I pretty much devoured this book. I think I'd have read it in one sitting if I hadn't been spending time with my brother while he was in town visiting. I think the comparison to <i>Simon vs.</i> is spot-on with regards to tone and writing style, though I don't really see the <i>Clueless</i> connection myself.

<i>Only Mostly Devastated</i> is a modern retelling of the musical <i>Grease</i> with gay love interests. Ollie (i.e. Sandy) is a California-native who spends the summer before his senior year visiting family in North Carolina, and ends up having a summer fling with Will (i.e. Danny Zuko). When Ollie's family decides to stay in NC longer than planned, Ollie ends up attending the same high school as Will. Only to discover that the sweet, sensitive, attentive boy he knew during the summer is actually a rude, smug, jock at school . . . and he's closeted. Cue a hot-and-cold secret relationship while Ollie tries to dig down into the jerk to find the gentleman again.

<b>I knew myself, and I wasn't much of a "let's stay friends" kind of person. If I didn't cut Will off cold-turkey, I'd end up pining over him, all hopelessly devoted, and hurt, and unrequited.</b>

This book has the same story beats as <i>Grease</i>, but with enough twists and subversions to keep it interesting. A big addition is more focus on family-- the reason Ollie is in NC is because his aunt is sick with cancer, and Ollie's family are helping out while she undergoes treatment. Ollie spends a lot of time looking after his young cousins. Because the entire book is from Ollie's perspective, we spend a lot more time with "The Pink Ladies" than we do with "The T-Birds," to the detriment of the male side characters. From Ollie's POV, Matt (i.e. Kenickie) and the others are just rude and homophobic, though there's definitely some growth in the end. The girls have a lot of great character development, though, especially Lara (i.e. Rizzo). Lara is closeted bisexual, who uses sarcasm and cutting remarks as defensive armor. She and Ollie have some serious solidarity throughout the story, even though they definitely start off on the wrong foot. Juliette (i.e. Frenchy) is a clarinet player trying to get into her dream school, and Niamh (i.e. Jan/Marty, I guess) dreams of being a plus-size model in New York.

<b>"You can kiss whoever the fuck you want." I said firmly. "And it's no one's business but yours."</b>

There's a lot of good diversity, besides the main MLM ship. As I said, Lara is bisexual, and Will is as well. Will is also Latinx, and Juliette, Niamh, Matt, and Darnell (i.e. Sonny/Putzie?) are Black or unspecified POC. Niamh is "plus-size" and has polycystic ovary syndrome-- I was so excited to see PCOS represented in a YA book. Plus, there was frank discussion-- to combat some fatphobic remarks-- about diets being unhealthy restrictive eating.

<b>Why was I so willing to accept whatever scraps he handed out? All this time, I'd been wondering when my needs would start to really matter to him. Maybe I hadn't spent enough time wondering when my needs would start to really matter to me.</b>

I was really impressed with the way the romance was written. We only have Ollie's POV, and so are given more opportunity to sympathize with his side of things. So Will definitely comes across as an insensitive jerk for most of the book, but he also has some nice private moments with Ollie and we see some flashbacks to their summer together that it's not impossible to understand Ollie's attraction to him. Plus, I liked that Will wasn't villainized too much-- he gets his chances to explain his side of things, and his actions do make sense from his perspective. Both Ollie and Will learn how to compromise and support each other, and I thought it was really sweet!

One thing I wished for that is missing from the story is some closure between Ollie and his parents. His parents are kind of shitty to him through most of the book. It's not totally un-understandable, considering they're all wrapped up in a very emotionally stressful situation. But I really wish there'd been a good, cathartic argument between them (especially Ollie and his mom), or that they'd at least apologized for shunting Ollie's feelings aside.

I pretty unashamedly adore <i>Grease</i>, so I might be a bit pre-disposed to like this story. But <i>Only Mostly Devastated</i> is the best queer contemporary I've read in a while, and I really loved reading it!

