Rating: 4.5 Stars

They shared a summer frolicking by the lake, and thought they would never see each other again. However, when Ollie's family relocated in order to be closer to his aunt, who was battling cancer, Ollie found that he and his summer paramour were not only a short drive from each other, they attended the same school! However, it seemed, that Lake-Will and School-Will were two very different people, and now Ollie was left to pick up the pieces of his broken heart.

I was promised Grease feels, and I definitely got them. Ollie's trio of female friends, those who wear the rose-gold rose, and Will's band of fellow basketball teammates were easy to spot as the Pink Ladies and the T-Birds. The BIG re-meet cute reminded me of when Sandy and Danny were reunited, but I would say, after that, this became a wholly new and original romance.

Sophie Gonzales created some incredible characters for this story. Though they are credited as "side characters", each shined in their own way. They had personality, that POPPED off the page, and as an ensemble, brought something really special to this tale.

But, alas, Ollie was the star of the book, and my star as well. He was sweet, adorable, and awkward. I absolutely adored him, and it wasn't just because of his whip smart commentary. He came across as a really lovely person. His family was dealing with his aunt's declining health, and he became an important resource for them. He stepped up to care for his cousins often, and was very attuned to the situations, knowing when he needed to tread lightly and often, putting his wants and needs on the back burner.

Although, if asked, I will first gush about how super-cute and adorable this book was, however, there were heavier moments, and there were tears. More often than not, I was smiling though, because this up and down romance delighted me. Interactions with friends and family, as well as watching Will and Ollie fall in love filled the pages with lots of warmth and happy feels, while injections of humor kept me audibly laughing.

This book combined so many elements I desire. Great characters, adorable romance, family ties, and even grand gestures filled the pages. It made me laugh, cry, rage, swoon, and in the end, left me in a very happy state.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3131625115?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

I requested this arc from NetGalley and thoroughly enjoyed my reading experience. Sophie Gonzales is a new author for me, and I'll be anxious to read her titles in the future as well as I liked her writing style quite a bit. In particular, I'd note the she has a ear for analogy, and I found the metaphors/similes she used both fresh and authentic.

In terms of the story line and characters, I found them to be well developed. At the beginning, I was wondering if the author would drop any of the threads she'd started to weave, but she deftly managed them including the plot point of a family member battling cancer. It was good to read a young adult title that managed to balance a layered plot without pulling punches or compromising its unique voice. That, in addition to the representation of realistic student population made this one a satisfying read.

I will be adding a physical copy of this one to my classroom library once it's available for purchase.

A lot of thoughts. A lot of feelings. Primarily disappointment and aggravation. Let’s sort through this, shall we?

Okay. Basic premise - sort of like Grease. Summer romance. And then they see each other again and it’s like “oh. I have an image to protect so I can’t be the cool dude I was to you all summer.” Will is a popular athlete who isn’t out. Oliver is our. Ollie ends up at Will’s school after a summer fling.

And Will is just awful to Ollie. Over and over and over again. I get that Will has a right to keep his sexuality to himself. I get that I don’t understand the stigma that comes with being a gay man in the south. And I keep trying to find a way to forgive Will. But laughing at gay jokes at your dude’s expense in front of him to save face? Nah. Just nah.

And this just led to a lot of feelings - how can I review a book when I cannot identify with the characters’ struggles? How would i feel if this was a heterosexual relationship? Is it fair to review an LGBTQ book utilizing a heteronormative lens? Bc yeah - I’m pissed. If a man treated a heroine like this I’d like all “screw that guy.” And guess what? I’m all “screw that guy” now. Is my indignation misplaced? Does there need to be a different standard? I kept thinking “what If one character wanted to hide the relationship Bc of the other character’s ethnicity?” Which made me soooooooo much angrier. But again - is that an accurate comparison?

I don’t think Ollie is less-deserving of respect Bc Will isn’t out. I’m not sure how you have a relationship with someone who wants to hide your relationship. Do you? Ever? And does hiding your relationship necessitate red herrings and meanness? It seems like you shouldn’t ever be with someone who isn’t proud to be with you. Does that mean folks that aren’t out have to be alone? I truly don’t know. But I do know young readers shouldn’t read this and think this is an okay way to treat someone or to be treated.

