Absolutely fantastic. Underhill wrote one of the best YA romances I have read in a long time and I am sure that I will read anything he writes from here on.

I am mad that I waited this long to read this story, but think I got to it at the right time. I loved this book. It was so well written and getting Miles' point of view on all that he was going through was so moving. I really enjoyed everything about this book. I am going to be keeping my eye out for this author from now on.

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books. All opinions are my own.

This book was very cute! the beginning was a bit slow for me but otherwise loved it! It was very joyful and fun to read (even with some darker parts)

This was a really cute book and I highly recommend to anyone in the mood for a wholesome ya romance. This book followed Miles, a trans 16 year old, as he navigates a break up, a classical piano competition, and a potential new love interest. I really enjoyed how heartfelt this book was. I really connected with Miles and he was a very realistic portrayal of a 16 year old discovering who he is and learning to be proud of himself and surround himself with supportive people. Miles’ character development was really great to read about and I loved reading more about him coming into his own person. I also loved everything about his relationship with Eric from the moment they met to the fake dating it was just such a fun read. I absolutely loved how healthy his relationship with Eric it is such a cute and supportive relationship and I really enjoyed reading about it develop. Overall I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend for ya lovers.

This was such a beautiful story. I cried I swooned. Like Miles and Eric are precious and I just love their story.

Always the Almost by Edward Underhill is a LGBTQIA positive YA Romance. Miles is a transgendered male, who is still pining after Shane post break up because he discovers that he is no longer Melissa. Miles dives deep into his piano lessons, hoping to beat his nemesis at the Senior competition. When he meets Eric, Miles embarks on a path of self-discovery, knowing full well they’re gay and hoping everyone else will accept their newfound love interest. Eric is the new boy at school. He’s very clear that he likes “people.” He’s had his heart broken before and wants to ensure that Miles won’t break his heart. Yet, there have been many times when Miles has been confused by the feelings that hadn’t terminated the moment when Shane breaks up with him. He still loves Shane. And Shane can’t get over Melissa, but recognizes that Miles is not Melissa, even if Miles feels he has the same characteristics and that nothing truly has changed about them other than their gender identification.
Eric was a dream boyfriend, wanting to support Miles every step of the way—even sitting quietly as Miles practices the same piece of music over and over and over again. That’s love! The care with which Eric assists and supports Mile’s in their continued transition: learning to wear a suit, learning to tie a tie, and accepting that Mile’s feelings and self perception are evolving.
I enjoyed the cast of characters which support Miles. Certainly there are others who are not so kind and supportive. But Miles and Eric work hard to beat the odds, which is the cornerstone of a Romance. I felt so satisfied with the ending and really enjoyed this story.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a romance, coming of age story, a love letter to trans joy, coming of age narratives and classical music. This book is about being true to yourself, finding your place and persevering. This book has vibes of Heartstopper and Red, White and Royal Blue.

Always the Almost is a beautiful YA romance, full of trans and queer joy, amazing tropes (fake dating!! I stan!), and epic friendships that are not perfect but are real and raw and in that way amazing. I also can't get over what a beautiful tribute this book was to the queer composers - I loved learning every new tidbit about the (oftentimes hidden) queer undertones in music and these composers's lives.
One of my favorite parts of this book was how the MC was not perfect; how he made mistakes and tried to do better the next time. We need more flawed MCs with flawed friendships cause that just makes them all the more relatable and realistic.

All in all, Always the Almost is a wonderful read where the trans joy truly shines through - I can't recommend it enough!

Title: Always the Almost
Author: Edward Underhill
Release Date: February 14th
Page Count: 310
Format: Netgalley/Audiobook
Start Date: March 11th, 2023
Finish Date: March 11th, 2023

Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

I really enjoyed this book very much. The story starts out after Miles has come out as trans. The initial reactions are referenced, but weren't included. It does show the struggles that Miles has to face. Especially his struggles with how he feels about his ex. He also struggles with a potential new love and the conflicts he feels because of it. I fully recommend reading the author's notes along with the book. I feel like the author really represented themselves in this book. I can't say how much as I don't know him, but the way this book is written just feels so raw and emotional. The passion and emotions were very raw and real feeling. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to hug many of the characters in this book. I didn't want the book to end honestly!

Important to Note: This book is about a queer teenage trans boy who is struggling to discover who he is and fit into the world he's always been known as someone else. Also the author is a queer trans man.

In Always the Almost we follow miles a trans male as he goes through life after coming out as trans. We follow him as he finds love and learns how to be a good friends and how to talk to his family. There will be triggers of deadnaming, transphobia, and trans shaming which in this book. We also follow miles as he falls back in love with playing music. with that said I couldn't fully understand what miles goes though in this book as I'm not trans, but I would recommend this book to other who would want to hear their stories told.

Miles Jacobson is a trans boy trying to win his classical music regional, adjust to being newly out, and also win back over his ex-bf. Eric Mendez is the new boy in the town who draws cartoon cats and laughing waffles. They were both great characters - fleshed out and well rounded and real - and I loved reading about their blossoming relationship.

My one issue with this book was Miles' ongoing obsession with his ex. For whilst I enjoy the conclusion him and the ex got to in the end, the getting there was a bit excruciating.

