e-ARC, 288 pages
Release Date: March 3, 2020Published by: Wednesday Books
Read from: March 25- April 1, 2020Stand-aloneSource: Netgalley (I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)TW: Cancer, Death, Homophobia, Biphobia, FatphobiaFor fans of: Contemporary, Romance, LGBTQIAP+, LOL Funny, Realistic Fiction, Stand-alones, YA
SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA meets CLUELESS in this boy-meets-boy spin on Grease
Summer love…gone so fast.
Will Tavares is the dream summer fling―he’s fun, affectionate, kind―but just when Ollie thinks he’s found his Happily Ever After, summer vacation ends and Will stops texting Ollie back. Now Ollie is one prince short of his fairy tale ending, and to complicate the fairy tale further, a family emergency sees Ollie uprooted and enrolled at a new school across the country. Which he minds a little less when he realizes it’s the same school Will goes to…except Ollie finds that the sweet, comfortably queer guy he knew from summer isn’t the same one attending Collinswood High. This Will is a class clown, closeted―and, to be honest, a bit of a jerk.
Ollie has no intention of pining after a guy who clearly isn’t ready for a relationship, especially since this new, bro-y jock version of Will seems to go from hot to cold every other week. But then Will starts “coincidentally” popping up in every area of Ollie’s life, from music class to the lunch table, and Ollie finds his resolve weakening.
The last time he gave Will his heart, Will handed it back to him trampled and battered. Ollie would have to be an idiot to trust him with it again.
Right? Right.
*MY THOUGHTS*
Although I had some issues, as it went on I liked it. The writing style was good, the subject was better, and the romance was best of all! It was definitely worth the read.
“Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the people we love, right? “2%
Ollie goes to North Carolina to help out his sick aunt and her family. While there, he meets Will, his very own Prince Charming. They decide to spend the summer together before Ollie leaves. But as it turns out, Ollie is staying. And lo and behold, Ollie goes to the same school as Will. Who turns out not as Princely as Ollie thought…
“With any luck, it wouldn’t take too long for him to feel like a scar instead of an open wound.“18%
Hands down, the best part about this book was the rep! I loved all of it. There’s PCOS, there’s a fat character, there’s bi characters, the love interest is a person of color! I just loved it. All the tags from this is what made me want to read this, and I am so glad those tags crossed my screen.
“Sometimes we only get to be friends for a little while. That’s the why you’ve always gotta make it count, right?“21%
I also loved that this was funny. Ollie was hilarious. There were times when I found myself actually laughing out loud. It definitely made up for the way I initially felt about him…
“Although to be fair, he’d made it pretty clear that acting like I knew him at all would doom him forever. Because he might catch the gay, after all.“29%
At first I didn’t care for Ollie OR Lara. Ollie kept pressuring Will to do all of these things but didn’t really do anything for Will. Especially have his back on something so huge. But the situation was discussed, and I felt much better about it in the end. I would have liked it more had it been discussed a little earlier and I wasn’t hating him for it most of the book, but still, I thought he was ok. As for Lara, I get that you were going through some things, and that was your armor, but still, we don’t wanna see Fat shaming ok. And you couldn’t even apologize for it? I wanted someone to slap her.
“Who was the real Will? He had so many masks I had no idea what his damn face looked like anymore.“31%
The romance itself though was so swoony cute. I found that even though Will wasn’t being his Princely self, that I still shipped them from beginning to end. And at that one part at the end, I actually squealed out loud! I thought they were so cute together. I also found myself squealing at the flash backs and that one time when they were eating. But I don’t want to tell all the swoony parts lol
“Ugh. Straight guys.“71%
This was a surprise to me. I chose this one because a few people read it and really liked it. But after reading this, I can definitely say more people need to. This swoony book is just what you need to make it through this quarantine!
Overall, I give this
