Seeing how Adam Kay was endorsing this, I had to get my hands on it. I haven’t read any of Justin Myers books before, but after this I’m definitely keeping an eye out for him. He’s earned himself a new fan.

When it comes to coming of age stories they are mostly centred on teenagers trying to figure out life and love, but here we have a reverse. The coming of age story is centred on Jake, a twenty-nine year old who has come out as bisexual. However, his family aren’t as accepting of it, which makes it even more difficult for Jake because of how accepting they were over his little brother Trick coming out years prior. So now we follow Jake exploring his sexuality, his relationships, and the many struggles he would encounter.

What I love about this book was it’s character focus. I love reading how much Jake grows as a person, learning more about himself, and what he wants, while dealing with the opinions of those around him over his sexuality. You often hear how bisexuality isn’t taken seriously, and the misconceptions because of it, and Myers doesn’t shy away from the prejudice and discrimination people can experience from it. I felt Jake’s frustration with him, and how unfair his treatment was. He was likeable, but flawed and prone to mistakes. He’s the black sheep of a very colourful cast of family members, and it’s interesting to see how an introverted Jake plays off his very extroverted family.

I also liked the supporting characters. The book is told in third person, and often jumps perspectives, but the little insights we get from them add layers to the narrative. While Jake is arguably the most developed of them all, it was fun to hang out with the other characters. I liked Trick’s friends, Jake’s ex girlfriend Amelia, and his parents. Amelia is the second best, because while dealing with the end of her relationship, she has to deal with everyone treating her differently because of Jake’s sexuality. Her perspective added an interesting layer.

However, I couldn’t stand Trick. He is the contrast to his brother, but his conflict with him was so petty. I didn’t like how his cruelty and meanness is excused because of his age. He’s nearly eighteen. His selfishness really grated on me, and his hatred for his brother was so overblown compared to what the drift was actually about. He felt like a hypocrite, and never took the time to try and accept Jake. It really annoyed me.

And I didn’t like how the biphobia was never called out. Insults were thrown Jake’s way and he would just take it, while the other characters never faced repercussions. It was like he was a punching bag at times.

This novel captures Myers talent and wit. It has funny moments, but a deep emotional core that keeps you hooked until the end.

I really love funny books and Adam Kay (who endorsed this book) so I thought this was definitely worth a try. I am certainly glad I did.

Jake is edging towards thirty with a girlfriend who is expecting to become a fiancee, but he isn't quite comfortable in his own skin or even with his own family. His younger brother, Trick, has just publically come out as gay, not that anyone ever considered he might not be. Their parents are accepting of their youngest son's sexuality, but seem a whole lot less supportive when Jake announces his own bisexuality. This book charts Jake's progress from heterosexual coupledom into uncharted waters...

The book is funny - not side-splittingly so, but certainly warm and witty. However, its strength lies in its characterisation. Jake is troubled and flawed and capable of some bad decisions, and his family and friends are so real. This is a book that swerves stereotypes wherever possible - Jake's girlfriend is fabulous even when she is hurting when she could easily have been made into a woman scorned and I loved her. Similarly, Jake's family are brash and loud, but also extremely subtly drawn and tender when it matters.

I enjoyed this book - it's a lively and engaging read that doesn't preach or stereotype. Instead, we get a full range of well-observed and realistic characters who are just trying to navigate their own situations. A lovely book and one I whole-heartedly recommend.

I really enjoyed The Last Romeo so I was excited to pick this up and find that it was just as funny and moving and clever and thought-provoking.

This is a coming out story, Jake is 29 and in a long term relationship with a woman. He has spent his life pushing away and ignoring the part of himself that is attracted to men. Until his younger brother comes out as gay, surprising no-one, and he realises that he can't keep living half a life, keeping half of himself locked away. The book follows his journey as he comes out as bisexual.