Overall though, a lovely contemporary YA romance that had me invested in its characters and their relationship. (And also more invested in a fictional music competition than I ever thought I would be!)

First time author Edward Underhill delivers a rebuke to the notion that trans fiction for teens needs to be gritty and depressing, or that trans romance for teens always ends in disappointment and disaster. It isn’t always a perfect romance, but as a portrait of one trans boy’s experience, it succeeds more often than not. In the annals of trans fiction, it’s definitely not the kind of book I would have expected to see on the shelves ten years ago.

Always the Almost is a great book in many ways. It has great queer representation, it managed to convey all the feelings and dramas of teenage lives without portraying them as just winning children, and it also brings good supportive characters. This book brought a lot of the light of YA literature to life. And even though I got irritated in quite a few occasions with Miles trying to win his ex-boyfriend back, who broke up with him when he came out as a trans boy, I do understand that to the eyes of a teen, that might be a reasonable thing to go after. So, I guess that’s alright.

However, one thing that I definitely didn’t like about this book was the infidelity/cheating aspect. I don’t think that portraying anyone, but especially teens, in this light should be done without proper content warning. Also, infidelity shouldn’t be treated as a write of passage. My rating of this book was greatly impacted by this aspect. Always the Almost is well written and bring up many topics that should be discussed in a queer YA book and has the potential to inspire and help many kids out there.

So, I recommend this book with some reservations as it should be, and still is for the most part, a great addition to YA literature, but it could’ve done better with the infidelity aspect of the book.

Such an adorable read about navigating queerness and finding the ability to define yourself on your own terms. I loved Miles as a main character. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a heartwarming, queer, YA story.

Always the Almost was an easy and quick read. I love books with Queer joy and this was one. I was eager to read this one just off the gorgeous cover alone. I’m obsessed.

I liked our MC Miles for the most part. I will say I adored Eric! He was perfect in my eyes. I loved their relationship and wish we could have gotten more of them together.

My only negative part of this entire book for me was the cheating storyline. I'm not a fan for this trope. It usually ruins books for me and it definitely brings down the rating on this one.

If you're looking for a book that deals with identity, relationships, coming of age and music, you found the one for you.

10000% yes! This story was very much needed and more stories should come about because of this story. It wasn't just about a trans main character. This book was about identity.

I can't say enough good things about this book! This was such a fantastic debut book, it is beautifully written and has a wonderful plot. There was definitely a bit more depth in the second half of the book than the first but even with that the entire book still flowed quite nicely. I think I almost liked Eric a bit more than Miles as a character but I loved seeing the growth that Miles had throughout the book. Also the piano teacher was an absolutely fantastic character, who gave some great lessons (in more ways than one). I thought the ending was well done and everything came to a close really nicely.

*3.5 stars* Always the Almost was an easy and quick read. I was really surprised at how quickly I fell in love with this book, but unfortunately after being halfway through it lost some of my interest.

Focusing on the good parts of the story (for now), Miles was an easy character to love. His feelings about his identity were realistic. Overall, that’s what this story was about. The side characters and the love interest were great and I really wish that we were given more background at the beginning of the story about them. We don’t really get to know these characters until nearing the end of the book. Eric was my favorite and he deserves the world. The piano competitions were great and really interesting to read about!

Now onto the worst. The cheating. I feel as though this story would’ve been fine without this part. I also hate how the characters tried to justify what they were doing. It just felt unnecessary to add.

So happy to see this wave of queer joy and uplifting stories being published, especially with so many attacks against trans people in todays political landscape.

4.25/5
its been a while (months) since i first read this (i kept putting off writing my reviews, oops) so i dont remember some parts of it as clearly but here goes!

i absolutely **loved** this book, itll probably make it up to my list of favorite books of the year. i loved the relationship that miles and eric formed together, they were so cute and wholesome. i loved that they had a little queer found family group with each other, its something ive always loved to see in books and i think it was done quite well! i loved the piano and music aspect and exploring your identity through it and think that was also done beautifully (i forgot her names since its been a while but i also loved miles’s piano teacher!!). i loved that we got to see miles struggle with his identity and how hes perceived by the world. i really liked seeing that miles was **not** a perfect character, as what i feel is the case with many ya protagonists. looking through some reviews, i can see that this was a big problem for many people but i personally think it added to the relatability. i dont think people understand that its not as easy to make the right decisions when youre a teenager trying to understand yourself and the world, and not an adult reading a book where you can clearly see what the right and wrong choices are, i think it made sense to make miles a character that also does wrong things sometimes. i think miles was strong for trying to make up for his wrongs, i remember being anxious when i thought of myself in the same situation as him and thinking “id just stay in bed all day and never talk to anyone again.”. i do however think that things were resolved a bit too quickly, i wouldve liked the book to maybe be a bit longer so that we could see how he managed to rebuild trust with his friends. i sadly cannot say i enjoyed the relationship paige and rachel had as much as i did miles and eric’s, i personally just didnt understand why it was necessary to further the plot of the novel other than to get miles to be even more tangled up in everything, even so i feel like it definitely couldve been done in a much better way. overall, i really did enjoy this book and would recommend it!