I’m happy that romance these days can be anything it wants to be; this one is historical, set in a late 1950s NYC newsroom, humorous, with queer male main characters. It relies a lot on exaggeration to be funny, with lines like “Andy flashes Nick a smile, a thousand watts of professionally straightened teeth, and it’s like a two-by-four to the head. It takes Nick a minute to rearrange his face.” I don’t mind some of that, but sometimes I prefer more realistic prose. Still, the book is a cut above the typical romance that I’ve read and has many achingly sweet and tender moments, similar to the Heartstopper graphic novels, which I love.

3.5 stars.