I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this one. Dealing with serious topics is important, but sometimes I just want a light, fluffier queer contemporary, and this is another book where I think I'm getting that and then I get blindsided by something heavy that ruins it a little.

I was rooting for the Aunt, damnit.

This book is a romance between two teenage boys - it has a happy ending (no, I don't think that's a spoiler in a romance, and it's especially important to know for queer books), but it also deals with the cancer treatment of a family member, as well as being closeted and having to deal with homophobic jokes from your friends.

Pros:
- Gay/bi M/M romance
- MLM/WLW solidarity!
- Focus on family, with a lot of adorable, domestic and believable scenes and pop culture references.
- I liked how Ollie didn't pressure Will to come out, but he also realised he doesn't have to put up with Will acting shitty.
- Big dramatic coming out!
- There was a line about how public proposals can be really shitty if you're not 100% secure in your relationship, which I really appreciated. I know most people think they are romantic, but I know I'd die if someone put me on the spot like that, especially if I wasn't certain in my answer.

Cons:
- I really don't like a trope where there's a friend group and one of the friends is pretty obviously toxic and almost constantly putting the others down. Like, sure, she has her own issues and she gets somewhat better, but she never really apologises or acknowledges that she's been intentionally hurting her friends for who knows how long.

Overall, this is a good book, it just wasn't really what I was expecting or looking for at the moment.

content warnings:

cancer treatment of a family member, death of a family member, accidental outing (with no negative reactions), some homophobia including homophobic jokes from friends