Such a captivating story and the writing is fantastic. This book is about a boy finding himself and realising it's ok to be himself. Julia Lynn Rubin’s debut is fantastic and raw while being beautiful

Burro Hills, Julia Lynn Rubin’s fantastic debut, is raw, emotional, gripping, and angsty, yet also beautiful and romantic. The small California town of Burro Hills is a place where, seemingly, dreams go to die. Yet, Jack Burns is still somewhat of a dreamer, forever imagining a different, better life for himself and his best friend, Jess. Jack is sensitive and kind, a gentle soul who seems, in many ways, not cut out for the harsh realities of the world he lives in. A world filled with poverty and drugs; a world where his dad is a drunk and his mom is unreliable and inconsistent; a world where he’s wrapped up in his friend’s family drug dealing business, and he basically feels devoid of hope. But, his life changes drastically when Connor Orellana walks into it.

Connor shows up at school amidst rumors of fighting, drug use, and promiscuity; he’s all anyone can talk about. And Jack is immediately taken with him. I loved Jack’s initial reactions to Connor, and how we see him slowly start to realize what those reactions and thoughts mean.

Only a few months had gone by, and already it seemed like his name was on everyone’s lips, or at least, the people that ran in my circle. Connor Orellana, his imagined deeds ingrained into Burro Hills High School lore. The rest of them either whispered about him in the hallway or blew him off as another loser, a junkie or a deadbeat’s son like the rest of us. I was hopelessly intrigued.
I was also hopelessly intrigued with Connor. Rubin wrote him with the perfect balance of mystery and realness. He felt down-to-earth yet was also super impulsive and sort of a loose cannon. He kept me on my toes. And I loved how much he obviously adored Jack. Connor is unapologetic about who he is. He couldn’t give two shits about what anyone thinks of him, and as the story progresses, it becomes clear that he wishes Jack could be as fearless. But, Jack is scared. He’s scared to confront his friends and family about his quickly growing feelings for Connor.

I mentioned that the story was raw and angsty, and it truly is. With a definite Outsiders vibe, the book has this tinge of desperation permeating the pages. Jack’s relationship with his friend Toby is constantly on the verge of imploding, his home life is certainly far from ideal—yet he yearns for it to be the home he dreams of—and the fallout with his friend Jess is heart wrenching. Jack deals with his problems with alcohol and drugs, as do most of the characters in the story. This bit really stuck with me:

“Well, look who’s finally up,” Dad said. He spun in his chair to face me, and we locked eyes for a moment. Father and Son, two hungover, useless bastards. If someone had wanted to paint a portrait of our family lineage, this would’ve been a good place to start.
One thing in the book that definitely might have more sensitive readers clutching their pearls is the frequent and pervasive drug use. There is LOTS of drug use. But, unfortunately drugs are an even bigger part of reality for kids in high school now than they were when I was a kid, and I knew kids in high school who did a lot of drugs. Rubin pulls no punches in her storytelling, making for a very vivid picture of the world these teens inhabit.

As angsty as this story was, though, as I said earlier there were many beautiful moments, and the romance between Connor and Jack was incredibly sweet. I also loooved Jess, and her and Jack’s friendship. And, there were a few scenes between Jack and each of his parents, individually, that were so heartfelt and genuine.

Check this one out, guys. I was sucked in from the first page. And, that cover, amirite?!? Gorgeous. Definitely recommend this worthy debut.

Reviewed by Jules

True Rating: 3.5/5

I was given an eARC of this novel via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This review will be spoiler-free.

I'd like to get this out in the open right away: I was disappointed with this book. Now, this may have been partially my fault. I think I went into it with high expectations, hoping it would be similar to one of my favorite novels, "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Not that I wanted it to be the same plotline. Rather, I was just hoping it would hit me as hard as that novel had. I wanted this book to make me feel something, and it just didn't deliver.

Still, there were some great moments in this novel, which I'd like to point out before I go into the more negative aspects. The first great thing that I felt Rubin did exceptionally well was characterization. When it came to the main characters in this novel, they were all very unique from one another and easily recognizable. They all had personalities that made them feel incredibly realistic, and Rubin introduced them with some super quotable lines. A great example of this that happens close to the beginning of the novel is "She looked like a piece of candy, a bright, sunny popsicle." Another example that occurs a few lines later (about a different girl) is "Every time she spoke, it made me think of a wind-up toy, dizzy and spinning and squeaking." Most of the characterization in this novel is just as vivid as these two, and it gives you a great mental image of the characters and an understanding of their personalities in just a few short, beautifully worded lines.

