Only Mostly Devastated exceeded my expectations. I absolutely loved this book. First of all, it's a Grease retelling - C U T E. But it's so much more than that. This book handled grief and the way different people of all different ages handle it so beautifully. It touched on mortality, fatphobia and homophobia in really subtle and impactful ways. It was so good, guys. So good! 5/5

ONLY MOSTLY DEVASTATED is a charming YA contemporary romance that follows Ollie. Ollie had lived in California, until this year when his parents and he went to North Carolina for the summer to help out his aunt, who has terminal cancer. When she is not getting better, they end up deciding to stay for his senior year in North Carolina. Although Ollie is concerned, he is more worried about his aunt, and he wants to be able to help.

As an added perk, the boy he fell in love with over the summer, Will, lives in North Carolina. However, since their last night together- which Ollie thought was completely unforgettable- Will has been ghosting him. Ollie can take the hint, but he's still pretty hurt about it. When he sees Will at his new school, he is once again hurt by Will's dismissal.

What follows is a journey of familial and romantic love that is challenged by circumstance. Will is very much in the closet and worried about what his parents and friends will think. Compared to Grease, it is easy to see the parallels, but this book reaches far deeper than the movie did and gives a much better couple and romance.

What I loved: The book moves quickly, and my favorite parts were about Ollie and how his family comes together to deal with cancer. It was raw, moving, and beautiful, showing both the grief and love. There are also some great side themes about self-confidence, owning who you are (such as Niamh, who will be a gorgeous model- plus-sized), and finding the people who get you (in Ollie's case, musicians). While there are some tough moments about Will and his cold-and-hot reactions, this also felt really believable to me for a teen who is not ready to come out, and I think this will speak to some really well.

While I was reading the book, the Grease parallels were not overwhelming or hitting you over the head- they were subtle, and it made for an even better story.

Final verdict: Heartfelt and charming, ONLY MOSTLY DEVASTATED is a touching and delightful YA contemporary romance. Highly recommend for fans of Nicola Yoon, SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA, and SICK KIDS IN LOVE.

Please note that I received an ARC. All opinions are my own.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

OMG... SUMMER LOVING !!!!!
Okay let me start by explaining why this interested me;
1. I loved : Simon vs the homosapiens agenda
2. GREASE
3. dare I need to say more !?!?

This book was such a lovely read, not to say that it doesn't tackle serious subjects because it does.
I picked up this book when I was in a reading slump, coincidentally simultaneously sick in bed.
It was the perfect book to get me out of that, I can't wait to read the final copy of it another time, because it was THAT GOOD. It has a variety of great LGBTQ+ representation, shows great friendships and familial bonds. The side character also have so much life to them. they don't feel like they were just there to be briefly in the story, they felt like they are actually people.
The character growth in this is also great,
Get ready for a wild ride that will play with your emotions in the best ways. I can't wait to read what this author publishes next !
5/5 stars
-Bookarina

Ollie & Will gave me all the heart eyes!!! Especially Ollie - gosh how I loved him...

I mean when I saw this promo - SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA MEETS CLUELESS, INSPIRED BY GREASE - of course I was all over it.

This one is sweet, genuinely LOL funny but it's also honest and relevant and the author treated real subjects in a very respectful and education (but not preachy) way.

Definitely recommend this one.

What an amazing read. This book is definitely YA and touches on sensitive topics such as being sexuality including coming out during high school, making new friends and dealing with death. I loved how the author gave so much life to the characters and made me tear up and laugh out loud. I really enjoyed the book - it definitely has important messages, regardless of your age.

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.

