Straight Expectations by Calum McSwiggan
Nov. 26th, 2023 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
”I want what the straight kids have. Even just for a couple of days …”
Seventeen-year-old Max might be out and proud but he’s usually too busy checking his nail polish to check his privilege.
So when he says he wishes he could have the ‘easy’ life straight kids enjoy, Max gets more than he bargained for. He wakes up to find his wish has come true - not only have his feelings for boys vanished, so has his lifelong best friend, Dean.
With his world turned upside down and relationships in tatters, can Max find his way back to the life he took for granted, and maybe even win the heart of the guy he thought could never be his …?
17-year-old Max Baker lives with his mum and her toy boy boyfriend Chris (who she met during a trial separation from Max’s dad and who later moved in with them). His parents’ had a civilised divorce and still get on. Thanks to the fintech company that his dad set up and runs, Max is able to take a year out after school to go travelling and work out what he wants to do with his life.
Unlike his best friends Dean (a gifted performer who wants to go to drama school) and Alicia (a gifted artist who wants to go to art school), Max doesn’t really have any special abilities or gifts other than an eye for putting together a good outfit and knowing how to accessorise it. The only thing he know he wants is Oliver Cheng, who moved to Max’s school - Woodside Academy - a year ago and whose messy black hair, dimples and brown eyes have been have been haunting his fantasies ever since.
Even though Max is out and proud, he has never worked up the courage to ask Oliver out and he’s frustrated that he can never seem to find anyone who is interested in dating him. When Dean and Alicia encourage him to send Oliver a text and it backfires, Max takes it out on them and tells them he wishes he was straight. The problem is that when he wakes up the next morning, he is straight! Worse, he seems to be in an alternate universe where not only are his parents still together but he’s dating Alicia and no one has ever even heard of Dean.
Somehow Max has to put things right and work out how to get back to his normal, out and gay self and also get Dean back.
Callum McSwiggan’s speculative YA LGBTQ+ romance is an okay read filled with out and proud characters but Max’s confrontation of his privilege and belief that the straights have things easier is unconvincing as Max is always fairly self-obsessed character while his friendship with Dean is more tell than show. That said, the romance is sweet, I liked Dean and Alicia as side characters and the plot has a lot of pace and energy to it.
Although romance is not my preferred genre, I always have time for a good YA LGBTQ+ romance and the last few years have been a golden age for the genre.
McSwiggan’s book has a speculative twist with Max essentially falling into an alternative timeline that depicts what would have happened had he been born straight - kinda like IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE with a gay twist. I liked the idea but I have to say that Max as a straight teen was much less convincing than Max as a gay teen - the only constant between the two is that he remains self-obsessed and fairly narcissistic.
Max’s narcissism is a big problem for me with the book - nominally it’s about Max confronting the fact that he actually had a very good life where he didn’t have to worry about money, he had parents who were there for him and he’s not struggling with his sexuality so when he throws a hissy fit because his friends - who are only looking out for him - convince him to send a message to Oliver that Oliver never replies to, it was difficult for me to care about him because it was such an over-reaction. When he’s straight, he’s no less self-obsessed and although I did kinda understand why he remains psychologically drawn to Oliver and why he’s so weirded out by the fact that Alicia is his girlfriend who he’s sleeping with rather than a best friend who he gossips with. However his search for what’s happened to Dean is half-hearted at best and for all Max’s protestations about how much he cares for Dean and how Dean has been his best friend for years and supported him it is all tell and very little show.
This is a shame because Dean is a great character - very much out and proud and tolerating no b-s from anyone. There were times when I wished that this had been Dean’s story rather than Max because their storylines are more interesting (e.g. the campaign Dean’s mum is running against property developers who want to knock down their road to turn it into flats and Dean’s desire to go into acting and performance).
I should say that I also liked Oliver Cheng as a character, mainly because while he does not hide his sexuality, he is quieter and not as flamboyant as Dean and Max (not that there is anything wrong with that but there are different ways of being gay and it’s good to see quieter, sportier gays getting some representation). I would have liked to have seen some discussion of Oliver’s identity as a gay Asian but not every LGBTQ+ has to be about issues so it’s fair enough that this book doesn’t go there. The romance that develops between him and Max is actually very sweet and goes to some of the best scenes in the book.
To be fair, Max does have some funny lines in the book (my favourite scene is probably when he has an interaction with Chris in the alternative time line that ends with him telling Chris that he still doesn’t like him as he runs away). However there is a lot that the book is trying to tackle with the result that it doesn’t do any of it well e.g. Max was bullied when he was younger by one of Oliver’s friends and still harbours feelings of resentment about it and at the same time the P.E. teacher is also anti-gay and pretty sexist, which causes issues in the school, and developers want to tear down perfectly good houses against local opposition. It all just feels like the plot is being pulled in a number of directions at once whereas if it had more of a focus then, for me, it would have been a more satisfying read.
Ultimately although this all sounds like I have a downer on the book, I actually think it’s an okay read and certainly has a pace and energy to it. If you’re looking for a decent YA gay romance, then I think there’s enough here to keep you entertained, it’s just it’s not as good as others I’ve read in the same genre.
The Verdict:
Callum McSwiggan’s speculative YA LGBTQ+ romance is an okay read filled with out and proud characters but Max’s confrontation of his privilege and belief that the straights have things easier is unconvincing as Max is always fairly self-obsessed character while his friendship with Dean is more tell than show. That said, the romance is sweet, I liked Dean and Alicia as side characters and the plot has a lot of pace and energy to it.
