content warnings: loss of a loved one, grief, marijuana use, mentions of aphobia and homophobia
representation: gay main character, asexual side character, sapphic side characters, gay side characters, demisexual side character


“Opinions are like sphincters in that most people have them, just some are louder than others and can be terribly messy if not handled correctly.”


This is a super weird book. It's about a twenty-nine year old, Gustavo Tiberius, who is not a normal person; his stoner dad is dead, he owns a DVD rental place, he has a ferret called Harry S. Truman, he spends his night reading encyclopedias, and he knows every Academy Award winner and nominee in history. Then an asexual stoner hipster called Casey moves to town and Gus has Feelings.

I said it was weird, okay, and this book is definitely not for everyone. This was my first T.J. Klune book and from what I've heard this weirdness is fairly common for him so I'm definitely hyped to read more from him.

The plot of Gus trying to become more 'normal' could have gone really badly and turned into a 'change everything about yourself for the guy you like', but it didn't go that route. Instead the book leaves you with the message that you shouldn't change yourself to please somebody, but also that change itself can be a good thing.

The characters are easily the weirdest part of this book. It's set in a small town, so obviously wacky people live in that town. There's Gus, obviously, but then there's also Lottie, Casey's aunt who owns a cafe and is kind of Gus' friend. My personal favourite characters were the We Three Queens, three elderly biker women who are either sisters or in a polyamorous relationship (Gus hasn't asked).

Casey is asexual, and the exploration of asexuality in this book was so good. All the conversations about it are very open and honest, and when Gus doesn't understand something he finds out before he can make a mistake. There are multiple discussions of consent throughout the book, and every time the two of them hug or kiss one of them will always ask the other if it's okay first. Also, the hugging in this book was really cute. More books should have their love interests hug. Also, this book has the greatest love confession of all time.

Throughout the book, Gus keeps remembering his dad, Pastor Tommy (not an actual pastor). There's a really nice look at grief as Gus remembers his dad, and I loved seeing that they were extremely different people but they still loved each other so much.

Look, I totally get if you don't like this book, but I had a great time reading it and am excited to read the other T.J. Klune book I have, Wolfsong.