What I really liked about it was that although it was funny and touching, it was also unflinching in its portrayal of Jake, and his brother Trick, and all the cast of main characters, as people who are flawed and damaged and fucked up. People who assume everyone else has it sorted and lash out from their own insecurities. Everyone makes judgements and mistakes and the book is honest enough to explore them without excusing them. And this makes the characters even more likeable and relatable than if they had handled everything much better.

And of course, because it's written by the brilliantly funny Justin Myers, the humour is razor sharp throughout.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3361755475★★★✰✰ 3 stars

“Don't get me wrong, labels can be destructive and restrictive, but they also hep you define yourself.”


The Magnificent Sons follows two brothers, Jake and Trick D'Arcy, with opposing personalities, one is a rather private person while the other one is a social butterfly and YouTuber. Their age-gap, Jake is 29 while Trick has just turned 17, doesn't make their relationship easier. They are rather inflexible, and seem unwilling to stray from their generation's values, beliefs, and worldview. Jake believes that Trick is spoiled and mollycoddled, while Trick thinks Jake is an awkward and boring loser.
After Trick comes out as gay, their parents couldn't be more supportive, while a jealous Jake makes an intensive comment, souring their already fraught relationship. Jake himself is struggling to reconcile himself with his sexuality. Although he has a girlfriend he sort of cares for, he's no longer willing—or able—to 'hide' his bisexuality. When he comes out as bi however, his parents aren't impressed. They are confused and unsure of what 'bisexuality' means. Trick, the supposedly woke younger brother, offers him no support, and makes fun of him behind his back (his disparaging comments reminded me of Little Britain's 'the only gay in the village' sketch ). As Jake navigates his 'new' life, he's confronted with how his coming out has affected the way his family, friends, and colleagues see him.
I wish the story could have been entirely focused on Jake and Trick. The third-person narrative however would move from character to character, often within the same scene. These different perspectives added little to the overall story, and didn't really add any depth to the secondary characters. If anything this 'shifting' between perspectives interrupted the flow of the narrative. Also, if more time had been spent on Jake and Trick, perhaps they would have been a bit more layered.
There are so many superfluous characters: friends of friends, colleagues of friends...and they are all very forgettable. Jake is perhaps the most fleshed out character in the novel, and even he would have benefitted from more a more developed personality. Still, as he's called out, or calls himself out, for his past/existing preconceptions (about being with other men, the LGBTQ+ community, masculinity), he does seem to have a character arc. He's flawed but capable of challenging his lazy-thinking or biases.
Yet, while Jake realises why he has behaved badly towards his girlfriend, Trick, and his friends, most of the other characters aren't called out on their biphobia or their biphobic comments. Trick in particular really irritated me. He act like an entitled 14-year-old, whose obnoxiousness verges on the solipsistic. His 'grudge' against Jake was so childish. More often than not, Jake is just existing and Trick thinks things like: “[he] wished life were a photo so he could crop Jake out of it”. Much of his narcissistic or cruel behaviour is chalked up to his 'young age'...but I low-key hated this guy. He was portrayed as a stereotype of the generation Z (or whatever it's called).
While I appreciated the realistic romantic/sexual relationship in this book, part of me would have liked to have seen some 'emotional' depth to them (Jake and his girlfriend for example...I felt nil between them). Platonic relationships too could have been a bit less stilted.
While the characters don't respond well to Jake's bisexuality, I did enjoy Myers' portrayal of Jake's sexuality. Many of his doubts or desires resonated with me, and I particularly liked it when Jake describes the differences between his attraction to men and to women.
Still, I wish that Jake hadn't been so often painted as the bad guy. It seemed like the author would often go out of his way to embarrass him or make him say/do the wrong thing. The secondary characters blurred together, and I frequently forgot who was friend with who. Trick was an incredibly annoying character, who in spite of his privileged background, wants others to 'feel' for him.
All in all, I have quite a few reservations about this novel.

The Magnificent Sons

I began this book with a slightly skeptical view, which was solely due to one of the tag lines, referring to it as ‘ Tales of the City for a new generation’. I had difficulty with this, as a die hard TOTC fan.