Visiting North Carolina for a few months with his parents to help out with his sick aunt's family, Ollie has an amazing summer fling - but now the season has ended and suddenly Will has gone radio silent, and Ollie is brokenhearted. Then when Ollie's parents decide last-minute to stay for the school year instead of going back home to California, Ollie shows up at his new school to realize that not only does Will go there, but also he's kind of a popular kid jerk and is most definitely not out... As Ollie starts to find his place in this new school, he has to decide if he can give up his heart again after it was so trampled the first time, and if he's going to change himself to fit with Will - kind of a modern-day Grease. You get some of the things I love best about YA - great friend side characters, the angsty exploration of fitting in and finding love combined with snappy dialogue, and a bit of swoony-ness to boot. The female version of this, in which an openly out girl moves to a smaller town midway through high school and has to contend with hiding that identity/falling for someone who isn't yet ready to be out, would be Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruits, which I liked a lot. Overall, a sweet YA romance/coming-of-age story that is an enjoyable reading experience, even if it's not one that's going to stick with me forever. 3.5/5 stars

3.5 stars. Cute and heartfelt but not as memorable as I was hoping for. It was also really really heavy with Ollie's aunt's illness and that threw me for a loop. It was hard for me to read at times because of that plotline and it was featured SO heavily throughout the story which I don't think the copy prepared me for. Still, I would recommend it to fans of YA fiction.

Grease but gay? Yes, please! I was so excited for this book and I was kind of dissapointed by it. I don't know it felt a bit average to me. I mean, it was cute but wasn't really anything special to me. I feel like most character developement kind of happened because the other wanted to be like "see developement". I was also just expecting a bit more from the cancer story line. I don't know, it just felt a bit much brushed to the side for romance. I don't know ... This whole book is just kind of forgetable in my opinion. It's just very basic and simple. I don't have a lot to say about this book, sorry.

Synopsis:
Oliver (Ollie) Di Fiore moves to Collinswood, North Carolina from California with his parents in order to be close to his Aunt Linda. She has cancer. She lives with her husband and needs all the help that she can get with her two young kids. This move, even if not particularly to his liking, raises Ollie's hopes of seeing Will Tavares again. The same Will who had spent the summer with him, shared intimacies, and then abruptly checked out with no replies to even his texts. Ollie knew he attended school in North Carolina. He does get to see Will again, in his new school at Collinswood High, where the latter's a member of the basketball team. Will is also the cool guy who cracks anti-LGBT jokes with his teammates, and the guy who tries to get back with Ollie but in secrecy. Because he hasn't come out yet and is scared of his conservative parents finding out about his sexual orientation.

Review
Only Mostly Devastated is a story about coming out, the fear and anxiety surrounding it, and the stigma attached to it. It is also about family, moving on in life, and healing. While it is not my first LGBT read, it is the first one about coming out and I'm happy it was this story. It is one of my best reads of this year.

"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."

The story starts with Ollie's narration in the first person with a lot of text messages to Will in between. While he's not too upbeat about having to leave his seventeen-year-old hip life in California behind, he's also glad to be able to help take care of Dylan and Crista, his cousin siblings. The story was off to a peculiar start. The text messages, the drawn-out words, the overtly kiddish repetitive talks - it seemed to me to be a bunch of high school students with slangs. But oh, they're a bunch of high school students!?! I guess I haven't read anything remotely near to contemporary YA in some time and it took me about one-fourth of the book to go by before it started to grow on me.

"A part of me suddenly understood why people drank at parties. It wasn’t to have fun. It was to forget how much of an idiot they made of themselves."

Will lives in Napier with his parents who had grounded him. And that's the reason he couldn't reply to Ollie's messages as he was off social media for two whole weeks. Will seems happy to see Ollie but he maintains his distance, sometimes to the point of behaving as if nothing ever happened between them. His on-again-off-again attitude was getting to Ollie.

At the beginning of every few chapters, Ollie reminisces the summer he spent with Will. And they're some really beautifully written memories. It is an engaging story that will make you cry, not buckets maybe but still. Another thing that I'll like to mention is the gender representation that is there in this book. I'm blown by how the author has melded so many aspects in a single story without overwhelming the narrative.

"So that’s how you get through a social situation without repelling everyone within ten feet of you. Speak as little as possible, and fill the silence in with music."

The ending was a wonderful surprise. I mean, it was perhaps predictable, but still a surprise. At least for me, it was. I loved this story! I wonder what it would have been had it been from Will's perspective. But I guess it was better to hear it from Ollie. The tussle between coming out, acceptance-rejection, confused teenage feelings about love, etc was lent a powerful voice through Ollie's first-person perspective.