TW: homophobia, fatphobia, cancer, forced outing, death of a loved one

Recommended: Sure
For an easy romance read, with some fun parallels to a classic story before developing into it’s own

Thoughts:
This was being touted as an LGBTQ+ version of Grease, and while I love that story, I wanted to read this story, and worried it wouldn’t develop it’s own identity for leaning too heavily on being a recreation with a twist. Happily, that was not the case! There were enough similarities, mostly towards the beginning, that it was a fun parallel to unravel. As the story continued, it branched onto it’s own path and away from being merely an imitation.

The struggles Ollie and Will have with their sexuality, Ollie as someone who’s out already and Will as someone who definitely is not, were decently handled. I appreciated that we got the point of view from both sides when Will opens up towards the end about how it felt for him. Understanding where your S.O. is at is critical in every relationship! It also helped redeem the past hurt and anger from Ollie, and remind the reader that Will is supposed to be the guy to love, not hate.

My biggest issue lies with some of the side characters who were quite undeveloped and felt somewhat pointless at times. If you’re not paying attention, you might have no idea who Ryan and Hayley are (I think I remember their names right…), or why Ollie briefly considers calling them when he’s distraught midway through the book. These 2 characters get 4 (MAYBE 5) mentions in the whole book, and for people who were his best friends his whole life, that felt pretty flimsy. Frankly, it made me think “Wow, Ollie sure is a crappy friend.”

Ditto towards Ollie’s band friends (who I really don’t remember the names of because they only got about 4 mentions as well), and Ollie’s musical passion in general. He has a lot of groups of friends going on, so maybe that’s why some inevitably got less screen time, but they at least a little bit more attention to make it feel believable. (Though they do say that when you’re in love, you forget about everyone else to the point of being rude… maybe it’s just playing that up really well? 😉 )His focus on music felt interchangeable: he could have had any main hobby, and it would have worked just as well. There was never really a pivotal moment where it had to be music. Clearly he didn’t need it to connect with people at his new school, since his band friends are barely mentioned despite seeming like quite interesting and considerate people.

Overall, it was a good read and I definitely enjoyed it. Still, it was pretty middle of the pack, which could be changed by a little more development of some of the people around Ollie. There was definitely at least one moment where I was reading and told my boyfriend to shush before he started asking me something because I had to finish the scene – so definitely not bad! ☺

Only mostly devastated is pitched as “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets Clueless, inspired by Grease”, but I would say it’s totally a Grease update, with the cheering vibes of Simon, and the result is this little bundle of cuteness.

Spoilers ahead!!

Ollie is one of the most well-adjusted teenagers I’ve ever found in a book. I’m so used to read about special snowflakes, badass killers and broken kids that I forgot that there are also regular teenagers out there whose fates have not been defined by ancient prophecies, and their stories can be just as gripping. Ollie is also smart, adorable, a bit socially awkward and super funny, with a self-deprecating sense of humour that had me laughing out loud frequently through the book. I wanted to hate Will for all the crap he put Ollie through, but I really couldn’t because the kid was terrified of being rejected by his family and friends, and who could blame him? So basically I spent the book suffering for these two. One thing I liked a lot is that Ollie actively tries to forget Will. He’s happy to have found Will again, but once he realises that they are not in the same page he tries to move on instead of wasting his senior year pining after a boy that doesn’t love him. So yes, he fails and succumbs to temptation, but my point is: he tries.

Ollie’s family story was just heartbreaking, and it was a good counterpoint to the funny and silly moments through the book. You know it’s not going to end well, but it doesn’t make it any less painful, and it was very interesting to see the different reactions of the family members through Ollie’s eyes, and Ollie’s own reaction, although his thoughts at this point felt a bit judgemental. Mourning is one of the worst things a person will have to go through in their lives, and there is no right or wrong here, you just do whatever you need to do to survive it.

