Plus, Miles' new, slightly terrifying piano teacher keeps telling him that he's playing like he "doesn't know who he is"-whatever that means. For one thing, Shane broke up with Miles two weeks after Miles came out as trans, and now Shane's stubbornly ignoring him, even when they literally bump into each other. Sixteen-year-old trans boy Miles Jacobson has two New Year's resolutions: 1) win back his ex-boyfriend (and star of the football team) Shane McIntyre, and 2) finally beat his slimy arch-nemesis at the Midwest's biggest classical piano competition. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to read about a fight for queer joy.A trans pianist makes a New Year's resolution on a frozen Wisconsin night to win regionals and win back his ex, but a new boy complicates things in Edward Underhill's heartfelt debut YA rom-dram, Always the Almost. This is a very human book about self-discovery, learning to forgive oneself and others, young love, and being a good musician. This is especially true with Miles’s parents who both fail to fully accept him for who he is, but do make an effort to learn and do better by Miles. But at the same time, the pain that multiple characters cause others is not swept under the rug either. Everyone is humanized and has a chance to treat people better. That’s something I appreciated about this book in general is that the characters have room to grow. Without going into details, I feel like it fairly presented both sides without justifying the cheating or completely demonizing the characters who cheat. One of the major themes of this book is finding the joy even when that seems like an impossible task.Īnother thing I liked about this book is the way that cheating is discussed.
I really like the way Miles’s piano teacher focuses on small technique things that can help him improve, but mostly discusses who he is and how that will show in his music. Miles is so used to being almost good enough that he doesn’t know how to react to Eric’s instant acceptance and the romantic feelings that blossom between them. Miles doesn’t plan on meeting Eric Mendez, a cartoonist and new queer kid from Seattle. Miles Jacobson is a newly out sixteen year-old trans boy who has two goals for the new year: get his ex back and defeat his piano nemesis. Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday books for providing me access to an eARC of Edward Underhill’s phenomenal book, Always the Almost.
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