Which leads me to the next thing Rubin did really well. It wasn't just the moments of characterization that were beautifully written. This was definitely a literary novel, filled with amazing, quotable writing that carried me through the story. Moments of imagery and world building were written in the same style as the characterization, and when those moments came about I was able to picture everything very clearly.

The third and final thing that I really enjoyed in this novel was the romance. I'm a sucker for a love story, and the moments that focused in on Jack (the main character) and Connor were my favorites. Although I wouldn't say their relationship was always the healthiest, it was very relatable and realistic, and added some great drama and tension to the story.

Unfortunately, a sense of overarching tension was definitely missing from this novel. While there were tense moments during each of the different plotlines that were going on throughout the book, there was never the sense of anything really being at stake. And I think this is a result of there not really being a story. Instead, it was a mishmash of different plotlines that didn't have much overlap, and none of the plotlines were focused on enough to develop them properly. Just as we were getting somewhere in the story about Jack and his friend Jess, the chapter ended and then we were focusing on Jack and Connor. But whenever things started to feel tense with them we jumped to the plotline focused on Jack and his relationship with his parents. If everything had pulled together in the end and related in some way, I might have forgiven this, but it really didn't. I got the sense that Rubin tried to make it all related, but she just didn't pull through, and the climax was very underwhelming for me because I didn't really care about any of the characters.

Other than that, the one big thing that sort of ruined the book for me was a scene that included sexual assault. There were actually a couple of scenes that included sexual assault, and one mention of attempted rape, so I'd also like to throw out that trigger warning for any potential readers. But the moment I'm talking about occurred in a flashback, between Jack when he was thirteen and a girl--no, a woman--who was in college at the time. Normally I don't have a problem with an author including sensitive subjects in their novels, so long as they have a purpose, but that was my exact issue with this instance. Not only was it sexual assault, but it was also statutory rape and could even be considered pedophilia on the woman's part, and the only purpose it seemed to serve was to show how gay Jack was because he didn't want to have sex with this hot college girl who was throwing herself at him. Maybe that wasn't Rubin's intention when she wrote the scene, but since the incident never came up again in the story or played any major roll in any plotline, I have to assume that was its intention, which is wrong on so many levels. It implies that a thirteen-year-old boy would have to be gay to not want to have sex with someone like that, and that's just not the case. It made me really uncomfortable, but thankfully it happened early in the novel and I was able to enjoy the rest of the book without letting it mar my reading experience too much.

All-in-all, there were some parts of this book that I really enjoyed, and others that weren't my cup of tea. I was actually considering giving it 3 stars instead of 3.5, but the romance was what made me give it that extra half of a star. Though I wish Rubin had given it the page time it deserved and spent more time developing it, what was there was fun to read and kept me pushing through the not-so-good parts of this book.

Though I wouldn't necessarily recommend this novel to anyone (because there's similar, better stories out there), I think it would appeal most to fans of Benjamin Alire Sáenz's books. However, anyone who is bothered or triggered by sexual assault/rape, slurs about sexuality, and/or detailed drug use might want to consider passing this book up.

This book is amazing! The characters and so real and the way they are written makes you connect with them. I think that this story is so important and will resonate with readers. I love the diversity in this book and the audience that it was written for.

This book is a little too angsty for me. I didn't like the characters or their dialog which made it hard to read. I'm not sure what I was expecting but I just didn't care for this one.

Jack and Connor

A heartbreaking story about young adult, living life in a small town, friendships, going to high school, a hard life... because circumstances are not for all well. Growing up in broken families. Experimenting with pills, drugs, sex and life.
The highs and lows of growing up. It isn't perfect but when there is love involved there is hope and light and sparkle.

When Jack sees Connor he feels something special and knows he can't ever tell his friends he has feelings for Connor and that he is gay.
The feelings between Jack and Connor is special only Jack wants to hide it. Until it can't be hide anymore. The other kids at school give him a awful time.

A hurtful story, my heart cracked many times. Life is hard on them... both have their baggage life given them... there are really heavy parts
Steady written story it didn't get weak at any point. Captivating and intriguing as hell.
Told from the lovely mind of Jack's. I loved it how Connor stood in their relationship, strong and confident and when Jack knows he has to come out, together they could face the world... The rawness of reality was hard but there was also the sweetness of undeniable love.
The way this story was told kept my in its spell from the first till the last page.

