Simply put, this book is amazing! I received a copy through LFL Book Opportunities and I honestly wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading it. It didn't take long to realize I was completely captivated by the outstanding writing style of this author. It is so rich and expressive; depicting the characters and settings in minute detail so that they form a picture in our mind's eye, exactly as if you were viewing a painting in the National Gallery. Such an ability with words is a rare find and I was hooked! Added to that is the fact that this is a debut novel. Really impressive, in my opinion.

The story centers around our protagonist, Danny Scudd; a gay man in his later twenties who is struggling with a big self identity problem--struggling as a gay person in a world that has constantly belittled him for being himself. He has spent years trying to fit in and hide his identity as a gay man in order to fit in and "just be one of the guys" rather than humiliated and made fune of and becoming the butt of jokes. Danny's life reaches a crisis point when he discovers he has an STI, that his relationship with his boyfriend has not been the faithful, monogamous one he thought it was and the friend he has been living with for five years gives him notice he must move immediately.

Danny is then forced to embark on a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance and this journey is far from smooth and involves alot of emotional turmoil. Danny and his queer best friend, Jacob, who he grew up with, are brought to life for us by the author in brilliant detail; and have become two of my very favorite characters in literature, period. During this crisis of Danny's, he at times lashes out at those around him and he has hurt Jacob terribly. As he learns to accept and love himself and cope with life in much healthier ways than in the past, he and Jacob re-form their bond of love and forever friendship, and that to me is the very best part of the book.

I have a new author to add to my Favorite Authors list, which doesn't happen too often; and I am so glad to have discovered him and First Time for Everything! ( )

I admit to bursting out laughing, also to being a little frustrated from time to time, but that is nothing compared with how Danny Scudd feels on any given day, at any hour, minute. He is an emotional mess trying to deal with his life and all its complications, many of which are self imposed. But oh, what a story, what a life. Written by a LGBT - rights activist, Henry Fry smacks you in the face with so much you need to know and understand about the issues members of the LGBT internalize.

One of Danny’s housemates quotes a tweet that is a theme running throughout the story: “The massive task of our lives as queer people is to unpick the parts of ourselves that are truly us and the parts we’ve created to protect ourselves.” Danny Scudd is trying so hard to learn himself and the characters who are going to help him are irreverent, often hilarious, and brilliant in their observations. The characters - they were all my favorites - each adding something to Danny’s self-awareness. The conflicts, the situations, the love affairs, the losses and the strength of friendship - yeah, I really loved this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for a copy. ( )

Daniel Scudd is disappointed in his first relationship, out of a place to live and dealing with a nasty boss when when Jacob his friend from early childhood and the only other gay kid he knew in the small coastal town where his parents have a chip shop. Jacob lives in a house with a number of other young queer people and brings Dan to live there and convinces him to see a therapist. Almost immediately Dan is getting along with his other housemates better than he is with Jacob and changing rapidly. But is it for the better and is it in the way he wants and what will happen with Jacob? I would have liked a better sense of the personalities of all these people, but I felt they were all more roles than individuals, if interesting roles, leaving Dan's journey more interesting that he is in spite of his claim toward the end that he does have a personality, something that isn't established by comebacks and quips. ( )

I want to be very upfront about my reservations about reviewing this book. I was deeply uncomfortable by what I felt were the stereotypes that the author deals in. However, I'm not a part of the LGBTQIA+ community (only a friend/ally), and I don't pretend to be able to speak to the stereotypes presented.

The world of young, queer London is presented to us through the eyes of Danny Scudd. Danny wants to be a journalist, and currently works in that gray space between journalism and social media, for a company that may or may not just be trying to exploit its readers with clickbait. Danny is out, although one wouldn't call him proud, and is about to find himself single and in need of a new home. Danny also suffers from crippling anxiety, and he seems to think that a good way to deal with it is to get roaring drunk and do really stupid things (which he's then anxious about the next day).

Enter Jacob, Danny's long-time best friend, who is outer than out and prouder than proud. Jacobs insists that Danny move in with them and their collection of off-beat housemates, and that Danny start therapy, thus setting in motion Danny's realization that although he's not actively hiding the fact that he's gay, he's not exactly embracing it either. Danny's path to figuring out how to come to terms with what it means to be gay will take lead him to take some unexpected actions, and may or may not cost him his friendship with Jacob.

