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trayslays's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Homophobia
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Car accident, and Grief
Minor: Alcoholism
amris's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Homophobia, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Child death, and Grief
enayqueerbooklover's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
This beautiful, emotional story hit all the right notes for me, and I read it in one sitting. Friends-to-lovers is one of my favourite tropes, and Sutton & Jasper’s connection was so powerful that it deeply affected me.
Swoon /5 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
Swoon /5 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
Angst /5 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺
Steam /5 ♨️♨️♨️♨️♨️
Plot /5 🧐🧐🧐🧐
LOLs /5 🤭🤭🤭🤭
Jasper & Sutton became friends when they were 5, in their small rural town. After Jasper’s parents & sister died in his early teens, they become even closer, as he spends a lot of time with Sutton’s family. When they leave school, they start a landscaping business together & live together. They’re basically inseparable. However, when Sutton realises that he’s bi & has always been in love with Jasper, he begins to withdraw from Jasper for his own well-being. He sees deep ingrained homophobia in Jasper’s family that makes him believe there could never be a happy ending for him. The angst is super-heavy at this point, and I had to put the book down a number of times due to buckets of tears, especially as we hear the internal pain from both Sutton & Jasper in the dual first person POV. It makes me choke up just thinking about it now…
Happily though, not long after this Jasper has his bi-awakening as well, and we see the perfection of their relationship. And the steam factor goes through the roof as the boys experiment with all their bisexual firsts with each other. Not only are they swoony-in-love, they’re fire between the sheets & we got ALL THE DETAILS. So. Very. Spicy.
While they are blissfully in love behind doors, coming out to family & friends in their small town is a challenge, especially with Jasper’s parents. And his own unrecognised & internalised homophobia painfully impacts Sutton & their relationship. While the majority of queer romance books focus to some extent on the struggles & homophobia associated with coming out, not all of them balance this with the joy of finding “the one”. This does it perfectly, and even with how traumatic the homophobic reactions are around them, you still feel uplifted by the beauty of their connection. Jasper & Sutton have left this happy bubble in my chest & a big book hangover that puts them firmly into my “best book boyfriends” collection.
Check out my reviews and MM content on Instagram, Threads, Facebook, Goodreads & Bookbub, all under the same name!
Jasper & Sutton became friends when they were 5, in their small rural town. After Jasper’s parents & sister died in his early teens, they become even closer, as he spends a lot of time with Sutton’s family. When they leave school, they start a landscaping business together & live together. They’re basically inseparable. However, when Sutton realises that he’s bi & has always been in love with Jasper, he begins to withdraw from Jasper for his own well-being. He sees deep ingrained homophobia in Jasper’s family that makes him believe there could never be a happy ending for him. The angst is super-heavy at this point, and I had to put the book down a number of times due to buckets of tears, especially as we hear the internal pain from both Sutton & Jasper in the dual first person POV. It makes me choke up just thinking about it now…
Happily though, not long after this Jasper has his bi-awakening as well, and we see the perfection of their relationship. And the steam factor goes through the roof as the boys experiment with all their bisexual firsts with each other. Not only are they swoony-in-love, they’re fire between the sheets & we got ALL THE DETAILS. So. Very. Spicy.
While they are blissfully in love behind doors, coming out to family & friends in their small town is a challenge, especially with Jasper’s parents. And his own unrecognised & internalised homophobia painfully impacts Sutton & their relationship. While the majority of queer romance books focus to some extent on the struggles & homophobia associated with coming out, not all of them balance this with the joy of finding “the one”. This does it perfectly, and even with how traumatic the homophobic reactions are around them, you still feel uplifted by the beauty of their connection. Jasper & Sutton have left this happy bubble in my chest & a big book hangover that puts them firmly into my “best book boyfriends” collection.
Check out my reviews and MM content on Instagram, Threads, Facebook, Goodreads & Bookbub, all under the same name!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Death of parent and Sexual content
redheadorganist's review
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Homophobia
Moderate: Violence
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