ARTHUR AND TEDDY ARE COMING OUT, gentle, fun amusement about the complexity of Coming Out

ARTHUR AND TEDDY ARE COMING OUT
RYAN LOVE
Harper 360
$18.99 trade paper, available now

KINDLE EDITION ON SALE FOR 99¢!

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: No one in the family is prepared when 79-year-old Arthur Edwards drops a he's gay, and after a lifetime in the closet, he's finally ready to come out. Arthur's 21-year-old grandson, Teddy, has the same secret. But Teddy doesn't feel ready to come out yet – especially when Arthur’s announcement causes shockwaves in the family. Can Arthur and Teddy navigate first loves, heartbreak, and finding their place in their community?

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Cute take on the evergreen "coming out is hard" plot. The fact is that there are a lot more late-life outcomers than one would imagine, and we're not told much about them. It's not sexy, I guess...who thinks about wrinkled old people and sex unless they're trying not to cum?

The shocking thing for me is how comparatively few of these stories there are. I'm very glad to see that changing.

New-adult books are what I've always characterized as "YA with pubic hair" books. That still holds true. This is not a romance, or a smexytimes comedic novel. This is a fun, light, unchallenging look at the eternal truth of coming out: It's hard, it's scary, it's often the source of terrible judgmental responses from the most unusual, unexpected places, but in the end it's The Only Way.

Living a lie is often couched in and obscured by the language of love. Especially true for late-life outcomers. Love, however it looked in the past, looks different as we age. The need and desire to offer and accept love in the way that would always have been one's preference does not invalidate or diminish love already offered; it does not invalidate a lifetime's love or "cheapen" an established bond. Love, as Arthur is modeling for Teddy, isn't like pie, only so many slices to go around; it's the bakery, and the wheatfields.

Read this story to be reminded of how extremely abundant the world is. How much it matters to love; and how much loving honestly and openly frees up the giver and the receiver to tap deeper into the limitless supply there is. It won't change your world but you'll smile a few happy smiles as you read.

That's worth a lot in the world we live in.