Redemption Lane

Warning: Biphobia, biphobic characters, internalized biphobia.

Okay, so...

We go from two straight men that never even looked at another man and thought ‘hot' to two ... well, two men that seem to think they are both suddenly gay because they can't be bisexual as bisexual is somehow lesser.

The word bisexual is used exactly three times (!) in this entire book. And every. Single. Time. In the exact. Same. Way: ‘Or at least bisexual'. As in ‘this makes me gay or at least bisexual' as though bisexuality is a lesser form of gay. Spoiler folks: it's not! That's not the way bisexuality works. (Careful, author, your biphobia is fucking showing.)

Bryce's mom, when he announces to his family that he is dating a man, even says that ‘he's never been able to make up his mind' - which just has biphobia all over it. She would not have behaved like that if he'd been dating a woman and it's just another little biphobic morsel in this book that is filled with them.

Then there's Nick telling his ‘good' sister he's dating a man.

“Oh, you're... gay? I never guessed. Is that what caused the problems between you and Jill?”
“I guess gay is what you have to call it. I'm in love with another man.”

No, in fact, ‘gay' is not what you ‘have to call it.' There's another word. One that actually means attracted to more than one gender. What is it... Oh, yeah, that's right. Bisexual. Hell, at this point, I'd even take pansexual.


Then the bitchy, homophobic, biphobic ass that Nick's mom is.

“Your boyfriend? Do you hear yourself, Nickolas? You don't have boyfriends! That's not you. You were married to Jill for years, you loved her, I know that.”

...

Sure, because straight and gay are the only options.

Oh, wait, everyone in this book thinks it is. See Nick:

“Why does everything have to be so black and white? Boy or girl? Gay or straight?”

It doesn't! And there's a word for that. It's not difficult.




Beyond the rampant biphobia and bi-erasure, the romance was ... not too bad. The guys were decent together, if a little sex heavy in their interactions (and despite the fact that Bryce has to be dragged kicking and screaming into talking about problems). There was also a lot of drama in the romance, usually, thankfully, from the side and secondary characters (and by that I mean the two awful mothers of the boys). Of course, for me, there was no getting over the rampant biphobia and bi-erasure so...