SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA meets CLUELESS in this boy-meets-boy spin on Grease
Summer love…gone so fast.
Ollie and Will were meant to be a summer fling—casual, fun, and done. But when Ollie’s aunt’s health takes a turn for the worse and his family decides to stay in North Carolina to take care of her, Ollie lets himself hope this fling can grow to something more. Dreams that are crushed when he sees Will at a school party and finds that the sweet and affectionate (and comfortably queer) guy he knew from summer isn’t the same one attending Collinswood High.
Will is more than a little shocked to see Ollie the evening of that first day of school. While his summer was spent being very much himself, back at school he’s simply known as one of the varsity basketball guys. Now Will is faced with the biggest challenge of his life: follow his heart and risk his friendships, or stay firmly in the closet and lose what he loves most
[I received a digital arc from Netgalley for an honest review]
Only Mostly Devastated is a YA LGTBQ contemporary with strong Greece Vibes. Ollie meets Will and ‘Summer Lovin’ happens so fast’ and then Will disappears with the end of summer. Cue Ollie showing up as the new kid at Will’s school to find him a jock in the closest. While Ollie question where he stands with Will he gets a group of girlfriend very reminiscent of the Pink Ladies. After lots of up and downs and I wouldn’t have been surprised if the book had ending with a carnival and dancing.
“How could I have gone all these months without kissing him? How had I gone on without him? I never wanted to again.”
I was really excited for this book. I don’t know what it is about LGTBQ YA books but this year they were my jam. They are full of innocence, first loves, self discovery and just a whole lot of sweetness. However, I ended up not loving this book. I don’t remember Zuko being such a complete d*ck, but maybe I’m remembering the movie wrong. I expected Will to be a bit of a jerk to keep up appearance with the jocks but him joining in on joking about Ollie being gay was a hard pill to swallow. I understand Will was not comfortable coming out, but he treated Ollie like crap and then was nice behind closed doors, it was unhealthy and a load of sh*t. In my opinion Will did no where near enough redeeming himself by the end. I also didn’t like how it was implied that Ollie was being selfish the whole time and should give Will a break. Ollie at times was a little self centered {like most teenagers} but he never intentionally did or say things to hurt Will. Wow that escalated quickly #sorrynotsorry.
“And even though I definitely hated him, and he was nothing at all like the guy I had fallen for, seeing him made my chest tighten.”
Besides my dislike for Will there were actually more than a few things I enjoyed about the story. Ollie himself was a pleasure, along with his entire family. HE was a boy who just wanted the boy he cared for to care for him in return. Lara, Niamh, and Juliette reminded me of girls I went to high school with so their characters felt familiar to me. The story itself was entertaining and I loved all the nods to Greece. Honestly this would have gotten a higher rating if I hadn’t dislike Will so much.
“maybe Happily Ever Afters weren’t a singular event. Maybe they were something you had to work at, and build,and never give up on, as long as they were something you still wanted.”
OnceUpon_A_BookDream 