Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: A Boy Called Cin
AUTHOR: Cecil Wilde
PUBLISHER: Less Than Three Press
LENGTH: 169 pages
BLURB:
On the search for a cup of coffee before the guest lecture he’s giving, Tom spies a tired, half-frozen young man who looks even more need of coffee than him. On impulse, he buys the man a cup—but an attempt to strike up conversation ends in the young man walking off, seemingly put off by Tom Walford—the tabloids’ favourite billionaire—buying him coffee. But when he reappears in Tom’s lecture, all Tom knows is that he doesn’t want the man slipping away a second time.
Agreeing to dinner with a man he only knows from internet gossip columns isn’t the wisest decision Cin’s ever made, but he wants to like the infamous Tom Walford and he can’t do that if he doesn’t give the man a fair chance to be likeable. Which he is, almost frustratingly so, to the point Cin wishes maybe he hadn’t been so fair because he never had any intention of getting attached to Tom, who seems to come from a world far too different from his own for anything between them to last. Little does Cin know, they’ve got a lot more in common than he imagines—including their shared discomfort with their assigned genders, and all the complications that go with it
REVIEW:
Tom’s a billionaire tech-genius who just wants to share a cup of coffee with the cute guy near the coffee cart. He wasn’t expecting to get insulted for the gift of caffeine, but he kind of likes it anyways. It is always nice to have people who don’t treat him like some type of god. Plus, Cin took the coffee, so mission accomplished. When Tom spots Cin at the lecture he is giving later that day, he decides that one coffee is clearly not enough, and asks Cin out. And so begins a beautiful relationship…
…that is about as easy as you would expect for two guys who have twenty years between them, a whole host of gender issues, and about a billion little difference in their bank accounts. So, not easy at all. But Tom knows that it might just all be worth it.
I loved this book, let’s just put that out there. I absolutely loved it. I was crying and happy and sighing thru the whole thing. That is what, I think, makes for great reading. The fact that I can totally connect with the characters is something I long for when I read, and I was so glad to get it in A Boy Called Cin.
I totally recommend you read this book.
Even if you are not trans.
Even if you are not genderqueer.
Even if you are not a billionaire, or an artist, or a student, or tech-savvy.
You should totally read this book. Because even if you are not any of those things, or you are all those things, these are stories that need to be told. And told well.
Sometimes Cin having to constantly reassure Tom got a bit repetitive. And sometimes the story seemed a bit fairy-tale. But you know what? I don’t care. Because Cin and Tom (and all the rest) brought this story to life in a way that had me wrapped around their fingers. I can put up with a few small annoyances for that. And I have done so many many times in the past.
But what I love–and I do mean love–about this book is the hope that it gives to the reader. That anyone and everyone deserves a happily-ever-after. Not just the cute little gay boys that fill the m/m genre. Everyone. And the people who are not defined by birth, and who demand the right to be themselves, are not just side characters there for comic relief. They are just as fitting, and just as in need of MC roles, as all the others.
This book is not the sole definition of how trans or genderqueer people live and love. But it is a story about how they can love. How they live, and what they live thru.
And yes, there are mentions of vaginas–or, well, one vagina. And even if this gets me yelled at, can I just say that if that is the sole reason you reject this book I need you to grow the fuck up. Or at least not complain about it to me. I can not force you to read books–and believe me that would be a superpower worth having–but I can request, plea, and urge you to put aside preconceived notions about sexuality and gender and just let the characters tell you a story.
Because it is a really good story.
RATING:
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