Kiss & Tell by Adib Khorram

"Kiss & Tell is a total rush! Perfectly sweet and swoon worthy. I loved every page!" – Julie Murphy, New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin’ A smart, sexy YA novel about a boy band star, his first breakup, his first rebound, and what it means to be queer in the public eye, from award-winning author Adib Khorram Hunter never expected to be a boy band star, but, well, here he is. He and his band Kiss & Tell are on their first major tour of North America, playing arenas all over the United States and Canada (and getting covered by the gossipy press all over North America as well). Hunter is the only gay member of the band, and he just had a very painful breakup with his first boyfriend--leaked sexts, public heartbreak, and all--and now everyone expects him to play the perfect queer role model for teens. But Hunter isn't really sure what being the perfect queer kid even means. Does it mean dressing up in whatever The Label tells him to wear for photo shoots and pretending never to have sex? (Unfortunately, yes.) Does it mean finding community among the queer kids at the meet-and-greets after K&T's shows? (Fortunately, yes.) Does it include a new relationship with Kaivan, the drummer for the band opening for K&T on tour? (He hopes so.) But when The Label finds out about Hunter and Kaivan, it spells trouble—for their relationship, for the perfect gay boy Hunter plays for the cameras, and, most importantly, for Hunter himself.

I really liked this one! It's a really smart critique of ~celebrity culture particularly surrounding minors, LGBTQ folks, and POC. (The excerpts from RPF fanfics about the boy band boys was... chef's kiss) I would say it's a book where the romance is definitely the B-plot to the A-plot of Hunter's general coming of age/coming of awareness, which I think is fine. I think this one is funnier and less melancholy than the Darius books but share a similar insightfulness.

The problem here is one of pacing.

It's a delicate balance, to be sure, when you're writing a book about a blossoming romance between teenagers: the difference between why-haven't-they-kissed-yet and whoa-there-hold-your-horses. Especially in something as constrained in form as a young adult romance, there are only so many plots. This is not a unique problem.

I can admire the decision to dive headlong into things right out of the gate; that's not the problem. What happens after, though, is... not much. Which is, frankly, inexplicable. They never get to have the space to just be together, nor is there enough happening outside of that to move their characters along any sort of arc. Both leads do eventually get put in their place, but it never gels together in a thematic whole.

Which is a shame, because there's a lot to like in the book. The characters' love for music shines through everything, first and foremost. You could consider the music a character in its own right, if you were so inclined. Even the secondary cast gets time to shine (I especially love the ex-boyfriend, who is straight up a disaster).

But by giving so much time to that expanded cast (and there are a lot of characters) we don't get a chance to properly invest ourselves in the leads. What about them works? Why are they together, really, if not as a rebound and a publicity stunt? And the answers proffered are unsatisfactory, the ending unearned. It is a sweet story, though, if ultimately hollow – a piece of candy you think is filled, but when you bite down there's just air inside. There's that lingering disappointment that it could have been just that much more than it is.