So here’s what I’m saying. I don’t know. This book made me massively uncomfortable. The writing was adorable. The friendships were great. But good golly miss molly I cringed through this entire book. And maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I missed the entire point. I am super open to discussion here Bc it seems like this book has some pretty high ratings. And I don’t know why I feel how I feel - which is just dirty and sad.

I’m going to start the next St Cyr - I’ve been looking forward to it for the last 75%.

As always, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to offer an honest review.


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Only Mostly Devastated had me at “Grease retelling,” and I was so excited to read it! Unfortunately I don’t think I was in the mood to deal with some of the aspects of it, so it fell short for me. Still, it was a cute read that you might enjoy nonetheless.

Ollie has to move to North Carolina, where he’s just spent the summer because his family is helping out his sick aunt. During this time, he had a fling with Will (cue “Summer Loving”) and then it turns out that he’s going to the same high school as him. However, Will’s ghosted Ollie and now ignores him because he’s a jock and not out.

Over the course of the book, Will’s hot and cold towards Ollie because he really does like him! He just doesn’t want to be seen as “gay” just because he’s hanging out with the new gay kid. Now, there’s a lot to unpack there, but I did understand that this was the point of view of other kids at school. Still, it was incredibly annoying to read this. His behavior is called out, by Ollie specifically, but it’s so exhausting to read.

There’s a bisexual side character who’s really rude at first but she kinda grows on you. I was a little iffy on how her rep was handled; it wasn’t necessarily bad, but there was something I didn’t like but couldn’t quite put my finger on.

I didn’t love how another side character’s plot was handled either; she’s fat and has PCOS, but she legitimately felt like a filler character with dialogue. She wants to be a model but she’s made to feel bad because she’s not skinny (incidentally, by the character I mentioned above, and yes they all are friends). This character didn’t really feel incorporated into the story, and I hesitate to say that it was random or unnecessary but I really didn’t feel like her plot line was handled as well as it could have been.

Yeah, so this is a lot that I didn’t like…I’m not going to say it’s all bad representation (especially because some of this rep doesn’t apply to me), but I feel like the rep was realistic to a point that was painful, in that it dealt with the more negative aspects of being marginalized. Frankly, I just didn’t feel like reading that, combined with the fact that it just didn’t feel right. I think I just had higher standards for some of the characters.

I did like parts of the book! Ollie and his relationship with his younger cousins was really adorable; he and Will were cute as well. The friendships portrayed were heartwarming and fairly supportive. Overall, this book just wasn’t for me, but maybe you’ll like it more!

An Advanced Reader's copy has been provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

My first ARC!

Release Date: March 3, 2020

Rating: 4 out of 5

TW: homophobia; being outed; fat shaming; loss of a family member


The Plot: Visiting his sick Aunt in North Carolina, Ollie spends a wonderful romantic summer with Will only for it to end too quickly. His parents decide it's best to stay and take care of her through the school year leaving Ollie transferred to a new school his senior year and face to face with Will whom is very much still in the closet and acting like the summer shared between them never existed.


The Characters: Ollie-I really loved Ollie, his characterization felt perfect for a 17 year old uprooted from his life and dealing with a sick family member and also being gay at a new school. Him not really wanting to connect to his new friends I thought was going to be a problem, but it really showed a growth to his character. I also loved that he prioritized his family.

Will-This basketball jock was really adorable when he was with Will. Though he was having a lot of difficulty with the idea of coming out I really grew attached to his character and how realistic he felt of a closeted teen afraid of not being accepted. He was also held accountable for his actions and had to address them and grow before being forgiven which was really well written.
J
uliette and Niamh-I didn't really feel a connection to either of these characters. Ollie not wanting to connect to them for the longest time didn't really help anything and I kinda felt like one of them could have just been removed for the story.

Lara- I have mixed feelings about Lara, she did have some character growth, but I don't feel like she was held as accountable for her actions. She had very fake apologies and though there was an attempt from other characters to address some of her harshness she never took it seriously. I like how she came off strong and Ollie and to break through her layers, but I wish she was more addressed.

