Bad Boy

by Leah Raeder

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Bad Boy is a kind of companion novel to the author's previous two books. I would definitely recommend reading Black Iris first, since that one gives a lot of background into what Ren is involved in, which is a vigilante group formed to punish evil men. We're thrust straight into that world, and there are some quick recaps and introductions, but I do think reading the first novel first will make it make more sense. There are also characters from Cam Girl, but no plot threads, so it's not necessary to understand what's happening here, but I'd say read it anyway because it's freaking fantastic! Anyway, this is Ren's story of how he was hurt by their current target, and how he's going to make sure it doesn't happen again or to anyone else.

Bad Boy was a very interesting look at gender, sex, sexuality, privilege, and just human nature in general. The Black Iris group exists to teach misogynistic men a lesson and make the women they've hurt feel more safe. However, there's a conflict created because Ren was hurt by a man, but he's a man, so does that protection not extend to him? Ren is straddling this line where women embrace him because he's "different." He knows what it's like to be in their shoes, but on the flip-side Ren is also a man with the same capability to hurt them as cis men. We get to see this when he's falsely accused of rape. It's such a sticky situation, because although we know that he didn't do it, there's still a woman out there saying that he did. Should people believe her, or him? Basically this story explores all of that messy grey area.

Oddly, my favorite part about Bad Boy was this toxic relationship between Ren and his high school best friend, Ingrid, who is now his roommate despite the tension between them. She hates that he's transitioning. They use to date (she's a lesbian) and she wants that girl she loved back. She can't look at Ren without seeing the men that she hates but also that girl he was. She alternates between being downright cruel to him, to comforting him when he needs it, and then back to trying to force him back into a life that he doesn't want. It's all kinds of screwed up, but I was fascinated!

What I didn't like about Bad Boy was that it was jumpy and unfocused at times. The romance was especially underdeveloped. Apparently months had passed with Ren and Tamsin flirting and I missed it! Where did those months go? They went from at each other's throats, to a kind of uneasy truce, to having marathon sex and declarations of love! Where's all of the inbetween? I don't know. The plot also weaved in and out, so it felt very rushed at the end, and almost like it was written in after the fact. The majority of the narrative is Ren's transition, and I actually loved that. I loved seeing the world from his perspective. He has male privilege, which is something he's learning to handle, but he also can't forget what it's like to not have it. This overshadowed everything else going on. That's not a bad thing, since that's what I became invested in, but it's a shame that the suspense and romance weren't given the same attention.

In the end, I did like Bad Boy. I do think it could have benefited from being a bit longer, which would have made the time jumps not so jarring, and the romance would have had time to stew. But I did love how deep into Ren's life that we got, and the transcripts from his vlogs added something special.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.