A sweet double coming out story. However I would have preferred if the story had focused more fully on Arthur's story. I found Teddy and his relationships shallow in comparison to the poignancy of Arthur and his new friendships and found love.

Certain events were assisted by having Teddy's POV but I'm sure it would have been possible to avoid Teddy's POV (and thereby the almost teenage drama) and focus solely on Arthur and give more page time with the relationship that led to the event at the end of the story.

I am surprised that this was traditionally published, because the pacing needed work and some of the interactions and dialogue (especially amongst the young contingent who shouted and sulked a lot) needed tightening.

A nice read, which could have been a good read with better editing, but I've read better from indie published work.

The cover is lovely, though.

The title says it all really. A story of 79 year old Arthur who gathered his family together and decided to ‘come out’. His relationship with Madeline his wife is beautiful and probably fairly common. Her acceptance of his sexuality comes as no shock to her as she has always been aware from the start. They love each other as good friends and support each no matter what.
Unfortunately, it comes as a bit of a shock to other family members which makes matters so much harder for his 21 year old grandson who no longer wants to hide that he is also gay but fears his family’s reaction when he sees how they react towards his grandfather.
Arthur and Teddy now have to find their way to new friends, lovers and a new place in their community which is sometimes a bitter pill to swallow when people’s tolerance can be low.
Thanks to #NetGalley for this preview read of #ArthurandTedAreComingOut.

Arthur and Teddy are Coming Out by Ryan Love is a very sweet tale of a Grandfather and Grandson who both end up coming out as gay around the same time.

Arthur has been happily married to Madeleine for 50 years, so his declaration comes as a shock to their children Elizabeth and Patrick (less so to Madeleine, but that's a hell of a story in itself). While Patrick is understanding, Elizabeth is less so - leaving her son Teddy in quite the predicament. He's finally decided to tell his family about his sexuality, and his Grandad has beaten him to it! When Teddy sees how his mother has reacted to Arthur's news, he is heartbroken - and understandably nervous that she'll react badly to him too.

With a new job on the line, a possible new relationship, plus the pressure of being the son of a noted journalist hanging over him, Teddy needs Arthur now more than ever. But Arthur has spent years hiding his true self - and as he tells his story to Teddy, we learn why.

What follows is a heart warming tale of friendship, love, tolerance, understanding, and joy. It's a celebration of embracing yourself fully, no matter your age, and allowing yourself to be yourself, no matter what others think.

Parts are upsetting to read, especially aspects of Arthur's past, but it's necessary to know the difficulties faced by queer people throughout history and to see that things DO get better.

I flew through this, and I'd recommend it for anyone who is looking for a warm, positive read.

Thank you to @hqstories for the ARC via Netgalley!

Marked as DNF. I loved the blurb and premise, but did not get on board with the execution at all. The pacing was clunky, the dialogue inauthentic and unnatural - the character's didn't feel like real people and didn't speak like real people.

Thoroughly enjoyable story of Arthur and his grandson Teddy who are both gay but who have been keeping the fact secret from their families.

Arthur is about to turn 80 and feels he can’t live a lie anymore and with the help of his loving and supportive wife, he decides to tell his two grown up children, with differing results. Whilst they’re both shocked, his daughter is horrified and doesn’t handle it well.

This makes her son, Teddy, even
more concerned about coming out too.

Whilst this is very much a story of gay men coming out, it’s also just a simple coming of age story about families, love and the sorts of struggles people face in their lives everyday.

Teddy and Arthur are both adorable and they have people around them who are hugely supportive. They do face adversity though, Arthur especially facing bigotry from his supposed friends.

I sometimes felt the reactions were extreme but I’m not an 80 year old gay man living in a conservative little town where I’ve been a pillar of the community. I believe some people, especially older people, do still have blinkered and bigoted opinions but Teddy’s experience shows that societal change is happening.

Arthur and his wife decide to try dating and there is a lot of humour in how that works out.

Although Teddy’s romance feels heavily signposted from very early on, it’s still sweet and heartwarming.

All in all a very life-affirming but not preachy story.

Warm and fulfilling.
Arthur decided he can no longer live with being secretly gay and decides to tell his two grown up children, he is in his seventies and it shocks them both. Arthur's wife is understanding as she has always known his secret, they married for convenience but grew into close friends.
Grandson Teddy is also gay, but will not admit to it except to his two best friends, he starts a new job as a trainee journalist, and after an initial dislike to his new colleague Ben, finds himself drawn to him.
Elizabeth is Arthur's daughter and Teddy's Mother, she strongly disapproves of her Father's coming out, so Teddy is afraid to tell her he is also gay.
With Teddy's encouragement Arthur tries on line dating, with mixed results. With prejudice and divided opinions in the town they live in, all of the family is disturbed.
A lot of secrets are discovered and plans made.
This novel is very moving in parts and also amusing.
Thank you NetGalley and Ryan.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher HQ for the advance copy of this heartwarming story
I loved this book from the first page. This story is so well written and is full of likeable characters.
The story is told in alternating chapters of Arthur and Teddy. This is a book which will appeal to everyone.
My favourite character from the start was Arthur, his personality just jumped off the page. I loved the relationship between Arthur and Teddy and I loved the support that Madeline showed towards Arthur throughout the book.
I really loved it and can't wait to see whats next from Ryan Love ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I defy anybody reading this book not to fall in love with every single character in this beautiful story.

