Lianne Simon

**I want to say I spent my own money purchasing this book that was not provided by early reviewers. I did so because I wanted to read this story. It is our duty as allies to the trans community to amplify their voices, and purchasing this book does that. That being said, the story itself is a little confusing — I can only empathise that confusing is I’m sure inherit to the process, but the way the author identifies pronouns and names, it’s conflicting. I will admit that I come to this book with a bias of a straight, vis gendered woman, and do not know all the ‘proper’ terms meanings, everything, but I do know that what a person wants to be called or identified as is enough for me to call them or identify them as such. I feel like I missed about seventeen chapters of a book before reading this one, and maybe there is a prequel. It isn’t required reading to enjoy the love these two have for each other; but it’s helpful to get the low down on the biology (for the conception side), the presenting gender (for the parental … displeasure?) and then the personal identifiable characters so I can properly refer to the characters as they travel on their own journey to whatever they want to be / as.

I was to review this book on Early Reviewers, but was sent a note from LT that they did the best they could, and still nothing. What a waste of a offer. To say you are going to publish something and then to not send it out is such a shame, and looks bad on the publishing house.

PLEASE SEND ME THE BOOK.… (mehr)

This review was originally posted on Melissa's Midnight Musings on January 10, 2013.

The topic of a person being intersex is a very difficult one to breach as it is a sensitive topic in general. The author does a good job of discussing intersexuality in a mostly neutral way, although Jamie/Jameson's parents clearly want her to be something she's not, and it's obvious that they have issues with her condition.

They raised her as a girl until she was 9, then moved, cut her hair and tried to raise Jamie as a boy named Jameson. From what I understand, they were told that it would be easier to raise Jamie as a boy, so that's what they decided to do. Also, they were raising Jamie without any doctor supervision for her condition, which seemed really odd.

I feel like a lot of the background is missing, and should have been structured differently. For one thing, Jamie's parents reactions to situations are really harsh. And you don't know their true feelings about when they first found out about Jamie's condition. I think that explaining those feelings would have set the reader up to better understand why Jamie's parents treat her the way they do.

You also find out that Jamie was born with one ovary and one testis. Then about halfway through the book, you find out that these were both removed because Jamie had cancer at one point. It seemed odd to just throw that in there and wasn't necessary to move the story forward.

There are some nice quotes about not being able to change who you are, that I found really positive.

The struggle that Jamie goes through with herself and who she wants to be is significant, and can be confusing at times. It was almost like Jamie had multiple personality disorder. There's Jameson, her boy "self" who she pretends to be for her father. Then there's Jamie, which is who she truly wants to be. Then, there's also her sort of third "personality" if you will, "The Elfin Princess". What made me think of Jamie having MPD is the fact that she talks about compartmentalizing Jameson, taking him apart and putting him away. Then she also talks to The Elfin Princess in the mirror, often. It would have been clearer to just have Jamie describing experiences as Jamie and her experiences as Jameson. The Elfin Princess adds an odd element to the story.

There are also a lot of elements in this book that felt somewhat forced. The first being the blatant Christianity. It isn't brought up in a natural manner, and seems to be thrown into almost all of the significant events, which I found unnecessary and distracting.

There's also the fact that several people are just "okay" with Jamie being a girl. I don't have a problem with that at all personally, I wish more people would be open-minded like these characters. It's just that structurally it seemed like the author went to the two extremes in this respect. On the one hand, Jamie's parents have such a problem with her condition and who she wants to be, to the point that they control and manipulate her. On the other hand, there are several people who just accept her without so much as a word. There wasn't enough conflict to keep things progressing toward the resolution, so it wasn't as significant as it could have been.

There's also a "secret society" of people from the same university that Jamie attends who all have different gender disorders. While the thought of it was nice because it gave Jamie people to talk to, it's completely unrealistic. The fact that these 4 other girls all just happen to go to the same school and somehow found their way to each other just doesn't seem likely at all.


