Audiobook Review: Sunset Springs by Kacen Callender

Synopsis:

No job, no money, no love – and to make things worse, 27-year-old Charlie has no choice but to leave New York City and move in with his mom in his isolated and conservative hometown of Sunset Springs.

Home isn’t a comfortable place for Charlie. One of very few Black residents and the only trans person around town that he knows of, this will be Charlie’s first time back in Sunset Springs since he transitioned. He expects confusion and maybe even hostility. He definitely does not expect Jackson Ford.

Jack was the brooding yet beloved football star at their high school, but now, he’s an outsider after coming out as gay. When Charlie and Jackson fall for each other in a swift and surprising romance, Charlie has to decide if he’s willing to exchange his old dreams for a new one.

Review:

I decided to listen to this book because it was only a couple of hours long and it had really great reviews on Audible. Well, I didn’t think it was great, sorry.

Why do so many queer books have to have homophobia and transphobia and often racism? Can’t we have a happy story for once?

My biggest issue with this book was the main character Charlie. He is a black trans man, which is great representation, but my god was he irritating. He claims to not judge people yet he decides that every single white person he sees is a raging racist, homophobic, transphobe despite them being strangers. I get why this would be part of this story but it seemed to be the main plot. It was pretty much mentioned in every single chapter and it got old very quickly. I’m not trying to diminish these problems at all, they’re important to discuss but assuming these things about everyone makes you just as bad them if they were prejudiced people. It’s just a different kind of prejudice.

I love a romance novel but honestly, the story was boring. I got so frustrated and bored with the point mentioned above that I almost didn’t bother finishing the audiobook. The only reason why I did was because I was washing up while listening to it and couldn’t be bothered to stop my current task to turn it off.

I’m very disappointed in this read, considering it had such high ratings. The characters were one dimensional and were only defined by their skin colour or sexuality. Just boring.