Seventeen-year-old Max has always been out, proud and just a little spoiled. Frustrated by the lack of romantic options in his small-town high school, during an argument with his lifelong best friend Dean, Max lashes out and says he wishes he had never been born gay.
Welcome to one of the May 3rd stops on the blog tour for Straight Expectations by Calum McSwiggan with TheWriteReads and Penguin! Look for others participating in this tour for spotlights and lots of great reviews!
Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.
About the Book
Straight Expectations
by Calum McSwiggan
Publishing 4 May 2023 (UK) / 5 September 2023 (NA)
Union Square & Co. (Penguin)
Genre: LGBTQIA+ YA Contemporary Romance
Page Count: 272
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
The brilliant debut novel from author, presenter and LGBTQ+ advocate Calum McSwiggan!
Seventeen-year-old Max has always been out, proud and just a little spoiled. Frustrated by the lack of romantic options in his small-town high school, during an argument with his lifelong best friend Dean, Max lashes out and says he wishes he had never been born gay.
Max gets more than he bargained for when he wakes up to find his wish has come true – not only have his feelings for boys vanished, but so has Dean.
With his school life turned upside down and his relationship with his family in tatters, Max sets out on a journey of rediscovery to find a way back to the life he took for granted, and the romance he thought he’d never have.
A deliciously romantic YA debut that’s What If It’s Us and One Last Stop!
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK
My Review
My Rating: 4 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Consider “liking” my review on Goodreads.
I was granted complimentary eARC access to Straight Expectations as part of my participation in a blog tour for this title with TheWriteReads. Thank you to all involved! I do want to acknowledge the simultaneous truths that 1. I was already familiar with Calum through other platforms (mainly his appearances on Roly’s YouTube channel) and I’m a fan, but also 2. I hadn’t made the connection to this upcoming title until I was invited to join the tour. As always, my thoughts are my own and my review is honest.
Straight Expectations is a wild ride of an LGBTQIA+ awkward teen finds romance story that takes a Freaky Friday flavoured twist. When Max, a white gay boy who easily passes as a cis-het white boy when he chooses to wipe off the nail polish and dress down, has a blow-out fight with his best friends, he wakes up in a parallel universe where he’s straight, his female best friend is his girlfriend, and his male best friend is nowhere to be found. Max then spends about 2 weeks in this alternate universe where his loud-and-proud best friend Dean hadn’t touched his life or the lives of his family, their other friends, or their school, and absolutely nothing is as it should be. But what does Max need to do to set it right and get back to his own reality?
I liked the set-up and I LOVED the time spent in the alternate reality. The character building and growth Max goes through are so layered and honest. There’s a lot of maturing and a lot of understanding and fixing relationships, which one would expect of a YA romance, but there’s also a lot of discourse on LGBTQIA+ oppression and rights. I can definitely see this book being very important to a lot of people, and it’s definitely something I’ll encourage my own kid to read when she’s old enough for it. I would love to see this adapted to film, and I think it’s well primed to perform in adaptation.
The reason this is a 4 for me instead of a 5, despite how much fun I had with this book and despite how much of a must-read this title truly is, is because it’s about 15% too long. That’s isn’t to say that the literal page count is excessive because I’ll happily read 900 page books in any genre. What I mean is that the narrative kept going and tied up strings I didn’t need tied. The best books with this sort of twist and very rewarding payoff end shortly after that payoff, with or without a chapter’s length summary of what happens next, and leave the reader wanting more. This book gave about 60 pages of what happens next and I found myself wishing it was already over. To be vague for spoiler purposes, I liked seeing Max spend some special time with a certain character upon returning to reality. I liked the check in with the parents. I liked the general atmosphere of “all was back to normal Max was changed for the better.” (That’s not a spoiler if you’ve watched or read anything that does the Freaky Friday twist.) I didn’t like being walked through the major beats of the rest of the school year. In short, the payoff is at about 80% completion, and it should have been at 90-95%.
Bringing it back to praise for the book, Straight Expectations is amazing. Truly! I think there’s a lot here to appreciate, and I expect I’d find even more to love on a re-read. I absolutely think this is a must-read and it gets my sincere recommendation. Congratulations to Calum for an excellent debut into the world of fiction!
About the Author
Calum McSwiggan (born 21 May 1990) is a British YouTuber, blogger, and online radio presenter. McSwiggan creates video content on LGBT+ issues, mental health, and sex and relationships. He began creating YouTube videos in 2013 and began hosting The Calum McSwiggan Show on Fubar Radio in 2017.
YouTube | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
