Review: Not my cup of tea, but still engrossing...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 12, 2013
Precursory warning: this book is HEAVY with Christian God.  It comes dangerously close to being a bit too preachy in spots, but at the same time the author finesses it in such a way as to avoid making the reader feel being in church again.  I offer this as a warning for those who might be turned away from the book on that ground, but I have to admit that it was done in a way that makes sense due to the protagonist's life view, so it works...most of the time.One thing I would emphasize, though, given my warning above - this is perhaps one of the best examples of the dichotomy between those who believe they are Christians and those who live the Teachings of Christ.  And this is coming from a spiritualist/pseudo-agnostic (raised Catholic).  I don't know of any other books that approach the subject of transgender identity and dating in the way that Ms Leone has done, and for that alone she deserves credit.Overall, I found the protagonist to be TOO good for reality, and certainly for any sort of character development.  The story is largely linear progression, never really feeling like it's detouring from expectations - particularly with the framed prologue.  And yet, it still is engaging in a perplexing way.Other than my own preference of it having a bit too much God for my tastes, there is one editorial issue I would like to raise - that being the use of how the protagonist is referred to in third-person limited omniscience.  For some reason, the character is referred to as both "Antonio" and "Tony" by the narrator - often switching back and forth on the same page, between paragraphs.  Part of me suspects this is to avoid the trap of writing dialogue "'Such and such', Antonio replied." "'Yes,' Antonio responded, 'but...'"  If it were for a clear storytelling reason, I would be fully behind it, but I can't see a logic here beyond changing up how dialogue is presented.  And if the author feels that I'm missing something, I would love to gain insight into the logic behind the changes.After all of my criticisms for the story, I still find it to be a good, solid read.  It's not quite perfect, but it's a fun piece to read and certainly a welcome alternative perspective into transexual identity from the perspective of an Born Again Christian outsider as his friendship develops with the transexual character.