Initially, I felt that my skepticism was justified and found the characters irritating and difficult to empathise with. This changed when I was about a quarter of the way through, I understood what was happening and began to see other characters, rathan than just Jake, who is arguably the main protagonist. The further in I got, the more I loved it.

It tells the story of Jake, who is on the verge of turing 30, in a long term relationship with Amelia and a closetted bisexual. The other titular character is Trick, Jake’s 17 year old brother, who falls somewhere entirely different on the Queer spectrum, having grown up (to the age of 17) in a completely different and generally more accepting world, than the world that Jake grew up and had to hide in. The brothers barely have a relationship because they are seemingly worlds apart. When Jake finally starts to live his truth, their relationship manages to get worse, each brother perceiving the other to have had an easy ride in life.

I won’t give anymore away but I ended up loving this book and whole heartedly recommend it, especially if like me you do have a huge Tales of the City sized hole in your heart. I felt that I was able to relate a bit more to Jake, knowing what it feels like to have to hide your sexuality but felt that reading things from Tricks point of view, was really helpful in understanding a younger generation of Queer and the new problems they can have with navigating life.

The Magnificent Sons is funny, engaging and heart warming with witty, believable and well written characters.

The Magnificent Sons’ is the second book by Justin Myers.

Jake D’Arcy has spent most of his twenty-nine years trying to get his life just right. He’s nearly there: great girlfriend, great friends, stable job. A distant relationship with his boisterous family – which is exactly the way he wants it. So why does everything feel so wrong? When his popular, irritatingly confident teenage brother Trick comes out as gay to a rapturous response, Jake realises he has questions about his own repressed bisexuality, and that he can’t wait any longer to find his answers. As Trick begins to struggle with navigating the murky waters of adult relationships, Jake begins a journey that will destroy his relationship with girlfriend Amelia, challenge his closest friendships, and force him to face up to the distance between him and his family – but offers new friends, fewer inhibitions, and a glimpse of the magnificent life he never thought could be his.

The second book by Justin Myers is a touching and insightful about two siblings who as much as they annoy each other are on a similar journey.

Baby of D’arcy family, Trick is out and proud and never one to shy away from drama. Using his flamboyant behaviour, he’s an influencer with his two best friends creating videos on make up, life and his own journey. His older brother Jake is torn, attracted to both men and women, he has confused not only himself but others with his decision whilst breaking up his girlfriend’s heart.

In the story, we join the brothers on this coming of age journey of self discovery as the path of them adjust to new changes in each other’s lives as well as having to deal with people’s attitudes with life decisions.

I really enjoyed this book and found it to be quite an interesting and eye opening story as Jake struggled with his new decision in life losing and making new friends along the way. I felt such an empathy for Jake, as he struggled to deal with his younger brother, who both had so such in common but never really gave each other time of day.

Justin writes with warmth, wit and sensitivity about family, relationships and sexuality in this coming of age story. With relatable characters, ‘The Magnificent Sons’ is an observant and heartwarming story that made for emotional reading.

You can pre-order ‘The Magnificent Sons’ from Amazon and will be available to buy from good bookshops from 6th August 2020.

A lovely novel that I liked. It's easy to read, poignant and engrossing.
The author tackles some important issues and he did a good job.
The characters are well thought and interesting, the plot flows and there's some interesting food for thought.
I liked it, recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Justin Myers has written a tremendous story about two brothers dealing with their sexuality in very different ways.
Jake is the eldest child of the D’Arcy family. When was born his parents were not very well off. They lived in a small house and he went to a state school. His youngest brother, Trick, is 12 years younger, didn’t experience the same financial hardship, he has always lived in the bigger house in the better area and attended fee paying school. Does this make Trick’s life easier?
Trick is outgoing and flamboyant. Jake is much quieter and introspective. Whereas Trick is happy with his sexuality, Jake has always struggled with this. When Trick announces he is gay at his 17th birthday party, no-one is suprised. When Jake announces he is bisexual soon after this, everyone is shocked and finds it difficult to come to terms with.
Will the brothers be able to resolve their differences? Will they be able to see the world from the other ones point of view? Will their feud break up the D’Arcy family?
Such a great book, so well written, insightful and covering such sensitive topics so very well.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received The Magnificent Sons for free via Netgalley in exchange for a review.

