J M Colail

2 stars

Toren is in high school, and can't wait to leave it. He feels unnoticed, and when he is noticed, it's not because people think he's awesome. But one day, the coolest kid talks to him. And then wants to be his partner in the final history project. And then tells him that Toren looks at him like he'd like to have sex with him. And Wes is down with that. At first, Toren thinks maybe Wes is screwing with him, but he quickly loses those reservations and they do everything together. There are a few bumps, like Wes' family and Toren's reaction to anything stressful/confrontational (he freezes), but for the most part, Wes and Toren work toward becoming #couplegoals and #shmoopy.

Nice things first: I liked Toren's mother and sister. Both of them reacted really well to Toren being gay, and both of them came across as independent, well adjusted women. We's one friend and his brother were also awesome.

Negatives: Well, that's 10 years of my life I can't get back. Or, I guess it only felt like it took my 10 years to read it. First of all, I didn't like Wes. And not because of him being the "bad boy" or anything, but because he didn't take no for an answer. Toren didn't drink, didn't do drugs, didn't skip class. Until Wes. And the first time Toren said no to skipping class, smoking pot, drinking, Wes ignored him, and forced him to. (Kissing Toren and shotgunning the pot smoke), dragging him along with him to Wes' car to skip class. And I do mean literal dragging here. Toren had to keep up because he didn't want his arm to hurt. Wes did not know the meaning of the word no. And the fact that Toren folded and didn't stand by his principles didn't impress me either. I've been a teenager. I've been offered drugs and alcohol, and it probably would have made my life easier at school had I accepted it. I might have become closer to the in crowd. But I didn't because I didn't want to be one of those kids who lived every weekend just to party. I really, really wanted Toren to fail classes or get fired because he didn't know how to say no to his boyfriend who didn't listen to the word. Wes actually reminded me of the stereotypical guy who would say "well, if you love me, you would do this for me" and always had to have his way. In fact, he seemed to be like his father in that regard, and considering Wes didn't like his parents, one would think that he would go out of his way to not resemble them at all. And the thing is, Wes knew how it felt. To not have "no" listened to. Why would he want to even potentially make Toren feel that way? There were also a few misogynistic attitudes, in that Toren thought maybe Wes thought he was the girl in the relationship because he was always trying to take care of Toren and Toren wanted to buy things for their apartment too, gosh darnit! Me, eyebrows raised: uh... girls can take care of themselves. You know that right? They've been doing it for awhile. Are we back in the 1960s? Oh! And, Wes, while being a minor himself, gave pot to Toren's little sister. He's definitely a class act, that one.
And there was some awkward phrasing in the writing where I couldn't quite figure out what the author was going for. I'm glad I got it off my TBR, at least. And if I hadn't disliked most of the other options I had to choose from, I would have definitely dnf'd this.… (altro)

THIS IS SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE WESLEY AND TOREN!

Seriously, it's like I was reading Jamie McGuire's Beautiful Disaster—the MM version! At least that's how it felt like.

The lines and scenes are all sweet and cheesy, but it's never corny. It just has the right amount of sweetness, firmness and creaminess (yes, I'm talking about the perfect crème brûlée now—it's that good). Kidding aside, the scenes are kind of slice-of-life-ish, but it never got me bored.

Just the right amount of drama, just the right amount of sweetness, just the right amount of angst, and just the right amount of smut (I'm biased though. I love smut.).

I'm not one to reread novels, but this is so cute and so awesome that I really plan to read this again and again and again!

Ü… (altro)