Cameron Unscripted

3.5 stars

Ugh, this book is full of feelings—in a good way. Somehow it handles tragedy & heartbreak without becoming a melodrama, & lets the characters feel what they need to in the moment they are facing, balancing it all out with joy & humor. The family relationships are just as well developed & meaningful as the romantic relationship, & that was really satisfying. All the fun bits about musical theatre & running an arts school were super fun to read about too!

[What I liked:]

•The exploration of family in this story is really beautiful & meaningful. From Cam’s baggage with his relationship to his dad, to Josh’s bond with Bubbe & Miriam, to Josh learning how to be a parent, to understanding what it means to pass on a faith & family legacy...the story doesn’t preach clichés or easy answers & has room for mistakes, misunderstandings, & the fear of messing up. But it has so much love! This is a really beautiful love story, & it goes far beyond the romantic love story between Cam & Josh.

•Speaking of, I did enjoy the romance storyline. Cam is a right jerk in mystifying ways for a good long while, but he’s (mostly) up front about things so I can’t say he was manipulative. It’s a story of falling in love, fraught with figuring out expectations & negotiating a “new normal” as Josh’s life changes. It’s really good once they figure it out, & for the most part I enjoyed watching them get there.

•I think the dialogue was particularly well written & natural sounding. Especially when the kids were talking, they sounded & acted like real kids with unique personalities, not just side characters thrown in there as plot devices or to add cuteness to the story.

•It’s so fun to read about a theatre group, & about an arts school! Brings back memories of my childhood at a similar school, & I appreciated all the performing arts culture references.

•The setting is well done, from the descriptions of San Antonio’s different neighborhoods & history, to the social ecosphere in the community. Rather than the story feeling set in a generic city, I got a sense of what Josh’s life was like as a Jewish man in a not-very-Jewish place, & what Cam faced as a gay man in a not-very-liberal city. It added a lot to the shape of the story & characters.

•There is a bonus novella included which tells the love story of Bubbe & Zayde, & it’s worth a read!


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•The book starts off a little slow. The first chapter is mainly summary of earlier events & characters from previous books in the series, but most of that info was irrelevant to this book so I’m not sure why it needed to be there. Fortunately, there was no more info-dumping or heavy summary after the very beginning.

•Cameron is quite the jerk to Josh about a particular thing, well into the book (at least 50% in?), & tbh it was a little hard reconciling that behavior with the rest of his character since he’s a pretty good guy otherwise. He was just being (deliberately?) obtuse, & also mean about it for so long...eventually he figures out the real foundations of his concerns & deals with them, but I think it would have helped the pacing (& my ability to sympathize with him) if he was honest about his fears earlier on instead of cruelly projecting them onto Josh for 60% of the book.

•The epilogue is unrelated to the story, & basically sets up the next novel in the series. It’s just not what I was expecting, since I’m used to epilogues in Romance novels focusing on the main couple.

CW: homophobia (mainly subtle & internalized), anti-Semitism (including some slurs)

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

Following Cameron and Josh's up and down love story was enjoyable. While the number of times that they got together and broke up violently may have been one too many (some communication in two men in their 20s and 30s would not have gone amiss) it was an enjoyable read. What I enjoyed the most about this read was what the author added to make this not simply another romance story. The addition of the plot points touching on trauma and self-hatred that Cameron had not only for himself but the way that this shaped his view of gay men as well as touching on Josh's history and religion added whole levels to this book. I expected a fun romance story but instead got a story that brought out tears as well as a huge amount of enjoyment.