Be Straight with Me

I received a copy of this e-book ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion.

Let me start by saying I don't normally read poetry books. I do, however, love memoir as a genre, so I thought this story sounded intriguing. So many women today have that gay best friend and sidekick and soulmate, but his was such a unique book. The complex romantic relationship between Max and Emily can draw you in but this author had a way in her poetry to really describe heartbreak that you feel inside as you read. You think the author is making a bad choice of youth on one page and the next you tear up as you realize she is starting to get it too. The past was interspersed throughout with flashbacks of previous boyfriends throughout her youth. I was rooting for her by the end and ever hopeful that somehow, some way, Max and Emily would figure it all out and defy the odds.

Unusual memoir-in-verse that tackles a universal predicament - falling in love with the perfect person for you, except they're not perfect for you, oh wait no they ARE perfect, oh wait no they're not but we love eachother anyway, and so on.

Max is gay, and Emily (the author) is straight. But then they fall in love anyway. Actually, this book doesn't handle sexuality in such a black and white manner, it fully acknowledges that sexuality flows on a spectrum. Actually actually, this is a book about love, and how complicated it can get.

The verse form works a treat - if you want to be really obstinate, you can basically read it as prose, but you'd be missing something. The verse form makes everything feel careful and delicate, as if the author is trying to feel things out, moving through a darkened room without touching any of the furniture (I guess the furniture is love..?).

A book for anyone who has ever been in love.

The beats and rhythms of a college "finding oneself through an intense relationship" story are pretty standard, but this one distinguished itself in two ways. First the use of (really good!) poetry to show the important college, post-college, and childhood moments that defined and shaped both the relationship and the growth or the narrator. A straightforward telling of the story would not have been half as interesting. And the fact that the people in the relationship were portrayed as being so complex, non-standard, flawed, interesting, loving, and heartbreaking made this rise above what could have been a cliche. Highly recommended!

This is a very interesting poetry collection. You can tell that it is very personal, which easily helps the reader connect with the author. Though this isn't the type of poetry I usually read, I enjoyed reading this book. Rating: 3/5 stars

Relatable, heart warming and heart breaking, giving us real life experiences in an up and down love story where you simultaneously want them to end up together and also not end up together.

This memoir is a display of love, loss, and finding yourself through all of it. It displays the realities of sexual orientation being on a spectrum, that loving the “person” is possible and also sometimes impossible.

I was rooting for Emily the whole way along, but for Emily to find and be Emily. The courage in this memoir is apparent and in the end of I was proud of her.

‘Be Straight With Me’ is a beautiful memoir told in verse and it really touched me. It’s a lovely but heartbreaking exploration of sexuality and the author reveals a lot about their personal experiences.

It frequently reminded me of ‘Just Kids’ by Patti Smith and I think this is one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much. ‘Be Straight With Me’ is a quick read but it is packed with lots of emotion. I definitely recommend it if you’re looking to read a memoir which is unique, tender and honest.

I LOVE that this memoir is in verse! I feel like it wouldn't have the same impact if it was written a different way.

I've never really read something that shows how sexuality is much more of a fluid thing and not just black and white, that you can really love a person as a person. The ups and downs and complexities of Max and Emily's relationship is really FELT throughout the book. I definitely teared up during several parts of this, the author really makes you feel the heartbreak.

Thank you netgalley and publishers for the opportunity to review this book.

A beautifully honest memoir, dealt with beautifully. With tact and dignity. If you can get your hands on this do try. One of the best memoirs I've read in a long time.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion on this poetic book by Emily E. Dalton. I thank NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for kindly providing me with this ARC.

Although this is not the usual genre I am used to reading, I decided to select this book because there is something in it and I should get out of my comfort zone and so it was!

In it, Emily, who is the main character herself, tells us about her sexual discovery and herself through experiences of various relationships, focusing on the main relationship that marked her as much as a woman as a person! The relationship that deserves the main focus is the one that she has with Max, a boy who assumes himself as a homosexual, but that throughout the book they keep more and more a strong loving connection. It is at that moment that the whole story unfolds, from her perspective, about this relationship and how it developed to the point of questioning what love is after all.

“I´m having trouble determining whether

you fascinate me because I´m scared of you

or I´m scared of you because you fascinate me”

Throughout the narrative, some moments go back and forth in time, in which we are faced with Emily’s childhood and then with her current moment, all in a way to dialogue her past with the moment. Emily wonders about everything, just as teenagers do, always looking for some logical explanation: what is love? what is my sexual preference? determination of sexual preference prevents us from loving each other? What she doesn’t understand is that these are questions that have no right answer, nor is there right or wrong!

During this journey, we will have contact with the various experiences she had, still within the discovering herself and others: with the use of drugs, alcohol, and the various relationships she maintained contact with. All the experiences made her build the whole being that Emily is now, as she admits was in the mistakes she learned about herself. And this is the big message I got from this reading!

It is important to note that this poetry book is not a usual loose compilation of poems, where various feelings are exposed, but rather a narrative that has a guiding thread from the beginning to the end of the story that Emily tells us. That way we can understand her entire journey and what it was like to learn and grow.

