Only Mostly Devastated

January 1, 2020

Gr 8 Up-Musically inclined Ollie spends his last year of high school in a new town, watching his beloved aunt die. Oh, and being madly in love with Will, the basketball player he met during the summer who, it turns out, is so deeply closeted that Ollie begins to hate him. As the school year unfolds, Ollie gains true friends, wrestles with understanding Will's trepidations about coming out, and discovers dimensions of his own as he experiences the ways those closest to him handle anxiety, as well as his own reaction to his aunt's death. Gonzales turns in a witty, smart, credible, and irreverent contemporary romance that handles all these elements skillfully and with heart. The characters, including Ollie's new besties-moderately mean bisexual Lara, quiet but focused Niahm, and boisterous Juliette-and his aunt's two small kids, have their own authentic personalities, and the pace is swift without skipping any essential beats that reveal the rhythms of their intersecting and realistic lives. VERDICT The power of this fun Grease retelling is that it normalizes the spectrum of sexual orientations. Recommended for all teens.-Francisca Goldsmith, Library Ronin, Worcester, MA

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2020
Summer lovin' gets a Southern twist in this addicting coming-of-age gay romance. Ollie's year is not turning out the way he planned. First, his summer crush, Will, ghosts him and stops answering his texts. Then his aunt's cancer advances to such a critical stage that his parents decide to relocate the family from San Jose to Collinswood, North Carolina, to take care of her. Suddenly Ollie finds himself starting senior year at a new school without friends, without his beloved band, but with Will, a varsity basketball captain who not only isn't out, but initially refuses to be seen with him. Ollie just wants a fresh start, but Will makes that impossible, doing everything from sitting at his table at lunch to transferring into his music class. Watching the central lovers struggle to grow toward one another is just one of the many pleasures offered by Gonzales' (The Law of Inertia, 2018) second novel. The diverse supporting cast--particularly Ollie's new trio of female friends--is so richly characterized that readers will swear they bump into these girls in the halls every day. Scenes between Ollie and Will are tender and tense, complicating both boys' emotional journeys authentically. Sweet and tart in equal measure, this novel reminds us that legalizing gay marriage didn't necessarily make coming out in America any easier. Ollie is white; Will is Venezuelan American.Poignant, piquant, and not to be missed. (Fiction. 14-18)

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January 20, 2020
Summers end, and with them summer flings. But Ollie’s relationship with Will was great, and when Ollie’s Californian family stays in North Carolina to help his sick aunt, he hopes that the fling can continue—if only Will would text him back. Ghosted, Ollie starts senior year at a new school, makes friends, comes out (he’s been out for years, but now he has to do it again), and realizes that Will goes to the same school. He’s a varsity basketball star, a closeted one. Narrator Ollie is deeply sympathetic, but both teens’ feelings—love, hate, lust, grief, and, for Will, insecurity about coming out—are convincing, as are conversations about the different dynamics of being out in San Jose and small-town North Carolina. Though Gonzales (The Law of Inertia) is Australian, she gets most U.S. details right in this Grease reboot, creating an inclusive cast and giving weight to many parts of Ollie’s multifaceted life, including his aunt’s illness, the cousins he babysits, and his friendships. Ages 13–up.

January 1, 2020
Grades 7-10 When Ollie's family visits North Carolina for the summer to help care for Ollie's sick aunt, he has the perfect summer fling with Will. Then Aunt Linda's cancer worsens. The only upside to moving to North Carolina for senior year is that his thing with Will might turn into something real, but at school, Will is a different person: popular, a basketball star . . . and very much in the closet. Hopelessly devoted he may be, but shy, socially awkward Ollie knows he doesn't stand a chance, not when the basketball team is constantly making homophobic jokes. It takes the friendship of three girls?sweet, musical Juliette; ambitious aspiring model Niamh; and caustic, fierce Lara?for Ollie to realize that, whether or not Will is in the picture, he's his best if he's himself. This is a sweet and earnest adaptation of Grease that neatly updates its source material; instead of changing for each other, Ollie and Will (and a few others) have to do it for themselves. A worthwhile romance for any collection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)