I am so glad that more and more authors are using over 65s as their protagonists as Love does here with Arthur. While this is the story of both Arthur and Teddy discovering their sexuality and coming out to their friends and family for me it was Arthur who shone throughout the novel with his wonderful wife Madeleine coming a very close second as my favourite character.
This is a wonderful story not just of romantic love but of friendship and how intergenerational bonds can have such a profound impact on both the younger and older generations, something I hope younger reader’s especially take to heart. We need family, we need romantic love but we also need a best friend and the author demonstrates that perfectly.
I did find the character of Elizabeth slightly jarring. I know why she had to be there as a story with no opposition has nothing driving the plot but I fail to see how a child of Arthur and Madeleine would be so small minded and judgemental. That said, it would be a shock for me if my 80 year old father suddenly came out to me and maybe I would react less kindly than I like to think I would. Though having a gay child I already know that I would never treat Teddy as she did. That I have managed to spend a paragraph discussing her though proves that she certainly provokes discussion which in a book of such topical importance can only be a good thing.
4.5 ⭐️

This was an intersting premise and a book that covers up to date issues.

A feel good story with lovely characters.

I really enjoyed this book

I think I never read a story about the coming-out of an octagenarian and it was poignant and moving. I love Arthur and love his relationship with Madeleine, his wife of 50 years.
Madeleine is another cleverly developed character.
I was a bit perplexed by their children, Elizabeth above all. I can understand the shock of discovering the changes of balances in your family, problem is that she's acting like a spoiled children more than an adult woman.
Teddy is sweet, you want to hug him, as he struggles with his own reality and his feelings.
It was an excellent story that kept me reading till late in the night.
4.5 upped to 5
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are min

If you're looking for an uplifting, hopeful and sweet easy-read, look no further than the debut novel from Ryan Love.

After a lifetime in the closet, 79-year-old Arthur Edwards is coming out! His family has mixed reactions to his big news, but no one is prouder than his grandson, Teddy, who has been keeping a secret of his own.

This adorable pairing become even closer as they navigate first love and heartbreak as gay men. Their journey to find their true selves and their place in the world makes for a truly enjoyable and emotional read, full of heart and warmth.

The characters are wonderful; really well-drawn and engaging. And Love does a great job of evoking the Irish, small-town community...including the nosy biddies!

There are some passages that make for an anger-inducing read, but I am glad they were included because it's important to witness and understand what members of the LBGTQIA+ community experience when they come out to their families and friends. And the story is well-balanced by beautifully tender moments that made me tear up.

I highly recommend this novel - especially if you need an uplifting read brimming with warmth and love.

This was a very enjoyable read, tackling many modern day issues and it was interesting to see how the two different comings out were dealt with. It was an easy read, very straightforward with no suspense or cliffhangers and the ending was fairly predictable… not so sure it would mirror every day life though!

What a lovely book; I adore feel-good, uplifting novels and this one was excellent. Great characters and a sweet storyline. In places I felt the dialogue was slightly stilted and overall the plot was very predictable / overly saccharine, however I thoroughly enjoyed it.
With thanks to NetGalley and HQ for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars!

This was such a lovely read and I enjoyed it. It focuses on Arthur, who at 79 decides to come out as gay to his family. His wife has known for years as they married out of practically, but are very close and supportive of each other. When his daughter, Elizabeth, reacts poorly to his announcement, Arthur’s grandson, Teddy, is full of fear about coming out himself.

Arthur was an absolute delight and I loved his character and plot line so much! He was so lovely and wholesome and I loved how his storyline developed through out. I found Teddy’s plot line a little harder to feel invested in although I did enjoy the interactions between grandfather and grandson. They were so supportive and very close to each other. I did find my mind wandering a bit in the Teddy chapters as I found him less engaging.

The last few chapters were so lovely to read and I felt the book’s ending was so great. Definitely recommend this one for a feel good read.

