[3.8] This is really happy go lucky sci-fi. No super crazy intergalactic war between two species that are basking in the tropes of good vs. evil. It's got excellent world-building, and as a whole is a character driven story. This makes the beginning kinda slow when you don't really know the characters. But as feelings and attachments towards the crew grows the story gets better.

It was just really fun. One of the few books that was really similar to the movie. If you liked one, you'll like the other.

I was really worried for the first half of the book. It's a group of teenage boys in the Bronx acting like...well, teen boys. They're super "bro-y", always talking about sex, which girls are hot, the best blow-jobs they've had, their distaste for common cleanliness courtesies. Obviously it's somewhat exaggerated because it's a YA book, but it is not what I was expecting. I frequently thought "This is not the Adam Silvera content I wanted, give me the GAY!" Once it happened though, it REALLY happened. 0% gay to 100% gay real quick and I loved it.

All of the disparate references to certain events in the book all click together in the final chapters, and it is GUT-WRENCHING. For example, once I realized that Aaron's father killed himself because Aaron finally worked up the courage to come out of the closet, I was an emotional WRECK! I was listening to the audiobook while washing dishes, and immediately started tearing up. The idea of a loved one doing something so terrible to themselves and their family because I disappointed them is something that I feared and struggled with for a long time. I can't imagine what I would do in that situation, and hope I never truly have to reckon with the possibility.

It's one of those books that's not really wrong, but also not really right either? Idk...it's a good theory on gendered communication, but SUPER generalized. She has a tendency to prove her point mostly through examples rather than direct research. Anecdotes have their time and place and in my opinion she uses waaaay too many.

Sadly, just kinda "meh." Like it's not bad, but also not great. It just sort of is. I appreciate the representation or Armenian culture; we need more LGBTQ+ stories of non-White experiences [some would debate whether or not Armenians are truly non-White, but there's no denying they're spicy-White at the very least]. Other than that, it's just a mediocre romance story.