The cover depicts the main characters of the book (from bottom right, going clockwise) - Ollie, Will, Juliette, Matt, Darnell, Niamh, Lara. I hope I got it right.

Thank you to the author and Wednesday Books (an imprint of St. Martin's Press - Macmillan Publishers) and NetGalley for an e-ARC of the book.

I will share the review on Goodreads as well as Amazon and other social media platforms and on my blog on the release date.

So, I have this on my YA shelf, and I'm going to leave it there, even though this reads much more like middle grade. (But I don't have an MG shelf and I don't want one, because that's not a genre I usually read on purpose.) Having said that, it's a good MG book, and I think it will hit a sweet spot for that audience.

As shown in the blurb, this is a Grease retelling. And that was a cute novelty for a few chapters. But I ended up feeling like it tried a little too hard to squeeze into that mold, to its detriment. If the inspiration had been taken for the story setup, but organically followed its own story after that, it may have worked better.

I still found it mostly entertaining. The POV character, Ollie, had a plucky, witty narrative and it gave me a few chuckles. I enjoyed the side characters who made up his group of friends (à la the Pink Ladies) -- and there was great representation with them, as well.

Ultimately, my biggest challenge was that the characters felt much younger than they were. They were supposed to be seniors in high school, but their reactions, maturity, and focuses seemed several years younger.

If allowances are made for that, I think the book offers a good time for the audience who wants a cute, slightly angsty, queer story. It has some serious topics but doesn't cover them very deeply or emotionally - more like Serious Stuff 101. Conflict for Beginners.

So, essentially, a good MG book.

**ARC requested and received from NetGalley and the publisher.

TW: homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, family death

PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!!!!

This is, by far, one of my favorite books. It has Simon vs. vibes but like a little bit more communication. I got attached to the characters so fast and I would zone into the book completely to the point where hours would pass and I didn’t even realize. It’s that good. I highly recommend it.

This was adorable! Ollie and Will fall in love one summer, but as summer ends they go their separate ways! Ollie lives in California and his parents and friends know he’s gay. Will lives in North Carolina, is the star athlete, extremely popular, and no one has a clue he’s gay. It’s crazy what can happen as circumstances change, and they find themselves in the same school trying to coexist! The characters are fun and the plot lovely!

When I first read that It was inspired by Grease, I had to get my hands on this because it is one of my favourite movies of all time. This book was amazing, and I couldn’t get enough of it.
This book is set in high school just like grease and told from Ollie’s POV and loved it, even thought maybe a few others like Will would have been good but that’s just IMO just so that I could love the story more.
Ollie and Will are two boys that had a summer fling together and when it ended Ollie was supposed to go spend the summer in NC and go back to Cali but that didn’t end up happening because of family stuff so he had to say in NC a little while longer. When he starts school, it happens to be then one that Will attends.
Ollie is excited to know they are at the same school but there is one downside Will hasn’t come out to everyone yet, so he doesn’t want people to know. The only one that knows happens to be Ollie.
Ollie ends up meeting an amazing group of people, I wish that I had such amazing friends like him. Niamh wants to be a plus size model which I find amazing because there need to be more plus size woman in the modeling industry. Ollie also ends up joining a band and its perfect for him because he has such an amazing passion for music. I loved the little flashbacks that we got to know what happened with there summer fling.
This book was just amazing it has all the feels that you want in a book and more. I highly recommend this book if you are a fan of Grease or just because you like reading LGBT books. I don’t think that this book will disappoint

I adored every moment of this. I was immediately sold by the comparison to Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda and Grease and I wasn't disappointed. This was such a great, diverse, rom-com with so much heart and I can't wait to share this title with our customers at the bookstore.

I really enjoyed this books. There was such a good slow(ish) burn romance between the two boys. I really get the grease vibes that it says in the description. Overall I would rate 3.5/5.
Would def read again!

So, when this first popped up the words that stuck out to me were lgbt and Grease. I probably broke something in my computer pounding that request button.