Arthur is approaching his 80th birthday when he makes a stunning announcement to his family. This doesn't go down well with Elizabeth, his daughter. But for his grandson Teddy, it provides the inspiration and courage to finally be himself.

Almost my very favourite character was Madeleine, Arthur's wife of fifty years, and a woman who defines unconditional love.

This story of daring to be yourself no matter what age, is so moving and will I'm sure be comforting to many. It's wise and warm and witty. It's at heart a tribute to love and family and kindness.

This was just a really heart warming book., an interesting twist on the normal coming out stories.. I liked that some responses were honest, brutal and disproportionate. Things work themselves out and I left with a smile. The Allies are sweet and the small town setting a nice change. There were some dark plot points to add some contrast to the romances played out. Overall very enjoyable!

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley. I enjoyed the book, it was a very undemanding read but at the same time it lacked a certain depth to the narrative. I enjoyed the characterisation of both Teddy and Arthur. I thought Elizabeth's character had some depth / some facets to it. On the whole everything was just a bit "Twee' too comfy / cozy willing to accept whatever happened in the narrative.

The subject is very topical homophobia still exists and I felt the author could have done more with the plot line to explore those reactions to individuals who identify differently.

A gentle and wise look at how a family experiences two members coming out.

Blurb:
When 79-year-old Arthur Edwards gathers his family together to share that he's gay, and after a lifetime in the closet, he's finally ready to come out.
Arthur's 21-year-old grandson, Teddy, has a secret of his own: he's also gay. But Teddy doesn't feel ready to come out yet – especially when Arthur’s announcement causes shockwaves in the family.
Arthur and Teddy have always been close, and now they must navigate first loves, heartbreak, and finding their place in their community.

Review:
This was a very sweet look into how coming out both feels and can affect your family and community’s view of you. Both Arthur and Teddy are engaging main characters, and there is a good balance so you’re never itching to get back to the other narrator.

I enjoyed spending time with this family and found the book to be a very comforting read. Characters explain their feelings clearly, and there are enough supportive characters that the homophobia explored isn’t too traumatic. The plot isn’t the point - you know where the journey will end from early on but the pleasure is joining Arthur and Teddy on their journey, speed bumps and all!

Love writes with compassion and wit, and overall the experience felt very much in the vein of Matt Cain and Simon James Green and I will check out anything he puts out next!

There is much to love about this story. For starters, there’s the setup. Imagine being a 21-year-old trying to work up the courage to come out to your family, only to have your thunder stolen by your 79-year-old grandfather. And, to make matters worse, your mother doesn’t take her father’s revelation well at all. For Teddy, it’s enough to decide he’s better off in the closet for at least a while longer. Arthur, while relieved to at last be able to live his life without hiding who he is, is worried about his relationship with Teddy’s mother. To complicate matters, Teddy finds himself falling for a young man he’s competing with for a job with the newspaper.

What follows is a romantic tale filled with wonderful tropes. We have a little angst, some jealousy, characters being oblivious about what’s obvious to those around them, first-time experiences, and a long-lost love, to name but a few. In fact, there’s so much going on in this story that keeping up with developments kept me on my toes. Since it also kept me fully engrossed in this tale, I can’t and won’t complain.

I absolutely adored Arthur. His patience and ability to forgive and forget was truly heart-warming yet never too good to be true. Teddy exasperated me as much as he endeared himself to me. Then again, he’s only 21 so his actions and reactions are only to be expected and, while it may take him a while, he does learn as he goes along and eventually makes all the right decisions.

The cast of secondary characters, while large, was varied and kept the story lively. And the same can be said for the story itself. There was quite a lot going on, apart from the (expected) romantic development and it kept the story moving along at a fast pace.

Overall, this was an adorable story as well as an easy and comfortable read. Should Ryan Love decide to write more books like this one, I will definitely read them.

And finally, in case you’re curious, here is a link to a post by Ryan Love on the Dubray Books Blog about what inspired him to write this story: https://blog.dubraybooks.ie/2023/04/11/arthur-and-teddy-are-coming-out/

When I read the premise of this book – that grandfather Arthur finally comes out at the age of 79, and grandson Teddy wants to but can’t seem to find the best way – I thought it was absolute genius and hoped I was going to love it.

