YA LGBT

Review of Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales

March 3, 2020 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Only Mostly Devastated is a super-fun boy-meets-boy spin on Grease, which follows our two main characters, Ollie and Will. The story takes place in North Carolina, and the two boys have had an amazing perfect summer romance by the lake, which comes to an end when Ollie’s family is supposedly heading back to California. But Ollie is confused and a bit heartbroken when Will subsequently ghosts him, not returning any of his texts or emails.

Then Ollie’s family has a last-minute change of plans and ends up staying in North Carolina to help with his dying aunt, meaning he has to attend a new school. So imagine Ollie’s surprise when he discovers that Will goes to the exact same school as him. But their reunion is by no means sunshine and roses. Ollie is immediately heartbroken when he sees Will at a high school party, and Will snubs him, acting as if nothing has ever gone on between them.

As we learn, Will is a star basketball player at school and still deeply in the closet. He’s also quite freaked out by Ollie’s presence as his school, but yet, he can’t deny his feelings for Ollie. So now Will has to decide whether he should follow his heart and in the process risk his popularity and friendships with the other basketball players, or stay the course and stay in the closet.

Both boys attempt to move on from each other, but as they learn, moving on is a lot more complicated than they’d thought.

I thought this was an adorable young adult rom-com with a lot of heart. I appreciated that the author wrote sensitively about a person’s decision to stay in the closet and their right not to be outed by others. On the surface, this may seem like a fluffy romance, but actually, there’s real depth to this story, which delves into themes of death, grief, coming out, identity, sexuality, family, heartbreak, and first love. What I liked was how the author balanced the heavier themes with light, sweet humor resulting in an all-around balanced narrative.

I love Sophie Gonzales’s writing: clear and evocative, with just the right amount of description. I also felt that her characters were a joy to read, especially Ollie, who was super sweet, likable, caring, a bit bumbling, and perhaps a tad melodramatic, which rendered him all the more endearing. The author does a great job getting into the heads and hearts of her main characters, and her secondary characters are also vivid, well-drawn, and add to the impact of this book. They all felt genuine to me.

I also enjoyed the amount of personal growth that the characters, including several of the secondary characters, experienced throughout the story. So in this way, I thought the character development was stellar.

As for the romance, Ollie and Will together are great. They have this fabulous chemistry, in spite of Will’s hot and cold moods and Ollie’s attempts to distance himself from Will. What I liked was how the author gave our two characters space and time to find their place in the world and to find each other, and in this way, people struggling with their own sexuality might find this to be a thought-provoking read.

Readers who like a little messy YA romance will definitely get that in abundance here – Ollie and Will’s interactions are humorous, awkward, a bit frustrating, and sometimes exactly as confrontational as they need to be. Only Mostly Devastated is the type of story that you’ll want to fall head over heels in love with again and again, and it was a solid 5-star read for me. Loved it!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC of this story.

Purchase Only Mostly Devastated from Amazon

Review of Lab Partners by M. Montgomery

February 29, 2020 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Lab Partners follows a lonely high school senior named Elliot Goldman. He’s sort of an outcast with no friends at school (except for Holly, who is mainly his sister’s friend) and who has been battling incessant bullying since middle school by three boys who seem to especially “have it out” for Elliot.

But Elliot’s life suddenly changes when a new student named Jordan joins their school and ends up being Elliot’s new chemistry lab partner. The two boys take to each other right away and become immediate friends. Jordan begins to be the bright spot in Elliot’s life. They even start spending time with each other outside of school, which is unheard of for Elliot.

But then things change one night when Jordan kisses Elliot, causing Elliot to question everything he knows about himself, including his sexuality and his relationship with Elliot. He now must decide what he really wants and whether he’s willing to take that next step with the boy that sends his stomach into flutters.

