I love this book so much, I'll probably be thinking about these characters for a while. It was beautifully written. So grateful for the Pride 2026 event that I got to read this.

I felt weird about how normalised it was for Max to be told that the people she's about to meet have been told that she's trans. It just felt a bit icky.

I really resonate with Max on so many things. One thing was that it was comforting to read a perspective from someone who is older than me and also doesn't know if they want to get married or have children.

I liked that no one in this book was completely morally good or bad - everyone did things they're not proud of, which made them feel more realistic and three-dimensional. Though all of this makes them dislikeable at different points in the book, I felt empathy for all of them apart from Fred. Fuck Fred.

I couldn't tell if Vincent understood that the things he did to Alex and Max were wrong, or if he genuinely felt no remorse - only saying sorry because not doing so would make him look even worse.