a lot of the theatre scenes I didn’t find very interesting. I was really excited when the school started to put on their play because it is a play that I thoroughly enjoy. So I was sad when I didn’t get a lot of details of scenes when the play was being produced.

The character development that August goes through is very rich, but I feel like a lot of the plot of the story was not very realistic.

Nonetheless I still enjoyed the story I think it’s a very important voice for people to read. If you’re looking for a contemporary with some heavy topics or just want to learn more about social issues surrounding transgendered people that I think this is a good book for you.

I adored this book so much but it is a hard read because of the deep topic. All I wanted was for August to be loved and to accept the love around him, but he just wanted his parents to be the ones to show that love so badly. This story felt so realistic, and August's emotions flowed through the pages, piercing me every time. I teared up towards the end and it was hard to keep myself together. This story is a lot dark than his first novel, but it is just as important in topic. I will forever be a fan of McSmith.

TW: There is transphobia, dead-naming, and suicidal ideation.

From the first paragraph, I knew this book would be a good one. I immersed myself into the book from the first chapter and I cannot say enough good things about this book! Honestly amazing! The writing is incredible and the plot is just one to die for. I am absolutely obsessed with this book. My favorite part would have to be the character development throughout the book. Character development is something I look forward to and this book did not disappoint.

Tobly McSmith solidified his place as a must-read author for me with this one.

In <i>Act Cool</i>, August Greene gets accepted into the ultra prestigious School of the Performing Arts in Manhattan for his acting ability. He lives in the city with his aunt after running away from home following a terrible experience coming out as transgender to his super religious parents. But August doesn't want to be known as the "trans kid with unaccepting parents" at his new school. He wants to be different. He wants to be cool. He wants to be the infamous August Greene. The problem is that he's still trying to find out who August Greene is.

This is a beautiful book that handles a lot of serious topics as masterfully as only Tobly McSmith could. My heart broke for August and cheered for him whenever he succeeded. He's a messy teen being messy! And that's so good.

His friends? Possibly even messier.

But what I loved the most about this book was how without actually seeing August act, I felt it. I think about his monologues and auditions still on a daily basis as if I had been in the room with an actor in person. McSmith does a remarkable job translating what's happening on the page into a real emotional connection. I forget that I can't go see August perform on Broadway someday. He's so real to me.

The romance in the story needed to be built up more in order for me to have full emotional buy-in. I felt like had there been more interactions between this character and August, I would have felt way more invested. There were also some things I thought were going to come back into play that were set up and instead they just disappeared.

Overall, I loved this and I can't wait to see what Tobly McSmith does next.

I loved this book because it has a disclaimer at the beginning, like a trigger warning, to warn readers of transphobic content, but the storyline carries out the purpose of illustrating what transphobia looks like, what transgender stereotypes look like, and what supportive allyship looks like as well. You also get to see August go through growth as an actor.

Act Cool was a very enjoyable novel about self-acceptance and found family. August Greene is a wonderful main character. He's funny, kind to his friends, vulnerable, flawed, and felt like a real person. Much of his internal dialogue is him trying to "fake it till you make it" with confidence in his new school, and at times it had me cringing with how fake he was being but watching him learn to be himself was a lot of fun.

When I was a teenager and trying to learn more about gender expression and the LGBT+ community there were very few if any good books like this available. I'm grateful that this book exists for people to read. There are hard topics to read about in this novel that made it a tough read but it was worth it. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

TW- Transphobia (dead naming & misgendering), homophobia, discussion of conversion therapy, discussion of self harm & suicide, suicide ideation

4 stars

Oh! My! Goodness!!!!!!! I just finished one the best books I’ve read all year! And I’ve read some INCREDIBLE ones!

Act Cool is the newest book from Tobly McSmith, who published his first novel, Stay Gold, in 2020. It follows a trans boy who runs away to live with his aunt in NYC after he finds a pamphlet about conversion therapy in the mail.

When I tell you this story has everything I want in a book, I mean EVERYTHING!!!!! We get a transgender MC in August Greene. We get a performing arts high school (which was my DREAM when I was a teenager). We get an incredible artist lesbian aunt in Lil. We got a plethora of queer characters who are so incredible in and of themselves… including Anna and Elijah, his new best friends, Jacks the non-binary dancer, and Juliet, who is August’s “Fairy Trans-Sis”, which btw, I LOVED! But most importantly, we got an impressive Found Family!!! I just want another 20 books with August and his friends!!!!!!

I finished this book way after my bedtime, because I couldn’t put it down! I laughed, I cried, I wanted to punch a stupid person in the mouth… but the entire time I read this story, I felt the love and respect his friends had for him! I also felt the pain for not being accepted by his family. This was a rollercoaster of emotions and now, after being strapped in for the time of my life, I’m spent.

I can't remember the last time I was so excited to read a new book. This one has been on my list for quite a while and I was thrilled to receive a copy from HarperCollins Canada.

Act Cool is ultimately a book about self-acceptance with strong LGBTQ themes throughout. It's a timely and important read, not only for teens and young adults, but for everyone.

The book follows the life of main protagonist, August Greene, a trans teenager struggling with finding himself. We meet him when he's recently run away from his mother and stepfather who live in the conservative town of West Grove, Pennsylvania.

He's fresh to New York City, auditioning for the acclaimed and prestigious School of Performing Arts, and living with his aunt Lilian, a fun loving and accepting artist and closeted lesbian, who also feels forced to hide her identity from her religious family. Aunt Lil is a wonderful character who supports August in every aspect of discovering his true identity. She took him in after finding out his parents were considering sending him to a conversion therapy called Brand New Day which pushed August to experience dark thoughts and suicidal ideation.

"Things got dark after coming out to my parents. I was lost. And uncomfortable in a body that continued to defy me with the beginning of boobs and hips."

August is a complex character, a talented actor used to playing the part of daughter for his parents, and various other parts for other people in his life. But it's just now, with aunt Lil and his new friends at school that he's truly discovering who he is, rather than the parts he's become an expert at playing.

What's clear is just how much our main protagonist seeks acceptance off the stage living a new life where he feels lost, and I was glad he got some of that immediate acceptance fulfilled from his outgoing friends at school.

The book explores a lot of intense real life emotions that will be relatable to many, especially the response from August's unaccepting parents, which angered me throughout. It's heartbreaking to see how much he misses his mom despite her forcing August to live life as a female, with severe consequences if he doesn't.

Act Cool was highly readable, enjoyable, and engaging. I came to really love the range of vibrant and diverse characters as the story developed, especially Aunt Lilian, Juliet, and Elijah. There's also some great LGBTQ representation and use of pronouns throughout.

Overall, I found this book to be a deeply touching and heartwarming and it was written in a beautiful way. I recommend it for anyone who has struggled with gender, identity, or sexuality. It was my first Tobly McSmith novel, and now I can't wait to purchase a copy of his debut, Stay Gold, which I've heard great things about.

This one was so cute and I appreciated the representation in this one. It was sweet and the perfect read to end summer with.