So, this is apparently the LGBTQ+ young adult book darling of summer 2020, or at least that’s what it feels like. I’ve seen it on so many lists, numerous bloggers/instagrammers I follow have already read it and sung its praises, and I know it’s already been optioned for a film.
Honestly, though I don’t get it. It was good but it wasn’t that good, even if it is all about fighting toxic masculinity. It reminded me a lot of the early 2000s teen RomComs, specifically She’s All That and Never Been Kissed. AND there are so many other books that have similar strains of finding your happily ever after by pretending to be someone you’re not and everyone overcoming the shock factor to just say omg yes, we’re in love. My response is of course rather vague so as not to spoil too much of anything if you decide you want to read it.
I’m not sure if this is Albert’s first foray into kink, but honestly it was a little underwhelming on the kink front. The only reason I mention this and start my review with it is I feel like there was a warning or a mention of it in the front matter and I was like oh this should be interesting.
By no actual planning on my part I’m posting this on the release date of The Names We Take, which never happens. To be completely honest, the publisher sent this to me months ago and I just now got around to reading it, but hey things work out for a reason.* I liked the idea of the publisher, Ooligan Press, which is a student run press at Portland State University that concentrates on Pacific Northwest Writers and because the blurb was interesting and they’d clearly spent some time perusing my blog I accepted the galley.
This has been sitting on my shelf for almost three years ever since I read the 
If you’re a fan of McTucky Fried High, Carnilius’ hilariously poignant YouTube series about anthropomorphized food surviving high school, you’ll definitely appreciate this one. (If you’re not familiar with McTucky, I included the teaser for Season 1 below.) When they reached out with a review copy of the book, I recognized the name and my response was “definitely!” to reviewing this one.*