Now at first glance, I thought this was going to be a sweet coming-of-age story, and there certainly was that aspect to it. I loved the relationship between Jordan and Elliot and thought they had terrific chemistry together (both literally and figuratively). But this was also quite a serious treatment of bullying in high school, rendering some parts of the story difficult to read because of the brutal scenes where the three boys attack Elliot. The story illustrates just how far bullying can escalate when teachers and school administrators turn a blind eye and how it can affect a young person’s outlook on life and about themself. The despair and depression that Elliot went through were heartbreaking, though I will say, without any spoilers, that it all worked out in Elliot’s favor at the end.

The characterization in this book is really powerful, and I loved our two main characters. Elliot’s bravery is admirable as he risks his own safety in order to protect other kids in his school from bullying, resulting in him becoming their primary target. Jordan is also an amazing character, a boy completely comfortable in his own skin and who steadfastly supports Elliott every step along the way, both during Elliot’s coming out process and regarding the bullying.

The book not only addresses the dangers of bullying but also encapsulates depression, sexual orientation, self-discovery, and young love. The story also does an excellent job of illustrating the fluidity of sexuality and that for many people, one’s sexuality is not always so black and white. That being said, there’s also excellent aromantic/asexual representation in the story.

Now I will say that the book starts out a tad slow and I nearly gave up on it. The descriptions of mundane tasks were agonizingly detailed, most of which didn’t seem to have anything to do with the story. So in this way, it could have used some additional editing. But I’m definitely glad I stuck with it as it ended up being a captivating and sensitive coming-of-age story that, in addition to bullying and homophobia, adeptly tackles the confounding nature of sexuality.

The book is available now worldwide on The Book Depository and will be available in the US on March 10.

Purchase Lab Partners on Amazon

Purchase Lab Partners on The Book Depository

Review of Howling on Hold by E.J. Russell

January 13, 2020 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Howling on Hold is a fun gay shifter story that takes place at a group residence for werewolves called the Howling (aka “The Doghouse). Young werewolves need to spend three years at the residence to help them to control their instincts so they can seamlessly blend into the ordinary world. The story follows two main characters, Chase, who is the RA at the Howling residence, and Tanner, a young alpha-in-training who is nearly the end of this three-year stint, after which he must return to his pack and take the role of alpha.

Given that Chase is the RA and in a position of responsibility, he has ignored his feelings for Tanner. Likewise, Tanner has pushed aside his feelings for Chase. But now that Tanner is turning 21, he’s hoping that perhaps things will be different now that he is an adult and no longer under Chase’s charge. But Tanner’s world comes crashing down on the eve of his 21st birthday, resulting in Tanner being missing and running for his life after Chase rebuffs him, and Chase being stripped of his RA duties. So now the question is: Will Chase ever manage to find Tanner again?

First off, I loved the quirky secondary characters, especially Jordan who’s having an especially difficult time managing his “wolfy” instincts and has a knack for getting himself into trouble. There was a lot of fun banter between the characters, which added an enjoyable lightness to the story.

And as for our two main characters, I found them both extremely likable and ended up rooting for them to finally get together – and I thought the journey that took them to their happily ever after was well done and a lot of fun to boot.

This was a story with engaging characters and a well-crafted plot, along with several surprises peppered throughout the story. It wasn’t only cleverly written but also was laugh-out-loud funny in places and found it to be a breath of fresh air in the paranormal genre. If you like witty banter, shenanigans, and a heartfelt romance, then Howling on Hold is the book for you.

Purchase Howling on Hold from Amazon

Review of Keep This To Yourself by Tom Ryan

May 27, 2019 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Keep This To Yourself follows 18-year-old Mac Bell who is still reeling from his best friend Conor’s murder the year prior. Conor was the fourth victim of a serial killer named The Catalog Killer that terrorized Camera Cove for a few months and then vanished, with everyone being confident that the killer was a random drifter who had moved on after the killings.

Now a year later, everyone is trying to move on with their lives, including Mac. But when he finds a cryptic note from Conor that was written on the day of his murder, Mac is once again thrust into the case, determined to find out what happened to his friend. Mac also now believes that because of the note, Mac might have been able to prevent his friend’s murder, this belief making Mac all the more determined to solve his friend’s death when the police could not. I think there was some survivor’s guilt going on here.