STRAIGHT EXPECTATIONS was released in the United Kingdom on 4th May 2023. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
Seventeen-year-old Max might be out and proud but he’s usually too busy checking his nail polish to check his privilege.
So when he says he wishes he could have the ‘easy’ life straight kids enjoy, Max gets more than he bargained for. He wakes up to find his wish has come true - not only have his feelings for boys vanished, so has his lifelong best friend, Dean.
With his world turned upside down and relationships in tatters, can Max find his way back to the life he took for granted, and maybe even win the heart of the guy he thought could never be his …?
17-year-old Max Baker lives with his mum and her toy boy boyfriend Chris (who she met during a trial separation from Max’s dad and who later moved in with them). His parents’ had a civilised divorce and still get on. Thanks to the fintech company that his dad set up and runs, Max is able to take a year out after school to go travelling and work out what he wants to do with his life.
Unlike his best friends Dean (a gifted performer who wants to go to drama school) and Alicia (a gifted artist who wants to go to art school), Max doesn’t really have any special abilities or gifts other than an eye for putting together a good outfit and knowing how to accessorise it. The only thing he know he wants is Oliver Cheng, who moved to Max’s school - Woodside Academy - a year ago and whose messy black hair, dimples and brown eyes have been have been haunting his fantasies ever since.
Even though Max is out and proud, he has never worked up the courage to ask Oliver out and he’s frustrated that he can never seem to find anyone who is interested in dating him. When Dean and Alicia encourage him to send Oliver a text and it backfires, Max takes it out on them and tells them he wishes he was straight. The problem is that when he wakes up the next morning, he is straight! Worse, he seems to be in an alternate universe where not only are his parents still together but he’s dating Alicia and no one has ever even heard of Dean.
Somehow Max has to put things right and work out how to get back to his normal, out and gay self and also get Dean back.
Callum McSwiggan’s speculative YA LGBTQ+ romance is an okay read filled with out and proud characters but Max’s confrontation of his privilege and belief that the straights have things easier is unconvincing as Max is always fairly self-obsessed character while his friendship with Dean is more tell than show. That said, the romance is sweet, I liked Dean and Alicia as side characters and the plot has a lot of pace and energy to it.
Although romance is not my preferred genre, I always have time for a good YA LGBTQ+ romance and the last few years have been a golden age for the genre.
McSwiggan’s book has a speculative twist with Max essentially falling into an alternative timeline that depicts what would have happened had he been born straight - kinda like IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE with a gay twist. I liked the idea but I have to say that Max as a straight teen was much less convincing than Max as a gay teen - the only constant between the two is that he remains self-obsessed and fairly narcissistic.
Max’s narcissism is a big problem for me with the book - nominally it’s about Max confronting the fact that he actually had a very good life where he didn’t have to worry about money, he had parents who were there for him and he’s not struggling with his sexuality so when he throws a hissy fit because his friends - who are only looking out for him - convince him to send a message to Oliver that Oliver never replies to, it was difficult for me to care about him because it was such an over-reaction. When he’s straight, he’s no less self-obsessed and although I did kinda understand why he remains psychologically drawn to Oliver and why he’s so weirded out by the fact that Alicia is his girlfriend who he’s sleeping with rather than a best friend who he gossips with. However his search for what’s happened to Dean is half-hearted at best and for all Max’s protestations about how much he cares for Dean and how Dean has been his best friend for years and supported him it is all tell and very little show.
This is a shame because Dean is a great character - very much out and proud and tolerating no b-s from anyone. There were times when I wished that this had been Dean’s story rather than Max because their storylines are more interesting (e.g. the campaign Dean’s mum is running against property developers who want to knock down their road to turn it into flats and Dean’s desire to go into acting and performance).
I should say that I also liked Oliver Cheng as a character, mainly because while he does not hide his sexuality, he is quieter and not as flamboyant as Dean and Max (not that there is anything wrong with that but there are different ways of being gay and it’s good to see quieter, sportier gays getting some representation). I would have liked to have seen some discussion of Oliver’s identity as a gay Asian but not every LGBTQ+ has to be about issues so it’s fair enough that this book doesn’t go there. The romance that develops between him and Max is actually very sweet and goes to some of the best scenes in the book.
To be fair, Max does have some funny lines in the book (my favourite scene is probably when he has an interaction with Chris in the alternative time line that ends with him telling Chris that he still doesn’t like him as he runs away). However there is a lot that the book is trying to tackle with the result that it doesn’t do any of it well e.g. Max was bullied when he was younger by one of Oliver’s friends and still harbours feelings of resentment about it and at the same time the P.E. teacher is also anti-gay and pretty sexist, which causes issues in the school, and developers want to tear down perfectly good houses against local opposition. It all just feels like the plot is being pulled in a number of directions at once whereas if it had more of a focus then, for me, it would have been a more satisfying read.
Ultimately although this all sounds like I have a downer on the book, I actually think it’s an okay read and certainly has a pace and energy to it. If you’re looking for a decent YA gay romance, then I think there’s enough here to keep you entertained, it’s just it’s not as good as others I’ve read in the same genre.
The Verdict:
Callum McSwiggan’s speculative YA LGBTQ+ romance is an okay read filled with out and proud characters but Max’s confrontation of his privilege and belief that the straights have things easier is unconvincing as Max is always fairly self-obsessed character while his friendship with Dean is more tell than show. That said, the romance is sweet, I liked Dean and Alicia as side characters and the plot has a lot of pace and energy to it.
STRAIGHT EXPECTATIONS was released in the United Kingdom on 4th May 2023. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
