The Impossible Boy
3.5 stars This is going to disappoint all my friends whose opinions I trust and respect and who loved this book... I didn't love it. It was a good story but I never really felt the passion or emotional attachment between Ben and Stan.
On the postitive side, I liked both MCs and they were a sweet couple. I enjoyed how Stan was portrayed and the interesting twist on his sexuality and how in the past he envisioned himself transitioning, but is happy with the way things turned out. I loved his confidence and I adored how Ben accepts him full-on from the moment they meet. In addition to Ben and Stan, there is another standout character in Tone, Ben's scruffy bandmate who is a lot more than his boisterous outward appearance suggests.
Unfortunately, I didn't feel the emotional pull here. Perhaps is was the way the story unfolded, jumping from moment to moment: their first meeting, their first date etc. There was also more telling than showing when it came to some of the important issues. We are told Stan passed out and wound up in the hospital but never saw the lead up to it, we see very little of how either men deal with the time they were apart. I felt like we just scratched the surface, especially when it came to Stan, then we were hit with a serious plot turn that seemed to come out of nowhere and then again, scratched the surface of Stan's recovery.
With so many amazing reviews out there, it's very possible I just missed something in my reading. . I've enjoyed Anna Martin in the past and there was nothing wrong with her writing, it just didn't hit me the same as it did all those other readers out there.