Maybe I set my personal bar a little too high. While I adored Arthur’s narrative, and found him a believable, well-rounded character, I thought Teddy’s story rather lacklustre. To me it simply used well-worn, although admittedly well-loved, tropes from conventional heterosexual romantic fiction. But perhaps that was the point; write a book with gay characters that mainstream romance readers will enjoy. And that’s an aim I can really get behind, so it’s having an extra star. Romance is for everyone, after all.

This was the cutest book! Arthur and Teddy Are Coming Out is a story of a grandfather and grandson who both come out at the same time - one is 79 and one is 21. It follows their journeys through this process at very different times in their lives and shows how they both lean on each other and learn from each other. It was heartwarming and touching and had me laughing out loud too. I will definitely be recommending this to everyone I know!

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy.

The most important point first: this book is a lot of fun, I loved the endings and I did indeed shed a tear. And the cover art is just lovely.

I think it says a lot more about me than the book that I thought all the Boomer characters were absolutely delightful, the characters meant to be my age (I’m 47 rn) were tiresome and the early-20s twinks were irritating and just had far too much drama — though possibly because I am their parents’ age.

I don’t know if it’s just that I’ve lived in tolerant parts of SE England for the last 25 years — or that I’m a generation younger and grew up with Section 28 rather than Wolfenden and partial decriminalisation — but the amount of homophobia that Arthur faces felt unrealistic to me. I’ve not been back to Devon in almost all of that time; maybe I just need to visit provincial small towns again more often.

Elizabeth (Arthur’s daughter and Teddy’s mother) felt better-written than most of the other secondaries; sure she’s dysfunctional as all hell, but she felt real and lived-in — though there was a moment partway through where it felt like she reacted in a way that was out of sequence and unremarked on. I found 2 of the younger secondaries incredibly irritating, though.

Anyway, I’m definitely being over-critical; as New Adult books go it’s entertaining enough and it didn’t feel like an under-baked début novel, as can sometimes be the case. I’m not sure Ryan Love’s work is for me, but that’s ok — even without being the target market this was a good fun book that I would happily buy for someone a couple of decades my junior.

It’s good fun, but it made me feel like a jaded old queer. Which I am.

This was such a lovely heart warming book. They say don't judge a book by it's cover but you can with this one because it is as lovely inside as it is on the cover. The story is pure joy.
Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC - I will be buying the hard copy for sure.

This is one of the loveliest stories I have read in a long time!

Arthur comes out to his family at 79 years of age, after 50 years of marriage and sends shockwaves through his family and the community where he lives. Not everyone is as supportive as he'd hoped, his daughter Elizabeth in particular struggles with the news.

Also stunned but for different reasons is his grandson Teddy - but because he's also gay and has been struggling to come to terms with it and find a way to tell his family for years. So being pipped to the post by his grandad was unexpected, and his mum's reaction makes him sad and also more fearful of sharing his own news.

The story is told from Arthur and Teddy's alternating perspectives so as the reader you get a clear view of where their heads are at. I thought their stories were really sensitively handled and told in a way which really helped the reader to understand the potential implications for both characters.

It’s never too late to be you.

What a wonderful story this is! I feel like it’s a really important book that everyone needs to read. I feel super glad to have read this.

Written from the POV of Arthur and also Teddy, I really enjoyed reading this and loved both the main characters especially Arthur. He was just so lovely and I wanted to wrap him up in cotton wool and protect him. He melted my heart.

There is so many lovely moments throughout this story but also some sad moments and I just felt incredibly angry at people’s actions and opinions. But both Arthur and Teddy won’t let anyone bring them down.

There is also a good bundle of characters in this, family, friends and colleagues of both Arthur and Teddy, and despite negativity from people, some characters are just brilliant and supportive and that just made me feel glad.

I definitely recommend reading all about Arthur and Teddy - you won’t regret it! Uplifting and feel good!

Received this from NetGalley, and I'm so glad as it was such a good book.

This is a lovely story about friends, family, life, and most importantly... being true to yourself, and no matter your age, there is always a new chapter with new exciting experiences.

I am so glad that more and more authors are using over 65s as their protagonists as Love does here with Arthur. While this is the story of both Arthur and Teddy discovering their sexuality and coming out to their friends and family for me it was Arthur who shone throughout the novel with his wonderful wife Madeleine coming a very close second as my favourite character.
This is a wonderful story not just of romantic love but of friendship and how intergenerational bonds can have such a profound impact on both the younger and older generations, something I hope younger reader’s especially take to heart. We need family, we need romantic love but we also need a best friend and the author demonstrates that perfectly.
I did find the character of Elizabeth slightly jarring. I know why she had to be there as a story with no opposition has nothing driving the plot but I fail to see how a child of Arthur and Madeleine would be so small minded and judgemental. That said, it would be a shock for me if my 80 year old father suddenly came out to me and maybe I would react less kindly than I like to think I would. Though having a gay child I already know that I would never treat Teddy as she did. That I have managed to spend a paragraph discussing her though proves that she certainly provokes discussion which in a book of such topical importance can only be a good thing.
4.5 ⭐️