Not what I was expecting. Too much all at once. Had a really hard time getting into the story. Just not my cup of tea.

Whew. This was a tough book. It really, really pulled no punches, and it hit on a lot of issues in a short time. But it did it all really really well, and although it was tough to read, I think that it handled everything very well. I believe that it was described as similar to The Outsiders, but with actual LGBTQ characters instead of just subtext, and I think that it more than delivered. It's been a while since I read The Outsiders, but I do think that this had a similar, gritty tone, but was actually much more enjoyable and compelling to me.

At its core, this is about Jack coming to terms with himself, his sexuality, his family situation, and his goals for the future. And it is certainly not easy for him, because none of this stuff is easy. You really feel for him, and get quite invested. I was happy when he was happy, upset when he was upset, and frustrated when he kept making bad decisions. He's a flawed character, and the book doesn't gloss over that. But in the end he goes through a lot of growth and ends up in a place where he's starting to be at peace with himself and his relationships, and that's really something that everyone wants.

There's a lot going on, so I'll just hit on a few things I liked:
-Jack and Connor's relationship is really built on communication and mutual respect for each other. They do have fights, but they actually talk about their issues and listen to each other to figure out where the other one's coming from, and to an extent, they give each other room to deal with their own issues while providing support.
-I really liked the trajectory of Jack's relationship with his friend Jess. I also really like that Jack drunkenly sexually assaulting Jess at a party is a big deal, and is treated as such. It takes a major toll on their relationship and breaks the trust that she'd built up in him for years. Although in the end they begin to reconcile, Jess lets him have it, and lets him know that regardless of what he was going through, there was no excuse for it. And he actually listens and takes that in, which is what he should do. There were several examples of sexual assault in this book, and, while hard to read, I was glad that it showed that friends can hurt and assault each other, and that moving forward is possible. However, Jess kept her agency the whole time; she did choose to give Jack another chance to be her friend, but she made her boundaries clear and didn't mince words about how hurtful it was.
-As someone who has been in a same-sex relationship and kept it a secret, parts of the book about Jack and Connor's relationship as well as their conflict over whether and how long to keep it a secret were incredibly relatable to me.
-The book did not gloss over how LGBTQ teens still face a lot of bullying and harassment. I was super tense throughout large portions of the book because it was terrifying to imagine people going through that kind of harassment and violence, from strangers and even friends. Even more chilling was knowing that this isn't an uncommon experience for LGBTQ teens. It was tough to read, but it's an important reality of a lot of LGBTQ teens' lives, unfortunately.
-The book didn't place a premium on coming out as the ultimate signifier of being comfortable with one's identity. It is a point of conflict between Jack and Connor, and Jack does eventually come out to the whole school, as well as his mom, but although it is an important thing, it is not the entire culmination of Jack's growth as a character.
-There's nuance in the way that everything is treated. There's a lot of tough stuff here, but not much black-and-white morality in that this character is 100% good and this character is 100% bad. Which is cool, because that's how real life is.

Some stuff I liked a little less:
-The drug and alcohol use by Jack and his friends was just extremely over the top, and the risk of drug addiction was one of the only things that I think was slightly glossed over. The characters do a wide range of drugs, but their concern never goes past "Well, maybe I'll get lung cancer when I'm 30," and no effort is made to stop doing drugs (or even limit it to the less dangerous ones). I mean, it's not the job of a book to preach to the reader, but it made me a bit uncomfortable.
-There's a bit at the end where Jack and Connor kiss in front of the whole school, and people cheer. This felt unrealistic and at odds with the grittier tone of the prior part of the book. A kid left the school because he was queer bashed, and Jack had been threatened and harassed for weeks, but suddenly the majority of the school is cheering at their public display of affection? I'm all for having supportive peers, but that part felt forced.

Still, on the whole I really enjoyed this book, and would definitely recommend it for fans of LGBTQ YA that doesn't shy away from darker themes, but ultimately has a hopeful and uplifting conclusion.

*I was sent a free copy of this book from netgalley and Diversion Books in exchange for an honest review. **
Burro Hills is a story of love, hardships, and friends. I really enjoyed Burro Hills and the difficult topics that it touched upon. Jack’s struggle with his sexual identity is something that I feel a lot of people can relate to. The fear of how he would be treated and seen as if he cane out was a major point in the story. I loved Jack and Conners relationship, but I disapproved of the way Conner tried to push Jack to come out. I would put trigger warnings for rape, homophobia, drug use, and abuse. Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and will be looking forward to reading more by Julia Lynn Rubin in the future.