The secondary characters are probably the weakest point here. They try to be different (the gorgeous best friend that is a plus-size model, the talented musician who doesn’t get into their dream school) but in the end they still feel quite archetypical. I didn’t love either how all of them (Ollie's friends and Will's friends) ended up happily paired in the end, with everyone going to the same college or close-by, especially because one of the things I loved the most about this book is how real the kids and the situations felt.

So basically this was a little ray of sunshine (with a side of heartbreak) that was perfect for me after the devastation of The Amber Spyglass. I highly recommend it to anyone in need of a feel-good boost, it won’t disappoint! :)

Thank you Netgalley & St Martin's Press for granting my wish with this book.

I liked this book and I didnt.
I know weird right.

I liked the MC and I didnt.

I liked the other MC and I didnt.

I Liked alot of things and then I didnt.

I dont want to give anything away because this comes out for the general public in 2020.

Mare~Slitsread

When I first started reading this book I thought to myself "what is this a retelling of Grease?". Then I read the tag line and was like ah yes that is exactly what it is supposed to be. I didn't love this book at the start, I thought it jumped into too many characters with no character development. Honestly what teenager is going to invite a stranger to their room to hang out and attend a first day of school party (which that alone, first day of school party?). However, the second half of the book was very redeeming. I loved that the entire book was from Ollie's perspective. I feel like this is exactly how teenagers think, and they are constantly wondering what the other person is thinking and feeling. I also appreciated the ending revelation that maybe Ollie was being selfish in his own way. I also came to love the secondary characters almost as much as the main characters. It was a quick wrap up but I was ok with that.

I went through this pretty fast. I've never actually seen "Grease" (though I'm familiar with its general story), but it's apparently based on it. The gist of the story is that a boy had met another boy over the summer and they reunite at school after one of them gets ghosted by the other.

Something that's good about this story was that it wasn't solely focused on the obvious angsty romance between Ollie and Will, but it also incorporates other issues that occur around Ollie. We see how Ollie and his family is struggling with his sick aunt, and his issue with Lara, a girl among his new group of friends who treats him with a cold shoulder.

Although this was a pretty quick read, I wasn't in love with the story. Ollie was a pretty good character, a guy who is comfortable with his sexuality and is not afraid to point out people's flaws/issues/wrongdoings. On the other hand, Will is someone who is very much in the closet and seems to act differently when he is around his basketball friends than when he's with Ollie. This aspect did bother me because he didn't really treat people the best when he's with his friends and apologizing later to Ollie for his behavior doesn't really solve this problem, which Ollie thankfully points out. Lara is another interesting character because she has quite the attitude, but is also struggling in coming to terms with her sexuality, as she has unrequited feelings for another girl who has a boyfriend. Overall, these three are the only characters that really stood out among the cast of characters.

Overall, it was a pretty good read, not amazing, just pretty good.

Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee . . . . or not. Not Sandy, but Ollie. Set in the key of Grease, Ollie meets Will at the lake over the summer. Romance ensues. Ollie, from California, is out of the closet, but Will is a basketball playing bro who hasn't had the conversation with establishing his preferences with his friends, family, anyone, really. So, as per the original narrative, Ollie finds himself at Will's school without Will knowing and go, go greased lightning, let the games begin. While there is a playful side to the romance, there is also the somber background of Ollie's aunt who is dying from cancer, so we stray from Rydell hijinks to knowing that time is limited and we have to step up before time runs out. Fun to read, but also asks the big questions. Deus ex machina ending keeps this from earning more stars.

For the first chapter or two, I was worried that this was going to be too Sarah Dessen-y-- the NC location, the family dynamics-- but once it finally clicked that I was actually reading a queer take on Grease, I stopped worrying. Ollie's voice is funny and believable, and the relationships between him and his friends (and would-be boyfriend) mostly ring true. I love the way that the Roses interact with each other and represent very different experiences of adolescent womanhood, too. The ending felt rushed to me, but overall, it's a nice, mostly uplifting queer romance.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an eARC.