Ollie's parents: I could not stand his parents. I understand they are under a lot of stress with a huge part of the book being that his Aunt has cancer and they are taking care of her, but honestly the way the treat him is not good and inexcusable. They treat him like a child instead of the seventeen year old he is. They never tell him what's going on with aunt, don't ask about any of his feelings about the situation with her or his transition to school. His mother forces him to do mantra's with him instead of talking out problems like they will magically go away and his father snaps at him when his aunt begins going down hill. There's also no real communication that happens that addresses and resolves any of it.

Aunt Linda- I loved the relationship she had with Ollie. The few times they were together they seemed to have a really close relationship and I wish we had gotten to see a little more of that.


There are so many more characters in this book that I'm not going to address individually however I do feel like there were too many characters. Had some been removed I think the relationship Ollie had with some of his friend and the relationship with his Aunt could have been showcased more and better developed. I think had those things been focused on more I would have truly been devastated.
 


Overview: I wasn't as devastated as I wanted to be, however I did shed a tear or two. This story is very predictable but in a very comforting and familiar way. This book is going to be great for young teens who may not have as familiarity with this type of story line. Ollie and Will were so lovely I wouldn't change a thing about them and the way that grief is handled and written was just so beautifully well done even though I knew it was coming I couldn't brace myself enough for the emotion written in the characters. It was just executed so well.
Some of the things I didn't like however is there was some weird transitions in the writing. One paragraph is talking about one thing and the next is two weeks later and it just got really confusing. Another thing is the fat shaming in this book I felt was completely not needed. It didn't add anything to the book, only took away. There was also a lot of homophobia in the book that I think could have been reduced. The point had already been made that they were in a small town with not open people, it didn't need to made with harmful comments over and over again.
Only mostly Devasted was a very enjoyable read, I think it could have been one of the best reads of 2020 however there were some glaring issues I could not ignore. Most of the book was about a 3 star read for me, but the open way grief was handled and encouraged for different people to express it differently and just be allowed to have these emotions is what took it up to 4.

“Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets Clueless in this boy-meets-boy spin on Grease.” So like, is a review even necessary? 😍 Okay, but Oliver & Will meet over the summer and fall hard and fast for each other. They part hoping to see each other again but knowing that probably won’t happen. Then Will ghosts Oliver and he’s super bummed and confused. THEN, his aunt’s health starts declining and his family moves from California to North Carolina to help take care of her small children. Not happy at all about leaving his progressive and accepting school and friends behind for a new school in the Bible Belt during his senior year, Oliver latches on to a small group of girls who take him in as their own. After unknowingly outing Will to his new friends, he runs into him at a party and what do you know? Will goes to Oliver’s new school and is one thousand percent a closeted basketball playing, popular jock. Hilarity, teenage angst, and drama ensue.

This was a fun YA read that I really enjoyed! I loved seeing the characters grow and learn, fight, and stand up for each other. I rooted for Ollie & Will, but loved the friendships he formed with each of his new friends as well. While this is kind of a mashup of previously told stories, the author’s refreshing take on it is so fun and cute complete with a few grand gestures lovely little moments that made me smile.

I have no idea how to write a proper review for this, so I'm just gonna list some pros and cons.
But before that, I just didn't connect with the overall writing style so that put an overall damper on things. It also meant that my emotional investment wasn't very high and the two climactic scenes didn't resonate with me. I also couldn't handle that "Great Ethereal Being" thing.

I think this book offers many important topics, such as a death in the family and how to navigate a relatinship where one person isn't out yet.

Pros:
+ I think the characterization was well done. Gonzales found a great way to show both Will's choice that he doesn't have to come out when he doesn't want to and Ollie's choice to not be a secret and be treated right. There wasn't really a right or wrong way and Ollie realizes later the pressure he put on Will.
+ The scenes with Ollie and Will are really cute. You can tell they like each other but it's weird navigating this situation when they both thought they would never see each other again.
+ Lara. I really liked her character and her role in the story. She's certainly not likable and is catty at times but its a pretty good idea of what a teenager would act like. And her relationship with Ollie grows the most.