I raced through The Magnificent Sons during a particularly sunny locked-down afternoon; and I thoroughly enjoyed it. As he nears his 30th birthday, Jake D’Arcy decides that it’s finally time he comes to terms with his sexuality, and start exploring what he has known since he was a teenager; that’s he bisexual. This comes on the heels of his younger brother’s coming out: Trick is a teenage vlogger, and his parents are supportive when he tells them that he’s gay.

Jake’s own journey is harder; not only have his parents and friends only ever known him as a straight man, he is also having to educate the people around him exactly what it means to be bisexual. Jake also has a long-term girlfriend, Amelia, not to mention a difficult relationship with his family, from whom he distances himself as he doesn’t seem to fit in. As he navigates his new identity, he suddenly finds himself with one foot in the gay world, and one in the straight world, and can’t connect fully in either one.

Bisexuality isn’t something that I see an awful lot of in my reading (though this is, I’m sure, mostly down to my own shortcomings in seeking out diverse stories), so it was good to see it given centre stage here. Jake is constantly having to defend himself against accusations of being confused, or of being sexually attracted to everyone. His parents, in particular, find it very difficult to come to terms with, something that Jake resents in the face of what he sees as his younger brother’s very easy path to acceptance. In reality, neither brother can see how privileged they are; in a conversation between Jake and Trick’s trans friend Kia it becomes excruciatingly clear that as white, cis males, both brothers are going to find life a little easier than some. As Kia puts it, “you’re, like, six vitamin shots ahead.”

This is a story as much about family as it is about sexuality; while Jake is our hero, it’s clear from the very beginning that we, as the reader, aren’t expected to be entirely on his side, nor believe everything that he tells us about how he fits in, or doesn’t fit in, to the family dynamic. Without giving away any spoilers about the plot, there’s an inevitable denouement that feels entirely fitting, and doesn’t entirely sacrifice the complexities of the characters that the book spends time building.

The Magnificent Sons is a compelling story that explores the intricacies of family and sexuality, while being entertaining and amusing; pick yourself a sunny afternoon and devour it!

A lovely read, that really dealt with all different emotions surrounding coming out to family and friends.
Essentially this was a rom com but it also went a lot deeper than that at times.
Really enjoyed It, and I would definitely recommend this to people - in fact I already have!

This was okay. Very introspective, very self-centred. I didn't find the main character that likable and wanted to shake him for most of the book and tell him to get on with it. It was quite slow going. I think Justin Myer's previous book was a lot more entertaining.

I was looking forward to reading this but when I started it I found I just couldn't connect with it. I loved the sound of the story and what other reviews had to say about it but sadly I just couldn't get into it. This does not necessarily mean that the story and the way it was written was to blame, no I just feel like I struggled with the flow of it.

I've given it 4 stars as I know it was a great book and I adore the idea of it but not a connection for me.

Thank you Netgalley.

I really enjoyed Myers’ debut, The Last Romeo, so I was really looking forward to reading The Magnificent Sons and it didn’t disappoint in any way! The story follows Jake, who feels like an outsider in his family and carries a feeling of uncertainty in himself regarding his life and his sexuality. He decides he has to give himself the chance to be who he is meant to be which brings up multiple issues with the people he is closest to and a new twist in his relationship with his boisterous and complicated family.

