Kiss and Tell was a fast paced queer romcom that addressed issues of homophobia and racism, and it was all together a stunning novel that I read throughout the duration of a 4 hour flight. The characters were realistic, having human reactions to painful situations. The story was consistent and engaging and informative. The only downside of the novel, I found, was the random news clips and stuff that didn't seem to contribute to the story at most points, and held rather dry components.

I was so excited to receive a copy for review of Adib Khorram's latest book, Kiss & Tell. Like everyone with a soul, I am a huge fan of Darius the Great is Not Ok, and its sequel, and I was really excited to see what Khorram would deliver next.

As other reviews have noted, this book is very different from Khorram's others. While Darius is like a slowly simmering cup of tea, Hunter is like a monster energy drink and his energy had me buzzing from page one. But though his character was completely unique from Darius, I still felt as protective of him as I did of Darius. Khorram really has such a deft way of writing characters who are vulnerable, lovable, and flawed in ways that will make you want to hug and protect them.

Some of the writing is in choppy texts and emails which was a little hard to get used to, but it really added to the authenticity of what Khorram is writing. I really appreciated the frank way Khorram writes about sexuality in this book. So often society wants to put LGBTQ people in a box and if they don't perform the way straight, cis people expect, they are seen as deviant and even further marginalized. This book really made me question and examine my own prejudices and privilege.

My only wish is that we got more from the other members of the band--perhaps we'll get their stories in a companion novel? (Please?)

Thank you so much for allowing me to review this book! I am a huge fan of Adib Khorram and his Darius the Great books, so naturally I was excited to read this new book, Kiss & Tell. K&T is about Hunter, who is in a boy band that gained fame after his song about Poutine went viral (I love Poutine, like any good Franco-American, so obviously I loved that part). What made this book really special is that its characters are full of personality and complicated feelings. Hunter, the main character, is gay and out, and his sexuality and relationships are closely scrutinized by the media and all of his fans. He feels immense pressure to perform even when not on stage. You will feel love and empathy for Hunter, as well as desperation for all of the mounting pressure put upon him! You'll fall in love with his friends in the band, and feel frustration at all of the adults in his life who are taking advantage of him and his fame. Hunter just wants to be himself, but doesn't feel like he can, and in the process of finding out how, he will make mistakes and learn some lessons, as well as find out if the new guy in his life is someone he can trust. Please, please, go out and get this book once it is published, or pre-order it so you can have it right away! You won't regret it!!!

Adib Khorram’s previous books live on my all-time favorites shelf, and though this is a lot different from those, it still hits similar emotional notes and carries the same smart writing. It feels a little fluffier, which feels crazy to say about a book about a gay boy band star dealing with fame and trying to date in the spotlight. It is interspersed with headlines, texts, etc. that feel incredibly true to life as Hunter navigates fallout from an ex leaking their texts and figure out how to be who he is and still be what his label thinks he should be. The message is wonderful, and though I think we could have gotten a little bit more detail on certain characters and the pacing needed some adjustment, I really enjoyed it.

I don’t even know where to start with this book because I loved it so much. Everything about it pulled me in from the first page, and by the end, I was full-on sobbing. I devoured this book within a few hours, and I never wanted it to end.

The characters were diverse, and even the side characters added different perspectives to the story. This helped connect me to the main character more and understand where he is coming from. I will say I would have loved even more from the side characters, but that’s just because I could read multiple books about all these characters. The main character Hunter was incredibly complex, making his story interesting and captivating.

The plot was not the book's main focus, which is okay. The characters and romance are what this book is all about. The author does a great job of highlighting those. Despite that, the way being famous and in a boyband played a role in the story was really well done. As someone who grew up hiding many of my interests, I related to these parts of the story.

This book pulled all of my heart strings and I just never wanted it to end.

