Kyle finally feels like he has a handle on life. He has a wonderful girlfriend, a best friend willing to debate the finer points of Lord of the Rings, and social acceptance as captain of the basketball team. So when both Ruby and Gideon start acting really weird, just as his spot on the team is threatened, Kyle can’t quite figure out what he did wrong. (Pub Date: Aug 30, 2016)
Review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. I want to also thank the publisher for giving me this opportunity.
This story was really the sweetest thing, despite a little weak on the conflicts.
Gideon finds out he might be gay or just in love with Kyle his best friend, who already has a girlfriend. And Kyle feels he's been having problems everywhere, he can't get organized, or recover his grades since they changed teachers and the new one is out to get him, and now he's told Ruby his girlfriend that he is a bisexual everything became weird for the couple. To make things worse, his best friend has also been keeping distance.
The book is narrated by the four main characters, Gideon, Kyle, Gideon's brother and Ruby. I thought it was a little too much but maybe the author needed more points of view to have a larger book? I would have done away with Gideon's brother as a narrator, nonetheless. Ruby still had something to do but...
The main couple is really the cutest. I can't find a single detail I would have done differently when it comes to their characterization. However, I thought Kyle's problems with English a little off. It wasn't just thrown out of nowhere and it did increase to the conflict, and yet it felt somewhat disconnected from the main plot. As the the latter reached resolution and those problems peaked, I had the feeling of "oh no, just let them get their happy ending!". I wonder if this issue relates to rhythm.
The book got me hyped for about 70%, I really couldn't put it down. So lovely! After that mark, I felt the above and then it dragged—though it wasn't a tragedy. This final part was dedicated to what was to be the main conflict, and the climax. But along with the change in rhythm, the climactic conflict felt like "too late". Of course that would be a problem but it only became so when things were already all but set in stone, which made me not care enough. "Surely they'll figure it out", I thought as I just turned pages. I guess the author was too successful in creating the couple's chemistry.
On the other hand, Ruby had a potential but didn't deliver it. I understand the author wanted her not to be the stereotypical villain, and I was glad for that because that was exactly what I most feared in the beginning. Nonetheless, she was always about to be that, a little bit how in Harry Potter Snape was always the most suspicious in the books, Ruby always had motive and means to ruin everything, which made her the villain in my heart. And her narrated parts failed to make me sympathize, thus why I wouldn't have used her, either.
Those are the flaws. Just those. I really loved the book and how sweet the whole narration is. I hadn't ever read Sandy Hall, and I fell in love with her style and her world. So many lovely characters! Even though I didn't like what she did for Ruby, I could even love her, the poor thing. Moreover, the romantic scenes had my heart skipping beats.
This is also a good story for debates, with a density in the themes beyond what would be expected from YA's. This doesn't focus exclusively on finding out about your sexuality or even coming out, as do most YA LGBT books.
I think you won't waste time, in case you're faltering on whether to pick this book. And there is a great probability you will enjoy it. I certainly had a blast, and want more.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
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