As a character, Jamie isn't very strong. She's easily influenced and manipulated, so it was somewhat hard to connect with her. She also says "you know" at the end of her sentences a lot, to the point where it is irritating. And these were things that were already stated, or implied, so it almost felt condescending. It was things like, "I'm not a boy, you know," "We've only kissed, you know"

Overall, the story itself is in need of a little more setup, but I think that for a subject as difficult to write about as this one can be, the author did a nice job.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*… (mehr)

From its deliberately provocative title, to its unusual narrative style, to its heavy layering of religious themes, to its reliance upon deception and coincidence, this was a book I was prepared not to like. The term hermaphrodite itself seemed like a slap in the face, especially since any hope of finding a mythological theme to serve as a justification for the term was erased the moment Jamie’s boyfriend invited her study the Bible with him.

The problem was, by that point I had already fallen in love with Jamie, and I wanted to see her safely through the story. I felt the need to protect her, to embrace her, and to support her through to the end. Sure, she’s a little too perfect, a little too innocent for a college student experiencing her first taste of freedom, but she absolutely compels the reader’s sympathy. And, as jarring as her narrative leaps between genders can be, they create a fairy-tale kind of magic that is undeniably attractive.

So, I persevered for Jamie’s sake, continuing to follow her on this difficult journey to womanhood. I can’t say that I ever became comfortable with the religious themes, but I did come to appreciate them in a way I had not expected. As we progress through the story, we learn that it’s the love of family that is holding Jamie back, and the love of the Church that empowers her to move forward. Without the spiritual acceptance of those around her, and her involvement with the Church orphanage, Jamie would likely never have found the courage to claim the gender that was rightfully hers all along.

What bothered me instead was how so many friends and family seemed to take it upon themselves to force their help upon Jamie, often in rather deceptive ways. It can be argued that the end justifies the means, but in a book that has such a spiritual core, those deceptions are even more pronounced. Jamie may not be manipulated in the way that we expect, or by whom we expect, but the manipulation is still there, and still makes your skin crawl when you really think about it.

On a positive note, the book does a fantastic job of detailing the variety of intersex conditions, the challenges they represent, and the different ways in which people come to deal with their situations. I was delighted by how much I learned from the story, enough that I was willing to forgive the idea that so many intersex individuals might so naturally converge on one small college town.

In the end, this is a rather nostalgic read, full of old-fashioned values and progressive ideals. The writing is strong, the characters are likeable, and you cannot escape becoming emotionally attached to Jamie. Despite the details that bothered me, I quite enjoyed the read, and was rather delighted by the way in which everything came together in the end.


Originally reviewed for Frock Magazine… (mehr)

This review has been crossposted from my blog at The Cosy Dragon . Please head there for more in-depth reviews by me, which appear on a timely schedule.

This novel attempts to explain some background for blood splatter interpretations and the majority of the text is made up by anecdotes. There is also some very interesting background information about the author's youth, and his career progression.

This book is not in my usual genre, my partner recieved it as a Christmas gift at a family Boxing Day party, and I snaffled it ot read so I wouldn't have to do any awkward conversation. I was pleasantly surprised and found myself not wanting to put it down - I finished it in a day.

For me, each of the human interest stories which were logically set out were great. It's like crime short stories for me - yay, no waiting to find out who did it! I'm not patient enough to read a real 'crime' novel.

I didn't really appreciate the images of blood splatter that my partner will probably find the most interesting pages out of the whole book. The case studies were way more interesting - I guess it just reflects that I'm more of a fiction reader than a non-fiction one.

I did have one squeamish moment, but funnily enough it wasn't about the blood, it was a mention of someone's toenails being ripped off. Ouch! I feel kinda squeamish right now just thinking about it.

The author of this memoir is passionate about his topic and it shows throughout the text. His cowriter/editor combination pulls things into fascinating detail, and makes the whole lot work. I only wish that I can find something that I am so passionate about when it's time for me to enter the workforce proper.

I'm totally going to give this book 4 stars. I probably won't reread it, but I did find myself enjoying a genre that I don't usually read, and that makes a huge difference. Maybe there is hope for crime after all!… (mehr)