Okay so i started reading this book and could not finish it. it was not my thing... I found myself lost and the chemistry between characters seemed somewhat forced in my opinion. Maybe this book would have appealed to me more if i was younger but i really liked the writing style..

This book was intense. It dealt with a lot of issues. Drug abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, alcohol abuse, homophobia, mental health, etc etc.

The author did a good job of handling these issues and spreading them through the book without it feeling overwhelming.

I have a lot of feelings about this book. My brain is king of jumbly after finishing. But in a good way. I really enjoyed it.

The main focus of the book I felt was overcoming fear of what everyone else thinks about you and being yourself. But in a more intense way.

Jack is struggling with his sexuality. He is terrified that if someone finds out it will be the end. But then he meets Connor, the cool, confident new kid.

Conner is bisexual and not ashamed. He wants more than friendship with Jack. And Jack wants it too, but he’s not ready to be out. The book follows Jack and Connor’s relationship as Jack struggles with his friends, family, and personal issues.

I was kind of expecting this story to be a coming-of-age about a teen boy struggling with his sexuality and getting closer to the new kid in his school. While there is that, I also think that the story was kind of bogged down by so much else that happened. There's a brief scene about drug dealing; there's mention of attempted rape, and a scene where the narrator (Jack) sexually assaulted someone who he claims is like his sister; there's mention of self-harm (if you need any triggers, I just gave you two). There's also a vague mention of mental illness in a parent, but it got pushed to the back burner so quickly.

There were also some emotional scenes that did make me tear up a little bit, but mostly, I just kept wondering why Jack was friends with the people he was supposed to be friends with. At one point, I thought maybe one of his friends was jealous of the boyfriend and he was struggling with his own sexuality, and that that was why he ends up lashing out at Jack from seemingly nowhere. Burro Hills, I guess, is supposed to be a small town in California (I'm assuming), or at least, that's the vibe I got, anyway. So with small towns, there's always those people who make their opinions known, whether you want them to or not.

There's another scene in here with a throwaway character that I didn't care for, that seemed to only be there for the sake of escalating the bullying angle, as well as to have the main character dive deep into paranoia isolation. I thought that could have been way better than it was. It felt almost like a cheap shot, if I'm being honest. The drug dealing angle seemed like a non-story, too. It really had no involvement with Jack, not even at the end. I didn't think any "action" sequences really added anything to the story.

Also, as much as I kind of love Jack and Connor together, I feel like their relationship was pretty superficial. Yeah, they communicated with one another, opened up to each other, but I didn't really feel this alleged chemistry they had. Not really. We were told a lot of it, instead of shown. Their characters felt kind of one-note, flat. Not much development aside from the main character coming to accept his own sexuality and shedding the fear that he seemed to always carry with him like a weight.

There was definitely a lot of potential, and I enjoyed about half of the book. The other half I could have honestly done without.

enjoyable story about a teen growing up in difficult circumstances. Difficult home life, not fully aware of the underlying problems at home... having no real home life. A tough bunch of friends, and uncertain about his future. Teen angst, friend issues etc.

Reviewed for Netgalley – Mild Spoilers

Burro Hills by Julia Lynn Rubin

There’s no sugar coated way to say this. Jack’s life sucks. As in devoid-of-hope suckage. When even your best friend thinks you’ll turn out to be nothing more than a dead-beat stoner, that is a really crap life. Jack lives in a dying town with his alcoholic father and his unemployable (and possibly mentally ill) mother. His closest friend, Toby, is an ass and a drug dealer, and Jack and all of his friends do drugs to try and escape their going-nowhere lives.

The other force behind Jack’s drug use is a deeply buried secret that he can’t admit to anyone, including himself. This changes when new student Conner enters the picture. Connor comes with a reputation as a total bad boy who punched his last school principal and has been with just about every girl at his last school, so why can’t Jack stop watching him? And why does Connor return his looks?

It isn’t long before Jack has to stop lying to himself about his sexual orientation, but when a gay student is beaten and left naked by other students, Jack lets his fear destroy his relationship with Connor and almost destroys himself in the process.