Cons:
- I felt there was a dissonance between the romance story and the family storyline. Whenever he was at school, there was no thought spared to his cousins or his aunt and whenever he was home, there were no mentions of Will or his friends. I thought I was reading two different books at times.
- His old friends are mentioned once at the start and then never again. Despite him being uprooted from his home in the last year of high school, Ollie gets over it pretty quickly. Even when he talks about how much better they were (not queerphobic, straight edge), they don't actually come up in conversation at all.
- His new friend group felt really disingenuous. It felt more like the clichée gay BFF situation than actual affection. Lara's behaviour towards Ollie is still hard to read at times and Juliette appears and disappears as needed.
- I could have done without the flashbacks from the summer. Instead, I'd wished int been in the book completely, like a Part 1, or woven into the story. The random inserts felt disconnected and I am still unsure what exactly happened in those weeks.
- Ollie makes it seem like Will was gay and not bi which... I don't know, kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

This book has everything you would want in a book. There is romance, heartbreak, grief, and friendship. All the characters are multi-faceted and the situations they are dealing with are realistic. The ending is a bit predictable but the story getting there is well written and a definite page turner. I look forward to many more stories by this author.

I enjoyed this book and read it fairly quickly, due to it being a lighter read than my usual choices. It was refreshing after a steady diet of fantasy and horror, and the romance was delightful.

Only Mostly Devastated is compared to Grease and Clueless, neither of which I have seen, which I think made me enjoy the book more because I didn't have any expectations going in except for it was supposed to be a LGBT+ rom com. The characters were so fun and I was rooting for them from square one. This is definitely a book where you immediately start hoping for a happy ending, and planning to throw the kindle out the window if one isn't given.

I definitely recommend this to readers who enjoyed Simon Vs. (and really, anything by Becky Albertalli or Adam Silvera).

4.5/5
This was everything I wanted from it and more.
The characters were believable and likeable, the grease inspiration was done delightfully (taking all the fun parts and leaving the problematic shit), the romance was just the right mix of sweet and angsty and the family sub plot managed to make me cry despite me predicting that plot point from the first chapter.
So yeah, y'all are in for a treat next march.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Only Mostly Devastated is an LGBTQ+ retelling of Grease. I'm not usually a fan of retellings, but I found this one to still manage an interesting and fresh take on the story.

However, there were parts of it that seemed a little problematic. I do want to state that I am not LGBTQ+, so I do not have the right to say it is or is not offensive since I am not part of that community. That said, some of the conversations between the main couple felt a little off. The main conflict of the novel is that one character is out and the other is not. This leads to a lot of arguments between the two and one character's use of a beard. Like I said, I do not have the right to say whether or not that is offensive or if the main character's anger at the beard is offensive, but I do think it needs to be stated in case it would be off-putting to any LGBTQ+ readers.

I have a few words for you all: a gay reimagining of Grease, except WAY better.

If you're not intrigued yet, let me explain further. I'm not a big fan of Grease. I think it's kind of a problematic movie, Danny Zuko is a real piece of work, and the moral of the story at the end is totally contradictory to what we should be learning and teaching about love. But the premise of Grease is actually really cute: Can a lovely summer romance turn into a real relationship when the pair come from different worlds? Only Mostly Devastated takes that concept and puts a modern-day, LGBT+ spin on it, creating a heartwarming romcom (with an HEA/HFN!!) that we all deserve.

Ollie and his family are out in North Carolina for the summer, leaving their home in San Jose to take care of Ollie's aunt, who is dying of cancer. Ollie's tasked with babysitting his aunt's two young children at their lake house on the coast, and along the way, he meets and has a fiery but fleeting romance with a boy named Will. At the end of the summer, they both think it's the last time they'll see each other - but lo and behold, Ollie's parents drop a bombshell: Aunt Linda is getting worse, and they want to move to Collinswood, North Carolina for Ollie's senior year to take care of her. Ollie reluctantly agrees, but upon arriving at his new high school and its first party, he discovers that Will is not only very much a student at the school, but he's a stereotypical, popular, cool basketball jock who is very much NOT out to his classmates or parents.

To me, this conflict is much more believable than the original one in Grease: Danny is a greaser and Sandy is a goody two-shoes, so obviously they can never be together?! No. Try this: Ollie is an out and proud kid from California, while Will is a star athlete from a conservative town who is worried about the blowback he'd get from his family and fellow jocks, who make gay jokes (some of which are about Ollie) all the time.

