Book Review: Jack of Hearts (and other parts) by L.C Rosen

Title: Jack of Hearts (and other parts)

Author: L.C Rosen

Length: 337 pages

Publisher: Penguin

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I saw this book on a fellow Bookstagrammers page and it sounded so intriguing I had to have it straight away.

Meet Jack Rothman. He’s seventeen and loves partying, makeup and boys – sometimes all at the same time. His sex lift makes him the hot topic for the high school gossip machine. But who cares? Like Jack always says, ‘it could be worse’. He doesn’t actually expect it to come true. But after Jack starts writing an online sex advice column, the mysterious love letters he’s been getting take a turn for the creepy. Jack’s secret admirer knows everything: where he’s hanging out, who he’s sleeping with, who his mum is dating. They claim they love Jack, but not his unashamedly queer lifestyle. They need him to curb his sexuality, or they’ll force him. As the pressure mounts, Jack must unmask his stalker before their obsession becomes genuinely dangerous…

‘To be clear, I’m not, like, a drag queen. I’m not trans. I just like how I look with my eyes outlined in dark colours, or sometimes colour on my eyelids or lips. Call me femme if you want, or a queen, but whatever it is, it’s just me.

This book was so refreshing. Is that a weird way to describe a book? Well it’s the only way your getting! I read this book as part of my Pride Month read. I’m only read LGBT+ books for the month of June.

Here’s what was so refreshing (there I go again) about this book, it was Jack the main character. He was witty, charismatic. It was sad to watch his personality begin to fade when certain events take place in the book. It was so nice, and much needed (I mean it’s really, really needed) to get a different representation of a gay character. Usually in books, we get they gay guy who comes across as straight, but not this book. This is why we need more queer authors writing more books.

Another thing about this book I loved, was how sex positive it is. Where Jack begins writing a sex advice column, there are letters featured in the book and some great advice is given. Since this is a young adult book, and teens will be reading it, I’m sure they’ll find the advice useful. It also showed the other side of sex positivity, the slut shaming. It was surprising who the shaming came from, but the book needed it.

This book had a great storyline going throughout. As Jacks advice column begins to take off and the ‘love letters’ starting turning up, that’s when the mystery began. Like I said, it was horrible reading how it affected Jack. But it sure did keep me guessing, I had no idea who could be sending them. When you find out who was sending, it was surprising.

This book felt really modern. The teenage characters are some of the realist I’ve ever read. Maybe not their situations, but their personalities. Young adults trying to be adults. That’s how teens are. The relationship between Jack and his mum was also fantastic.

I would recommend this book. It kept me intrigued throughout and I loved the representation. Really loved the representation. So many positives. The only thing that let it down a tiny bit was the ending, the reason it’s only a 4 star book not 5.

Also, this book has my name in the title. I had to read it right?

You can pick this book up now.

Until the next review

JTH