3.5 stars

"I love making plans with you because it feels like we can do anything. Like our lives are these amazing adventures where anything can happen and we'll never be limited by stupid shit like jobs and student loans and, like, jury duty. Like we can just be spontaneous forever. And free."

I love Nina LaCour's soft sapphic stories, so maybe I was always headed for disappointment because this is certainly not that. Don't get me wrong, it's still an interesting read with evocative coming-of-age themes, and I love the idea of a group of friends on a road trip/band tour, a last hurrah before they split up to enter the next stages of their lives (college/travel/last year of high school without the others) — though I'm not totally sold on the main romance, as much as I love childhood-best-friends-to-lovers as a trope.

So maybe it's partly that I'm just not in the right headspace, but this just wasn't as emotionally resonant as I was hoping for. Not a half bad read, though.

content warnings:

Spoiler

nongraphic sexual content

rep:

Spoiler

major character with anxiety, minor M/M relationship

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CONVERSION: 9.4 / 15 = 3.5 stars

Prose: 6 / 10
Characters & Relationships: 7 / 10
Emotional Impact: 5 / 10
Development / Flow: 6 / 10
Setting: 8 / 10

Diversity & Social Themes: N/A
Intellectual Engagement: 2 / 5
Originality / Trope Execution: 3 / 5
Rereadability: 4 / 5
Memorability: 3 / 5