4.25/5This is such a sweet, light book, while at the same time it deals with grief and illness (someone in Ollie's family, not Ollie himself). Reminiscent of Grease, Ollie and Will have a summer romance that is lovely and intense, and when it's over Will drops off the map. Fate intervenes however, and after summer is finished they end up at the same school together when Ollie's family move to be closer to his Aunt, who is very sick. While Will does indeed frustrate Ollie at first, he meets a handful of other people he becomes close with. Juliette, Lara and Niamh are a trio of friends who end up adopting Ollie into their fold (some less willingly than others) and Ollie soon finds his feet at his new school. One of my favourite parts of this book is the relationships between Ollie and the girls, and the girls themselves. Juliette wants a career in music, Niamh wants to be a plus size model and Lara, though she starts off cold and abrasive, turns out to be someone Ollie has the most in common with, in many ways. The journey across the pages of them meshing of a group was so well done. At times the girls didn't get on, but overwhelmingly it was an example of positive female friendship, of girls who are there for each other, and who are there for Ollie, now that he's their friend too. There's one scene involving a dagger (you'll know it when you read it, it's not an actual dagger) that made me cry like a baby at how far Lara and Ollie had come. (Some spoilers in this next two paragraphs)The Afraid-to-come-out story was handled well too, in my opinion. Will is scared of his friend's reactions, and of his family's reactions, because he's "supposed" to be the typical guy jock, but as his feelings for Ollie grow, so does his bravery. The fact that at the end of it he comes out on his terms, and not because Ollie is pressuring him, was such a relief, as I hate the trope of "well if you loved me you'd be out." Ollie himself had a great character arc where he went from being annoyed at every move that Will made that Ollie interpreted as Will showing he didn't care, to realising that in many ways Will was trying to meet him halfway and Ollie himself hadn't been doing that. Overall, this is such a lovely book to read. It's lighthearted in some aspects and heavier in others (be warned, it does deal with the idea and reality of death and I did sit there reading with tears streaming down my face several times over the course of reading), but overwhelmingly it's about life, and living it to the fullest and being there for the people you love. "When someone you love needs you, you step up." is the motto of this book, as well as a direct quote, and I think the world would be a better place if we all acted on that.
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Reviewer26. Capricorn. INFP. Hufflepuff. Archives
October 2020
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