CW: cheating, racism*, homophobia*, panic attacks

*challenged

Everyone has been anticipating this novel for months, myself included. And while I did enjoy it, I must say that it wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be.

I loved Arthur and Ben. The former is a gay Jewish teen with ADHD, and the latter is a gay Puerto Rican teen. Arthur is super sweet and hopeful while Ben is more skeptical. They complement each other and they’re adorable and awkward and I’m not sure how anyone could read this and not ship them.

Becky and Adam write incredibly well together. Becky wrote Arthur and Adam wrote Ben, but they combined everything so seamlessly. Not all authors can pull off co-writing, but I think it’s safe to say that they can. Having read all of their previous individual novels, I expected flawed characters that were trying their best, lots of kissing, and various pop culture references. In that aspect, I definitely wasn’t disappointed.

However, there were two things I didn’t like.

I know this is meant to be a classic YA rom-com, but sometimes it felt a bit too cliché. I didn’t like how many issues stemmed from lack of or miscommunication, and honestly, all of the relationship drama, both platonic and romantic, got a bit ridiculous. Just! Talk! To! Each! Other!

The ending has been a hit or miss for many readers, and while it wasn’t bad like I’d come to expect, it was unfortunately a miss for me. I’ll give it props for being unique and probably more realistic, but jam it, I was really hoping for something else. Arthur and Ben are still cute and awkward and I still love them. I don’t think that will change. But come on. So much tension and many cute scenes, and then this. *side eye*

I definitely think that fans of Becky and Adam will enjoy this. I know I did. It’s a basic love story that could’ve probably been a bit shorter, but it’s very gay and very fun – I recommend it.

Buddy read with Erika!