So this book hooked me right from the get-go, and once Mac decides to reopen the serial killer case himself, the tension and the pace never slow down as Mac becomes more and more obsessed with uncovering the truth. The tension really ramped up once Mac began to suspect that the killer never left Camera Cove at all and has been here the entire time.

I loved how chock full of twists and turns this story was and how everyone ends up being a suspect at some point during the story. I loved journeying along with Mac and he slowly uncovered clues and reopened old wounds by interviewing the survivors’ families, and along the way, we’re introduced to a multitude of rich characters which added to the realism of the setting. So through these characters, it becomes quickly evident that many in the town are keeping secrets which might have hampered the original murder investigation. I always love the trope where nobody can be believed, and that was certainly the case here.

My only niggle with the book was the romance. I just didn’t feel it, and I don’t think it was developed enough to be realistic. It felt kind of unnecessary in this story actually, and it seems like it was thrust in as an afterthought with not all that much chemistry between the two of them.

As for Mac, he’s a delightfully flawed and realistic character with many layers. Here we have a young gay man who is not only struggling with guilt from his best friend’s murder but is also trying to come to terms with his feelings for Conor — that is, feelings for his friend which may have been much more than mere friendship. Mac is quite a relatable character I thought, and I enjoyed seeing his character growth throughout the story.

All in all, I thought that this story was an absolute gem. It was a terrific thriller that kept me guessing right until the utterly shocking — and chilling — ending. It was a clever and solid whodunit, with plenty of red herrings and misinterpreted clues to throw the reader off track from guessing who the real killer is. This story had kind of a “Murder She Wrote” vibe to it except we have a busybody teen boy taking the place of Jessica Fletcher and I thought this aspect of it was a lot of fun. Mac turned out to be a delightful young gay detective. But most of all, I love the fact that I didn’t figure it out and was totally taken by surprise by the huge reveal.

Purchase Keep This To Yourself on Amazon

Review of Cub by Paul Coccia

January 26, 2019 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Cub Paul Coccia book cover Cub is a short LGBTQ young adult novel that follows a seventeen-year-old chubby young man named Theo who loves to bake and is quite good at it. He dreams of attending culinary school and opening up his own bakery one day. Knowing that Theo is an excellent baker and deserves recognition, his best friend Di enters him into a cooking competition at a new trendy restaurant in Toronto called Heat. The contest will last for several weeks, with one contestant being eliminated after each weekly round. The rest of the story revolves around the competition and Theo’s interaction with the head celebrity chef KCC and the other contestants.

As Theo begins to win rounds, he attracts the attention and admiration of not only the audience who is watching the competition but also of KCC, who makes it quite clear to Theo that he’s interested in much more than Theo’s baking ability. He lets Theo know that if Theo does what KCC wants — in and out of the kitchen — then he’ll help Theo to launch his career. So now Theo has to decide just how far he’s willing to go to achieve his dreams.

We need to keep in mind here that KCC is much older than Theo — I got the impression that he was in his late 20’s or 30’s — and Theo is still a minor at seventeen. So the scene where KCC aggressively comes onto Theo was super-predatory and cringy to me, which I imagine is what the author intended.

Truth be told, one particular scene reminded me of something I personally went through when I was sixteen, so it was a tad difficult for me to read. I found it a bit upsetting and “triggery,” though I imagine it’s a difficult scene for most people to read. It definitely pulled me outside of my comfort zone.

But in spite of me feeling uncomfortable, I thought the author handled the situation extremely well and did an excellent job of portraying the range of mixed emotions that Theo experiences whenever KCC hits on him. On the one hand, here Theo is, a pudgy seventeen-year-old who has attracted the sexual attention of a gorgeous celebrity chef, one of his idols, in fact. But on the other hand, Theo feels that things are moving way too quickly and the situation feels “wrong” to him — the fact that the man is considerably older than Theo could be adding to that sense of wrongness. I thought it was riveting being in Theo’s head as he tried to sort this all out.

