He’s a tagalong to Emmy and Alfie’s story and he’s treated like a tagalong in the band too, despite being the frontman. Between Ryan, Emmy, and Alfie, Ryan has the least amount of focus on him and he even gets left out of a lot the story. Nearly every character other than Emmy is underdeveloped (more on that in a bit) but Ryan really gets the worst of it.

Not that you would know it from the way this book is written, but there are in fact three members of the Brightsiders band, not two. Little did I know, it was worse than that.

To tell her she never does anything wrong and to coddle her. As early on as chapter two I had the feeling that all of the characters existed to stand behind Emmy and nod their heads.

And while, yes, homophobia and bad kisses are both things that need to be corrected, these tangents feel like they would be more at home in a preachy social media post than in first-person fiction.Īnd then there were the characters if you can even call them characters, I’d liken them a little closer to props. There are several moments in this story where the writer will detach themselves from the plot so that they can go on long-winded lectures or tangents about homophobia, slut-shaming, or even a three-page rant about what bad kisses are like all while the main character is supposed to be experiencing the best kiss of her life. If the entire book had been written like that right out of the gate, it would have been less jarring.Īs for writing style, this book felt clunky. Emmy, and thus the book, suddenly has a fixation on all things sex that I didn’t appreciate. Then nearly halfway through the book (HALF!) the author blindsides us with a romance between Emmy and another band member, Alfie, the super cool genderqueer guitarist complete with sexy smirk and arms covered in ink. The first half of the book is setting up characters and making sure to tell (not show) us that this punk band, Brightsiders is just so amazing. Okay, so then what is the plot of the story if not coming out? I honestly couldn’t tell you. She has a bisexual pride flag hanging in her parents’ house and tabloids report on her relationship with another girl, Jessie, regularly. In fact, by all definitions she’s already out and proud. At least, that’s what the back had me believe it was about.Ĭontrary to the blurb summary of the book, The Brightsiders is not about our main character, Emmy King, telling her family, friends, and thousands of fans about her sexuality. The story of a bisexual teenager coming out to the world while also managing her place in the spotlight as the drummer in a teen punk band. The bright colors of the cover had really caught my eye, and turning it over to read the synopsis on the back had me practically buzzing to give it a read. The Brightsiders has been on my to be read list for several months before I finally purchased a copy.

The Brightsiders by Jen Wilde