I found The Magnificent Sons to be a really fun and insightful read. Jake is a character that is not perfect, he makes mistakes and says the wrong thing on plenty of occasions and is at times difficult to like, but this is what makes him feel real and like a rounded person trying to figure himself out. He is approaching his 30th birthday and I can totally relate to the stage he is at in life, being 28 myself, when it feels like everyone is pairing off, getting married and having kids. It is a difficult age! Jake has struggled with his attraction to men his entire life and his relationship with his family and particularly his, seemingly overconfident gay brother is strained to say the least. He feels like the odd one out around them and this causes him to isolate himself in a way. This is part of what he has to try to comprehend on the journey he is on in The Magnificent Sons and it’s one of the most emotional and moving parts of the story.

The Magnificent Sons is made up of a cast of colourful and fascinating characters. I particularly liked Amelia, Jake’s girlfriend, who could easily have been a two-dimensional obstacle to him realising his own sense of self, but is actually a funny, smart and incredibly likeable character who was a firm favourite of mine throughout the book. This is a sharp and funny read but there is also a real emotional resonance to it. I cannot pretend to understand what it is like to grapple with the complexities of coming out as bisexual but there was a rawness and honesty to this book that I felt was sensitively manoeuvred and I was thoroughly moved by it at times. Overall, a snappy, witty and touching read.

Justin Myers has written a book about brothers who hate each other but don’t know why that is until they start to accept that everybody is different, then hate turns to acceptance and in fact brotherly love.

Excellent novel, at times the book was quite emotional. The author tackles some sensitive issues really well and I became very absorbed in the writing, very quickly.
Really easy to read. Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this lovely novel.

Thank you to netgally for this advance review copy. (For reference I read this during Covid lockdown)

This book was a refreshing look at sexuality, family dynamics and masculinity. I enjoyed what I think was a realistic depiction of coming out.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s insightful, sharp, and like Justin’s previous novel, very funny. It’s a very raw story and therefore not always pretty, but that is absolutely part of the charm.

The story features a wealth of characters, so much so that not all are delved into as much as I’d have liked. I’d like to know more about Kia and Bertie in particular- I feel both these characters could fill a book of their own. The next novels, perhaps?

Many thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book to review.

Another ARC that I was thrilled to receive. I am a MASSIVE fan of Justin's writing; from his anonymous blogging to the big reveal and publication of The Last Romeo.

This novel is an easy read despite the big issues that it deals with - I am a fast reader but finished it within a day. The characters are well rounded although some of them are definitely larger than life. I think that Myers writes really relatable characters and is able to create situations that me, as a white, heterosexual woman can relate to.

The book is funny, sad and really well observed - so many situations seem familar to me.

I really enjoyed this book and hope Justin continues to write many more!

There was one line of The Magnificent Sons that stood out for me 'Don't get me wrong, labels can be destructive and restrictive, but they also help you define yourself.' And even though I finished reading this a little while ago, that line is still with me.

Jake, is a character who you can click with easily. Someone who has been trying to fit in all his life and repress his true feeling. But now he's nearly thirty he's realised that this is not enough and needs to be honest with himself. This was a moving read that looks at sibling rivalry, sexuality. And the pain, confusion and family tensions that comes with it. 

There was something magical and compelling in watching the story of these two brothers unfold. Both at the start of their journeys. Both unsure of what life holds for them. And both at different stages of their lives that impacts how they feel. Also it was interesting to see how one was more accepted than the other by the people who know and love them. And even with people they love accepting them having labels put on them.

Perhaps most importantly The Magnificent Sons shows that before others accept you, you need to accept yourself and what you want. Because without that other will put a label on you and it may be not the one you want. But more importantly no matter what age you can still come of age!

I really enjoyed The Magnificent Sons, a beautifully observed modern comedy of manners revolving around south London's D'Arcy family and, particularly, the two sons: Jake and Trick. Myers does a superb job of engaging the reader in two characters who are, at many times, pretty unlikeable and obnoxious. In this, the addition of the character of Kia was a stroke of genius, putting Jake and Trick's many moments of self-pity into a wider context and showing how privileged they both are, all things considered.