Guys, as soon as I saw “Adib Khorram” on this book, I knew I was going to love it. Darius The Great is one of my favorite series/duologies of all time, so I was so excited to see what Adib was going to do with this book. Kiss & Tell has a much more modern, contemporary romance feel than Darius, but that didn’t make it any less amazing. I couldn’t put this book down. I loved how it managed to be funny and light while still tackling very sensitive topics such as racism and homophobia. Adib has absolutely hit it out of the park with this one, as he has done before. Can’t wait for you all to fall in love with this book :)

I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS BOOK. This book had so many great conversations and left me yearning for more of these characters. I loved how this book was written, we got chapters that are normal genre writing, but we also got the story through articles, interviews, and social posts. I loved seeing these outside perspectives and it helped the pacing alot. It also got me so invested, after each article chapter I wanted to scream at the fictional journalist behind it. I am so attached to the MC, Hunter, and was ready to throw hands for him at anyone who was mean to him. My only complaint is that I wanted more at the end, the conclusion felt rushed and I wish it was just a bit longer and more fleshed out.


Representation: Iranian-American rep, Gay rep, Asian rep (Indian, Vietnamese)

TW: Homophobia, racism, physical and verbal assault, sexual harrasssment, toxic masculinity, gaslighting

I think that the conversations about being a "palatable gay" were really interesting; the conversations that the articles included that were arguing about Hunter's role as a gay role model, discussions of how gay celebrities are treated by the internet and how much of that is fair were all really excellent and caused me to do a lot of self reflection and were by far the more engaging parts of the text for me.

As for the actual plot about Hunter/Kaivan getting together and Hunter moving on from Aiden... that I wasn't as invested in. Despite Hunter and Kaivan saying that they were real and going to talk to one another, I never felt like that was accurrate. It still read as a fake dating plot despite both of these boys saying that they were in it for the reality of it all.

The fact that Hunter was also so distant from his bandmates and was seemingly just the naive white guy to the abuse his friends faced for being people of color... it just didn't feel like the group had been friends for as long as I was told they had been. In fact the way that seemed to continue to come up and Hunter continued to be surprised by, that was annoying. By the time they [ Hunter/Kaivan and all the members of Kiss & Tell ] did start to have open and honest communication in the vein that I had anticipated going into a book by Adib Khorram it was almost too late?

I do think that I will be revisiting this book in the future, and I will probably benefit going into it with the proper expectations. As of this first read there was just something about the book I find hard to describe yet didn't quite click.

A story that follows boy band Kiss & Tell ans focuses on the love life of group member,, Hunter, who happens to be the only gay member in the band.

Told through emails, news stories, and also regular narration, we find Hunter's love life on public display and how the record label handles this, ultimately asking him to fake date the opening band's drummer while the bands are on tour together.

Not my favorite read. I didn't like Hunter much and I despised Kaivan, the drummer in the other band. Also the multiple ways the story was put together (emails, news stories, etc) was confusing after a while.

3.5⭐

This was really well written. The pacing of it is a bit off but the characters were ok and I kinda got similar vibes to 'If It Gets Out' by Sophie Gonzales


I really liked Hunter but I do wish the other side characters were more fleshed out but I am a stan of boy bands so I think I'll definitely come back to this one and reread it

Thank you SimonTeen for an advanced copy of this book!!

I feel the need to preface this review by saying that there was really no way for me to relate personally to this book, seeing as I am a straight, white, cishet female, so this review is really just how I felt about the general writing and formatting of the book, as well as anything that I actually can critically comment on.

This book fell very flat for me. I love the idea of it, don't get me wrong--I'm a sucker for boybands, but I felt like the way the plot was formatted wasn't great. I also wasn't the biggest fan of the writing style.

Towards the end of the book, I was honestly just wishing it was over. I wasn't a fan of Hunter or Kaivan, which is kind of annoying because they're the main characters. I felt like all of the characters needed to be better with communication, and I thought Hunter was really ignorant with the way he acted about issues with his fellow bandmates and Kaivan. I also thought it's kind of weird that this book is referred to as "sexy" considering all of the main characters are under 18... However, I did really enjoy that there was so much representation because that's something that needs to be included in books more casually, because that's what real life is like.

