Kiss & Tell talks about a lot of relevant issues, from white supremacy to sex positivity and many others in between. But basically it’s a story about a gay musician who’s suffocating inside this hetero-respectable box that his label has shoved him in, while also grappling with the pitfalls of fame, the downsides of young love, and his desire to make a positive difference. Recommended for anyone looking for a meaningful, thought-provoking read.


The writing has an authenticity to it, in the finer details like typos in text messages, misspelled names in articles, and the main character’s over-repetitive word choice. It was refreshing. Another thing that the writing has is a subtle, effortless humor. I believe there aren’t any real jokes in the book. There is simply a lot of factual information that just happens to be funny. I find this kind of humor the best brand of comedy.

Hunter, the main character, is thoughtful, considerate, and sensitive. He’s an easily likable character and also relatable once I got to see his less admirable traits. But he didn’t really undergo much of a development. He was struggling for most of the book, but at the end he just no longer was. He got what he wanted, but it wasn’t hard-earned because he didn’t really fight for it. He didn’t triumph; he just survived.

As with Kaivan, the love interest: I believe he has a lot of depths, with him being a gay American musician of Iranian heritage who’s trying to establish an independent artistic identity. But sadly, those depths weren’t really explored.

The minor characters are culturally diverse but they weren’t fleshed-out on the page. The other band members were interchangeable in my head, as well as their manager with their tutor and other crew of the tour. They have different identities, of course, but they practically had the same mental register to me, not physically but characteristically. I liked them; I'm just not sure whether individually or collectively.

I was never really sold on the romance, but I did enjoy the many romantic scenes. They were sometimes awkward but also sweet, funny, and intimate. The reason why I wasn’t fully on board with the Hunter-Kaivan ship was because there were a lot of red flags popping up every now and again against Kaivan’s sincerity and intention. I was suspicious and, in consequence, simply never fully warmed up to him.

The plot is the weakest point of the book. The conflict didn’t start right away; it was nicely eased into the story. But the higher the plot rose toward the climax, the more the conflict was weakened, made less significant, by the Hunter’s inaction. And then the plot peaked, and suddenly there was a lot of action. It was basically an explosion of bottled-up emotions. But what’s most disappointing is that the mess made by said explosion was casually and briefly resolved— the end, happily ever after.

Although the theme didn’t completely succeed in what the author obviously wanted to accomplish with it, the theme is still the book’s strongest suit, and one that resonated most with me, a young gay man of color.

Everything was tied to the theme and the issues it tackled, like hetero-patriarchy and respectability, sex positivity, homophobia and racism, and gender conformity. There is a lot of extra content in the book separate from the narrative, like interviews and news articles, and many of them got away from the story. But on the upside, they brought the theme more into focus, which made them just as important, if not more, to the book as a whole. In fact, it’s the theme that gives this book worth.

Given the number of less impressive parts of Kiss & Tell, I’m surprised that I enjoyed reading it as much as I did. I smiled and laughed; I swooned and got excited; and I rooted for the main character. And not the least, I made personal reflections regarding the relevant issues presented. So yes, I do recommend this book.


The ARC was provided by Dial Books via Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review. Expected publication date: 22 March 2022