A gay Grease? Hello? YES PLEASE. And booooy did this live up to the very high expectations I had for it. It was sweet, like Summer Lovin'. It was funny like Greased Lightning. It was tender and thoughtful like Hopelessly Devoted To You.

I loved these characters so so so much. I loved their group of friends as much as I love the characters in Grease. (Just be prepared for me to talk about Grease, a lot, okay?)

The plot was very similar to Grease while also having it's own voice. Any lover of Grease will be able to pick specific parts of the book and match it to the movie and I was LIVING for it. I felt like I was partly watching the movie for the first time all over again.

The romance in this was a slow burn and I think it just added to the perfection of this book. I don't know what else to say other than, I want to read this again and again and maybe go watch Grease for the 350th time (this isn't an exaggeration)

If you love LGBT stories and you love/like Grease, you need to read this one. You will not regret it.

Although the writing wasn’t exactly my style (very stream of consciousness, very immature, probably not how teenage boys think) and the plot wasn’t anything special, I am very grateful and appreciative of this book. It was a cute, fun, light read that sucked me right in and made me feel happy because it gave me something to look forward to! I loved Ollie and Will’s relationship, I loved Lara’s character arc because I could relate to it, and I loved how the book didn’t end with any loose strings; everything was tied together very neatly, and I actually found myself not wanting it to be over! The biggest highlight, though, was the portrayal of grief and death. It was real, honest and touched very close to home for me, and I appreciate that a fun book like this also took the time to reach out to its reader and let them know that they are not alone. It was refreshing to see a book like this do that in a well-executed way! I would recommend this book to anyone who is after a solid, fun, and light read!

You know what? I just simply adored this. I'm heart-eyes over it, but also in awe, because it tackled so many complex and serious topics AND managed to be an adorkable romcom that squished the air out of my lungs so many times. No, no, I genuinely had to put it down and scream at one stage. Out loud. You know a book is absolutely fantastic when it makes you feel absolutely everything the characters are feeling.

First off, this book is goddamn adorable. Ollie is the kind of narrator who is all gangly arms and unfortunate moments and has the softest heart of gold. His family recently totally uprooted themselves to move closer to his dying aunt, and he babysits his little cousins all the time, plus is there for his aunt, plus lost like...his whole life. And he just keeps on keeping on. You can't keep this kid down, I swear. And he's totally a social dork (i love him) but he manages to make friends at his new school with three girls who seem close, but also at odds. And lo and behold: his summer fling named Will who ghosted him goes to this school too.

it's a recipe for disaster, quips, banter, and adorkable catastrophes.

This book deals with family grief, of the anxiety of watching someone dying, and it felt really respectful and weighted how it talked about it. I LIKE when books know how to do the cute funny scenes, but also segue into serious moments. And this book is also so massively about being queer and being closeted. Ollie is out. Will is so so deeply closeted the actual thought of anyone knowing he and Ollie "had a thing" terrifies him. I thought Will was so well done, particularly when he was being an asshole...like I got it. I got why he hurt Ollie, and I got why Ollie got angry. And the book really really delved into this discussion of: you don't owe anyone to come out of the closet, you need to do things in your time, when you are safe. But you can hurt people. And that's still on you. There was so much aching and longing and fear here. And it felt real, and well handled, and I will just...I will just cry on you. I connected to so many of the topics here. The nuance was just -- yeah still crying brb.

Honestly, this one has characters who will fill your whole heart, addictive writing, and themes that resonate so deeply. It's SUCH a good book omg what can I say but throw a lot of exclamation points at you.

I got this title from NetGalley and I have no trouble giving an honest review. I dug it. So, let me tell you why: it doesn’t shy away from any of the junk that life gives us. AND, I really really like the secondary and tertiary characters.........maybe even more than the mains. I especially love Aunt Linda, Ollie’s mom, and Lara. And the cousins. So cute.

My one complaint is the ending. Way too neat and tidy. However, kudos to the author for making it be at least uncomfortable at first for Will. That’s real. 🤓💜📚