Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts) by Lev A.C. RosenMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
When my friend Harry brought this ARC to my attention, he and I both worried that the book would rely a little too much on the "promiscuous gay" stereotype. And when I finally opened it up to read the prologue, talking about all sorts of "fourgies" and our protag Jack's reputation for hooking up with literally every man he can, was that a confirmation of our worst fears?
Well, then Chapter 1 comes along and we finally get Jack's POV for the rest of the story. Yes, he's very sexually active. Yes, he's unapologetic about it. No, he's not nearly as promiscuous as his overblown reputation implies, and a lot of that may just lie in people's perception being skewed by stereotypes without being tempered by, you know, actually getting to know the guy.
But yeah. Jack's had sex of all sorts, and done it with guys of all sorts. Gay, bi, straight - yes, there's one scene of a straight-identifying guy taking it up the ass and enjoying it, even if he makes it clear it's just a one-night stand experiment. But you know what? I liked that Rosen wrote in a cast of characters who were very open-minded when it came to sex. (Not everyone, of course. We gotta have our villains here.) But Jack, Ben, Jenna, Charlie, Peter, Ricky, Caleb, and of course Jack's mom, they're a diverse and welcoming lot, always a plus.
The central mystery was a little bit half-baked at times, I found. It got to the point where I found myself skimming pages a bit just to get to the next funny part, or else cringing a bit at some maneuver Jack pulls to try and solve the mystery - like, inviting one of his prime stalker suspects over for sex and peeking at the other guy's phone under the pretext of trying to get a look at his porn history. But when the solution finally comes out, it makes a ton of sense, and reinforces one of the book's key themes with profound resonance.
Not unlike with What if It's Us or Odd One Out, I read this one while laughing a lot, even if I also felt a certain cynical despair because I've never really had friends I could get high and drunk with, a parent who allowed me the freedom to explore my sexuality and tolerance for vice, and a network of people with whom I could explore said sexuality to my heart's content. Or maybe not "heart's," because Jack makes it pretty clear that love and sex aren't the same thing. Ehh, you know what I mean. But perhaps the best part of the book, for me, is Jack's advice column. Not only because of how witty as hell he is, or how much he takes care to provide the best advice to straight, gay, bi, ace people - I was especially pleased with his response to an ace-spec classmate's question about why they felt so "broken," and his insistence that they're perfectly okay as is. And also with when he gets a question about tops and bottoms that's so awkwardly worded it could only have come from a straight person, whom he well and truly takes to task. But also because, like everything else in his life, he's not afraid to get dirty but clean at the same time. He has standards, which he shows in his sex life and his advice column. Always use protection, always have consent, that sort of thing.
And also, whatever your needs for sex and love may be, don't let anyone - and I mean ANYONE - tell you they're not worth pursuing.
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