I enjoyed having this trip to Emily and Max´s world, it was such a genuine and touching history.

I recommend this book for all teenagers, because it is an accessible reading, without flourish and with dignified transparency that the author dared to have.

Good readings,

Next to a Book

‘Be Straight with Me’ by Emily Dalton is a memoir that is beautifully written in verse and digs into a topic that many can relate to - falling in love with someone who is equally perfect and wrong for you.

Emily and Max (not his real name) go to college together. Initially they do not get along but share the same friends. Until Emily’s roommate moves out of her dorm room and Max asks to sleep in the empty bed. A budding friendship is quickly formed and on the heels of that friendship, an attraction starts to build between them. The only confusing thing is, Emily is straight and Max is gay.

This is a story about how sexuality can be on a spectrum and how tough it can be to navigate through the struggle of figuring that out, whilst still learning how to be an adult in an unpredictable world. On an even deeper level, Dalton tackles how complicated love can be for anyone, especially those who my be confused about their sexuality. It feels as if she carefully and delicately chose each word to convey her thoughts and emotions during each of her experiences in life.

In short, this is a book for all of those who wish that simply loving someone meant that they would always love you in return.

"When you answer,
I choke on air, realizing I've been
holding my breath
since I picked up the phone."

There were some awesome moments of entertainment in this book, like its punny title and a particularly new and different phrasing of everyone's favorite cliché sentence.

In all seriousness, though...

I've been reading a fair amount of free verse lately because I find I'm both fascinated and somewhat confused by the format. 'Confused' in the sense that I don't understand it quite as much as I would like to, and can't quite grasp yet why I feel that it sometimes works brilliantly and sometimes just fails. In this case, though, it worked; I honestly can't imagine the story having anywhere the same emotional impact if it had been written in prose. I felt the poetry flowed beautifully and heightened the entire narrative.

Form aside, though... what a story! This was such a captivating read, gripping like a piece of fiction but, at the same time, somehow uncomfortable to read knowing that real people had actually lived these events. And, sure, that could be said about any (auto-)biography, but the content of this particular book was so intimate that reading it felt almost voyeuristic at times. As a reader, I also interacted with it differently - I was more forgiving of the "characters" and had different expectations for the developments and the ending - than I would have done in a fiction book with the same "plot", which I found very interesting as well.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

I love how the author chose to write this memoir using poetry. I think that choice added a more romantic element to it. The author's changing relationship with the man that goes from her gay best friend to her lover and all of the emotions in between are captured beautifully in her writing.

be Straight with Me by Emily Dalton is a great reflection and memoir to add to your shelves!

I love picking up the odd memoir, because people have such cool stories to tell! Emily Dalton is one of those special people that has a great story and a great voice for it.

This memoir is presented in an interesting fashion - kind of like poems in their odd style on the page. Despite me labeling them as "odd", I found it quite quirky and it made it all the more interesting! It's not the typical memoir, and I liked that! It spiced up my reading and had me very interested as to why the story was presented this way!

Emily falls in love with Max, but there's a wee problem - she's straight and he's gay. Unlucky as it is, this memoir presents it in such a lovely fashion. Just because that seems like such a black and white comment (you know, I put the word problem to make it seem that way), it really isn't. They can be in love but not have their sexuality define the joy they can bring each other. It's unique and lovely and gave me all of the feels! It brings hope and inspiration and makes me believe in love in more ways than ever before! There's also heart break and loss though, and you know... that hurt, but the descriptions of love... ahh. Yes, I like that.

Even so, it's more than just love. There's experimentation and other joys of life that come along to Emily. It's a coming of age story in it's own right. I just liked the love part, because I'm a sucker for that kind of thing.

Overall, I like this book! I think it's sweet and whimsical and magical and majestic. Emily is a great story teller too!

Four out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrew McMeel Publishing for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

“Be Straight With Me” (2020): is a rare and intriguing debut memoir of collected poetic verse, where author Emily E. Dalton explores her alternative relationship with her charismatic gay male best friend, *Max Willard. This unconventional coming -of-age narration began at Middlebury College, Vermont - and spanned over time to mature adulthood. In addition to her writing, Emily Dalton works part-time as a blacksmith’s apprentice, and lives in Connecticut.

In the opening poem: “Sophomore September” Emily encountered Max and his entourage of devoted friends. Max had already decided Emily was “a snarly bitch” and while visiting her dorm room, stole a twenty dollar bill off her desk! In the next poem, Emily recalled impressions formed in childhood/youth, which is a sequence somewhat followed throughout the book-- how past experiences might influence current thoughts and actions.
The atmosphere among the college students was like a boisterous frat party. Emily was surprised to learn that Max was jilted after a brief affair with a male reality TV star. Max seemed quite happy to hang out watch videos with her roommate Joanna: in “Friends By Default”. Eventually, in “Joanna Gets A Boyfriend”- she moved out of their dorm room, and Max decided to sleep near Emily in Joanna’s empty bed.
Predictably, the friendship dynamic between Emily and Max would intensify and deepen as they became closer, Emily would write: “I’m having trouble determining whether/you fascinate me because I’m scared of you/or I’m scared of you because you fascinate me.”
“Over Christmas Break” Max met Emily’s family when they drove to Boston for the holiday's. Max was always charming and funny, everyone really enjoyed his company. Together, they almost appeared like a young straight couple. In the poems: “Max and Emily World” - “Later That Night”- they discovered and found each other in completely unexpected ways.