I absolutely LOVED this book. I finished it very quickly, because I couldn’t stop reading it for very long. The storyline had me on the edge of my seat. It’s such a good mix of emotions and it is a truly believable story. I also love how it had some honest bisexual representation. That is hard to find.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ollie was in North Carolina, just for the summer, spending time with his aunt who has cancer and helping to watch his cousins. This was the perfect time to start a summer fling with a boy named Will. What Ollie didn’t plan on was his parents springing the news on him that they were staying in North Carolina for now because his aunt’s cancer is progressing.

And what Ollie definitely didn’t expect was for Will to be attending his new high school.

However, school year Will is quite different. He ignores Ollie, and Ollie is left to try to forge his own path while trying to figure out what happened with this summer romance.

Despite being labeled as a rom-com in the author’s bio, this is NOT a rom-com. I found this to be an immensely heavy book, dealing with homophobia, the fear of coming out, the fear of leaving friends behind/calling them out if they are homophobic, and dealing the impending loss of a family member. And while there are some lighter moments within this book, the majority of it really does deal with all of that.

Overall, I felt a bit let down because I went expecting one thing and got something quite different.

This book dug straight into the core of me, extracted every feeling teenage me ever had, added in all of my first love/ coming out angst, and slapped it on a page. I've been out in a fairly chill way for quite a long time now, but this book just put me right back there. But more than it stirred up my old coming out emotions, it reminded me of how incredibly intense and painful and wonderful and awful first love can be.

So, the basics. Ollie and Will meet during the summer. They fall into intense like. Summer ends. Will ghosts. But, plot twist. Ollie ends up moving to the town where he was over the summer and yup, right into Will's school, where he is immediately adopted into a small group of awesome girls who just so happen to hang out with Will.

So plot-wise, it's a bit Grease/ High School Musical/ etc. But I'm kind of not mad at it. Because it took that boring old hetero tail and queered it right up and into this century for us. And man did Sophie Gonzales do it right.

Very sweet coming of age book. I enjoyed it! I definitely cared about the characters and wanted to keep reading.

I loved this book. I feel like it’s become pretty common for YA LGBT books to have one member of a romantic couple that is closeted for one or more reasons, but I thought this particular book was a lot more normal. The relationship between Ollie and Will seemed easy, even if their sexuality isn’t always. The voice of the book read teenage. Everything felt a lot more authentic. This is definitely going to be used in my classroom.

I don't even know where to begin except . . . . . I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVED this book!!!! I typically try not to compare books to other books because every author's story deserves to stand on its own right, however, for this one, I feel like the only way I can express my love for it is to compare it to one of my all time favorites - "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" (it was also compared to it in the description, soooo...). I mean this in the sense that Gonzales has written a story that is equally funny, equally delightful, and equally thoughtful. Both Ollie and Will are so well developed as are the supporting characters. Everyone is so well layered that you really need to read the entire story to appreciate just how evolved they truly are and to appreciate the care that Gonzales put into crafting them.

This will definitely be a book that will fly off the shelves making it a necessary purchase for every YA (and home) collection. Additionally, there is a lot to unpack in this book making it a fantastic book for teen book clubs and/or other discussion opportunities. Seriously, is it 2020 yet, because I want my own copy ASAP!

This book is completely and utterly charming. I smiled from start to finish. Ollie is a great narrator, and Will is an even better love interest.

I gave it four stars because there were a few moments of weird lull and ancillary drama that didn't seem to add much to the overall arc.

I was first intrigued by the title of the book and then felt I should read it based on the description. I'm glad I requested this book from NetGalley!
Throughout the story, the characters felt real and more than just surface deep. Things didn't happen easily for them nor did they just always go with the flow. There was tension and bickering and love and heartache - all real emotions that never felt forced.
I think the thing I loved about this book the most is that things didn't work out perfectly just because it's a book. Things were messy and real. The characters adapted and made due with what they got which is more realistic.
I'm definitely going to grab a copy when it comes out to put on my classroom bookshelf!