Though this is a short book, I thought it was an incredibly well-told story. I loved seeing Theo’s growth throughout the book, as he moved from someone with low self-esteem to someone confident and self-assured. It was lovely seeing Theo beam as he gained more and more admiration from the audience during the competition. At the beginning of the book, Theo was shy and terrified of being put into the spotlight, but by the end of the book, he was confident — master of his world — and he completed the required baking trials with finesse.

My one real niggle is that the book is too short! It’s more of a novella, coming in at 144 pages and though the story was good, it could have used some additional character development. We’re given just enough details to follow the story but I think this novel would have been richer had we delved a little more in the head of Theo, KCC, and Di.

But this short and sweet book pulled me in early, on the strength of Theo’s character, who I thought was absolutely lovable and found myself rooting for him throughout the competition and the book.

Though a couple of scenes were unsetting, the story invites readers to ask themselves whether, when placed in a similar situation, they would make the same choice as Theo. So in this way, Cub is a thought-provoking and touching story, at times poignant, at times playful but tremendously moving. Though the novel was short, it packed a punch. It was an engaging novella, and I found it easy to become invested in the outcome. I will definitely be on the lookout for more books by this author. Recommended!

Purchase Cub at Amazon

Purchase Cub at The Book Depository

Review of The Evolution of Jeremy Warsh by Jess Moore

December 29, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Evolution of jeremy warsh book cover The Evolution of Jeremy Warsh takes place in the late 1990s and follows Jeremy Warsh, a high school senior and artist who, ever since his grandpa passed away, has put aside his comic art and not touched it. Because he and his mom are struggling financially, Jeremy doesn’t count on going to college but instead, expects a boring life of drudgery.

Then things begin to slowly change for Jeremy. His best friend Kasey comes out of the closet, he receives an unexpected gift from his father and his other friend Stuart begins dating. Inspired by his friends, Jeremy picks up his pencil and starts drawing again, creating a sassy, wise-cracking, no-nonsense, in-your-face character he named Penny Kind. What’s special about Penny, however, is that she speaks to him — literally — and is not afraid to expect and demand more from him than he’s currently giving. That is to say, she holds him accountable for all of his actions and inactions, causing him to continually reevaluate his life and his decisions.

This is especially true after he kisses a boy at a party and he begins to question everything he thought he knew about himself as new and confusing feelings surface. I really enjoyed how Jeremy’s art not only helps him cope with his problems and insecurities but also shows him ways to overcome them, opening his eyes to the different paths available to him.

It was so much fun journeying along with Jeremy as he experienced the ups and downs of life in high school: dealing with high school bullies, facing an uncertain future, finding his place in the world, feeling like an outsider, supporting his friends, supporting his family and discovering and accepting his emerging sexuality. I found him to be not only a lovable and empathetic character but also a wonderfully relatable and memorable one who revealed more and more of himself as his understanding of the bigger world around him unfolded.

Additionally, the diverse cast of secondary characters in the book is truly delightful. These are characters who not only amuse and entertain us but also touch us, and prompt us to think about who we are and how we want to live our lives. Jess Moore really seems to understand the teenage soul — the doubt, the uncertainty, the longing, the self-awareness, the challenges and the confusion and in so doing ended up creating a believable world with plenty of heart.

I also thought the burgeoning romance in the story between Jeremy and Matt was soft, gentle and well drawn. I liked the fact that it was slow and not at all rushed, resulting in a sweet and heartwarming affection that didn’t take away from the rest of the story. It was fun, however, to see Jeremey move from a place of doubt and confusion to a place of acceptance and certainty.

This feel-good story has everything you need for the perfect high school senior story: a tight group of witty and charming friends, a zombie homecoming dance, a high school senior identity crisis, an ultra-cool mom, a will they/won’t they romance, and that somewhat melancholy high that comes with endings and new beginnings. All in all, a delightful story!

Purchase The Evolution of Jeremy Walsh at Amazon

Purchase The Evolution of Jeremy Walsh at The Book Depository