I understand why some reviewers are offended, I get it. On the other hand, this is fiction. It is a light novel. Fiction is, of course, based on non-fiction, but it amazes me the amount of people nowadays that get offended by anything related race, gender, sexuality. No one can write, have an opinion or just write a silly book (a book intended to entertain) without someone getting upset. While I was reading it (or while I am reading anything that involved these taboo topics) I read it with the intention to enjoy and be entertained, and not over-analyzed everything (mind you, not always. There are some occasions when one HAS to analyzed SOMETHING).

Anyway, I liked this book for what it was, a YA about a gay young man in his final year at high school, and struggling to come out to his best friend, also first love. Taking aside the romance, it was good. Nothing angsty, just a chapter in a student's life, having classes, hanging out with his friends, taking care of the school's newspaper, meeting new friends (also in the closet... sort of).

As for the romance... it was MEH. It would have been better if Jamie and Mason haven't been friends since children. They did not seem that close. And for Jamie, it was a case of "huh, Mason is cute.. looks like Darren Criss", followed by "Ok, I shouldn't think my BFF is cute, but HE IS. He is EXACTLY like Darren Criss", followed by "eh? I have a crush on him, my own Darren Criss", followed by, "I love him". Like, in a chapter. (And really, it is kind of hard to NOT imagine Mason as Darren Criss... the author insisted that Mason looked like Darren).

The girls shipping for their classmates was weird. As in, do girls in real life ship for real life people? As in, making doujinshi of them? Of her friend and his friend?? I am not talking about idols and actors, but of close friends. Classmates. Girls imagining and creating stories of their classmates in romantic situations... weird. And awkward.

There isn't really much art in the book. Better said, it lacks art (there is one DJ... and two weird drawings of Mason and Jamie), and it lacks music (Jamie is supposed to be part of the school band, but he plays the trumpet only at the end of the book. Wouldn't it have been better if there was more about the band? Or if Jamie was more nerd? But wait, he was popular, played sport, was part of the band, of the newspaper... too bad the author did not focus on one extracurricular activity only, and wrote more about it, instead of making it all superficially).

The conclusion to Jamie's problems was a total "what? that's it??". For almost all the book he is having these inner conflicts to come out to Mason, fearing that he will lose his friend in the process. And it turns out to be all for nothing. It was really silly.


Two things that stood out for me, and that distracted me from the story:

- Eating habits in the life of an American teenager: specially if his/her parents work full time or if the student eats at school. All based on pizza, fries, soda, burgers...

- Girls shipping for Remus/Sirius (eww) and for Spike/Angel (double eww).

What can I say about this book that will accurately portray my feelings towards it?

...

IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!

This was one of the cutest coming-of-age, coming-out story I have read in a very long time. The writing was simple but fun. The story was just one that many who are going through discovering their sexuality can relate to. And the characters were all likable (except the ones who were not meant to be likable). I really had a great time reading this book that I read it all in one sitting!

If you are looking for a cute, fun, light LGBTQIA+ friendly book then I highly recommend this one. It's also nice to note how Tregay mentions the need for diversity in YA literature, which I thought was a brilliant move on her part so there's also that to look forward to in this book~ >:3

This really should have been called "I Love You,  Man," which is its running phrase. The boys at Jamie's high school throw the phrase around all the time. But Jamie really wants to say it to one particular boy -- his best friend, Mason. Jamie's out at home, but still closeted at school, and he can never seem to nerve himself up to tell Mason the truth. When a manga-style comic about two boys kissing is rejected from the school literary magazine, Jamie is upset enough to take action, in an underhanded way. But he fears that doing so will expose him and change everything forever.

I found this a pleasant read,  but somewhat baffling. It's very similar, thematically,  to to How to Repair a Mechanical Heart, a book I adored, but what worked there never quite came off here -- specifically, teenage girls doing real life "shipping" of boys. The treatment here felt stereotyped and kind of icky, without the sense of genuine insight into slash and fan culture, and I never entirely got what was going on. The book is narrated by Jamie (first person, present tense) and he's kind of bewildered by the whole experience, but I didn't want to be bewildered as a reader.

My favorite part of the book was Jamie's loving interactions with his little twin sisters. His ambivalent feelings about his over-enthusiastically supportive parents also seemed very realistic -- I couldn't help but envision the "coming out party" his stepfather threw for him as a youtube link that would make everyone go "awwwww," while Jamie himself was writhing in embarrassment.

Lovely! Adorable! Charming! I am so glad I came across this story. I'm a sucker for the "oh, crap I'm in love with my best friend" story and Tregay's take on it with Jamie falling for his best friend Mason was a sweet hit of awesome. Sure, it wasn't the most original story, Jamie was a bit too dense at times and maybe the end dragged on. But none of that mattered to me. I read my romances because I want to be grabbed by the heart and the guts and taken on an emotional ride of yearning until I get that utterly satisfying HEA. This book did that beautifully.