A review by isalaur
Just Friends by Saxon James
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
4.0
This is a sweet, low angst book where childhood best friends who were inseparable find their way back to each other in a new way.
Roo is epileptic and had seizures constantly throughout his childhood. Tanner, who suffers from dyslexia and the belief he is dumb, is his best friend who has constantly looked out for him. Roo last at 18 to go back to Australia with his parents to get the medical treatment he needed. Now he is back in Oregon five years later.
The story is very sweet. Roo has always been in love with Tanner and he knows he has to tell him and let the chips fall where they may because he can’t get over him which means he’ll never be able to move on. Tanner believes he is straight but he knows he can’t lose Roo again. The story of their struggles and their making their way to each other (in a way everyone around them already believed was true) is so sweet and hopeful.
I’m not a big fan of the miscommunication trope so there were points in the book where I was just yelling at the pages “just freaking talk to each other already!” but it’s a romance staple so I soldiered on. The hurt/comfort storylines were actually my favorite parts because of the depths of love and devotion they demonstrated.
The secondary characters play important roles which I always enjoy. There are lots of non-American English speaker vibes which get distracting as Tanner isn’t the Australian. There are a couple of elements that got thrown out but never fully addressed so I’m assuming we’ll see them again in future books. One intriguing one comes up at the end of the book and I’m quite curious.
An enjoyable one sitting read.
Roo is epileptic and had seizures constantly throughout his childhood. Tanner, who suffers from dyslexia and the belief he is dumb, is his best friend who has constantly looked out for him. Roo last at 18 to go back to Australia with his parents to get the medical treatment he needed. Now he is back in Oregon five years later.
The story is very sweet. Roo has always been in love with Tanner and he knows he has to tell him and let the chips fall where they may because he can’t get over him which means he’ll never be able to move on. Tanner believes he is straight but he knows he can’t lose Roo again. The story of their struggles and their making their way to each other (in a way everyone around them already believed was true) is so sweet and hopeful.
I’m not a big fan of the miscommunication trope so there were points in the book where I was just yelling at the pages “just freaking talk to each other already!” but it’s a romance staple so I soldiered on. The hurt/comfort storylines were actually my favorite parts because of the depths of love and devotion they demonstrated.
The secondary characters play important roles which I always enjoy. There are lots of non-American English speaker vibes which get distracting as Tanner isn’t the Australian. There are a couple of elements that got thrown out but never fully addressed so I’m assuming we’ll see them again in future books. One intriguing one comes up at the end of the book and I’m quite curious.
An enjoyable one sitting read.