My rating: 4 of 5 stars
***ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for honest and impartial review.***
This is not your typical romance story and that’s what made me like this book so much. Sterling is raising his 10 year old daughter, Alexa, alone after his wife’s passing. He hires Jericho as Alexa’s live-in babysitter for the summer. The reader gets a unique insight into Alexa and her transition to the girl she knows she is. I appreciated Alexa’s perspective as a young person beginning the transition process and all the challenges that come with it. The reader also gets Sterling’s perceptive as a closeted gay, single dad struggling to cope with the loss of his wife, the out-right nastiness of his in-laws, all the while he has his hands full of a rambunctious child. Jericho’s perspective is that of a gay POC living in a closed-minded environment.
The author does a great job of developing each characters’ own voice. I sympathized with each of their varying struggles. There’s no sugar-coating or skimming of serious issues that come with being transgender and autistic, black and gay, and gay and closeted. A book simply cannot have such varying, unique characters without addressing homophobia, transphobia, racism, classism.
Sterling is a great parent to Alexa, and Jericho is the perfect addition as her advocate. Jericho helps dad and daughter navigate the ups and downs of her transition, and I just wanted to hug him for being so awesome.
The romance between Sterling and Jericho is definitely a slow burn, but once Sterling gets his head out of his butt, theses guys can’t keep their hands off each other. They are so sweet with each other and i loved reading their growing connection.
If you’re looking for something different from the norm, the book is worth the read.