But the message that Danny gets as he goes on this journey of self-discovery was part of the stereotyping that I was troubled by. To me, it seemed as though all the other queer people (men, in particular) in Danny's life were telling him that the reason he wasn't happy was that he was trying to fit himself into the heteronormative paradigm of monogamy as a form of self-hatred. Yes, there is at least one example of a deeply committed, happy, monogamous queer relationship in the book, but that seemed like it was supposed to be something that was definitely out of the norm. So if they can do it, why can't Danny?

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review. ( )

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Danny Scudd is absolutely fine. He always dreamed of escaping the small-town life of his parents’ fish-and-chip shop, moving to London, and becoming a journalist. And, after five years in the city, his career isn’t exactly awful, and his relationship with pretentious Tobbs isn’t exactly unfulfilling. Certainly his limited-edition Dolly Parton vinyls and many (maybe too many) house plants are hitting the spot. But his world is flipped upside down when a visit to the local clinic reveals that Tobbs might not have been exactly faithful. In fact, Tobbs claims they were never operating under the “heteronormative paradigm” of monogamy to begin with. Oh, and Danny’s flatmates are unceremoniously evicting him because they want to start a family. It’s all going quite well.

Newly single and with nowhere to live, Danny is forced to move in with his best friend, Jacob, a flamboyant nonbinary artist whom he’s known since childhood, and their eccentric group of friends living in an East London “commune.” What follows is a colorful voyage of discovery through modern queer life, dating, work, and lots of therapy—all places Danny has always been too afraid to fully explore. Upon realizing just how little he knows about himself and his sexuality, he careens from one questionable decision (and man) to another, relying on his inscrutable new therapist and housemates to help him face the demons he’s spent his entire life trying to repress. Is he really fine, after all?

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: It's far from my first time for...well, almost anything. Yet this British tale of being a twentysomething soul whose entire world turns upside down, whose every point of trust in his relationships is called into question because he wasn't having the same relationship with others they were having with him, just called to me.

Danny is our PoV character, a young man who's daring to think his life is going well and he's among the people who understand and love him. It's a heady place to be. So, this being a story, we know it's not the way things will stay. First, Tobbs (his long-term love) brings home an STD. So there goes that whole monogamy fantasy...and his love says some self-serving things about it being heteronormative and I cringed so hard I looked like I was trying out for the Hunchback of Notre Dame. I've used that line, though I hasten to say not to excuse my transmission of an STD! Just...well, Author Fry, you scored a point with me by holding the Ouch Oculus up to my face.

Thank goodness, given this, that Danny doesn't live with that knob Tobbs. Laura and her husband seem...nice. Do please note I said "husband" and extrapolate from there that there is procreative activity taking place. We who have paid attention in sex-ed classes (or just had families) will be unsurprised to learn that Danny's rent payments are less desirable than the space he's taking up when the inevitable pregnancy occurs...just as his relationship with that knob Tobbs is over.

Danny's in therapy...terrible anxiety issues...and that completely won me over. Nina, Danny's therapist, is brilliant (in the UK sense) and comedy gold. She's not a comedy therapist, the kind you read in older books who either bumbles or is sibylline. She's commonsensical, not here for self-pity, and deeply committed to Danny learning to manage his issues. Her solidity and warmth were equaled by the obligatory wild BFF: Jacob. They are enby (non-binary), ace (asexual), and so utterly FABULOUS that I think they should have a book of their own.

Hint, hint.

The things that happen in Danny's world, in hindrance that proves to be help, are all relatable. The voice the story's told in makes the project of reading it a pleasure, and the laughter it evokes is frequently tinged with sad recognition as well as joyful anticipation. Given that Author Fry, in an interview with Debutiful.com, says he was inspired to write this story in part by television sitcoms, it's no surprise that he's already got an adaptation in the works from Aussie production company Moonriver as it expands its UK footprint.

This debut novel is a delight from giddy-up to whoa. I'd've kept this review back until my June Pride Month cavalcade of Queerness but I just couldn't...I want you to go get one and read it now. ( )