I loved this book. I fell in love with the characters, each experiencing life their own ways but lending a helping hand to those around them.
Ultimately, however, the editing in this book drove me insane. There were no transitional markers/indicators to show the reader scene changes. There were so many times I had to go back and re-read sections because I was so confused. It took a lot away from the book. Without this issue, I’d give the novel four stars.

I really enjoyed this book. The writing is tight, but funny and heartfelt, which I appreciate. The characters aren't perfect; they struggle with themselves and grow from their experiences, which is age-appropriate. Was it the most innovative story ever? No, this is Grease/High School Musical's basic plot. Was it enjoyable to read? Yes! The characters are interesting and relatable. The resolution at the end perhaps happens a bit too quickly without much fallout, since the fallout was what drove most of the plot. I get it, things aren't as scary as they seem, etc. etc., but at least something would have made all that waiting a little more palatable.

Some parts of this book had me falling over laughing while others made me want to cry, but the parts in between were a bit flat. The plot felt a bit unstructured at times but the characters were fun. Overall it was a quick read but not one of my favorites.

I really enjoyed this book a lot. I was a little worried when it was compared to Clueless and Grease. I thought it might too much. I personally wouldn't have compared this book to those movies but if I squint I can see why it was.

This was a cute and emotional story. Ollie meets Will at the lake while on vacation over the summer. The two boys hit it off and become involved pretty quickly. Then Ollie's parents tell him they are actually moving to NC from California to help his sick aunt with her kids. Ollie is excited because he knows Will lives in NC, but not where. He thinks they'll be able to be connect. Only problem is Will seems to have ghosted Ollie.

Of course Will happens to go to the school in the same town Ollie ends up moving too. Their reunion is not at all what Ollie was expecting. Ollie accidentally outs Will to 3 girls he meets first day at school. Ollie doesn't know that Will lives nearby and goes to the same school as him at this time. The girls drag Ollie to a back to school party and they run into Will. At first Will is excited to seem Ollie until one of the girls hints that Ollie told them about them summer and then he starts acting as if he doesn't know Ollie.

Will isn't ready to be out. He is a basketball star at his school but wasn't good enough to get a scholarship for college. He's worried if he comes out his parents won't support him financially for school and that his friends will give him a hard time. As a result he ends up treating Ollie very badly despite liking Ollie a lot.

Ollie struggles with just letting Will go. He knows he deserves better and that Will is treating him terribly but he loves Will and as much as he tries he usually gives in when Will does something nice or begs or apologies. There is a point where Ollie has had enough and breaks it off with Will. Things are tense for a while. Ollie doesn't want to be with Will in secret while Will makes jokes about him or doesn't stand up for him in public. Ollie understands that Will isn't ready to be out and accepts that. He does not accept that they can't be friends in public and more in private. Will thinks that even being friends with Ollie will tip people off to their relationship.

As a reader you understand Ollie's frustrations with Will and you get frustrated as well. But you also kind of understand where Will is coming from and feel for him. You still root for the boys which is a good balance. I really loved towards the end when Ollie realizes that he's been pretty selfish about what he wants from Will but never considered what he could do for Will. Will took time to seek him out and hang out with him when he could. He took an interest in things Ollie liked but Ollie never once thought about it until Will invited him to a big basketball game. It was refreshing for the main character to realize that yes, Will had done some things wrong, but maybe Ollie hadn't been all that perfect either.

My absolute favorite part of the book was after Ollie's aunt had died. The way the author describes Ollie's grief and feelings and thoughts after he experienced death firsthand really hit me hard. I have never read a book where reading something smacked me with a serious "I AM NOT ALONE" feeling, but this part of the book did. It was so nice to see something that I struggle with so personally described so accurately in a book. I was sobbing during this part because I just felt like finally someone understands.

This was a great book covering many topics and it was done very well.