Thank you so much to James Acker, Inkyard Press & NetGalley for an advance copy of this in exchange for my honest review. 

 

"You look like you want to die, bro." 

"...That's just my face." 

 

This is the debut novel from James Acker and honestly it was STELLAR! It was beautiful written and so much humor that there was a few times I found myself chuckling especially in the 2nd half.  I have so many quotes highlighted on my kindle because there were so many gems!! 

 

This is told from two POVs - Sebastian (Bash) and Sandro (Dro) who are both high school athletes involved in track and field. Both are at a crossroads in their respected lives when they came into each other life and their world's flipped upside down. 

 

"If he's affecting you, let him." 

 

I need Bash and Dro be end game forever because the pairing of the two made me so incredibly happy.  Dro knew he was gay for a while but for Bash being bisexual was this new feeling. One thing that was great with this book is that they each had separate lives from one another and it wasn't just about them together. We got see Bash's complicated relationship with his step father Del, still grieving his mother's death, his forced relationship with his so called best friend Matty, him striving to be the best to get into his dream college - Rutgers. Dro on the other hand has a hard home life, injured his foot after falling off a roof, doesn't have friends, cannot wait to go to college due to his home life and just kind of runs the motion of the day to make it through until he can graduate.  

 

I think one of my favorite chapters of the book comes in the later half when the boys go camping and it is Sandro's point of view title Bottoms Up (which tells you all you need to know). "My ass is the old man from Up. Selfish, loud and comfortable living a solitary life."  I never smiled and giggled so much while reading. It just sounded so realistic what goes on in those early times in a relationship regardless of age. 

 

"But just because you know what's hurting you doesn't make it hurt any less." 

 

One thing I love that Acker did was when there was conflict between the two men, it wasn't solved overnight. There wasn't a fast forward page. Each of the lives of the two characters kept going in the timeline until they eventually came back into each other lives. I thought that was fabulous!  

 

**SLIGHTLY SPOILERISH AHEAD** 

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I just really enjoyed this one and thought it was an excellent YA book that wasn't cheesy and felt realistic. 

I know I definitely couldn't handle being a teenager in today's world so being able to read about it is nice and also a reminder that high school never ends as adults go through similar feelings as teenagers. 

 

Bravo James!! 

 

4.5