Thanks to Netgalley and HQ publishers for this E-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Arthur is 79, and for a reason we discover during the course of the book, has decided to come out as gay, with the full support of his wife, Madeleine. His daughter Elizabeth does not take this well, and even though he wasn't always keen when she found new love after her husband passed away, Arthur doesn't deserve the scorn she pours on him. Little does Elizabeth, a rather pushy columnist for the local paper, realise that her son, Teddy, is also gay, but very much in the closet, scared to come out especially after how she reacts to Arthur. But he does tell Arthur and they support each other.

In alternating chapters, we see Arthur (and Madeleine, who is more in the background but a rock for Arthur) reach out to embrace new chapters in their lives, Arthur meeting Oscar, a might-have-been version of him who embraced his sexuality from an early age and has led an exciting and different life, but gently encourages him rather than being pushy; and Teddy, who starts a new job and falls for a colleague his (gay) best friend Shakeel is not happy about. Lexie, his other best friend and Teddy's two sisters complete the ensemble cast as Arthur and Teddy negotiate their first few months in this new situation and Arthur shares details of the awful treatment meted out by his father when he was younger, including forcing him into conversion therapy and having his tentative boyfriend beaten up.

Will Elizabeth come round when she sees she hasn't lost her father and son but has gained more honesty and openness in her family? Some reviewers think she is let off lightly but there are consequences.

The part of the book I struggled with a bit was the setting. Northbridge is repeatedly described as very conservative, hidebound, mostly homophobic, but the setting is modern in terms of social media and technology, and I don't feel any town is like that now. I believe the author is Irish and I thought for a while Northbridge was supposed to be a very religious Catholic town in Ireland (but still, the whole community? Enough that a young girl is so scared at the thought of being outed she takes a terrible step?) but then a character is described as going to Ireland, so perhaps not. "Up North" is mentioned, but is that just northern England? This was a shame as a lot of the relationships and actions seemed very authentic and rooted, but then the whole town being obsessed with hierarchies and old families gave it a ring of a fable. Maybe the author was reticent about placing it because they don't want to look like they're criticising their own home town or something, and people do turn around, but it gave it that edge of unreality which was a shame.

An enjoyable story with lovely characters, and I will look out for more from this author.

Review will be out on my blog on 19 April : https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2023/04/19/book-review-ryan-love-arthur-and-teddy-are-coming-out/

Arthur and Teddy are absolutely the two sweetest cinnamon rolls in the bakery. I loved their parallel coming out stories and journey's towards their HEAs

REVIEW ⚠️cw: homophobia, bigotry ⚠️

At the age of 79, Arthur Edwards shocks his family by telling them he's gay. Meanwhile, his 21-year-old grandson, Teddy, has also been trying to find a way to tell his family the same thing. The story follows Arthur and Teddy over a year, as they endeavour to find their place in the world and possibly love.
While I loved the dual POVs of the two main characters, I feel like Arthur's story was much better developed. I found the exploration of his past and the all too familiar story of an older generation having to live their life closeted sensitively and well-written. I really loved how supportive Madeleine was throughout, and I particularly loved Arthur and Teddy's conversations with each other, and the one about Jack had me sobbing. I also loved his friendship with Oscar.
That's not to say I didn't also like Teddy or empathised with him, I just didn't connect as much with his character, perhaps because he came across as a little immature at times. I also wish the romance wasn't as rushed. I saw it coming but would have loved more of them together. Parts of the story suffered from clunky dialogue and occasionally too much exposition. I found myself skimming those pages as they didn't really move the story along. Still, I enjoyed the various twists and turns each character faced, and there was a satisfying ending.
This was a solid and original debut novel with some gentle humour and sweet moments, and I would happily read more from this author.

Overall Rating: ❤️❤️❤️.5 rounded up to 4)
Heat Rating: 🔥
Emotional Rating: 💓😬😢💓💔😢🥰👏🏻😂🙄😡🥰💓

*Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to leave an honest review. Arthur and Teddy Are Coming Out is published 13th April*

Favourite Quote: "...just remember that every day you aren’t being true to who you are is a day wasted. I know I am very blessed to have had a good life, but you deserve to have the best life, the one you really want, not the one other people think you should have."

CW: homophobic people

Arthur and Teddy, Granddad and Grandson, have something they didn't expect to have in common.

