3.25 stars

Hmm. This book didn't really do it for me, but it wasn't objectively bad. I'm probably going to rant. I'm sorry in advance. Consider everything from this point on a spoiler.
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- Poor Noah. His parents suck and then Jase catfishes him.
- Poor Noah again. After finding out a second account was Jase, he'd never be able to trust anyone and date online again, lol
- Early is cool! I thought we were gonna have a situation where Early said he was in love with Jase, but thankfully that didn't happen. Poor dude though. I hope he was ok during his 4 month absence.
- Yes, this book includes intercrural sex (that's thigh-f*cking), and it was .... ok. Idk.
- This book was supposed to be angsty and I just didn't feel that. I'm pretty sensitive to angst and I don't necessarily like angst, so I wasn't upset that I didn't find it in this book... but the reason that I think I didn't feel the angst? It was because I didn't feel very connected to the characters or feel their emotions develop. It started at the beginning (the whole first 50% of the book maybe?). I did not feel any spice or connection in the online convos that were included in the book. It's not enough for the character/narrator to say that they'd been having dirty conversations and getting very close - I feel like we didn't actually see any of that on-page (Show me, don't tell me!). Maybe I missed something? Noah is barely in the first half of the book, aside from one short chapter from his POV. And when he's in it, in the Jase chapters of the first half, he's just kinda beige (personality-wise). He's a doormat for his awful parents and hardly pushes back. Bleh.
- We were done a disservice by not having much of Noah's POV in the first half of the book. Because once he changed his mind about Jase, it was very jarring and didn't feel believable that all of a sudden he wanted Jase. This gets kinda back-explained (I don't think that's a real term but whatever) later in the book, but it was too late by that point.
- My impression of Jase: take a Cora Rose obsessive character, but make him less quirky and more unlikeable, and you have Jase.
- How is Keith a principal without believing dyslexia is a valid thing? Maybe that's a type of person/principal that exists in real life, but without having any backstory on him, it felt unbelievable. Like, if he was so awful, how would Noah be so oblivious to that? Why would he not have been reported to the Superintendent (or however schools work, idk)
- There were long periods of narration breaking up very short bits of dialogue so it made it easy to forget what was the last thing said (e.g., scene in Keith's office)

Some Details:
Pairing: MM, Jase & Noah
POV: 1st Person Dual, but it's skewed to have more of Jase's POV (especially in the first half)
Tense: Past
HEA?:

Spoiler

Yes

Breakups?:

Spoiler

No

Strict Top/Bottom?: Yes
Is Top or Bottom Bigger: Top is Taller
Angst: 2/5
Spice Frequency: 2/5
Spice Level: 3/5

Tropes/Tags:
- Brothers (adopted)
- Age Gap (9 Years)
- Mistaken Identity
- Virgin
- Obsession

TWs/CWs:
- Dub-Con sexting (mostly off-page, I think, unless I missed something)
- Homophobia
- Religion
- MC is with another person (not cheating)
- Stalking
- Abuse by Parental Figure

Milestones:
The Big Reveal:

Spoiler

30% : Chapter 8 / Page 87

First L Word - J to N:

Spoiler

32% : Chapter 8 / Page 90

First Kiss:

Spoiler

47% : Chapter 13 / Page 134

First Oral Sex:

Spoiler

53% : Chapter 13 / Page 150

First Frot:

Spoiler

60% : Chapter 14 / Page 170

Misunderstanding:

Spoiler

67% : Chapter 15 / Page 190/

First L Word- N to J:

Spoiler

80% : Chapter 20 / Page 228

First Penetration:

Spoiler

87% : Chapter 20 / Page 247