As Jack faced one problem after another, I found myself wondering how he didn’t simply implode from the pressure of it all. No wonder he toked up as often as he did. His situation is just so bleak. He doesn’t see a way out of it and, as a reader, I found it hard to have any hope for him either. While I enjoyed the overall story, I do admit to becoming frustrated with some of Jack’s decisions such as his lack of defending Connor when he faces arrest because of Jack or when Jack, knowing what Toby has done to Jess, answers Toby’s distress call, putting himself and Connor in danger. Then again, teenagers make dumb decisions. It’s basically a requirement for growing up, so I can understand it no matter how irritating it was.

Julia Lynn Rubin has a lot going on this story, but she manages to encompass the endless issues that youth face in schools today, from peer pressure to drug and alcohol abuse, to bullying, and hate crimes. She captures the insecurity, immaturity, and need to be accepted that every high school student endures. One of the strongest themes of this book is Jack’s struggle to accept who he is, which is a huge challenge in the conditions in which he lives and the toxic environment where he goes to school. Rubin does an excellent job of showing the fear and anxiety that youth face when deciding to come out. Fortunately, the ending isn’t as hopeless as the beginning, and Burro Hills is a solid coming out story about a boy who has to learn to overcome fear and he who is truly is.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I loved this book. Jack, the main character is a 17yo high school junior in a dying town in California--lots of gangs and drugs, unhappy parents/sad home life and he knows that he is gay but he goes to great lengths to hide it because it is NOT cool. His friends are drug dealers and all they do it get high, drink and hang out pretty much. But they are all super-macho-alpha type males. Then he meets Conner. Conner is really good looking and extremely confident and Jack falls for him pretty quick. Their relationship is so sweet and they both end up caring about each other so much that it was totally adorable, very romantic. Jack, however, still doesn't want anyone to know he is is gay. He does everything he can to hide it, even shutting Conner out for awhile, but eventually people find out. His mom, Conner's Uncle, and his friends figure out and give him a hard time. I don't want to ruin the end of the book, but I loved how Jack finally figured everything out for himself, at least about his family, friends and Conner and accepted himself, and was proud. I loved all of the characters and the writing. Brutally honest, from JAck's point of view. He acted tough on the outside, but on the inside he had so many feelings about Connor and his friends etc--he knew what he wanted, he was just so afraid to go for it. Jack was a great character---his strength and love were amazing. Highly recommend this one!!! Emotional but so worth it!

The Outsiders written roughly thirty years or so ago is widely considered to be the fist YA novel and started the genre as a whole. It's all super gay, regardless of what the author says about being attacked her being straight. So, when I read that Burro Hills was like a queer version of The Outsiders that also focuses a lot on toxic masculinity I practically salivated at the thought of reading it. And now that I have, I can honestly say I was not disappointed in the slightest.

Burro Hills follows Jack, a seventeen year old living in what is essentially the dying town of Burro Hills. He smokes too much pot, has no real life goals, and just kinda bums around with his drug dealer friend and his bestie, Jess. This book really shines in just the sort of mundane-ness of life in Burro Hills as well as just the sense of loss in the town. The people who live there, Jack included, just seem lost and spend their lives just passing the time by making it hurt just a little less. The atmosphere Rubin created on every page was brilliant through and through.

The characters and their dynamics with one another were another great part in this book, particular between Jack and his friend Toby, the aforementioned drug dealer. As previously stated this entire book is about toxic masculinity and I find it very refreshing to have a book about toxic masculinity with a male protagonist and a queer one at that. A lot of books that deal with the subject with a female protagonist in relation to sexism or misogyny and I'm glad a book exists that showcases a different demographic that are hurt by toxic masculinity.

Throughout the story, Jack is desperate, desperate, to adhere and appear masculine in front of his friends going as far to try and seduce his best friend while they watch. It's an interesting look into toxic relationships between men with Jack trying to fit into the box of masculinity Toby has set up while Toby pulls the strings to test him for reason even he doesn't fully understand. It's a great character dynamic because it not only feels natural to the characters, but realistic as well.

As for the romance between Conner and Jack, I really enjoyed it. I liked how both Conner and Jack were messed up but neither guy set out to try and fix or save the other. They were just there for one another supporting each other first as friends and then as lovers, which is another things this book has going for it, an emotional intimacy between men that wasn't always romantic. Which is another thing toxic masculinity tends to destroy.

This is a great book with a whole bunch of layers I don't want to spoil, so I'll close with this: I loved the setting, the characters, and the dynamic so much and I know if you read it, you guys will as well.

I feel as though this book is something that guys will really enjoy. As a girl, I found it hard to get into, hard to relate to the characters. It was a great book, it just will resonate with a male audience more, I think.