They're both gay.

When Arthur comes out to his family, word spreads throughout their small community and it's not all for the better. When Teddy hears of his granddad's coming out and notices his mother's reaction, it makes him worried about his own, identical, secret.

This story is about two queer people from two generations navigating life as gay men.

I enjoyed this book enough to finish it but I have to admit that I found it a bit slow at times, the flow felt clunky and the characters were likeable for the most part but I felt a disconnect with a few of the; the conversations and interactions didn't feel natural.

Overall the book was a good read and I'm sure others will have bigger and better reactions to it than I did.

Thank you so much to the publishers for providing me with an eArc in exchange for my honest review!

Arthur and Teddy are grandfather and grandson. When Arthur comes out to his family, it makes Teddy think about his own secret, that he is also gay and is having feelings for his work colleague. But with his family’s reaction to Arthur’s coming out, Teddy doesn’t feel quite ready to come out yet. Together Arthur and Teddy navigate first loves, heartbreak and finding their place in the community together.

I honestly loved this one so much! I didn’t want it to end and I just wanted more time with Arthur and Teddy. I loved the dual narrative, the plot, the side characters, I basically loved everything about it. The growth that happens not just for Arthur and Teddy’s characters, but others too 👏🏼 I absolutely adored Madeleine, she was the most supportive, loving, amazing woman! I loved how Ryan Love showed what it could be like for people coming out as both young and old.

I really loved the bond that Arthur and Teddy had, to see the love between grandfather and grandson was so special. This book made me laugh, cry, smile and feel so happy. The characters that Ryan has created are so special and I think they’ll always have a space in my head and heart ❤️

Once you get over the vast amount of spelling mistakes this is an interesting read. I am hoping as this is an ARC that the published copy will have caught them all.

This novel deals with Arthur a 79 year old who comes out to his family as gay. At the same time Arthur's grandson Teddy/Edward is summoning the courage to also come out of the closet. I liked the interweaving of the two stories and that this wasn't just a cute story of acceptance. It did tackle the issue of homophobia and how that not just strangers but family can sometimes struggle to deal with this. It also has triggers such as suicide and hate crime assaults which are approached in a tasteful way. The romantic relationships were a bit obvious but I don't think that takes away from the story overall.

I loved the idea of this book when I read the blurb, and I was super excited to receive an ARC of it, but I have to admit, I found it really disappointing.

79 year-old Arthur Edwards has had to live his whole life a lie, but he’s decided that it’s time to change that fact. He invites his family over to tell them the news… he’s gay. Can his family handle the revelation? Will his friends accept him now he’s out of the closet?

Arthur’s grandson Teddy also has a secret… the same secret in fact. But is he ready to take the same step as his grandad, or is one bombshell in the family enough?

The story idea is lovely, but sadly I didn’t think it was written very well. The dialogue didn’t seem natural and was somewhat cringey, and the character’s reactions were too OTT. Teddy I thought was incredibly naïve for his age, and a bit of a wet blanket. He was underdeveloped as a character and I think lacking in personality. Arthur was likeable, but still wasn’t incredibly engaging. However, his wife Madeleine was very interesting, but sadly her time was limited and we didn’t get anything from her point of view.

The ending was extremely rushed, and Teddy’s romance was so cheesy and predictable that I actually found it off-putting rather than romantic.

I thought it lacked the warmth and humour it needed and was really rather twee. It became quite a tedious read rather than something fun and heart-warming.

I just think the author had a great idea but churned out something predictable and without any real depth or meaning. Sadly a miss from me.

A fascinating and heart warming book looking at the different perspectives of how coming out can impact different people who are close to you. A very sweet and enjoyable read.

Arthur and Teddy are grandfather and grandson, and despite a nearly sixty-year age gap, they have a lot in common. One big thing - they're both gay. Arthur comes out to his whole family just before his 80th birthday sending ricochets through their whole family which lead to Teddy coming out to his grandpa but in other ways dreading coming out to other members of his family (in particular his mother) even more.