As predicted, there's a good level of angst between the two of them: Ollie and Will basically want the same thing, but SOCIETY. There's also a big dose of sweetness, hidden romance, hurt & comfort, stolen kisses, all that good stuff. And as I expect to be the norm with more and more YA LGBT+ novels, there is a happy ending. Thank you to Wednesday Books for publishing this gem and for providing an ARC via Netgalley! Go read this for all the gay high school love of your dreams.

I had a lot of fun with Only Mostly Devastated! It’s the perfect summer contemporary, and a really well written debut, so definitely get your hands on it if you can.

I did think that the main character, Ollie, was a bit whiney at the beginning, but to be fair he’s a teenage boy, and as someone with three younger brothers I can confirm that this is accurate.

I got very invested in the ship, which is something that rarely happens to me with YA romance so that was an added bonus! Ollie’s relationship with Will was emotional and sweet, and they were a much better couple than Danny and Sandy. I got a bit weepy over some of their interactions because they were just so sweet.

The Grease parallels were a lot of fun, which is something I think we can all appreciate!

There was also a lot of bi rep in this book, which I wasn’t strictly expecting going into it. I enjoyed that part a lot, although I do with that one of the bi characters hadn’t been portrayed as overly sexual, as that seems to happen a lot. That’s not really a complaint, but just a personal preference!

it is branded as an LGBT version of Grease which im not really big on LGBT but LOVED Grease so I thought why not read this free book? It tackled a few serious topics all well managing to be a cute romcom that hits your heart. very well written I enjoyed this book.

Representation: Ollie (main) is gay, Will (side character) bisexual and Venezuelan-American, Lara is bisexual, Juliette is a woman of colour, and Niamh is a “curvy” woman of colour with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Content warnings: Slight homophobia/homophobic language, some fat-shaming comments, some slut-shaming comments.

I can absolutely see this being a favourite book for so many people.

I quite enjoyed the Grease-esque retelling/vibes from this story.

What I loved most about this book was its side-plot involving Ollie’s family. More specifically his Aunt Linda and his cousins. I really loved reading about Ollie interacting with Crista and Dylan. They were so very precious, and it just made the whole story so much more to me.

There were parts of this story that I wished had been longer, or had gone into more depth, but on the whole, it was really lovely, and made me cry in parts (you’ll know when you read them, if you read this book).

Ollie is an amusing narrator – he left me chuckling a few times, which is always a good thing.

I am a massive fan of flashbacks, and it was so lovely to see some flashbacks to during the summer where Ollie and Will met. Some of their moments together were so sweet, and swoon-worthy. It set up their relationship really nicely, I think, and it just made me do the heart-eyed face at the page whenever they were alone together.

Another thing I really enjoyed is that the characters actually read like they were growing as people. I love that in a book when you can see the characters changing and improving upon themselves. It’s so lovely to see.

I don’t want to say much more because I don’t want to spoil the book, as it’s still another 6ish weeks before it comes out.

This book would make a very cute movie, too.

4/5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this book.

Only Mostly Devastated was such a good book. I loved Ollie, I loved his narrative. This is a light read that touches on heavy topics, but handles it honestly and amazingly. I was a big fan of Simon vs the Homosapiens Age do, so I was excited to read this one. I can see how it's a Grease "retelling", however, I feel it's a bit different. It's definitely not as breezy as Simon, but there are some truly laugh out loud parts.
Overall I feel it's an honest, important book. It's very real, and flows quite nicely. I enjoyed the story and all the characters and I feel it tackled tough issues that you can definitely relate to. 4/5

This book was so freaking cute! I didn't really get the Grease aspect (never watched the movie) but I thought this story was told so well. This book didn't feel like it was being diverse so it could brownie points for being inclusive with lgbt+, race, and socio-demographic of all the characters. Nothing felt out place and you feel for all these characters and what going through.
It touches on how it can be easier come out if you live in different state or who your parental figures are if they're going to except that part of you. Toxic masculinity and homophobia are also dealt with in this book and it was handled very well.
The only thing I do have to nit pick at is, I just wished it was little longer so, some more of the plot could more flushed out instead of rushed.
But I'm so excited for everybody else to read this and enjoy it as much as I did.

