I Wish You All the Best - Mason Deaver

[goodreads]

Title: I Wish You All the Best
Author: Mason Deaver
Genre: YA, LGBTQ
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 320
Date read: August, 2019

When Ben De Backer comes out to their parents as nonbinary, they're thrown out of their house and forced to move in with their estranged older sister, Hannah, and her husband, Thomas, whom Ben has never even met. Struggling with an anxiety disorder compounded by their parents' rejection, they come out only to Hannah, Thomas, and their therapist and try to keep a low profile in a new school.

But Ben's attempts to survive the last half of senior year unnoticed are thwarted when Nathan Allan, a funny and charismatic student, decides to take Ben under his wing. As Ben and Nathan's friendship grows, their feelings for each other begin to change, and what started as a disastrous turn of events looks like it might just be a chance to start a happier new life.


This book grabbed me by the heart and did NOT want to let go again, and so I finished it in just a day.

In some ways it reminded me of both "How to Be a Movie Star" by T.J. Klune and "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda " by Becky Albertalli - while at the same time being completely its own. But the characters seemed real in much the same way as in those books. I laughed out loud on several occasions... and I also found myself with tears in my eyes. I am SO glad Ben had their sister to turn to when times got rough.

It was heartbreaking to read what Ben had to go through while trying to find their place in the world, but I appreciated how they found friends (and family) along the way, and actually allowed those people to be there for them... even when they couldn't reveal all their secrets.... and at the same time, I found it extremely realistic how Ben reacted when circumstances suddenly got to be too much (trying to be vague and stay away from spoilers here).