The premise of this story immediately stuck out to me. I love stories with intergenerational relationships, especially those with queer characters, and so I was excited to fall in love with this book. Unfortunately, despite the wonderful premise, this one fell flat for me for a number of reasons.

I feel like the author wanted this book to be important to so many people in lots of different ways and the intent of that really does shine through and is lovely to see. However, I think it would have been much more impactful if they'd tried to make it important for just a few reasons and given those the attention they deserve, both as narrative devices and as real-world issues. There's so much crammed in, but so much of it is mentioned in passing in a way that gives the reader whiplash. The trauma and violence Arthur faced as a young man are truly horrible, and yet we never see the results of that in his present character, and some things are only mentioned once (for example, content warnings are needed for extreme violence, parental abuse and conversion therapy) before moving on to another discussion about something completely ordinary like what they were going to have for tea.

It was the dialogue for me, however, that really let this story down. It felt unnatural and stilted the whole way through, and the simplistic style of writing and lack of any rich description did little to help remedy this. There were also no real consequences for any of the characters' actions in the story. Everyone forgave everyone for sometimes really horrible words/behaviour in ways that didn't feel realistic at all. There's one character in particular who is really nastily overtly homophobic on numerous occasions but then all is instantly forgiven when they come round later on (and we never find out how/why they do come round at all). I didn't feel connected to any of the characters because I didn't understand their emotions around anything that happened in the novel.

There were some wonderful relationships in the novel. The connection between Teddy and Arthur is lovely and Arthur's relationship with Madeleine was beautiful (although I did wish we'd explored Madeleine's feelings a little more – it would have made her feel like more of a real person and made their continued relationship feel even more powerful than when she was just this perfect supporter of Arthur). There were some interesting side characters and, again, I can't fault the intentions of the author when they were clearly so noble and they wanted this story to have such a positive impact upon its readers.

Overall, I really wanted to love this book. The premise was such an excellent one, I really wanted to find it the heartwarming read that I'm sure it can be for others, but it just really wasn't for me.

A really interesting story showing different perspectives about how people are treated when coming out, and how it can be for the other person as well.

I loved this so much! Incredibly cute and such an easy read that I did not want to put down. Thank you NetGalley for my copy of this book

This was an enjoyable read, featuring Arthur and Teddy, grandfather and grandson both of whom come out at the same time and following their journey over the course of a year. This was an easy, uncomplicated read with some heartwarming moments. Arthur was an interesting and likeable character. Unfortunately Teddy doesn't come over so well and his homophobic mother never really redeems herself. Whilst this was an easy read, some of the book lacks pace and the language is overly simplistic and clunky at tines. Whilst the end is satisfactory, there's a lot that happens right at the end and it comes over a little messy. However, Arthur's story is warm and uplifting and overall this is a light, enjoyable read and I would read more by this author. Thanks to netgalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

📍 Thank you to the publisher, author + NetGalley for an advanced review copy. All opinions are my own. Review also posted to @redheadbookgirl (IG), Goodreads and Storygraph.

The premise of this book sounded unique, intriguing and just kinda cute and I’m so glad I read it 🥹 A touching and wholesome story with strong messages of never being too old to find love + to be yourself, the pages were filled with warmth and humour.

The characterisation of both MC’s was brilliant, but Arthur was the star of the show. I read about a third of this, then actually switching to audiobook and absolutely loved the audio version. Narrated by Bruce Alexander, Arthur was sweet, loveable, charming and a character you couldn’t help but root for. He made me miss my granddad terribly🫶🏼 The rest of the characters were probably a bit underdeveloped and less likeable, BUT Arthur made up for this entirely.

I was particularly able to connect to this story having experienced my own Father coming out as gay when I was a young child. At the time this was incredibly confusing, and it was eye opening to look back and see how my views and understanding has grown and changed since about twenty years ago.

This book does deal with some big issues, with a lot of homophobic dialogue particularly in the first half, when Arthur’s family struggles to accept his sexuality. My only complaint is I would have liked to see both Arthur and Teddy make Elizabeth take more responsibility for her harmful actions + educated her, rather than the seemingly easy forgiveness that occurred because she turned up to their fundraiser.

𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒚 @ 𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍
✨🍂