What starts as a goofy M/M YA tribute to Grease turns out to be much more. Okay, Ollie and Will have a summer fling and then surprisingly encounter each other at their senior year of high school when Ollie's family decides to stay in North Carolina to help care for a sick family member. And yes Ollie is befriended by three girls who bear a passing resemblance to the Pink Ladies (one's an aspiring model instead of a beauty school dropout like Frenchie, one is the bitter sarcastic Rizzo equivalent and one is just nice). But the issues that arise when Ollie and Will come face to face are more complicated than nice girl meets bad boy. Will isn't out to his friends or family, and his cool behavior towards Ollie is both understandable and heartbreaking. What ensues is an exploration of how two teens navigate a relationship when they are in very different points in their sexuality journey, and whether they can be together in some way without either one being seriously hurt.

I spent most of the book furious at Will for stringing Ollie along while outwardly clinging to his jock-bro personality (view spoiler) and rooting for Ollie to stand up for himself. Towards the end Will redeems himself a bit, and Ollie has a few epiphanies about their relationship that helped me to see Will in a slightly different light. Still, I wouldn't call this a sweet adorable romance like Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda; it's more bittersweet and complicated, albeit with a happy ending.

Ollie is a lot like many YA first person narrators - smart, snarky and confused. But he distinguishes himself by his nurturing, caring side that is apparent when he babysits his young cousins. The secondary characters, especially the three girls who befriend Ollie, are well-developed, arguably more so than Will. There is a fair amount of sadness in the book's subplots which give it greater depth than a typical YA rom-com.

Grease is only the starting point for this extremely strong novel. I hope it gets the recognition it deserves.

ARC provided by Net Galley in exchange for honest review.

Being a fan of Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, I couldn't pass on requesting this novel.  I can see how it's very loosely based on Grease in that there was a summer romance, but things are different in the fall after they meet again at school.  No matter - it was a sweet, melancholy read that I thoroughly enjoyed.  

Ollie is a perfect narrator, and I loved his voice from the first page.  Equal parts awkward, adorable, funny, loyal, and just plain entertaining.  He makes an astute observation about Ronald McDonald that made me glad I wasn't drinking anything - totally would have snorted it out.  Was he obsessed with Will?  Yeah, kind of.  Did he let that obsession rule his life?  Mostly, no.  Ollie also spends his time working on his music, hanging out with friends, and helping take care of his young cousins while their mother battles cancer.  His genuine and delightful scenes with the kids are among my favorites, and Ollie has the patience of a saint.  His parents and aunt and uncle aren't strong presences in the story, but you definitely get the sense family is very important to them.      

Heavy topics are dealt with - cancer of a family member, homophobia, fat shaming, biphobia - which I felt were handled well.  More differentiation between some of the  supporting characters would have helped - I kept getting a few of them mixed up - but it really didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.

If you're a Simon fan, I definitely recommend adding this book to your list.  A fun way to spend an afternoon.  

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

2.5-3 stars. I had high hopes for this book, especially with it being described as a modern, m/m retelling of Grease. I wasn't wowed by it unfortunately.

Like Grease, Ollie meets Will over the summer when Ollie's family visits North Carolina. They have a whirlwind romance that ends when Ollie must go back to California at the end of the summer. Plot twist--Ollie's family decides to stay in NC in order to help his aunt who is dying of cancer. When Ollie tries to contact Will to let him know that he's staying, he's met with radio silence. It isn't until a party on the night of his first day of school when Ollie realizes that his new school is also Will's school. Also like Grease, Will isn't the same boy that Ollie met over the summer. He's a jock, kind of a jerk, and also very much in the closet. If you've seen Grease, you can imagine how the story goes from here.

It's for that reason that I felt like I couldn't get into this book. It ended up being too predictable. I felt like the author tried too hard to take every opportunity to throw a Grease reference into the story when it could have easily stood on its own and that became too distracting. There was also a lot of jumping around that made the story more confusing. Overall, it wasn't a bad read. It just wasn't anything memorable.