I Wish You All the Best

I’m still recovering from this book but as my school courses began yesterday, I wanted to go ahead and write this review while I have a little time.I happened to see in Mason Deaver’s Instagram story that hoopla had the audiobook for I Wish You All The Best a bit more than a week early. I was SO EXCITED because I have a hoopla account via my local public library. Since this doesn’t affect first week sales and this is one of my most anticipated books of 2019, I decided to dive in head first. I’ll put the TW/CWs at the end of this post. Let’s jump right into the review!The characters in I Wish You All The Best were so amazing. Ben De Backer is now my child and I will defend them with my life. Seriously. They’re all so well written that from the very beginning I was fully invested in everyone on the page. It is obvious that Mason Deaver put their heart and soul into these characters. The representation offered is beautiful and each character could easily walk right off the page. I especially loved seeing the slow burn between Ben and Nathan. Slow burns are my new fave.There is one thing that I knew going into this review I would need to talk about so here we go. I went into the novel knowing that there would be amazing non-binary representation. It was just as amazing and more as what I was expecting. However, there was something else that I wasn’t expecting and it took me completely off guard. I don’t know how to share this other than to quote so….“Touch aversion can be common in people who deal with panic attacks or people dealing with anxiety. In fact, there are some people who are just born or developed that way, like asexual or aromantic people.”I… was not expecting this? When I got to this part of the story, I was so surprised and overwhelmed that I wept. Like full-on-ugly-cry-don’t-talk-to-me-I’m-not-fine wept. I had to pause the story and walk away for a few minutes. This book is the first time I’ve seen any rep for being touch averse, which I am. I never thought I would see that represented at all and even now I’m tearing up about it a bit.I Wish You All The Best is a contemporary novel, which means it’s a realistic fiction set in modern times. The majority of the story takes place in Raleigh, North Carolina. I haven’t been to Raleigh, but I do live in another large city in the southern United States, so it wasn’t hard for me to get a feel for the environment. Also because of that though, I’m not the best judge of the large-scale world building. Honestly, I’m the worst at that with contemporaries anyway. But each of the locations was given enough of a description that it was immersive so do what you will with that knowledge.The story itself is perfectly paced from beginning to end, with twists and turns at just the right moments. I would even go so far as to say that I Wish You All The Best is a work of art. I can’t say I loved every moment of it because there were parts that were meant to make the reader uncomfortable (and I was) but this is a book I’ll definitely be rereading in the future.I Wish You All The Best was right up at the top of my most anticipated 2019 releases list. There is so much hype surrounding it. And it still manages to exceed all of the high expectations placed upon it. I can not wait to read more from Mason Deaver in the future.

This is the first book I've read by Mason and I'm so glad I discovered his work.As a teacher, school administrator, parent and grandparent I hope every middle school and high school has this book on their library shelves. That counselors in each school have copies and make it available to parents who need to read the information shared here.Mason does a phenomenal job of explaining the searching Ben goes through to discover who they/them are. Everyone who is questioning needs to know that what they feel is 'normal' and that they are valued.A beautiful group of students, teachers and a fantastic counselor make this book one to be treasured.

I love a good queer YA book and this one did not disappoint. It was very emotional and made me cry several times. Poor Ben was really having a hard time! I just wanted to gather them up in my arms and say everything will be OK! It really brought me back to all those uncertainties in high school and trying to figure out who you are. I remember nobody in high school really knew what the hell they were doing and this book captured that really well. The only thing I missed was I'd like to know more about what being enby meant to Ben. I know being non-binary can mean different things to different people and I'd have liked learning more about Ben's specific feelings. They expressed interest in a more gender-fluid style and I'd have liked to see them explore that more with clothing or make up or hairstyles. They had some gender dysphoria and I'd have liked to learn more about that. Exactly why they felt uncomfortable in their body. Other than that I really loved it! And that cover art is just GORGEOUS!!! Looking forward to reading more from this author.

First I want to thank the universe for Adrian over at perpetualpages because they are the reason why I picked up this book after watching their video on 5 Reasons to Read: "I Wish You All The Best" and if you haven't check the video out yet I don't know what you are waiting for!I will start by saying that I absolutely LOVED THIS BOOK! from beginning to end.  The book is the story of Ben, and it starts when Ben decides to come out to their parents as a Nonbinary and because of it they get kicked out of the house.  I will tell you guys this really broke my heart,  as a mom, I just can't imagine treating my son that way.  Ben got kicked out of the house with no shoes, no clothes out in the middle of winter with nowhere to go.  That was very hard for me to read.  Ben with no where to go decides to contact their estrange sister Hannah, and she welcomes them into her home with her husband Thomas whom Ben has never met.  Ben has to deal with a lot of changes, like transferring schools and having to see a therapist to help them deal with what they are going thru.  At the new school Ben meets Nathan, and let me tell you guys I completely adore this character, and love how their friendship evolved throughout the book.  They are some amazing side characters as well that we get to meet that are there for Ben and are the best.There's so much good in this book that I hope you give it a try, and If I haven't convinced you yet then make sure to watch Adriana's video on why  you should read it.Overall, I loved this book so much, and I learned so much from it as well Ben is such a great character that I just love them! and I will also add that once I watched Adriana's video I knew I will enjoy it but I didn't think I was going to love it as much as I did.

Llegó en buenas condiciones y a tiempo (a excepción de un pedacito de la portada que está ligeramente levantado). La edición del libro en pasta blanda es flexible y cómoda :)

I really liked this book. It about being non-binary and having a crush. It is about the struggle of LGBT teen facing being kick out by their parents for being themselves. It is a love story. It is about the importance of choosing your family. One of my top 10 honestly!❤️‍🔥

I loved this book. It honestly should be one of these books u read in school for how it tells of such important subjects. Thanks for sharing this story with us, dear author.

Kind of like a fanfic/retelling of Heartstopper but with an nb character. Super sweet, portraits trauma, mental health and anxiety very accurately, supportive friends and (some) family members, standing up for one self and overcoming fear. Touches some heartbreaking topics but manages to bring things into a more optimistic frame. My kind of feel-good book. I'll re-read it for sure over ice cream when I'm feeling down.

100% soft agora que eu sei qual o contexto da frase do título do livro.Eu não ia dar 5 estrelas pro livro porque demorei pra ler e perdi um pouco da animação, mas não achei justo já que era uma coisa minha e não do livro em si.A história é fantástica e isso é fato. Foi super fácil gostar desses personagens, a conexão entre eles é maravilhosa! Além de que a leitura também foi um aprendizado. Amo que teve um foco muito bom sobre como é importante conversar com um psicólogo.Gostei muito e valeu super a pena.