Jay's Gay Agenda
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Das Buch hat mir gut gefallen. Der Protagonist erlebt endlich seine langersehnten ersten Male, doch es ist nicht alles romantisiert und perfekt. Er macht Fehler und verletzt Personen. Für mich war die Geschichte mal was anderes und erfrischend, da er mit einigen Situationen überfordert ist und demnach nicht immer klug, aber vielleicht gerade deshalb realistisch handelt.
Actual rating: 4.5 stars. First of all, this book made me laugh so much and I loved how queer it was. I loved the mix of friendship, romantic and sexual relationships! ☺️ The main character, Jay, had depth to it, felt realistic and he has flaws too. Why I don’t give full stars: I listened to the audiobook (LOVED the narrator btw) and I found it a bit annoying having to listen through Jay‘s lists EVERY time though by skipping ahead a bit I didn’t have to listen through all of it but If I had read a physical book I would’ve just skipped the lists. I also didn’t like that the main character was lying to people about things
This review contains spoilers so proceed at your own risk. It's also the first review I've ever written, and it will be more of a rant so bear with me. I read "Out of the blue" by Jason June and LOVED it, so I was pretty excited to read their debut book. However, I didn't enjoy it. Jay is by far the most unlikable, self-centered, lying and cheating protagonist I've ever read. It seems his only defining character trait is how badly he wants to get laid. Examples of Jay being a shitty person: - When his childhood best friend Lu doesn't respond to his texts, which is out of character, instead of getting concerned like any normal reasonable person would, he just acts like an entitled brat who is getting "betrayed" and acts petty about it. - When Lu, the childhood best friend, is going through a seriously rough time (how many bad things can befall a single person) Jay instead lies to her every opportunity he can get and ditches her when she's in need of help to focus on his own desires. - He cheats on the boy he's dating by having a sexual fling with another guy, without communicating any of this, because it seems the only communication Jay is capable of is lies. - When his lies blow up in his face he instead blames his friend Max for all of it and takes out his anger on him, instead of taking responsibility for his own shitty behavior. Jay gets this super short redemption arc shoved in the last few chapters in which he begs everyone for forgiveness by being silly, and honestly, they forgive him way too easily, no consequences whatsoever. He didn't deserve nor earned their forgiveness. There should've been consequences for his selfish behavior, but there weren't. I think the way Jay treated Lu was my biggest gripe with him. They kept saying time and again that Lu was the most important person in Jay's life, but Jay's actions do not reflect that in the slightest. The only thing Jay seems to care about is his "gay agenda" aka getting laid. Very fitting title for the book. Also, the constant lists in the book were getting annoying so I skipped them. Sorry for the rant.
Sadly the book didn‘t catch my breath. I so love the scences where Jay was with Albert. But whenever he turned to Tony I screamed and shut the book. Cheating is a No-Go, even though you‘re not quite in a relationship with someone but hoing on dates with them. Jay in my opinion was very naive and focussed only on him and his feelings. He didn‘t think twice after a beauftiful date with Al and goes to Tony just to have sex. The end was better because he truly saw what he had done and whom he hurt. I‘m not quite satisfied with the book even though I hoped on a beautiful but slow love story without big fighting.
I wish I'd read this as a physical book so I could have skipped the endless repetitions of Jay's to do list. Alas, my library only had the audiobook available right now and I was really looking forward to reading this. I'm disappointed. The main character is so damn unlikable, it pretty much ruins the book. Some side characters are interesting, but others feel so cliché and one-dimensional that it's hard to root for any of them. I'm usually a fan of sex positivity in YA novels, but there was just too much wiener talk in this for me.
Description
Book Information
Posts
Das Buch hat mir gut gefallen. Der Protagonist erlebt endlich seine langersehnten ersten Male, doch es ist nicht alles romantisiert und perfekt. Er macht Fehler und verletzt Personen. Für mich war die Geschichte mal was anderes und erfrischend, da er mit einigen Situationen überfordert ist und demnach nicht immer klug, aber vielleicht gerade deshalb realistisch handelt.
Actual rating: 4.5 stars. First of all, this book made me laugh so much and I loved how queer it was. I loved the mix of friendship, romantic and sexual relationships! ☺️ The main character, Jay, had depth to it, felt realistic and he has flaws too. Why I don’t give full stars: I listened to the audiobook (LOVED the narrator btw) and I found it a bit annoying having to listen through Jay‘s lists EVERY time though by skipping ahead a bit I didn’t have to listen through all of it but If I had read a physical book I would’ve just skipped the lists. I also didn’t like that the main character was lying to people about things
This review contains spoilers so proceed at your own risk. It's also the first review I've ever written, and it will be more of a rant so bear with me. I read "Out of the blue" by Jason June and LOVED it, so I was pretty excited to read their debut book. However, I didn't enjoy it. Jay is by far the most unlikable, self-centered, lying and cheating protagonist I've ever read. It seems his only defining character trait is how badly he wants to get laid. Examples of Jay being a shitty person: - When his childhood best friend Lu doesn't respond to his texts, which is out of character, instead of getting concerned like any normal reasonable person would, he just acts like an entitled brat who is getting "betrayed" and acts petty about it. - When Lu, the childhood best friend, is going through a seriously rough time (how many bad things can befall a single person) Jay instead lies to her every opportunity he can get and ditches her when she's in need of help to focus on his own desires. - He cheats on the boy he's dating by having a sexual fling with another guy, without communicating any of this, because it seems the only communication Jay is capable of is lies. - When his lies blow up in his face he instead blames his friend Max for all of it and takes out his anger on him, instead of taking responsibility for his own shitty behavior. Jay gets this super short redemption arc shoved in the last few chapters in which he begs everyone for forgiveness by being silly, and honestly, they forgive him way too easily, no consequences whatsoever. He didn't deserve nor earned their forgiveness. There should've been consequences for his selfish behavior, but there weren't. I think the way Jay treated Lu was my biggest gripe with him. They kept saying time and again that Lu was the most important person in Jay's life, but Jay's actions do not reflect that in the slightest. The only thing Jay seems to care about is his "gay agenda" aka getting laid. Very fitting title for the book. Also, the constant lists in the book were getting annoying so I skipped them. Sorry for the rant.
Sadly the book didn‘t catch my breath. I so love the scences where Jay was with Albert. But whenever he turned to Tony I screamed and shut the book. Cheating is a No-Go, even though you‘re not quite in a relationship with someone but hoing on dates with them. Jay in my opinion was very naive and focussed only on him and his feelings. He didn‘t think twice after a beauftiful date with Al and goes to Tony just to have sex. The end was better because he truly saw what he had done and whom he hurt. I‘m not quite satisfied with the book even though I hoped on a beautiful but slow love story without big fighting.
I wish I'd read this as a physical book so I could have skipped the endless repetitions of Jay's to do list. Alas, my library only had the audiobook available right now and I was really looking forward to reading this. I'm disappointed. The main character is so damn unlikable, it pretty much ruins the book. Some side characters are interesting, but others feel so cliché and one-dimensional that it's hard to root for any of them. I'm usually a fan of sex positivity in YA novels, but there was just too much wiener talk in this for me.