It is true that single gay men rarely have sexually intimate relationships with women. Max didn’t have to act or pretend that he was straight or bisexual either; Emily truly loved and accepted him just as he was. When Emily and Max moved to study abroad, she in Prague and he in Berlin, the distance and closeness of their relationship pattern began to shift, yet again, as they evolved further to establish their places in the world. Readers will not want to miss this unusual and unique memoir; this collection may likely become a reference for further study. Great cover, too! (*) Name changed for privacy concerns. ~ With thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing via NetGalley for advance notification of this title.

A beautiful memoir uniquely told in verse.Falling deeply in love with someone who due to their own sexuality can’t love you back.Emotional heart wrenching.#netgalley #bestraightwithme

"Some of the most beautiful
things in life come
from mistakes."

Thank you Andrews McMeel for providing me with an e-arc through NetGalley.

I cannot stress enough about how much I love this book! There is a reason why Andrews McMeel has taken a permanent place in my heart and that is because of their very keen talent to pick the most unique flair out of all the poets/poetesses! Rarely do I come across works that don't work out for me.
I knew this book is going to be a 5 star read the moment I started it. I never decide what rating a book is going to get but the moment I started this one I just knew it. And when I read the last line of this book, I will give this an infinite number of stars if I can...

During her sophomore year at Middlebury College, Emily meets Max—“you” as she intimately refers to him in the book. Not exactly a tomboy, but not quite a girly girl either, Emily is intent on finding a masculine boyfriend to assuage a deeply rooted fear that she may not be quite feminine enough.
Max—a boisterous class clown beloved by his many straight guy friends—has recently come out as gay and is embracing his newly claimed identity. Initially, Max and Emily dislike each other, but end up growing close after a make-out dare on Halloween. Then one night, Max reveals an unexpected physical attraction that catches them both by surprise. The relationship begins, playfully and in secret, and then spirals into something more.
Max and Emily’s journey takes many forms—they experiment with drugs; they travel abroad; they try sleeping with other people (together), and everything in between—all in the name of “this bizarre, beautiful thing” they call love.

As a strikingly soul-stirring memoir-in-verse, 'Be Straight With Me' explores a nonconforming love that blurs the lines of sexuality and gender - an enduring true story by a straight-woman, portrayed in the most poignantly haunting way by bringing into the light of the consequences of a romance as such.
I am never someone who reads blurbs before reading a book. "I have read it before and it is on my TBR because I liked the blurb when I checked it out first," is something I stand on. But when it comes to this arc, it began with the blurb, reminding me what this is about and grabbing my attention because:
Yes, this is a story I want to explore.
Yes, this is a story I want to know more about THROUGH poetry.
The moment I began reading this, I couldn't stop. Even though usually poetry reads are quick and gets finished in one sitting, this one just had to be set down at some points because it became quite emotionally overwhelming for me.

Memoir-in-verse is something that is very hard to nail and Emily has done more than just nail it with her unabashed honesty in her brutally authentic expression of a part of her life story. It is really hard for me to connect personally with memoir poetry unless the imagery is equally focussed on the emotions and the thought processes along with the experience. Or else, it would be nothing but prose. That is not the case with Emily as she weaves her story with poetry in a hypnotising way: transporting you to her world and making you experience it vividly. The intimate look into her experience, with her poetry style, leaves an everlasting impression.

It remains a mystery on why I connected this to this the way I did but I am more than just grateful that I did! One can wonder if it is because we all fall in love with a wrong person and if it is because it is a story of survival, healing, acceptance, coming in terms with who you are, self-love and so much more. But it is so much more than just that. It is a beautiful expression of everything in the spectrum of emotions.
This is something that needs to be held between your hands and experienced. This is a story you need to listen to.
This is the book that needs to be one amidst your exalted collection because it is mine and it will forever be.

I have never had more urge to explore more works by the author so whatever Emily will be putting out next, I am grabbing it! She just became one of my favourites and I am sure she will be yours too!

Poetic Journey of a Straight Woman falling in love with her Gay Best Friend, told in verse. I loved this deeply heartfelt story of a straight woman and her gay best friend falling in love. The book journeys through a woman's identity growing up and how the boys/men in her life impacted her. The poems and chapters were relatable and provided a bit of nostalgia. The story is painful and beautiful and so well told. Thank you for NetGalley for the copy.

This is one of my favorite books of 2020. Nothing has torn at my heart strings recently like this did. Emily and Max's relationship is so intriguing, and was told so raw.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley.