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Only Mostly Devastated
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Young Adult Fiction (2020)Will Tavares is the dream summer fling ― he's fun, affectionate, kind ― but just when Ollie thinks he's found his Happily Ever After, summer vacation ends and Will stops texting Ollie back. Now Ollie is one prince short of his fairy tale ending, and to complicate the fairy tale further, a family emergency sees Ollie uprooted and enrolled at a new school across the country. Which he minds a little less when he realizes it's the same school Will goes to... except Ollie finds that the sweet, comfortably queer guy he knew from summer isn't the same one attending Collinswood High. This Will is a class clown, closeted ― and, to be honest, a bit of a jerk.
Ollie has no intention of pining after a guy who clearly isn't ready for a relationship, especially since this new, bro-y jock version of Will seems to go from hot to cold every other week. But then Will starts "coincidentally" popping up in every area of Ollie's life, from music class to the lunch table, and Ollie finds his resolve weakening.
The last time he gave Will his heart, Will handed it back to him trampled and battered. Ollie would have to be an idiot to trust him with it again.
Right? Right.
SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA meets CLUELESS in this boy-meets-boy spin on Grease
Ollie has no intention of pining after a guy who clearly isn't ready for a relationship, especially since this new, bro-y jock version of Will seems to go from hot to cold every other week. But then Will starts "coincidentally" popping up in every area of Ollie's life, from music class to the lunch table, and Ollie finds his resolve weakening.
The last time he gave Will his heart, Will handed it back to him trampled and battered. Ollie would have to be an idiot to trust him with it again.
Right? Right.
SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA meets CLUELESS in this boy-meets-boy spin on Grease
281 pages, Hardcover
First published March 3, 2020
About the author
Sophie Gonzales
9 books3,104 followersSophie Gonzales writes young adult queer contemporary fiction with memorable characters, biting wit and endless heart.
She is the author of THE LAW OF INERTIA, ONLY MOSTLY DEVASTATED and PERFECT ON PAPER. IF THIS GETS (co-written with Cale Dietrich) is forthcoming in Fall 2021 from Wednesday Books / Macmillan.
When she isn’t writing, Sophie can be found ice skating, performing in musical theatre, and practicing the piano. She currently lives in Melbourne, Australia where she works as a psychologist.
She is represented by Jessica Mileo of Inkwell Management.
She is the author of THE LAW OF INERTIA, ONLY MOSTLY DEVASTATED and PERFECT ON PAPER. IF THIS GETS (co-written with Cale Dietrich) is forthcoming in Fall 2021 from Wednesday Books / Macmillan.
When she isn’t writing, Sophie can be found ice skating, performing in musical theatre, and practicing the piano. She currently lives in Melbourne, Australia where she works as a psychologist.
She is represented by Jessica Mileo of Inkwell Management.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 5,608 reviews
February 14, 2020
I really, really enjoyed this!! I do wish we had gotten a little more show and a little less tell in regards to the romance between Ollie and Will, but I still really enjoyed this and I could NOT put it down. Not only was it super fun and romance-y, but it also had some depth and really took a good look at grief and I liked it a lot. I cannot wait to read what Sophie Gonzalez puts out next!
TW: terminal illness, death of a loved one, homophobia
TW: terminal illness, death of a loved one, homophobia
December 8, 2020
4.5 stars
OHMYGOSH. Goodreads Choice Award Nominees are up and My Reaction Video is too! Don't forget to vote!
The Written Review
Will was sweet, kind and genuinely seemed to "get" Ollie in all the ways his friends never did.
But...it's been a few days since he got back from visiting his Aunt and Uncle and Will has gone silent.
And then Ollie's parents drop the news that his Aunt's cancer has gotten worse and the whole family is moving to her house to take care of her.
But when that happens...it goes no where near Ollie's expectations.
In fact...it's devastating.
Does Ollie give Will another chance? Does Will even deserve it?
Ohhh man. This book was BRILLIANT.
It had all the right feels in all the right places.
Ollie is a precious snowflake and I will defend him with my life. He had such an incredibly fun perspective on life and it truly brightened the scenes.
I loved Ollie's love for music and his family - it truly rounded out his character and endeared him so much more.
I loved Will's journey of acceptance and his development in this book.
The plot was just the perfect slice of life - it had laughs, tears and made me want to hug the main characters and never let them go.
This is definitely going to be one of my favorites in the book.
YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads
OHMYGOSH. Goodreads Choice Award Nominees are up and My Reaction Video is too! Don't forget to vote!
The Written Review
“And life was too short to play chicken with something as important as the person you loved.”Ollie just had the perfect summer romance.
Will was sweet, kind and genuinely seemed to "get" Ollie in all the ways his friends never did.
But...it's been a few days since he got back from visiting his Aunt and Uncle and Will has gone silent.
And then Ollie's parents drop the news that his Aunt's cancer has gotten worse and the whole family is moving to her house to take care of her.
“That's the beautiful thing about the universe. It puts you through trials, but it never gives you anything you can't handle. We grow from these things.”It's awful and Ollie can't stop thinking about it but on the bright side - at least he will see Will again.
But when that happens...it goes no where near Ollie's expectations.
In fact...it's devastating.
“I’m really sorry.' He peeked at me, but I still didn’t reply. I mean, what could I say? That it was okay? Because it really wasn’t.But, behind this cold exterior....Ollie's Will still exists - he can see his Will peeking out when others aren't around.
Does Ollie give Will another chance? Does Will even deserve it?
Ohhh man. This book was BRILLIANT.
It had all the right feels in all the right places.
Ollie is a precious snowflake and I will defend him with my life. He had such an incredibly fun perspective on life and it truly brightened the scenes.
I loved Ollie's love for music and his family - it truly rounded out his character and endeared him so much more.
I loved Will's journey of acceptance and his development in this book.
The plot was just the perfect slice of life - it had laughs, tears and made me want to hug the main characters and never let them go.
This is definitely going to be one of my favorites in the book.
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June 20, 2020
AAAH, ¿por dónde empezar?
Esta novela vino a mí de pura casualidad. Tras leer la sinopsis y saber que se trataba de una especie de retelling de la película Grease, dije: ¡ESTO TIENE QUE SER MÍO! Y así fue. No me equivocaba al haberme hecho con él, porque este libro ha sido un viaje.
La última novela contemporánea LGTB que me hizo sentir así fue Con amor, Simon. ¡Hace ya un tiempo! Son muy similares en cierto sentido: instituto, personajes secundarios dinámicos y fuertes, un protagonista que narra los hechos con humor… Es un cúmulo de cosas que hacen que Only Mostly Devastating sea una bomba.
Al principio he de admitir que me costó un poco engancharme. Es una novela que se lee sin darte cuenta, en serio. Te sumerges de lleno y es muy sencilla de seguirle el ritmo, pero eso sí, no todo es de color de rosa. No esperéis una historia super mega cute, porque tiene sus momentos oscuros. Aun y todo, la lectura es adictiva y te atrapa casi desde el primer momento. Una vez pasé el bache inicial leí el 80% de la novela del tirón. That’s how good it is! Y si sois como yo, terminaréis llorando... Ains.
El personaje de Ollie es el típico personaje que no suele caerme bien. Es intenso, le da demasiadas vueltas a las cosas, y sinceramente, no tiene un par de huevos para enfrentarse a las situaciones algo complicadas. Pero su arco es tan bueno… No solo la mentalidad, sino su personalidad, consiguen evolucionar durante la novela hasta llegar a tener unas importantes y muy bonitas reflexiones sobre la vida y la muerte, el amor, la sexualidad… De verdad que me ha parecido una de las mejores partes de la novela: ver cómo Ollie evolucionaba tanto y tan bien.
Los personajes secundarios, para mí, son los que han hecho que la novela me haya llegado tanto, aparte de la evolución de Ollie y su relación con Will. Por ejemplo, Lara pasa de ser tHaT bItCh a ser THAT BIIIIITCH! y su desarrollo, uff… no tengo palabras, QUÉ MARAVILLA. Sin duda mi personaje favorito. ¿Will? I don’t know her. El resto de secundarios como Juliette o incluso Matt también muestran desarrollo, y aunque se queden en un segundo plano, son tramas también importantes que hacen que todo el conjunto brille.
El estilo de Sophie Gonzales es una delicia. Es sencillo, directo, pero lleno de referencias a la actualidad. Y no, no son referencias forzadas o que se hagan por el simple hecho de ganarse la simpatía de lxs lectores. Son referencias a conceptos, películas o eventos en conversaciones o diálogos internos, ya que desde el principio el tono de la novela es un poco jocoso. Dramático en partes, pero mayormente jocoso. Se habla desde el gaslightning hasta del patriarcado, ¡y se hacen bromas con 'los heteros unga unga'! *god bless*
¡Y BUENO! La trama romántica, por favor. Al inicio vislumbramos más similitudes con Grease, pero una vez la historia comienza a rodar, tiene vida y voz propia. La trama es un tira y afloja constante, pero no es tóxico (como se podría intuir en un principio). Se tratan temas que en pocas novelas he visto: el espacio personal, las prioridades con la pareja, el interesarte en sus cosas, el apoyo etc. Y son temas que se hablan directamente, cara a cara, siendo totalmente transparentes el uno con el otro. Bueno, si es que Will lo permite…
Quizá está demasiado explotado el concepto ‘chico gay se enamora de otro chico y delante de todo el mundo tiene que fingir ser hetero’, y la verdad es que sí que es un cliché un poco viejuno, pero en este caso no me ha molestado por todos los elementos que os comento, desde los personajes que hacen que todo tenga más fuerza, a la propia evolución del personaje de Ollie, que poco a poco va dejando atrás ese 'enchochamiento' para centrarse en mejorar tanto él como persona, como a su entorno, y en general, su vida. Aparte de su evolución, tenemos la de Will, y sinceramente, parte de su historia ha resonado conmigo, por lo que he conectado bastante con su visión de las cosas. (No es que yo haya sido el heterito de mi instituto, pero hacia el final entendí mejor al personaje y, de hecho, me hizo llorar.)
Otra cosa que me ha encantado es la variedad de temas que se tocan en tan pocas páginas. Desde problemas de menstruación, autoestima, body positive, sexualidad, homofobia e incluso el cáncer. Y lo mejor de todo es que todo sirve para que Ollie avance, no es drama por el simple hecho de tenerlo, sino que van configurando la personalidad del protagonista, por lo que en cierto modo considero esta novela un coming-on-age. Además, la familia de Will -y el propio Will- son probablemente de Venezuela, hecho que casi ni se nombra. ¡Es que debe ser así! Es como que no importa si los personajes tienen sobrepeso, son extranjeros o de otras etnias… Ollie tiene la mentalidad de nuestra generación, donde es como: '¡anda! que mi nueva amiga es negra y con sobrepeso… pues muy bien, ¿qué tal te va la vida?' No sé si me entendéis, pero ese vibe es JUSTAMENTE con el que me siento representado. Eso no quita que haya momentos para hablar de la presión social y demás cosas, pero el punto de vista de Ollie, como digo, es muy representativo de esta nueva era.
Only Mostly Devastated se posiciona en mi lista de top de libros de temática LGTB. Sin duda alguna. Lo pondría junto a Openly Straight, Con amor, Simon o Las ventajas de ser un marginado, entre otros. Tienen ese rollo, esa manera de calentarte el corazón y llenarte de esperanza, esa buena manera de entender el mundo mientras te dan lecciones vitales. En fin, que un novelón. Si os gustan las novelas de ese tipo, os va a encantar. Si vuestro rollo no es tanto la romántica contemporánea, no sé qué deciros… ¡Pero sé de gente a la que le ha gustado independientemente de sus preferencias! Así que yo le daría una oportunidad.
Trigger warning: trama sobre cáncer, mención a TCA, homofobia.
Esta novela vino a mí de pura casualidad. Tras leer la sinopsis y saber que se trataba de una especie de retelling de la película Grease, dije: ¡ESTO TIENE QUE SER MÍO! Y así fue. No me equivocaba al haberme hecho con él, porque este libro ha sido un viaje.
La última novela contemporánea LGTB que me hizo sentir así fue Con amor, Simon. ¡Hace ya un tiempo! Son muy similares en cierto sentido: instituto, personajes secundarios dinámicos y fuertes, un protagonista que narra los hechos con humor… Es un cúmulo de cosas que hacen que Only Mostly Devastating sea una bomba.
Al principio he de admitir que me costó un poco engancharme. Es una novela que se lee sin darte cuenta, en serio. Te sumerges de lleno y es muy sencilla de seguirle el ritmo, pero eso sí, no todo es de color de rosa. No esperéis una historia super mega cute, porque tiene sus momentos oscuros. Aun y todo, la lectura es adictiva y te atrapa casi desde el primer momento. Una vez pasé el bache inicial leí el 80% de la novela del tirón. That’s how good it is! Y si sois como yo, terminaréis llorando... Ains.
El personaje de Ollie es el típico personaje que no suele caerme bien. Es intenso, le da demasiadas vueltas a las cosas, y sinceramente, no tiene un par de huevos para enfrentarse a las situaciones algo complicadas. Pero su arco es tan bueno… No solo la mentalidad, sino su personalidad, consiguen evolucionar durante la novela hasta llegar a tener unas importantes y muy bonitas reflexiones sobre la vida y la muerte, el amor, la sexualidad… De verdad que me ha parecido una de las mejores partes de la novela: ver cómo Ollie evolucionaba tanto y tan bien.
Los personajes secundarios, para mí, son los que han hecho que la novela me haya llegado tanto, aparte de la evolución de Ollie y su relación con Will. Por ejemplo, Lara pasa de ser tHaT bItCh a ser THAT BIIIIITCH! y su desarrollo, uff… no tengo palabras, QUÉ MARAVILLA. Sin duda mi personaje favorito. ¿Will? I don’t know her. El resto de secundarios como Juliette o incluso Matt también muestran desarrollo, y aunque se queden en un segundo plano, son tramas también importantes que hacen que todo el conjunto brille.
El estilo de Sophie Gonzales es una delicia. Es sencillo, directo, pero lleno de referencias a la actualidad. Y no, no son referencias forzadas o que se hagan por el simple hecho de ganarse la simpatía de lxs lectores. Son referencias a conceptos, películas o eventos en conversaciones o diálogos internos, ya que desde el principio el tono de la novela es un poco jocoso. Dramático en partes, pero mayormente jocoso. Se habla desde el gaslightning hasta del patriarcado, ¡y se hacen bromas con 'los heteros unga unga'! *god bless*
¡Y BUENO! La trama romántica, por favor. Al inicio vislumbramos más similitudes con Grease, pero una vez la historia comienza a rodar, tiene vida y voz propia. La trama es un tira y afloja constante, pero no es tóxico (como se podría intuir en un principio). Se tratan temas que en pocas novelas he visto: el espacio personal, las prioridades con la pareja, el interesarte en sus cosas, el apoyo etc. Y son temas que se hablan directamente, cara a cara, siendo totalmente transparentes el uno con el otro. Bueno, si es que Will lo permite…
Quizá está demasiado explotado el concepto ‘chico gay se enamora de otro chico y delante de todo el mundo tiene que fingir ser hetero’, y la verdad es que sí que es un cliché un poco viejuno, pero en este caso no me ha molestado por todos los elementos que os comento, desde los personajes que hacen que todo tenga más fuerza, a la propia evolución del personaje de Ollie, que poco a poco va dejando atrás ese 'enchochamiento' para centrarse en mejorar tanto él como persona, como a su entorno, y en general, su vida. Aparte de su evolución, tenemos la de Will, y sinceramente, parte de su historia ha resonado conmigo, por lo que he conectado bastante con su visión de las cosas. (No es que yo haya sido el heterito de mi instituto, pero hacia el final entendí mejor al personaje y, de hecho, me hizo llorar.)
Otra cosa que me ha encantado es la variedad de temas que se tocan en tan pocas páginas. Desde problemas de menstruación, autoestima, body positive, sexualidad, homofobia e incluso el cáncer. Y lo mejor de todo es que todo sirve para que Ollie avance, no es drama por el simple hecho de tenerlo, sino que van configurando la personalidad del protagonista, por lo que en cierto modo considero esta novela un coming-on-age. Además, la familia de Will -y el propio Will- son probablemente de Venezuela, hecho que casi ni se nombra. ¡Es que debe ser así! Es como que no importa si los personajes tienen sobrepeso, son extranjeros o de otras etnias… Ollie tiene la mentalidad de nuestra generación, donde es como: '¡anda! que mi nueva amiga es negra y con sobrepeso… pues muy bien, ¿qué tal te va la vida?' No sé si me entendéis, pero ese vibe es JUSTAMENTE con el que me siento representado. Eso no quita que haya momentos para hablar de la presión social y demás cosas, pero el punto de vista de Ollie, como digo, es muy representativo de esta nueva era.
Only Mostly Devastated se posiciona en mi lista de top de libros de temática LGTB. Sin duda alguna. Lo pondría junto a Openly Straight, Con amor, Simon o Las ventajas de ser un marginado, entre otros. Tienen ese rollo, esa manera de calentarte el corazón y llenarte de esperanza, esa buena manera de entender el mundo mientras te dan lecciones vitales. En fin, que un novelón. Si os gustan las novelas de ese tipo, os va a encantar. Si vuestro rollo no es tanto la romántica contemporánea, no sé qué deciros… ¡Pero sé de gente a la que le ha gustado independientemente de sus preferencias! Así que yo le daría una oportunidad.
Trigger warning: trama sobre cáncer, mención a TCA, homofobia.
September 9, 2021
this is a cute and lighthearted read, but not something that really stands out.
its your typical YA realistic fiction about teenagers and crushes and school and family. i think the story does a decent job at representing the LGBT community, normalising being plus-sized, combating harmful stereotypes, expressing grief and the loss of a loved one, and showing the joys of liking someone.
and even though it delivers all of that, i cant help wanting more. its a very short, simple story. good enough to pass the time enjoyably, but not enough to really make me feel anything deep. its very surface level, if that makes sense, and not really anything i havent read before.
easy to recommend to those looking for a little cuteness, but it didnt quite ‘wow’ me personally.
thanks wednesday books for an ARC!
↠ 3.5 stars
its your typical YA realistic fiction about teenagers and crushes and school and family. i think the story does a decent job at representing the LGBT community, normalising being plus-sized, combating harmful stereotypes, expressing grief and the loss of a loved one, and showing the joys of liking someone.
and even though it delivers all of that, i cant help wanting more. its a very short, simple story. good enough to pass the time enjoyably, but not enough to really make me feel anything deep. its very surface level, if that makes sense, and not really anything i havent read before.
easy to recommend to those looking for a little cuteness, but it didnt quite ‘wow’ me personally.
thanks wednesday books for an ARC!
↠ 3.5 stars
March 4, 2020
I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS BOOK! 😍❤️💖
I requested this book from Netgalley for one reason - it is branded as an LGBT version of Grease! Instantly I thought, 'How can that not be great?!'. I was lucky enough to get this on a wish and oh boy was I right! It was so great, so sweet, so nostalgic but still so fresh. I am all out fangirl-ing for this one!! I only have one thing to say - get your hands on this book as soon as you can!! 😍😍
❤️ THE THINGS I LOVED ❤️
Grease: One of my all time favourite movies is Grease, it always takes me back and makes me happy. I absolutely love how this book drew on the overall concept of Grease and how it was, in many ways, delightfully recognisable. You could identify the different characters in this book with the movie cast and certain scenes are reminiscent of the original. But it was still a story all on its own and that was amazing!
LGBT: There are too few LGBT books out there that truly represent what it's like to be LGBT (I am bi, myself). But I absolutely loved the different representations in this book, the closeted, the openly out and the confused. It felt like a very real representation and it really hit home for me over and over again ❤️
Ollie!: OMG if it wasn't because he was gay I would totally fall in love with Ollie! He was so amazingly sweet, adorable and awkward, he had my heart from the first moment! I was rooting for him right from the start!
LOL: I am usually not the person who says - or writes - LOL but this book just embodies it so well! There were so many passages that honestly had me laughing out loud, it was so amazing. I mean, I can get a good chuckle going usually, but actually laughing is rare for me.
ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
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I requested this book from Netgalley for one reason - it is branded as an LGBT version of Grease! Instantly I thought, 'How can that not be great?!'. I was lucky enough to get this on a wish and oh boy was I right! It was so great, so sweet, so nostalgic but still so fresh. I am all out fangirl-ing for this one!! I only have one thing to say - get your hands on this book as soon as you can!! 😍😍
"All I'd needed was a Destiny's Child song playing as an overture and it would've been the greatest "screw you" since Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind."
- Ollie
❤️ THE THINGS I LOVED ❤️
Grease: One of my all time favourite movies is Grease, it always takes me back and makes me happy. I absolutely love how this book drew on the overall concept of Grease and how it was, in many ways, delightfully recognisable. You could identify the different characters in this book with the movie cast and certain scenes are reminiscent of the original. But it was still a story all on its own and that was amazing!
LGBT: There are too few LGBT books out there that truly represent what it's like to be LGBT (I am bi, myself). But I absolutely loved the different representations in this book, the closeted, the openly out and the confused. It felt like a very real representation and it really hit home for me over and over again ❤️
Ollie!: OMG if it wasn't because he was gay I would totally fall in love with Ollie! He was so amazingly sweet, adorable and awkward, he had my heart from the first moment! I was rooting for him right from the start!
"Note to self: carry bass around everywhere and break into impromptu solo whenever anyone tries to force you into conversation."
- Ollie
LOL: I am usually not the person who says - or writes - LOL but this book just embodies it so well! There were so many passages that honestly had me laughing out loud, it was so amazing. I mean, I can get a good chuckle going usually, but actually laughing is rare for me.
ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
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September 14, 2022
premise? 10/10. execution.... i'm going to be generous and not give it an "out of ten" rating lol.
i am not a teen but i like to think that i can still appreciate some YA stories. this one just missed the mark for me. the romance was so so lackluster and it was the cornerstone of this story. so so much tell and hardly anything was shown.
i will look at the bright side though in that this was a non-traumatic coming out story.
thanks to Wednesday Books for sending me a copy!
i am not a teen but i like to think that i can still appreciate some YA stories. this one just missed the mark for me. the romance was so so lackluster and it was the cornerstone of this story. so so much tell and hardly anything was shown.
i will look at the bright side though in that this was a non-traumatic coming out story.
thanks to Wednesday Books for sending me a copy!
July 24, 2020
"It'll get easier. That's the beautiful thing about the universe. It puts you through trials, but it never gives you anything you can't handle. We grow from these things."
there are many reasons this could have earned a lower rating from me - not my kind of writing style, kind of a slow start. But ultimately I bumped it to a four because I loved the representation of this book and the examination of the two characters behaviour and how equally this novel showed the strengths and flaws of both the main character and love interest. full review to come on Monday on my blog
August 31, 2019
3.5
A hugely enjoyable YA romance which also tackles a serious subject-very well.This is only slightly touched on in the blurb so I'm not going to elaborate too much.
The theme of the book isn't a new one.High school setting with an out character and one firmly in the closest.But this is truly engaging.Told only from Ollie's pov and I think I fell for him instantly.
Ollie and Will have a summer fling.It's intense and passionate but once the summer is over Ollie is baffled by Will's silence.To make things worse Ollie and his family must move temporarily and Ollie starts a new school.Will's school and if Ollie was confused about Will's silence after their fling he's even more bewildered by Will's indifference to him at school.
Ollie is befriended by three girls who kind of take him under their wing.These characters definitely added depth to the story.They're not the stereotypical high school girls.They're individual with issues of their own that I'm sure any young person reading this will identify with.
I read The Law of Inertia by this Author and loved it so I knew I liked her writing.She manages to tackle a serious subject here,which doesn't overwhelm the story,along side the romance between Will and Ollie.
There are no on page sex scenes between the MCs at all.And I honestly didn't miss them.The story didn't need them.Strangely,I think I enjoyed the story more without them.
The story is very well crafted.It's sweet with a bit of angst,funny,with a serious side.Two highly likeable MCs,and great supporting characters.
A YA story that will appeal to a lot of people.Maybe too much of a 'young' feel for me but still very engaging.
Review copy provided by the publisher,via NetGalley.
A hugely enjoyable YA romance which also tackles a serious subject-very well.This is only slightly touched on in the blurb so I'm not going to elaborate too much.
The theme of the book isn't a new one.High school setting with an out character and one firmly in the closest.But this is truly engaging.Told only from Ollie's pov and I think I fell for him instantly.
Ollie and Will have a summer fling.It's intense and passionate but once the summer is over Ollie is baffled by Will's silence.To make things worse Ollie and his family must move temporarily and Ollie starts a new school.Will's school and if Ollie was confused about Will's silence after their fling he's even more bewildered by Will's indifference to him at school.
Ollie is befriended by three girls who kind of take him under their wing.These characters definitely added depth to the story.They're not the stereotypical high school girls.They're individual with issues of their own that I'm sure any young person reading this will identify with.
I read The Law of Inertia by this Author and loved it so I knew I liked her writing.She manages to tackle a serious subject here,which doesn't overwhelm the story,along side the romance between Will and Ollie.
There are no on page sex scenes between the MCs at all.And I honestly didn't miss them.The story didn't need them.Strangely,I think I enjoyed the story more without them.
The story is very well crafted.It's sweet with a bit of angst,funny,with a serious side.Two highly likeable MCs,and great supporting characters.
A YA story that will appeal to a lot of people.Maybe too much of a 'young' feel for me but still very engaging.
Review copy provided by the publisher,via NetGalley.
August 11, 2021
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets Clueless, inspired by Grease.
With all of the many, many dramatics of the straight friends in the book, I definitely got a "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" vibe from the story, no doubt.
But "Clueless" was extremely funny, which this book had its moments, but I didn't personally feel that humor played much of a role here. At least not constantly, like in "Clueless".
And "Grease"? Ummm, I didn't really feel that many Grease-like moments, but I'm not completely obsessed with that movie in the same adoring way that my hubby is. The boy has a problem, I'm telling you. heh
As the story began, it was Ollie's first day at a new school in North Carolina, then over the course of the story, we got flashbacks of a summer fling that he'd had with a local, closeted basketball player, Will, which seemed to end fine, only to be followed by a bout of extreme ghosting.
Will had expected the end of summer to also signal the end of their short relationship, but when Ollie enrolled at his new school, Will freaked out pretty badly, exactly as I'd figured he would. Talk about your chickens coming home to roost.
I liked both Will and Ollie, understanding all too well the predicament that they were in, but just like with "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda", I had the same feeling that their friends' problems at least partially overshadowed the *main* story in this M/M YA romance.
The one side plot that I was happy to include pages for was Ollie's aunt's cancer, and how Ollie stepped up to help with her kids. Every single page of that sub-plot felt genuine and packed with tons of emotion.
However, I could've honestly done without a few of the other side-plots with Ollie's new gal pals. Those parts felt long and drawn-out, making me want to skip pages until we got back to the romance.
The story had no steam, but finished with a very strong HFN, with the boys thankfully going , something that a lot of YA stories fail to end with, which never fails to piss me off.
Overall, the book made me smile and left me in a hopeful, upbeat mood, the main reason that I read YA to begin with, so I'd rate this one at around 3.5 stars and recommend it to YA readers looking for a manageable level of angst.
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My ARC copy of the book was provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair, unbiased review.
See All My Latest Reads (Review Quick-Links)
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December 31, 2021
rep: gay mc, bi Venezuelan li, bi sc, plus-sized poc sc, poc scs
tw: cancer, off-page death, homophobia, biphobia, fatphobia
ARC provided by the publisher.
This is a very fun book, largely due to Ollie (the protagonist) who’s simply, in the very wise words of Will, ridiculous. I want to make some things clear, though, before we proceed: this is also a messy book. It’s messy in a way that none of the characters are perfect, and they keep making mistakes, and no one is really 100% in the right. It’s messy in a way that life (especially life of a teenager) is messy and totally not black-and-white. I just know not everyone enjoys stories like that.
It’s definitely a kind of story I personally love & it’s that messiness that appealed to me the most. Only Mostly Devastated is very much characters-focused and with Ollie as the narrator, for the most part it shows everything through his eyes, making him seem like the person who has the moral high ground. He’s not exactly an unreliable narrator, not in the sense we’re used to - it’s more accurate to say that he’s an eighteen years old boy. Sometimes what he assumes people did and what their intentions were completely misses the point those people tried to make. And Only Mostly Devastated addresses that!
Obviously, it’s mostly visible in regard to Will (his love interest). See, the boys were a summer fling and then it turned out they go to the same school this year. And that fact didn’t make things easier for them, exactly. What it boils down to is that Ollie is out and Will isn’t, and Ollie tries to deal with that but not always in the best ways.
Now, the messy part mentioned before turns everything interesting. Because sure, on one hand it’s not great for Ollie to date someone who’s in closet when he’s been out for years and doesn’t want to stop being open about that part of himself. On the other, Will grew up in a totally different environment, with a totally different family & group of friends, and as we all know, coming out just isn’t easy. Him being scared is totally understandable, just like Ollie being impatient and hurt is totally understandable.
Will’s actions, as he tried to preserve his sense of status quo, weren’t always amazing. In fact, there were times where he downright acted like a dick. (Especially one scene pops to mind, where he treated a girl more like a means to the end than a human being; it’s possible to excuse it somewhat with fear but still.) But there are two sides to every story and from Will’s perspective he was simply doing his best to protect himself. There comes a point when the books makes that abundantly clear to everyone (to Ollie) and the fact that we got to have that discussion was really great and necessary. And honestly, as much as I adore Ollie, he was a dick just as often as Will was.
No one is only ever right or wrong. No easy answers here.
Gonzales shows that particular sentiment in more ways than just with Ollie and Will. There’s the way different people react to horrible things happening to the ones they love. While Ollie himself might not agree with coping mechanisms of others, it’s still made clear enough that none of them are invalid. And that really, all we can do with tragedies thrown our way is try to live through them.
I summed this book up as “funny, warm & heartbreaking” and I still think that description pretty much nails it. It’s definitely a kind of novel I want to read when I’m feeling a little bit down, when I want to laugh (honestly, Ollie is hilarious!), when I want to remember that no one is perfect. And when I want to cry just a little bit. No one is perfect but Only Mostly Devastated offers a pretty perfect mix of emotions.
(PS Prior to reading & reviewing I didn’t understand why this book was being compared to Grease, because I have never seen that movie in my life, I only knew that one song, you know the one. So it’s safe to say the book holds up on its own. I watched it now, though, and yeah, Only Mostly Devastated is a great retelling that keeps the important components of the original story but makes it modern, diverse and not ridiculous.)
tw: cancer, off-page death, homophobia, biphobia, fatphobia
ARC provided by the publisher.
This is a very fun book, largely due to Ollie (the protagonist) who’s simply, in the very wise words of Will, ridiculous. I want to make some things clear, though, before we proceed: this is also a messy book. It’s messy in a way that none of the characters are perfect, and they keep making mistakes, and no one is really 100% in the right. It’s messy in a way that life (especially life of a teenager) is messy and totally not black-and-white. I just know not everyone enjoys stories like that.
It’s definitely a kind of story I personally love & it’s that messiness that appealed to me the most. Only Mostly Devastated is very much characters-focused and with Ollie as the narrator, for the most part it shows everything through his eyes, making him seem like the person who has the moral high ground. He’s not exactly an unreliable narrator, not in the sense we’re used to - it’s more accurate to say that he’s an eighteen years old boy. Sometimes what he assumes people did and what their intentions were completely misses the point those people tried to make. And Only Mostly Devastated addresses that!
Obviously, it’s mostly visible in regard to Will (his love interest). See, the boys were a summer fling and then it turned out they go to the same school this year. And that fact didn’t make things easier for them, exactly. What it boils down to is that Ollie is out and Will isn’t, and Ollie tries to deal with that but not always in the best ways.
Now, the messy part mentioned before turns everything interesting. Because sure, on one hand it’s not great for Ollie to date someone who’s in closet when he’s been out for years and doesn’t want to stop being open about that part of himself. On the other, Will grew up in a totally different environment, with a totally different family & group of friends, and as we all know, coming out just isn’t easy. Him being scared is totally understandable, just like Ollie being impatient and hurt is totally understandable.
Will’s actions, as he tried to preserve his sense of status quo, weren’t always amazing. In fact, there were times where he downright acted like a dick. (Especially one scene pops to mind, where he treated a girl more like a means to the end than a human being; it’s possible to excuse it somewhat with fear but still.) But there are two sides to every story and from Will’s perspective he was simply doing his best to protect himself. There comes a point when the books makes that abundantly clear to everyone (to Ollie) and the fact that we got to have that discussion was really great and necessary. And honestly, as much as I adore Ollie, he was a dick just as often as Will was.
No one is only ever right or wrong. No easy answers here.
Gonzales shows that particular sentiment in more ways than just with Ollie and Will. There’s the way different people react to horrible things happening to the ones they love. While Ollie himself might not agree with coping mechanisms of others, it’s still made clear enough that none of them are invalid. And that really, all we can do with tragedies thrown our way is try to live through them.
I summed this book up as “funny, warm & heartbreaking” and I still think that description pretty much nails it. It’s definitely a kind of novel I want to read when I’m feeling a little bit down, when I want to laugh (honestly, Ollie is hilarious!), when I want to remember that no one is perfect. And when I want to cry just a little bit. No one is perfect but Only Mostly Devastated offers a pretty perfect mix of emotions.
(PS Prior to reading & reviewing I didn’t understand why this book was being compared to Grease, because I have never seen that movie in my life, I only knew that one song, you know the one. So it’s safe to say the book holds up on its own. I watched it now, though, and yeah, Only Mostly Devastated is a great retelling that keeps the important components of the original story but makes it modern, diverse and not ridiculous.)
May 23, 2020
Many thanks to Wednesday Books for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review
"It'll get easier. That's the beautiful thing about the universe. It puts you through trials, but it never gives you anything you can't handle. We grow from these things."
I know that everyone is comparing this to Simon vs. the Homosapiens Agenda and Grease but I would honestly say this was like a less graphic version of the Netflix show, Sex Education which, by the way, is a great show. Go watch it.
So, what's this book about?
Only Mostly Devistated follows Ollie, a possibly-jilted highschool senior. Ollie is still trying to figure out his feelings for Will, his summer fling when he moves to North Carolina when his Aunt Linda's health takes a turn for the worse. Ollie's still hoping he'll figure out what's going on with Will.
At a party after the first day at his new high school, Ollie is shocked yet happy to see none other than Will. Will, on the other hand, isn't so happy. Alone, Will is sweet and cute but surrounded by his basketball friends, he wants nothing to do with Ollie.
And Ollie soon doesn't want to be with Will either. Will is closeted, bro-y and honestly kind of a jerk. Unfortunately, he seems to flip from loving to cold every other day and Ollie can't tell what his true feelings are. Now, he must decide what he feels and how to deal with it.
The first thing I want to note is that this book is short. Not bad short. Good short. Its only 272 pages (at least my ARC is) and moves very fast which I found quite enjoyable as it held my attention.
I also LOVED the highschool setting. I'm not yet a senior in high school but the first 50 pages of Ollie and his first day at school made me feel so nostalgic for my first day of high school (which, as of writing was only six months ago although it feels like an eternity).
Sophie Gonzales also does a good job of building characters. I must admit that they are a bit cliche but that actually added to the overall sweetness and charm of the novel.
Another great aspect was Ollie's family. Specifically Aunt Linda. Though there were some distant relatives and a grandfather who I never knew who passed away from cancer, I've been fortunate enough to not be affected by it. This book painted an emotional and real picture of dealing with cancer and loved ones who have it.
Finally, I loved the theme of the book which is that everyone processes events and emotions at their own pace in their way. That's something that everyone should keep in mind.
Bottom Line:
4 stars
Age Rating - [ PG-13 ]
Content Screening (Mild Spoilers) -
Educational Value (3/5) - [Cancer, Sexuality]
Positive Messages (4/5) - [Dealing with grief, Optimism, Self-love, Moving at your own pace]
Violence (0/0)
Sex (1/5) - [Kissing, Sex themes, Illuding to sex, Discussion of sex]
Language (3/5) - [Sh*t, D*mn, F*ck]
Drinking/Drugs (4/5) - [Underage drinking, Medicinal drugs, Chemo]
Trigger and Content Warnings - Loss of a loved one, Homophobia, Sexism, Body shaming
Publication Date:
Publisher - Wednesday Books (an imprint of St. Martins Press (an imprint of Macmillan))
Genre: LGBT/Romance
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I felt like the ending was a bit abrupt but, overall, I enjoyed this highschool drama-y novel! Review to come
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Thank you Wednesday Books!!!!!!
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you guys i'm getting an ARC... i cannot contain my glee!!!!!!!!!!!
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i can already tell that this is going to be a smash hit
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August 28, 2021
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Only Mostly Devastated tells a cute but extremely formulaic story that is as memorable as a teen coming-of-age movie (possibly of the Netflix variety). I really wanted to enjoy this but I found the story to be unimaginative, the plot to be uneventful and—with the exception of Ollie and Will—every single character struck me as being little more than a stand-in for a certain issue.
Positives
✓ Sophie Gonzales' simple writing style effectively conveys Ollie's various thoughts and experiences. Rather than loosing herself in a purply metaphors Gonzales has opted for a more direct and plain prose and this first-person narrative is perhaps the most accomplished aspect of Only Mostly Devastated. Ollie hooks readers in, right from his opening lines, and keeps us entertained and engaged throughout the majority of the novel.
Ollie's is an amusing narrator. He is fairly awkward, very sweet, and has a lovely sense of humour. He shows self-awareness and self-respect (two things that are often MIA in a YA main character). While he does use acronyms (I had to google D and M) and makes plenty of references to popular culture, these were well incorporated into the narrative (they didn't come across as just random insertions). If anything they made him into a believable teenager.
✓ The Grease-inspired story had potential. This ‘Will isn't the same after the summer’ scenario created a good amount of tension and angst. Ollie is confused and hurt by Will's change of character (from a sweet and sensitive boy into an obnoxious class clown who doesn't even want to be seen with Ollie).
✓ The relationship between Ollie and Will was well developed. While Ollie doesn't excuse Will's behaviour (“I'm a dick because I've always been a dick around my friends wasn't really an excuse.”) he doesn't pressure him to make their summer romance public knowledge. Ollie, quite rightfully, finds it intolerable to be someone's ‘dirty secret’, yet he also understands the difficult position Will is in (“No one deserves to be outed against their will.”). In spite of their disagreements and different attitudes, readers can see just how much they care for each other. They share many tender moments and I thought that their ups-and-downs were very realistic.
Negatives
✗ The storyline starts well enough but soon fell into a predictable path. We have a certain number of subplots following Ollie's friends and his aunt which were so thinly rendered as to have little impact on the overall story.
✗ Ollie's friends and his aunt seemed to exist only so that the novel could address certain hot topics. Sadly these characters were reduced to the issues they were contending with. Take Ollie's new friends: they just happen to be the three people he gets to know on the first day. One is there so the novel can include a hurried, and extremely superficial, discussion on body positivity. She has few lines and they mostly have to do with her appearance/body/diets+exercise regime...her personality was mostly non-existent. She was defined by this subject matter. Another one of his new friends (the girl who decides to nickname our protagonist Ollie-oop on the very first day...who does that?! Someone from Riverdale?) exists so the story can include an 'its okay to fail/keep trying' message. And then we have the girl who had the potential to have a more defined personality (not a good one but still) ended up being portrayed as a rather clichéd bully-with-a-heart. These three girls were poorly developed and rather unbelievable. Ollie's aunt (and her illness) seem to have been included only as an inciting plot-device...which isn't great as it is a cheap way to try to make your readers feel sorry or sympathise with Ollie (he didn't need this extra dose of sad).
✗ Ollie's parents are so unimportant and 'unwritten' as to be closer to two nebulous entities than to two human individuals. In her first appearance Ollie's mother tells him that they will be moving to a new state and he can't complain because she has a lot on her plate. Which...yeah. After that she has a few lines about 'energy' and such. Ollie's father makes his first appearance around the 40% mark and tells him off because he is stressed. After that I'm not sure he does or says anything of notice. They were like the adults in Tom and Jerry..cut off from Ollie's story, barely in the picture.
✗ Ollie's 'old' friends disappear after one video call...clearly they had a very meaningful relationship with Ollie.
✗ Will's two 'dude friends' were as poorly developed as the rest...
✗ That ending was way too cheesy (even by rom-com standards).
Final verdict
Teens who haven't read a lot of YA might find more enjoyable than I did...but readers who aren't keen on plots that rehash tired elements from high-school dramas might be better off skipping this one.
Read more reviews on my blog / / / View all my reviews on Goodreads
“It was late afternoon, on the very last Wednesday of August, when I realized Disney had been lying to me for quite some time about Happily Ever Afters.”
Only Mostly Devastated tells a cute but extremely formulaic story that is as memorable as a teen coming-of-age movie (possibly of the Netflix variety). I really wanted to enjoy this but I found the story to be unimaginative, the plot to be uneventful and—with the exception of Ollie and Will—every single character struck me as being little more than a stand-in for a certain issue.
Positives
✓ Sophie Gonzales' simple writing style effectively conveys Ollie's various thoughts and experiences. Rather than loosing herself in a purply metaphors Gonzales has opted for a more direct and plain prose and this first-person narrative is perhaps the most accomplished aspect of Only Mostly Devastated. Ollie hooks readers in, right from his opening lines, and keeps us entertained and engaged throughout the majority of the novel.
“Thankfully, Mom and Dad raised me to aim low, to encourage a healthy contentment in hitting par.”
Ollie's is an amusing narrator. He is fairly awkward, very sweet, and has a lovely sense of humour. He shows self-awareness and self-respect (two things that are often MIA in a YA main character). While he does use acronyms (I had to google D and M) and makes plenty of references to popular culture, these were well incorporated into the narrative (they didn't come across as just random insertions). If anything they made him into a believable teenager.
“A week later, and I was still getting lost more often than the girl in the Labyrinth movie, except I didn't even have David Bowie in tights as a reward for my efforts.”
✓ The Grease-inspired story had potential. This ‘Will isn't the same after the summer’ scenario created a good amount of tension and angst. Ollie is confused and hurt by Will's change of character (from a sweet and sensitive boy into an obnoxious class clown who doesn't even want to be seen with Ollie).
✓ The relationship between Ollie and Will was well developed. While Ollie doesn't excuse Will's behaviour (“I'm a dick because I've always been a dick around my friends wasn't really an excuse.”) he doesn't pressure him to make their summer romance public knowledge. Ollie, quite rightfully, finds it intolerable to be someone's ‘dirty secret’, yet he also understands the difficult position Will is in (“No one deserves to be outed against their will.”). In spite of their disagreements and different attitudes, readers can see just how much they care for each other. They share many tender moments and I thought that their ups-and-downs were very realistic.
Negatives
✗ The storyline starts well enough but soon fell into a predictable path. We have a certain number of subplots following Ollie's friends and his aunt which were so thinly rendered as to have little impact on the overall story.
✗ Ollie's friends and his aunt seemed to exist only so that the novel could address certain hot topics. Sadly these characters were reduced to the issues they were contending with. Take Ollie's new friends: they just happen to be the three people he gets to know on the first day. One is there so the novel can include a hurried, and extremely superficial, discussion on body positivity. She has few lines and they mostly have to do with her appearance/body/diets+exercise regime...her personality was mostly non-existent. She was defined by this subject matter. Another one of his new friends (the girl who decides to nickname our protagonist Ollie-oop on the very first day...who does that?! Someone from Riverdale?) exists so the story can include an 'its okay to fail/keep trying' message. And then we have the girl who had the potential to have a more defined personality (not a good one but still) ended up being portrayed as a rather clichéd bully-with-a-heart. These three girls were poorly developed and rather unbelievable. Ollie's aunt (and her illness) seem to have been included only as an inciting plot-device...which isn't great as it is a cheap way to try to make your readers feel sorry or sympathise with Ollie (he didn't need this extra dose of sad).
✗ Ollie's parents are so unimportant and 'unwritten' as to be closer to two nebulous entities than to two human individuals. In her first appearance Ollie's mother tells him that they will be moving to a new state and he can't complain because she has a lot on her plate. Which...yeah. After that she has a few lines about 'energy' and such. Ollie's father makes his first appearance around the 40% mark and tells him off because he is stressed. After that I'm not sure he does or says anything of notice. They were like the adults in Tom and Jerry..cut off from Ollie's story, barely in the picture.
✗ Ollie's 'old' friends disappear after one video call...clearly they had a very meaningful relationship with Ollie.
✗ Will's two 'dude friends' were as poorly developed as the rest...
✗ That ending was way too cheesy (even by rom-com standards).
Final verdict
Teens who haven't read a lot of YA might find more enjoyable than I did...but readers who aren't keen on plots that rehash tired elements from high-school dramas might be better off skipping this one.
Read more reviews on my blog / / / View all my reviews on Goodreads
March 15, 2020
This book is all kinds of adorable!!
"It was late afternoon, on the very last Wednesday of August, when I realized Disney had been lying to me for quite some time about Happily Ever Afters. Because, you see, I was four days into mine, and my prince was nowhere to be found. Gone. Vanished."
Ollie and his parents moved to North Carolina from California for the summer when his aunt becomes ill. He spends most of his summer at the beach, taking care of his young cousins. There he meets Will—handsome, kind, athletic, and fun—and it's not too long before the two have completely fallen for one another. But after Will leaves the beach to head home, Ollie never hears from him again—no calls, texts, nothing.
As if that's not enough for Ollie to deal with, his family has decided to stay in North Carolina to help care for his aunt for a year. Now he has to do his senior year in a completely new school, which seems like the worst possible scenario. Then he discovers that it's the same school Will attends, which is fantastic...until he discovers that no one knows Will is gay, and worse than that, this version of Will—the cocky, clownish, closeted bro—isn't someone that Ollie likes at all.
Ollie makes friends with a circle of girls, each with their own challenges to deal with. Will is torn between wanting to spend time with Ollie and overcompensating whenever one of his friends from the basketball team comes by and could possibly suspect the truth about Will. It gets to the point where Ollie is tired of being treated like dirt by Will, tired of being jerked around so Will can maintain his reputation.
Meanwhile, as things with Ollie's family get tougher and tougher to deal with, Will's on-again, off-again feelings become a challenge for Ollie, too. He understands what it's like not to be ready to share your sexuality with others, but Ollie doesn't deserve to be an afterthought. But how many times can he be the butt of a joke from Will's friends or, worse, Will himself? How can he stand by and watch as Will pretends to be someone he's not at Ollie's expense?
Only Mostly Devastated is a really sweet and funny book, with an added layer of poignancy. I like the complexities that Sophie Gonzales gave her characters, so this was a little bit more than just a high school rom-com. Once again, when I read this book I found myself wishing something like this existed when I was younger and wondered whether there was anyone else out there who felt the way I did, and once again I'm grateful we live in a world where books like these are plentiful.
I've got to question the marketing of this one, though: it's being billed as Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets Clueless in this boy-meets-boy spin on Grease . The only similarity I see between any of those and the book is when Will's new friends realize that the boy he's been talking about is someone from their own school—a slight parallel to that scenario in the movie Grease .
As with many rom-coms, there's nothing earth-shattering about Only Mostly Devastated , but Gonzales' writing is so engaging, and its story is one you want to root for. Can you ask for much more than that?
NetGalley and Wednesday Books gave me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!
Only Mostly Devastated publishes March 3.
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2019 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2019.html.
Check out my list of the best books of the decade at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-favorite-books-of-decade.html.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
"It was late afternoon, on the very last Wednesday of August, when I realized Disney had been lying to me for quite some time about Happily Ever Afters. Because, you see, I was four days into mine, and my prince was nowhere to be found. Gone. Vanished."
Ollie and his parents moved to North Carolina from California for the summer when his aunt becomes ill. He spends most of his summer at the beach, taking care of his young cousins. There he meets Will—handsome, kind, athletic, and fun—and it's not too long before the two have completely fallen for one another. But after Will leaves the beach to head home, Ollie never hears from him again—no calls, texts, nothing.
As if that's not enough for Ollie to deal with, his family has decided to stay in North Carolina to help care for his aunt for a year. Now he has to do his senior year in a completely new school, which seems like the worst possible scenario. Then he discovers that it's the same school Will attends, which is fantastic...until he discovers that no one knows Will is gay, and worse than that, this version of Will—the cocky, clownish, closeted bro—isn't someone that Ollie likes at all.
Ollie makes friends with a circle of girls, each with their own challenges to deal with. Will is torn between wanting to spend time with Ollie and overcompensating whenever one of his friends from the basketball team comes by and could possibly suspect the truth about Will. It gets to the point where Ollie is tired of being treated like dirt by Will, tired of being jerked around so Will can maintain his reputation.
Meanwhile, as things with Ollie's family get tougher and tougher to deal with, Will's on-again, off-again feelings become a challenge for Ollie, too. He understands what it's like not to be ready to share your sexuality with others, but Ollie doesn't deserve to be an afterthought. But how many times can he be the butt of a joke from Will's friends or, worse, Will himself? How can he stand by and watch as Will pretends to be someone he's not at Ollie's expense?
Only Mostly Devastated is a really sweet and funny book, with an added layer of poignancy. I like the complexities that Sophie Gonzales gave her characters, so this was a little bit more than just a high school rom-com. Once again, when I read this book I found myself wishing something like this existed when I was younger and wondered whether there was anyone else out there who felt the way I did, and once again I'm grateful we live in a world where books like these are plentiful.
I've got to question the marketing of this one, though: it's being billed as Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets Clueless in this boy-meets-boy spin on Grease . The only similarity I see between any of those and the book is when Will's new friends realize that the boy he's been talking about is someone from their own school—a slight parallel to that scenario in the movie Grease .
As with many rom-coms, there's nothing earth-shattering about Only Mostly Devastated , but Gonzales' writing is so engaging, and its story is one you want to root for. Can you ask for much more than that?
NetGalley and Wednesday Books gave me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!
Only Mostly Devastated publishes March 3.
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2019 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2019.html.
Check out my list of the best books of the decade at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-favorite-books-of-decade.html.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
Read
September 5, 2019TAGS:
First Love, Unrequited love, Rollercoaster Romance, Pining, Boys in Denial, Happily Ever After, MC is self-deprecating, Sarcastic / Deadpan Humour, Gay rep, Bi rep, Anxious MC, Shy MC, Cocky Love Interest, Comfort, Bitchy Girl with a Heart of Gold, Medium Level Angst, MC is Already Out, Supportive Parents, Boys Riding Unicorns, TW Mentions of homophobia (called out), TW biphobia (called out), TW fatphobia (called out), TW Family Member with Cancer.
Also: Here are some other books that are queer af written by authors who are also queer af. Add them, read them, boost them. Because the only way to get more queer books out there is to support the ones that already exist. That's how capitalism works, boys, gals and nonbinary pals.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
And lets do something fun! If you know an amazing, traditionally published / to-be traditionally published book that's queer af by an author who's also queer af, please recommend it in the comments below! Give everyone a new to-read list! Go!
First Love, Unrequited love, Rollercoaster Romance, Pining, Boys in Denial, Happily Ever After, MC is self-deprecating, Sarcastic / Deadpan Humour, Gay rep, Bi rep, Anxious MC, Shy MC, Cocky Love Interest, Comfort, Bitchy Girl with a Heart of Gold, Medium Level Angst, MC is Already Out, Supportive Parents, Boys Riding Unicorns, TW Mentions of homophobia (called out), TW biphobia (called out), TW fatphobia (called out), TW Family Member with Cancer.
Also: Here are some other books that are queer af written by authors who are also queer af. Add them, read them, boost them. Because the only way to get more queer books out there is to support the ones that already exist. That's how capitalism works, boys, gals and nonbinary pals.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
And lets do something fun! If you know an amazing, traditionally published / to-be traditionally published book that's queer af by an author who's also queer af, please recommend it in the comments below! Give everyone a new to-read list! Go!
March 4, 2020
I'll admit that this didn't end up being the most amazing wonderful adorable hilarious queer YA rom-com I expected it to be back when it was first announced. But I think, based on how insane my expectations were, this was still a pretty good read; even if, despite the ages of the characters and some of the subject matter, it did read a little on the younger of the YA side.
If you're picking this one up hoping to see some Grease references, you'll be pretty happy, I think. They weren't overdone, it didn't stick to the script half as closely as I expected, and it ended up being very much it's own thing — with it's own emotional backbone to set it apart — but you don't need to go hunting too hard to see some parallels. Though I'm still waiting to understand the Clueless connection, so, fair warning for that comparison.
That said, it was also kind of hard to read at times, too. I definitely didn't expect the conflicts between the leads to hurt as much as they did. For all we are told of the sweetness of Will, mostly through flashbacks, and in a few quiet one-on-one moments, he did and said some pretty unforgivable things to keep up his “straight” pretense; and while I appreciated some of the lightbulb moments on Ollie's side, some of which I agreed with and others I think just created so Will wasn't made out to be, like, a villain, it was still pretty unbalanced between them. Actions speak louder, sure, but words are still hurtful af.
That emotional backbone, I mentioned? Well, it was emotional. And while there were times I disliked both of Ollie's parents, I think in the context, some of it is forgivable. And in that same vein, it was nice to see a story like this were a teen is facing hardship and not resentful about it. Which, I mean, would be a completely valid thing but it was nice that this book didn't lean too hard into that potential for angst. There was plenty as it was.
So, yes, not quite the lighthearted-adorable-this-was-everything that I wanted, but this was diverse, and queer, and I know that plus the adorable cover is going to make this a hit for so many readers.
** I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **
---
This review can also be found at A Take From Two Cities.
If you're picking this one up hoping to see some Grease references, you'll be pretty happy, I think. They weren't overdone, it didn't stick to the script half as closely as I expected, and it ended up being very much it's own thing — with it's own emotional backbone to set it apart — but you don't need to go hunting too hard to see some parallels. Though I'm still waiting to understand the Clueless connection, so, fair warning for that comparison.
That said, it was also kind of hard to read at times, too. I definitely didn't expect the conflicts between the leads to hurt as much as they did. For all we are told of the sweetness of Will, mostly through flashbacks, and in a few quiet one-on-one moments, he did and said some pretty unforgivable things to keep up his “straight” pretense; and while I appreciated some of the lightbulb moments on Ollie's side, some of which I agreed with and others I think just created so Will wasn't made out to be, like, a villain, it was still pretty unbalanced between them. Actions speak louder, sure, but words are still hurtful af.
That emotional backbone, I mentioned? Well, it was emotional. And while there were times I disliked both of Ollie's parents, I think in the context, some of it is forgivable. And in that same vein, it was nice to see a story like this were a teen is facing hardship and not resentful about it. Which, I mean, would be a completely valid thing but it was nice that this book didn't lean too hard into that potential for angst. There was plenty as it was.
So, yes, not quite the lighthearted-adorable-this-was-everything that I wanted, but this was diverse, and queer, and I know that plus the adorable cover is going to make this a hit for so many readers.
** I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **
---
This review can also be found at A Take From Two Cities.
March 2, 2020
Ollie Di Fiore is happy and secure in his sexuality. As his favourite Aunt Linda points out he has a supportive family, great friends, and a wonderful school. He doesn't even know how easy his coming out was compared to other people's. Ollie and his family spend their summer at a lake in North Carolina, and this is where he meets and falls in love with Will- 'sweet, thoughtful, and respectful' Will. Then suddenly Will starts ignoring Ollie's texts and it's clear whatever undefined relationship they had is over.
Aunt Linda's health gets worse, and she can definitely do with her family support and Ollie's babysitting while she is doing her chemotherapy. Ollie's parents decide to move to North Carolina for a year and Ollie has to start a new school. Daunting as it is, it has its advantages. He can make new friends, or enemies, he can be anything he wants to be- self-assured, confident, relaxed. When he meets cool and super-friendly Juliette, Lara, and Niamh, Ollie quickly finds himself sharing confidences with them, including the photo of his summer fling, only to find out that they do know Will better than he could have imagined, because Will is the vice-captain of their school basketball team.
A happy coincidence? More likely a recipe for heartbreak when you take into consideration that Will isn't out and even worse likes to share a homophobic joke or two with his jock friends. And yes, he keeps ignoring Ollie, until one afternoon he drags Ollie into a closet to have a face-to-face talk to clear the things out.
I really liked Ollie. The situation he is in is actually very relatable, if you've ever been in love with somebody who needs to work their feelings out at their own pace (on positive side) or anybody who was somehow unavailable and wanted to keep your relationship 'secret'/'private' no matter what you wanted or how much it hurt you (the worst case scenario, but yes, I've been there and many other people also have). It is easy to get blinded by heartbreak, embarrassment, or anger, and sometimes it is healthier to walk away. Other times it is important to look carefully and objectively whether the other person is trying and whether your situations are compatible.
Ollie goes through extremely difficult time in this book and my heart was going to him. At the end of the day he is right we need to cherish people around us, because we might not have much time with them, which doesn't cancel our happy, loving experiences.
Entertaining, moving, and even heart-breaking at times, Only Mostly Devastated is a sweet story with intersting characters and relatable emotional dilemmas.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Wednesday Books for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
Aunt Linda's health gets worse, and she can definitely do with her family support and Ollie's babysitting while she is doing her chemotherapy. Ollie's parents decide to move to North Carolina for a year and Ollie has to start a new school. Daunting as it is, it has its advantages. He can make new friends, or enemies, he can be anything he wants to be- self-assured, confident, relaxed. When he meets cool and super-friendly Juliette, Lara, and Niamh, Ollie quickly finds himself sharing confidences with them, including the photo of his summer fling, only to find out that they do know Will better than he could have imagined, because Will is the vice-captain of their school basketball team.
A happy coincidence? More likely a recipe for heartbreak when you take into consideration that Will isn't out and even worse likes to share a homophobic joke or two with his jock friends. And yes, he keeps ignoring Ollie, until one afternoon he drags Ollie into a closet to have a face-to-face talk to clear the things out.
I really liked Ollie. The situation he is in is actually very relatable, if you've ever been in love with somebody who needs to work their feelings out at their own pace (on positive side) or anybody who was somehow unavailable and wanted to keep your relationship 'secret'/'private' no matter what you wanted or how much it hurt you (the worst case scenario, but yes, I've been there and many other people also have). It is easy to get blinded by heartbreak, embarrassment, or anger, and sometimes it is healthier to walk away. Other times it is important to look carefully and objectively whether the other person is trying and whether your situations are compatible.
Ollie goes through extremely difficult time in this book and my heart was going to him. At the end of the day he is right we need to cherish people around us, because we might not have much time with them, which doesn't cancel our happy, loving experiences.
Entertaining, moving, and even heart-breaking at times, Only Mostly Devastated is a sweet story with intersting characters and relatable emotional dilemmas.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Wednesday Books for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
December 9, 2019
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
As soon as I heard “inspired by Grease” – well . . . . . .
Much like the band TLC I will fully admit I ain’t too proud to beg either and did everything in my power to acquire an early copy of this one. And as soon as Ollie started his new school only to run into his summer lovin’ Will who totally pulled a Danny Zuko with his popular basketball buddies by saying he spent his summer just . . . . .
You know this old lady was like . . . . .
Only Mostly Devastated was everything I wanted it to be. It totally had a Simon vs. the Homosapiens Agenda vibe as the blurb promised (not so sure about the Clueless namedrop – not really accurate and it wasn’t even necessary when the book is a guaranteed winner like this one), Will totally had some legit reasons for being a bit of a turd, Ollie was a great/understanding friend, but not afraid to use his words and was unwilling to be a doormat just to make someone else’s life easier, there was just enough teenage drama, and of course it all culminated ♪♫♪at the high school dance, where you can find romance, maybe it might be loooooooove♪♫♪.
I ate this sucker up . . . . .
Highly recommended.
Endless thanks to Wednesday Books for the early copy. You got me feeling all . . . .
Rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong
Shoo-bop sha wadda wadda yippity boom de boom
Chang chang changitty chang sha-bop
Dip da-dip da-dip doo-wop da doo-bee doo
Boogedy boogedy boogedy boogedy
Shoo-be doo-wop she-bop
Sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na yippity dip de doom
Wop ba-ba lu-mop and wop bam boom!
As soon as I heard “inspired by Grease” – well . . . . . .
Much like the band TLC I will fully admit I ain’t too proud to beg either and did everything in my power to acquire an early copy of this one. And as soon as Ollie started his new school only to run into his summer lovin’ Will who totally pulled a Danny Zuko with his popular basketball buddies by saying he spent his summer just . . . . .
You know this old lady was like . . . . .
Only Mostly Devastated was everything I wanted it to be. It totally had a Simon vs. the Homosapiens Agenda vibe as the blurb promised (not so sure about the Clueless namedrop – not really accurate and it wasn’t even necessary when the book is a guaranteed winner like this one), Will totally had some legit reasons for being a bit of a turd, Ollie was a great/understanding friend, but not afraid to use his words and was unwilling to be a doormat just to make someone else’s life easier, there was just enough teenage drama, and of course it all culminated ♪♫♪at the high school dance, where you can find romance, maybe it might be loooooooove♪♫♪.
I ate this sucker up . . . . .
Highly recommended.
Endless thanks to Wednesday Books for the early copy. You got me feeling all . . . .
Rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong
Shoo-bop sha wadda wadda yippity boom de boom
Chang chang changitty chang sha-bop
Dip da-dip da-dip doo-wop da doo-bee doo
Boogedy boogedy boogedy boogedy
Shoo-be doo-wop she-bop
Sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na yippity dip de doom
Wop ba-ba lu-mop and wop bam boom!
April 3, 2020
4.5 Stars
TW: Homophobia, Illness/death, fat shaming, coming out
Really enjoyed this book so much! I really want to go rewatch Grease now! I did a full non spoiler reading vlog on this book which you can check out here: https://youtu.be/FB5TxnKAy4I
TW: Homophobia, Illness/death, fat shaming, coming out
Really enjoyed this book so much! I really want to go rewatch Grease now! I did a full non spoiler reading vlog on this book which you can check out here: https://youtu.be/FB5TxnKAy4I
September 4, 2019
{"The catch is, girls have to ask guys," Matt added.
Huh. Seemed pretty heteronormative. And what if a girl wanted to ask a girl? Or otherwise.}
THIS BOOK!
It is such an important story and brings up such valid topics, such as the quote above. Honestly, I went into this with expectations of having a good time and just rooting for all the gays. And I got that, but I also got so much more out of this book. The writing was also amazing. It was smart and funny and I adored every word on these pages.
We follow Ollie and Will, two boys who had a summer fling together. Ollie was supposed to just spend the summer in North Carolina and then go back home to California. Unfortunately, Ollie's aunt's health took a bad turn, so he ended up staying in NC. Little did he know, he would be going to the same school as Will. Which, Ollie should be over the moon happy about that, right? Except there's just one problem. Will isn't out to everyone yet. In fact, the only person who knows he's gay is Ollie.
Ollie ends up meeting some friends, which I grew to love his friend group, and by the end of the book I so wished I could have been friends with them, too. Niamh, Lara and Juliette were loyal to Ollie and to each other. They were also very passionate about their personal hobbies, with Juliette wanting to go to college for music, Niamh wanting to be a plus sized model, and Lara for just wanting to be her true self and to be happy in life. Ollie also ended up joining a band, but we didn't really get to see much of the other band members, and I kind of wished we had. But, to be fair, it's because I was thrilled that Ollie was able to join a band because he has such a passion for music and once upon a time, I, too, had a passion for music. I basically lived and breathed music for years, from the time I woke up every day until I went to sleep. So, not a big deal, but still something I wished we saw more interactions from. Also, Ollie's friends from California were barely mentioned and I honestly forgot all about them until the end of the book when he brought them up again. I also kind of wish they were a little more relevant to the story. But, again, not really a big deal.
So, Oliver dealt with some shit and then some. I saw myself in his character and I was rooting for him the entire time. Honestly, he took so much shit from everyone but still stuck by their side because that's who he is. And I am the same exact way, no matter who the person is or what they've done to me. I blame this on me being a Hufflepuff, but I'm proud to be one, so really, it's all good! I did appreciate that Ollie did try to grow a backbone and put himself first.
Okay, so speaking of Ollie trying to grow a backbone, I'd like to take some time to talk about the point in this story that sealed it as being my favorite book of this year. Yes, I'm calling it. I truly don't think anything else will be able to top Only Mostly Devastated. There was a point in this story where Ollie and Lara were talking about how the people they care about the most have wronged them and how they just need to move on because they both deserve better.
And, honestly, this just resonated throughout my entire soul? Like, that sounds dramatic, but I truly don't know any other way to put it. Without getting too deep, I've been going through some things with my mental health and I keep trying to tell myself that I deserve better and that I need to learn better self-care. But, because I'm super fucking loyal when it comes to those that I care the most about, it's easier said than done for me. So, when this quote that Ollie said came up, I just sat there and cried for a few minutes.
{"Maybe I hadn't spent enough time wondering when my needs would start to really matter to me."}
That quote right there hit me in so many ways.
Only Mostly Devastated is full of POC characters, bi characters, gays, friendships, family love, happy moments, sad moments, sappy moments, cute af moments, moments that will make you want to tear your hair out in frustration, dramatic moments, and flawed characters but real and authentic ones. Ollie and Will both learned from their mistakes and realized how selfish they were both being to each other. They both tried to understand each other's side of things and it was pretty great. For me, this is what made their relationship work and be perfect in their own way. But, seriously, Lara's character growth is one that I loved so much. I could not stand her in the beginning of the book, but she eventually learned from her mistakes and became a better person.
{"I didn't want to talk about this. I thought I was fine."
"Yeah, fine as a man who's been gently corrected on the internet," Lara said, crossing one leg over the other.}
I can't thank Sophie Gonzales enough for taking the time to bring this absolute perfection of a story together. For being able to share this story for those who need it the most.
I cannot wait for y'all to be able to read this story and hopefully love it as much as I did. It's a story about hope and caring about those whom you love while also not losing yourself in the process. It's a story about friendship and for always sticking together through the best and worst of times. It's a story you do not want to miss out on. I already plan on owning multiple copies of this book. (ARC, hardcover, and eventually the paperback edition) Because, as you know, there's no such thing as owning too many copies of your favorite books, right?
I would like to thank Lexi at St. Martin's Press for reaching out to me and providing me with an ARC. It's very much appreciated and cherished.
Quotes above are taken from an ARC copy and are subject to change upon the finished edition.
Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales is set to release in March 2020.
Trigger warnings for: Accidental outing, fat shaming, homophobia, cancer, loss of a loved one.
----------------------
I'm only mostly devastated that this book comes out in 2020 and we still haven't invented time machines.
Look, a book loving bitch is impatient so I'm just gonna go crawl in my cave now and y'all can wake me up in 2020 when this book is released!!!
Huh. Seemed pretty heteronormative. And what if a girl wanted to ask a girl? Or otherwise.}
THIS BOOK!
It is such an important story and brings up such valid topics, such as the quote above. Honestly, I went into this with expectations of having a good time and just rooting for all the gays. And I got that, but I also got so much more out of this book. The writing was also amazing. It was smart and funny and I adored every word on these pages.
We follow Ollie and Will, two boys who had a summer fling together. Ollie was supposed to just spend the summer in North Carolina and then go back home to California. Unfortunately, Ollie's aunt's health took a bad turn, so he ended up staying in NC. Little did he know, he would be going to the same school as Will. Which, Ollie should be over the moon happy about that, right? Except there's just one problem. Will isn't out to everyone yet. In fact, the only person who knows he's gay is Ollie.
Ollie ends up meeting some friends, which I grew to love his friend group, and by the end of the book I so wished I could have been friends with them, too. Niamh, Lara and Juliette were loyal to Ollie and to each other. They were also very passionate about their personal hobbies, with Juliette wanting to go to college for music, Niamh wanting to be a plus sized model, and Lara for just wanting to be her true self and to be happy in life. Ollie also ended up joining a band, but we didn't really get to see much of the other band members, and I kind of wished we had. But, to be fair, it's because I was thrilled that Ollie was able to join a band because he has such a passion for music and once upon a time, I, too, had a passion for music. I basically lived and breathed music for years, from the time I woke up every day until I went to sleep. So, not a big deal, but still something I wished we saw more interactions from. Also, Ollie's friends from California were barely mentioned and I honestly forgot all about them until the end of the book when he brought them up again. I also kind of wish they were a little more relevant to the story. But, again, not really a big deal.
So, Oliver dealt with some shit and then some. I saw myself in his character and I was rooting for him the entire time. Honestly, he took so much shit from everyone but still stuck by their side because that's who he is. And I am the same exact way, no matter who the person is or what they've done to me. I blame this on me being a Hufflepuff, but I'm proud to be one, so really, it's all good! I did appreciate that Ollie did try to grow a backbone and put himself first.
Okay, so speaking of Ollie trying to grow a backbone, I'd like to take some time to talk about the point in this story that sealed it as being my favorite book of this year. Yes, I'm calling it. I truly don't think anything else will be able to top Only Mostly Devastated. There was a point in this story where Ollie and Lara were talking about how the people they care about the most have wronged them and how they just need to move on because they both deserve better.
And, honestly, this just resonated throughout my entire soul? Like, that sounds dramatic, but I truly don't know any other way to put it. Without getting too deep, I've been going through some things with my mental health and I keep trying to tell myself that I deserve better and that I need to learn better self-care. But, because I'm super fucking loyal when it comes to those that I care the most about, it's easier said than done for me. So, when this quote that Ollie said came up, I just sat there and cried for a few minutes.
{"Maybe I hadn't spent enough time wondering when my needs would start to really matter to me."}
That quote right there hit me in so many ways.
Only Mostly Devastated is full of POC characters, bi characters, gays, friendships, family love, happy moments, sad moments, sappy moments, cute af moments, moments that will make you want to tear your hair out in frustration, dramatic moments, and flawed characters but real and authentic ones. Ollie and Will both learned from their mistakes and realized how selfish they were both being to each other. They both tried to understand each other's side of things and it was pretty great. For me, this is what made their relationship work and be perfect in their own way. But, seriously, Lara's character growth is one that I loved so much. I could not stand her in the beginning of the book, but she eventually learned from her mistakes and became a better person.
{"I didn't want to talk about this. I thought I was fine."
"Yeah, fine as a man who's been gently corrected on the internet," Lara said, crossing one leg over the other.}
I can't thank Sophie Gonzales enough for taking the time to bring this absolute perfection of a story together. For being able to share this story for those who need it the most.
I cannot wait for y'all to be able to read this story and hopefully love it as much as I did. It's a story about hope and caring about those whom you love while also not losing yourself in the process. It's a story about friendship and for always sticking together through the best and worst of times. It's a story you do not want to miss out on. I already plan on owning multiple copies of this book. (ARC, hardcover, and eventually the paperback edition) Because, as you know, there's no such thing as owning too many copies of your favorite books, right?
I would like to thank Lexi at St. Martin's Press for reaching out to me and providing me with an ARC. It's very much appreciated and cherished.
Quotes above are taken from an ARC copy and are subject to change upon the finished edition.
Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales is set to release in March 2020.
Trigger warnings for: Accidental outing, fat shaming, homophobia, cancer, loss of a loved one.
----------------------
I'm only mostly devastated that this book comes out in 2020 and we still haven't invented time machines.
Look, a book loving bitch is impatient so I'm just gonna go crawl in my cave now and y'all can wake me up in 2020 when this book is released!!!
November 20, 2022
Bardzo słodkie, bardzo przyjemne, kocham Olliego i to, że umiał pokazać „pazura” gdy było to potrzebne.
Poza tym oczywiście ważne tematy: coming out, żałoba oraz jak radzić sobie z heterobyczkami.
Ocena: 4,0. aleee myślę, aby dodać jeszcze połówkę🤨
Poza tym oczywiście ważne tematy: coming out, żałoba oraz jak radzić sobie z heterobyczkami.
Ocena: 4,0. aleee myślę, aby dodać jeszcze połówkę🤨
December 5, 2022
To była naprawdę niesamowicie przyjemna młodzieżówka, która dostarczyła mi wiele emocji i była rozrywką. Brakowało mi Sophie Gonzales
December 8, 2020
Hmmm, I'm at a bit of a loss with this one. For two reasons:
1. The blurb.
When a blurb touts a book as "This Bestseller and That Bestseller meet T'Other Bestseller!!!" it passes my glazed eyes without registering. Because usually that's marketing bullshit, and at least 99% wrong. Thus, I went into this book oblivious to the fact that one of the comparisons made is to Grease.
Which is apparently, like, a cultural phenomenon? A Thing that people are into? That they squee over? That makes them want to read this book, because, wow, Grease!?? If so, I feel weirdly unqualified to write a review, because I saw the movie when it was first released, and that was, shall we say, a long time ago. Also, I hated it, so I've never thought about it again in all the years since.
So if you've reading this because you're excited to see the parallels between this book and Grease explored -- well, you've come to the wrong review. Consider yourself forewarned, so you can bail out now and save yourself the disappointment.
2. The fluff.
It's being marketed as YA, with MCs who are seniors in high school -- therefore 17-19 years old -- yet they read much younger than that. I had to keep reminding myself they were 18-ish, but it never did stick, because they felt 15-ish to me. Ollie, the 1st-person narrator, comes across as someone very innocent and chaste who never never even dreams of, say, peeking at internet porn. It's as if he doesn't even know it exists. And maybe in the book's world, it doesn't.
The book's world is not the real world, in more ways than that. The public high school setting in "nowhere" North Carolina, smack-dab in the middle of the Bible Belt, is an airbrushed version of reality, where a gay kid gets absolutely no harassment whatsoever from his peers. Not a single slur is heard. Everything is just sweetness and light.
Huh. I lived in the Bible Belt for almost 20 years (rural Virginia, not NC), and unfortunately the real-life version of it is vastly nastier. And Ollie's parents never even acknowledged that they were dragging him back into the closet by moving to NC, never once checked with him on how things were going in this new (and in real life, vicious) environment -- which in my eyes is practically tantamount to child abuse.
So it's difficult for me to see this book as anything other than fluffy, fluffy fantasy. I'd say the target audience should be young teens. The younger and more innocent, the better. I can't see it resonating with older teens, unless they're specifically looking for escapist fluff.
My two caveats leave me unsure of how to rate this. I recognize I have a tendency to over-star LGBTQ+ YA books. I'm just so damned grateful they exist. So I really waaaaaaant to give it 4 stars. It's well written. Ollie is feisty and thoughtful and thoughtless and fairly convincing as a kid who's in the process of growing up into an interesting person. The love interest, Will, is obnoxious and spoiled and sensitive and insensitive and maybe could be an interesting person himself someday.
But I couldn't get invested in them as a couple -- possibly because of how they came across as 15 rather than 18. If this had been Ollie's coming-of-age story, rather than a romance, it would have suited me more. If he'd fallen in love, and it hadn't worked out, lesson learned, and life goes on, I think it would have made for a better story.
Three stars is a rating more in line with my reading experience. But given that the book isn't due to come out for another 2 months (this is an ARC I won in a Goodreads giveaway, without any obligation to write a review), I'm going to hold off on giving a rating for now. I'll just mull it over some more, aka procrastinate, and decide on the star rating later.
1. The blurb.
When a blurb touts a book as "This Bestseller and That Bestseller meet T'Other Bestseller!!!" it passes my glazed eyes without registering. Because usually that's marketing bullshit, and at least 99% wrong. Thus, I went into this book oblivious to the fact that one of the comparisons made is to Grease.
Which is apparently, like, a cultural phenomenon? A Thing that people are into? That they squee over? That makes them want to read this book, because, wow, Grease!?? If so, I feel weirdly unqualified to write a review, because I saw the movie when it was first released, and that was, shall we say, a long time ago. Also, I hated it, so I've never thought about it again in all the years since.
So if you've reading this because you're excited to see the parallels between this book and Grease explored -- well, you've come to the wrong review. Consider yourself forewarned, so you can bail out now and save yourself the disappointment.
2. The fluff.
It's being marketed as YA, with MCs who are seniors in high school -- therefore 17-19 years old -- yet they read much younger than that. I had to keep reminding myself they were 18-ish, but it never did stick, because they felt 15-ish to me. Ollie, the 1st-person narrator, comes across as someone very innocent and chaste who never never even dreams of, say, peeking at internet porn. It's as if he doesn't even know it exists. And maybe in the book's world, it doesn't.
The book's world is not the real world, in more ways than that. The public high school setting in "nowhere" North Carolina, smack-dab in the middle of the Bible Belt, is an airbrushed version of reality, where a gay kid gets absolutely no harassment whatsoever from his peers. Not a single slur is heard. Everything is just sweetness and light.
Huh. I lived in the Bible Belt for almost 20 years (rural Virginia, not NC), and unfortunately the real-life version of it is vastly nastier. And Ollie's parents never even acknowledged that they were dragging him back into the closet by moving to NC, never once checked with him on how things were going in this new (and in real life, vicious) environment -- which in my eyes is practically tantamount to child abuse.
So it's difficult for me to see this book as anything other than fluffy, fluffy fantasy. I'd say the target audience should be young teens. The younger and more innocent, the better. I can't see it resonating with older teens, unless they're specifically looking for escapist fluff.
My two caveats leave me unsure of how to rate this. I recognize I have a tendency to over-star LGBTQ+ YA books. I'm just so damned grateful they exist. So I really waaaaaaant to give it 4 stars. It's well written. Ollie is feisty and thoughtful and thoughtless and fairly convincing as a kid who's in the process of growing up into an interesting person. The love interest, Will, is obnoxious and spoiled and sensitive and insensitive and maybe could be an interesting person himself someday.
But I couldn't get invested in them as a couple -- possibly because of how they came across as 15 rather than 18. If this had been Ollie's coming-of-age story, rather than a romance, it would have suited me more. If he'd fallen in love, and it hadn't worked out, lesson learned, and life goes on, I think it would have made for a better story.
Three stars is a rating more in line with my reading experience. But given that the book isn't due to come out for another 2 months (this is an ARC I won in a Goodreads giveaway, without any obligation to write a review), I'm going to hold off on giving a rating for now. I'll just mull it over some more, aka procrastinate, and decide on the star rating later.
October 29, 2021
*4.5*
Qué bellos son los retellings lgbt de vaselina me cae.
No necesito más que me digan que un libro trata sobre una pareja que tuvo un romance de verano y que, empezando el año escolar, se vuelven a encontrar y que esto no es como se lo esperaban ambos. Vaselina es una de mis historias favoritas y Only Mostly Devastated me pareció una reinterpretación muy bien lograda.
Desde el inicio supe que este libro me iba a encantar. Los pequeños guiños a la historia general fueron muy bien introducidos en el libro. Las pink ladies (Juliette, Niehm y Lara) me encantaron como protagonistas. Cada una de ellas es tan diferente pero todas aportan algo muy especial a la historia y los T-Birds (Darnell y Matt) siento que hicieron un buen trabajo mostrando la otra cara de la moneda.
No lo voy a negar, el romance entre Will y Ollie me fue muy swoon-worthy. Me encantaron los flashbacks al verano y ver como en el presente iban progresando poco a poco a pesar de los muchos obstáculos con los que se encontraron, Se sintió muy realista su situación y los sentimientos de ambos me parecieron muy bien explorados y son totalmente validos. Hay capas, muchas, y me gustó como Sophie Gonzalez fue explorando cada una de ellas.
Algo que me sorprendió para bien de este libro es que, aunque parezca, no es solamente un romancE más. Tiene una profundidad que disfrute bastante, debido a que uno de los tema que trata me parece sumamente importante. En este libro se trata mucho el tema sobre que no todo el mundo esta listo para salir del closet, y que cada quien lo hace a su paso. Puede que eso afecte a alguien que se encuentre en una relación esa persona, pero que hay que saber ser empáticos ya que no todos tienen las mismas oportunidades, la misma familia, que uno, y la situación de Will me pegó justo donde debía.
Sophie Gonzalez se posicionó rápidamente como una de las autoras de las que quiero leer siempre, porque este trabajo, para ser su debut, me pareció extraordinario. Lindo, importante y divertido. Se nota que es alguien quien sabe escribir una buena historia.
Qué bellos son los retellings lgbt de vaselina me cae.
No necesito más que me digan que un libro trata sobre una pareja que tuvo un romance de verano y que, empezando el año escolar, se vuelven a encontrar y que esto no es como se lo esperaban ambos. Vaselina es una de mis historias favoritas y Only Mostly Devastated me pareció una reinterpretación muy bien lograda.
Desde el inicio supe que este libro me iba a encantar. Los pequeños guiños a la historia general fueron muy bien introducidos en el libro. Las pink ladies (Juliette, Niehm y Lara) me encantaron como protagonistas. Cada una de ellas es tan diferente pero todas aportan algo muy especial a la historia y los T-Birds (Darnell y Matt) siento que hicieron un buen trabajo mostrando la otra cara de la moneda.
No lo voy a negar, el romance entre Will y Ollie me fue muy swoon-worthy. Me encantaron los flashbacks al verano y ver como en el presente iban progresando poco a poco a pesar de los muchos obstáculos con los que se encontraron, Se sintió muy realista su situación y los sentimientos de ambos me parecieron muy bien explorados y son totalmente validos. Hay capas, muchas, y me gustó como Sophie Gonzalez fue explorando cada una de ellas.
Algo que me sorprendió para bien de este libro es que, aunque parezca, no es solamente un romancE más. Tiene una profundidad que disfrute bastante, debido a que uno de los tema que trata me parece sumamente importante. En este libro se trata mucho el tema sobre que no todo el mundo esta listo para salir del closet, y que cada quien lo hace a su paso. Puede que eso afecte a alguien que se encuentre en una relación esa persona, pero que hay que saber ser empáticos ya que no todos tienen las mismas oportunidades, la misma familia, que uno, y la situación de Will me pegó justo donde debía.
Sophie Gonzalez se posicionó rápidamente como una de las autoras de las que quiero leer siempre, porque este trabajo, para ser su debut, me pareció extraordinario. Lindo, importante y divertido. Se nota que es alguien quien sabe escribir una buena historia.
October 25, 2020
I watched Grease in preparation, and it was so bad I new this book can only be better.
Boy, I was right!
It's a quick and enjoyable read, while deals with grief in a fucking realistic way. Representation on point.
I love when gay stories have this quote,
because duh, that's the whole point.
Well, this pretty much describes my 4 years of high school.
Also, Lara is my spirit animal, and she is literally me in high school but bi.
and
makes me scream. I have never seen myself in a character this perfectly before.
Like, that's how it started for me, too. Then I realized, shit, I actually want to do this without alcohol, and my Renee was actually my first love.
Although most of the time I felt like it would be better if the main couple stayed friends, I grew to love them at the end.
Boy, I was right!
It's a quick and enjoyable read, while deals with grief in a fucking realistic way. Representation on point.
I love when gay stories have this quote,
“I wasn’t even thinking straight.”
because duh, that's the whole point.
“me, gay, what? Nah, that’s just a side effect of alcohol. Blurry vision, inability to walk straight, sudden insatiable desire to undress other girls. Wait, that doesn’t happen to everyone? Weird.”
Well, this pretty much describes my 4 years of high school.
Also, Lara is my spirit animal, and she is literally me in high school but bi.
“Lara kisses girls sometimes when she’s drunk,”
and
“Also, I don’t kiss ‘girls’ plural. Just Renee. We have a symbiotic relationship.”
makes me scream. I have never seen myself in a character this perfectly before.
Like, that's how it started for me, too. Then I realized, shit, I actually want to do this without alcohol, and my Renee was actually my first love.
Although most of the time I felt like it would be better if the main couple stayed friends, I grew to love them at the end.
September 12, 2022
Sophie Gonzales pisze tak dobrze, że mogłabym czytać jej listę zakupów.
TW śmierć, queerf0bia, wyoutowanie bez zgody, choroba
TW śmierć, queerf0bia, wyoutowanie bez zgody, choroba
January 27, 2023
alex and henry if they attended public highschool
May 19, 2021
Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
OUT OF FIVE
Cuteness: 100000000
Plot: 4
Character development: 3.5
If I am to describe this book in one word it'll be "adorable"
This book is just what I needed after a stressful exam...Its cute, fluffy, funny and heartwarming.
Its just one of the funniest things ever
This book discusses a lot of important issues such as homophobia, toxic masculinity, fear of coming out, body shaming and so many others. It is also diverse.
Let us begin this, shall we?
This book starts with Ollie(the main character) and Will (the love interest) who both met in the summer by the lake (romanticcccc!) and for Ollie it was love at first sight or should I say first swim. Will was literarily perfect, he was kind, sweet and gentle. Ollie felt he had finally found his one true love. However, when summer is about to end and Ollie has to leave for his hometown, he is devastated, well, only mostly devastated(hehehe).
Plot twist, he didn't have to go anymore, Will refused to text him back and now he finds out that he and Will would attend the same school. Yup, he would find out first hand how bad things can get when the love of your life might not really be the love of your life!
Starting this book I thought it was basically your classic boy meets boy, they fall in love and live happily ever after?? story
However, that's not the case as one of them is not out. What could be more terrible than that? Nothing, except that this love interest begins to avoid the main character and laugh at mean jokes made about him. That my friend is when shit begins to get real....
The question is will love prevail??
THE CHARACTERS
OLLIE: He's the cutest, most adorable character ever. He's our ridiculous MC. Its so easy to fall in love with him with his jumbled thoughts and overthinking. Ollie is gay and very well out, he finds it a little difficult to fit in at his new school and let's just say Will wasn't making things any easier. We follow his adventures and misadventures throughout the book as he finds new friends, takes care of his cousins whose mom had cancer and tries but fails to stay away from Will.
WILL: He is the love interest. Yes, he is the jerk who is afraid to step up and tell Ollie how he feels. If you ask me though, he is probably the most relatable. At first I did not like him because he was such an asshole to Ollie but then I began to see that lowkey he's just scared of what his friends and family will think when they find out he is queer. The struggle is real and I know it!
One should not be forced to come out and I'm happy he wasn't pressured into it.
He however was not as sweet and gentle as Ollie thought, he is a literal class clown and he's also a basketball jock who has lots of friends and gets lots of recognition.
I think the author deserves credit for the writing style used in the book. She wrote it in such a way that you can not help but hate who Ollie hates and like who Ollie likes. The conversations weren't forced and the friendships seemed really genuine. It was easy to see things from Ollie's point of view. I cried when Ollie cried and laughed when Ollie laughed. I also loved how she addressed important issues, nothing was left out...Sophie was really thorough with this one!
THIS BOOK WAS EVERYTHING
Things I liked in the book
The characters (including Ollie's friends)
The writing style
The reality of the book!
How the book was resolved
THE CUTENESS
Things I did not like
I didn't like Will's friends, they were real shitty to Ollie...
The cheesy moments. That's to be expected in most contemporary books but I still had to call it out.
I really don't have much complaints. This book was spots on!
Over all, its an amazing book. Its a little predictable but who cares?! Its sweet and cute!
Do I recommend this? Yes, very much yes
Is it the best book ever? Probably not
Is it really good? Hell yeah
My reaction at the end:
OUT OF FIVE
Cuteness: 100000000
Plot: 4
Character development: 3.5
If I am to describe this book in one word it'll be "adorable"
This book is just what I needed after a stressful exam...Its cute, fluffy, funny and heartwarming.
Its just one of the funniest things ever
This book discusses a lot of important issues such as homophobia, toxic masculinity, fear of coming out, body shaming and so many others. It is also diverse.
Let us begin this, shall we?
This book starts with Ollie(the main character) and Will (the love interest) who both met in the summer by the lake (romanticcccc!) and for Ollie it was love at first sight or should I say first swim. Will was literarily perfect, he was kind, sweet and gentle. Ollie felt he had finally found his one true love. However, when summer is about to end and Ollie has to leave for his hometown, he is devastated, well, only mostly devastated(hehehe).
Plot twist, he didn't have to go anymore, Will refused to text him back and now he finds out that he and Will would attend the same school. Yup, he would find out first hand how bad things can get when the love of your life might not really be the love of your life!
Starting this book I thought it was basically your classic boy meets boy, they fall in love and live happily ever after?? story
However, that's not the case as one of them is not out. What could be more terrible than that? Nothing, except that this love interest begins to avoid the main character and laugh at mean jokes made about him. That my friend is when shit begins to get real....
The question is will love prevail??
THE CHARACTERS
OLLIE: He's the cutest, most adorable character ever. He's our ridiculous MC. Its so easy to fall in love with him with his jumbled thoughts and overthinking. Ollie is gay and very well out, he finds it a little difficult to fit in at his new school and let's just say Will wasn't making things any easier. We follow his adventures and misadventures throughout the book as he finds new friends, takes care of his cousins whose mom had cancer and tries but fails to stay away from Will.
WILL: He is the love interest. Yes, he is the jerk who is afraid to step up and tell Ollie how he feels. If you ask me though, he is probably the most relatable. At first I did not like him because he was such an asshole to Ollie but then I began to see that lowkey he's just scared of what his friends and family will think when they find out he is queer. The struggle is real and I know it!
One should not be forced to come out and I'm happy he wasn't pressured into it.
He however was not as sweet and gentle as Ollie thought, he is a literal class clown and he's also a basketball jock who has lots of friends and gets lots of recognition.
I think the author deserves credit for the writing style used in the book. She wrote it in such a way that you can not help but hate who Ollie hates and like who Ollie likes. The conversations weren't forced and the friendships seemed really genuine. It was easy to see things from Ollie's point of view. I cried when Ollie cried and laughed when Ollie laughed. I also loved how she addressed important issues, nothing was left out...Sophie was really thorough with this one!
THIS BOOK WAS EVERYTHING
Things I liked in the book
The characters (including Ollie's friends)
The writing style
The reality of the book!
How the book was resolved
THE CUTENESS
Things I did not like
I didn't like Will's friends, they were real shitty to Ollie...
The cheesy moments. That's to be expected in most contemporary books but I still had to call it out.
I really don't have much complaints. This book was spots on!
Over all, its an amazing book. Its a little predictable but who cares?! Its sweet and cute!
Do I recommend this? Yes, very much yes
Is it the best book ever? Probably not
Is it really good? Hell yeah
My reaction at the end:
September 29, 2019
Am I humming "Summer Nights" while I write this review?
Possibly.
Yes.
Only Mostly Devastated is a story about two boys who spend the summer falling in love only to have to say goodbye at the end of it all. But wait. SURPRISE! Ollie shows up as the new student at Will's school. Whoops.
Cue drama. Cue romance. Cue SUMMER NIGHTS.
Let me just start off by saying that, although I tried to lower them, my excitement and expectations for this book were very high. I mean look at that cover and that blurb! How could my expectations not be high! While this read was enjoyable and cute it, didn't quite do it for me like I was hoping.
Ollie was a joy to read. He was sassy and melodramatic, but in the ridiculously hilarious way all teenagers think that the world is going to end because they have a pimple (*whispers* I was said teenager). I loved Sophie Gonzales uses of italics as emphasis. I don't see a lot of authors do that and it really helped me hear the character's voices and their tones. While Ollie's inner monologues were fun I do think at times they were a little... much. So many jokes that it got a little repetitive. Will on the other hand was pretty flat to me. After reading 279 pages I still don't really feel like I know his personality let alone what he looks like, and I really like to know what characters look like.
I did really love the importance Sophie placed on family. The world today is so individualist and what can people do for you that it was nice to read about a family who dropped everything to be there for each other. I loved that Ollie was not once upset about the sacrifices he had to make to help out.
I read this book, and enjoyed it, but I wasn't consumed by it. The secondary characters were quirky and fun, but things just seemed a little flat. Surface level. It didn't give me the feels I was hoping for. It didn't stand out. I don't know something was just missing. Things happened but also nothing really happened? The foundation was there, and while it was a good one, there just needed to be more depth and sparkle.
In the end this was a quick, lighthearted read that's perfect for a beach day or a day laying in the park.
I really do think Sophie Gonzales has a lot of potential and I'm excited to see what she comes up with next.
**ARC provided by publisher in exchange for honest review. Thank you!
Possibly.
Yes.
Only Mostly Devastated is a story about two boys who spend the summer falling in love only to have to say goodbye at the end of it all. But wait. SURPRISE! Ollie shows up as the new student at Will's school. Whoops.
Cue drama. Cue romance. Cue SUMMER NIGHTS.
Let me just start off by saying that, although I tried to lower them, my excitement and expectations for this book were very high. I mean look at that cover and that blurb! How could my expectations not be high! While this read was enjoyable and cute it, didn't quite do it for me like I was hoping.
Ollie was a joy to read. He was sassy and melodramatic, but in the ridiculously hilarious way all teenagers think that the world is going to end because they have a pimple (*whispers* I was said teenager). I loved Sophie Gonzales uses of italics as emphasis. I don't see a lot of authors do that and it really helped me hear the character's voices and their tones. While Ollie's inner monologues were fun I do think at times they were a little... much. So many jokes that it got a little repetitive. Will on the other hand was pretty flat to me. After reading 279 pages I still don't really feel like I know his personality let alone what he looks like, and I really like to know what characters look like.
I did really love the importance Sophie placed on family. The world today is so individualist and what can people do for you that it was nice to read about a family who dropped everything to be there for each other. I loved that Ollie was not once upset about the sacrifices he had to make to help out.
I read this book, and enjoyed it, but I wasn't consumed by it. The secondary characters were quirky and fun, but things just seemed a little flat. Surface level. It didn't give me the feels I was hoping for. It didn't stand out. I don't know something was just missing. Things happened but also nothing really happened? The foundation was there, and while it was a good one, there just needed to be more depth and sparkle.
In the end this was a quick, lighthearted read that's perfect for a beach day or a day laying in the park.
I really do think Sophie Gonzales has a lot of potential and I'm excited to see what she comes up with next.
**ARC provided by publisher in exchange for honest review. Thank you!
May 27, 2020
3 stars
Only Mostly Devastated was such a cute read! I loved that it was inspired by Grease and the main character Ollie had a great voice. The audio book was fun to listen to and I never wanted to hit pause.
Ollie has a summer romance with a boy named Will. Ollie is from California and spends the summer on the east coast with family. Circumstances lead to him staying east for his senior year of high school only for him to find he's going to the same school as Will.
Will and Ollie's present romance is pretty much non-existent until the ending of the story. The only time we truly see them together and happy is the summer flashbacks. I do wish we had more time with them in the present developing their romance. And as much as I loved Ollie, I didn't love the way Will treated him throughout most of the book. I understood, but I still didn't like it.
Ollie's friends were fantastic. I loved this girl group he hung out with. I also loved his family. As light and fun as this story was, there were also a few harder hitting topics/moments and I feel like the author handled those well. Overall, I thought this was a cute and fun read and the ending had me swooning.
Only Mostly Devastated was such a cute read! I loved that it was inspired by Grease and the main character Ollie had a great voice. The audio book was fun to listen to and I never wanted to hit pause.
Ollie has a summer romance with a boy named Will. Ollie is from California and spends the summer on the east coast with family. Circumstances lead to him staying east for his senior year of high school only for him to find he's going to the same school as Will.
Will and Ollie's present romance is pretty much non-existent until the ending of the story. The only time we truly see them together and happy is the summer flashbacks. I do wish we had more time with them in the present developing their romance. And as much as I loved Ollie, I didn't love the way Will treated him throughout most of the book. I understood, but I still didn't like it.
Ollie's friends were fantastic. I loved this girl group he hung out with. I also loved his family. As light and fun as this story was, there were also a few harder hitting topics/moments and I feel like the author handled those well. Overall, I thought this was a cute and fun read and the ending had me swooning.
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