Book: Just a Bit Gay by Alessandra Hazard
Reviewed by Anonymous
Rating: 3/5
I love a good gay-for-you moment. I really do. Unfortunately, the whole “we’re just messing around because I’m helping my best friend out, so obviously I’m still straight” version of the trope is probably my least favorite flavor.
And Just a Bit Gay did not change my mind.
The frustrating part is that I actually loved Tyler and Nick. Their friendship felt real, and I believed in their love for each other. Tyler’s denial got old, but it never felt unbelievable. People are crazy. We can absolutely convince ourselves of some wild things when we’re not ready to face the truth.
I just got tired of reading him do it.
This also felt a little too familiar. The lifelong best friends, the sexual experimentation, the insistence that it doesn't mean anything about his sexuality... I kept getting a strong sense of deja vu from another book in the series. Maybe the details were different, but the overall experience didn't feel fresh enough to pull me in.
The thing is, Alessandra Hazard can write. Beautifully. She has a formula, and damn if that formula doesn't work, because I still tore through this book. I was never struggling to read it.
I just wasn't as invested.
That’s what makes this a weird one for me. I liked the writing. I loved Tyler and Nick's connection. But the central dynamic was built around something I was already skeptical of, and instead of winning me over, it became more frustrating as the book went on.
Read This If You Want
Lifelong best friends to lovers
Gay-for-you with a lot of denial
“I’m just helping my friend out” logic
Beautiful, highly readable writing
A believable friendship underneath the sexual confusion