The other day I was sitting in my car, waiting for my friend to come out of the supermarket, and I decided to see what I had on the kindle app on my phone. One of the first titles to jump out at me was Upside Down by N. R. Walker, a book that’s been on there for a while but I never seemed to be in the mood for. I opened it up, started reading, and apart from driving us home didn’t put it down until I stopped.

Upside Down tells the story of Jordan, a foul-mouthed, geeky young man in his early twenties, who is coming to terms with the fact that he is asexual. He has had a crush for weeks on a guy who gets the same bus as him, but his new realisations about his sexuality prevent him from making an introduction. His best friend drags him to a support group for people on the asexual and aromantic spectrum, and the bus guy is the one who runs the meetings! From there they strike up a friendship which then, of course, leads to something more…

I won’t say anything more because I don’t want to spoil it, but it was a great read. Jordan and Hennessy (bus guy) are both hilarious and are absolutely adorable together, and the side characters (pretty much all of whom were LGBT+) were also really funny, really fleshed out and had some really nice side plots. The writing sucked me in immediately, and although there was a teensy tiny bit of drama it was, on the whole, a lovely, light-hearted read to distract you from a summer spent in lockdown. The LGBT+ representation, particularly the asexual representation, was very strong, and I liked that there was an acknowledgement and discussion about how sexuality – including asexuality – is a spectrum, and isn’t one-size-fits-all.

All in all, a fun, easy read, great for when you just need a bit of escapism!

Find this and other reviews at my new blog (eek!) https://elementarymydearbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/28/review-upside-down-by-n-r-walker/