All in all, I thought this book was a good read, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a positive LGBT+ read. But I would warn them that there is a lot of miscommunication.

Ratings
Plot: 2 stars
Pacing: 4 stars
Characters: 3 stars

Thank you Penguin Teen for an arc of this book.

This is a fun yet high-stakes story of a teen in the spotlight who makes all kinds of terrible decisions because his label, manager, etc are trying to control everything he does. When even a very insignificant detail about his private life as a gay teen comes to light, it ends up changing their whole branding of him.
This book also does a great job of highlighting the differences between being gay as a cis white boy vs being a queer person of color. The main character does have a lot of awareness of that at the beginning, but he actually learns a lot more as the story goes on.

What happens when you receive an advance copy of your anticipated 2022 release? Well, I finished it in one sitting last night (a win for me because I can't remember the last time when I finished a book in one go)

And yes, Kiss and Tell by Adib Khorram did not disappoint. (Disclaimer: this is not related to Darius and the characters in the book; please check last part of this review to know the reps, comps, and trigger warnings)

One thing I really hate about reading a good book is writing a decent review that will give justice to what I experienced.

Imagine this, a group of five teenagers from Canada suddenly went famous after their self-produced music video became an internet sensation. This led to the group (Kiss and Tell) receiving offers from labels (they signed up with one called The Label) and touring the 50 states of America!

But what if one of the members is openly gay and is proud in showing his colors to the world? This is what Kiss and Tell is in a gist.

If you think that the book will be full of homophobia right off the bat, then you're wrong. The first part of the book highlighted Hunter Drake's struggle after his public relationship with Aidan Knight (twin brother of his band mate Ashton) ended and how celebrities deal with so many opinion from the public which, most of the time, borders on bullying and harassment. Take note that Hunter is a gay teen so imagine all the hate he gets from social media all the time.

The other half focused on how the above factors affected Hunter's relationship with his bandmates and friends - and how people are so quick to jump on one revelation as long as it does not involve them. I want to elaborate that this book also discussed microaggressions against queer people and how white queers still have more privilege than queer POCs.

Also, Kiss and Tell includes Hunter Drake's romance as one of its key subplots since events are set after things went down with his ex-boyfriend. (Hint: prepare for swoons because an Iranian-American drummer will be present in the pages)

I want to write more about this book but I guess it's better to encourage you to preorder this book before it goes out March 2022.

Thank you Penguin Teen for sending an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Filipino mutuals, watch out for this book in Travelling Book Club!

What's in this book: Iranian-American rep, Gay rep, Asian rep (Indian, Vietnamese)

I highly recommend if you enjoy: It Goes Like This, If This Goes Out, or if you like reading books that includes music or the music industry

Trigger warnings: Homophobia, physical and verbal assault, toxic masculinity, gender-related microaggression, gaslighting

RATING: 4.5stars

Was this book perfect? No. Very few books are. Did I enjoy myself the entire time I read it? Absolutely. I've seen this described as "heart eyes," and. Yeah. Sounds about right. I really appreciated how much Khorram committed to not only telling a soft, heartwarming rom-com story, but also to exploring performativity, tokenism, objectification/fetishization, and intersectionality (along with racism and homophobia) in the diversity of the book's cast! Hunter is a really likable narrator with some really frustrating, very human traits and blind spots, and I was rooting for him, but also for him to take a step back and realized that he wasn't the only one oppressed all the time. Which tracks for a white gay boy, as far as I can tell.

The big diversity education campaign elements of Kiss & Tell did start to veer into didactic at times, but not glaringly so, and I'm sure a teenager would probably find it more effective than I did (and as an adult, I still found it smart and affecting!). I also felt like pretty much every character other than Hunter wasn't developed enough (Kaivan and Ashton got close, but not all the way there), and I had no sense at all of the other boys in the band. I don't even know if I can remember their names? (Ethan, Ian, Noah? Am I making that up? That speaks a lot to their roles.)

