The Impossible Boy

A very sweet story. There is no conflict between Stan and Ben, and their relationship is really intimate and lovely. I definitely recommend reading this book.

I am cis but to me the genderfluid aspect of this book seems very good. I've seen complaints from trans readers that it's tiresome to always read cis partners' versions of trans people's stories, and I don't think this book makes that mistake. We don't really see Ben's thoughts on Stan's gender presentation, beyond the fact that Ben thinks Stan is beautiful. There's more focus on Stan's feelings about gender, as well as an informational moment when he explains how he feels to another character (Tone), which seems natural.

I really like the friendship that develops between Tone and Stan, and there's a nice family-of-choice feel throughout the book, with a great payoff near the end. This isn't really a book about being genderfluid or about having anorexia, either. I would classify it mainly as a coming-of-age romance, in a quiet way.

My only complaint: there are a few important things that happen which aren't actually shown, especially Stan's relapse, which seemed like a strange choice to me. Oh, and a minor thing: the blurb is pretty silly (sorry). Romance is all about characters who are supposed to be unusual in the genre, but rock stars are pretty standard. I bought this because I read the excerpt and really liked Stan. The writing quality is great.