I found this to be a nice read. I felt that some elements were left open-ended or were solely there for driving plot instead of being genuinely included. I loved the characters within it but I would have liked to have seen more of the other bandmates. Even still, this was a pick me up that I needed and I would certainly recommend it.

KISS & TELL follows Hunter, the lead singer of the new and hot boy band made up of his best friends, as he struggles with being told that he must be a perfect, ‘clean’ example of a queer role model for teens, when he just wants to live his life authentically. After the dramatic and embarrassing turn of events with his ex boyfriend, Hunter has his eyes set on the cute drummer in their opening band.
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Wow— I really enjoyed this story. My heart felt like it was going to burst while reading this story, even though it wasn’t a 5 star read. I needed to give it as close a rating as I could. I just love Adibs writing that much. It lit something inside of me, I felt like I had a ball of sunshine in my chest while reading this book.
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The different mediums incorporated were interesting— the interviews, tweets, articles. Sometimes this can be a hit or miss, depending on whether or not I actually enjoy it or if it’s just noise thrown in that distracts me, but in this case it didn’t hinder my reading experience at all, it added to the story.
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Though this book does tackle hard hitting topics such as the pressure of being a “clean, wholesome” role model, racism, white privilege, homophobia and slut shaming, I still felt like I needed it to go deeper. I feel like we only scratched at surface level.
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I’m torn on the romance. I hated his ex and loved the new love interest, then felt bad for the ex and disliked the new love interest…. In the end, I think I wish he didn’t end up with either of them. I think Hunter could have taken some time to sit back and explore himself a bit more, because neither of the love interests seemed like a good fit at the moment.
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This book didn’t have the same depth as DARIUS, but honestly I just really enjoyed my time reading it. I’ll read anything and everything Adib has to offer. I can see myself rereading this one in the future. 🎤
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4.5 stars— KISS & TELL by Adib Khorram is available March 22, 2022!
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BIG thank you to @penguinteen and NetGalley for sending me an eARC to review. This was one of my very top anticipated releases and I’m so happy to have gotten the chance to read it early. 💖

4.25/5 stars

*Thank you to NetGalley and PenguinTeen for providing an eARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

ahhhhhh the queer musician books just always make me so happy. When I saw this book first being marketed, I knew I had to read it, and its been up with my most anticipated releases of 2022.

Kiss and Tell follows a boy band of the same name going on their biggest tour to date. Hunter, who is out and proud, is reeling from a bad breakup with his longtime boyfriend, and the twin of his bandmate, Aiden. This story navigates being queer in the public eye, as well as racism and homophobia in both daily life and the music industry, but its also a story about messy and complicated falling in love.

I absolutely loved this book. I read it in just over one sitting, and I'm still in kind of a reading slump, so that's pretty impressive for right now. I adore Kaivan, Owen, and Ashton especially. This book is super fast paced and fun, and it also felt like a little tribute to queer culture. The story focuses mostly on our main cis gay boys, but I appreciate how Khorram incorporates discussions about the queer community as a whole into the storyline. There's also some casual background nonbinary, neopronoun, and sapphic rep, as well as many discussions about race.

I will say that I wish the actual relationship in the book had a bit more development. Kaivan and Hunter aren't meant to be slowburn, and I liked that, but most of the time we actually see them together are montage-like dates. I wish we got more of those vulnerable and private moments, at least towards the end. I also would have liked to actually see Kaivan's band. We hardly get any interactions with his family, or between Kaivan and the other bandmates like Ashton and Owen. I love both Hunter and Kaivan, and so I just wanted a bit more time to see them as a couple. The ending also felt a little rushed, but that's pretty standard for a romcom, especially ya.

I haven't read Adib Khorram's other books, the Darius series, but after this one, I'll definitely be picking them up pretty soon.

side note: I really want some poutine rn

Content Warnings: racism, homophobia, sexual harassments, bullying, slut-shaming

Rep: gay MC, Iranian gay LI, Brazilian-Canadian SC, Vietnamese-Canadian SC, Indian-Canadian SC

This book is perfect for fans of Adam Silvera ! I really loved reading about Kaivan and the boy band!