2.75⭐️

Thanks so much to netgalley for giving me an advanced copy to review!

This was a cute, quick read about a teenage boy named Elliot who realizes he may or may not be gay, but that he is attracted to his new lab partner, Jordan. He is also dealing with an ongoing bullying problem at school that no one really seems to know or care about.

I thought this was a fun one! There were definite moments where I was grinning while reading scenes between Jordan and Elliot. They were very very cute together and that’s what saved this book for me.

However I feel like the author just needed a little bit more practice writing and a better editor. The majority of this book was dialogue, which really prevented me from getting a deeper feel for the characters or really connecting with them a whole bunch. There were also some very repetitive scenes and conversations between characters.

I will give her props though for the conversation between Elliot and his twin, Ellie, regarding Elliot’s gay panic moment. I think that sexualities are so much more complex than they used to be, and seeing the words asexual, aromantic, bi, gay etc explained on page is something some YA readers might find beneficial.

TW: bullying & homophobia

I absolutely loved this book! It was adorable, relatable, and the love story is something I wished I had growing up (but I’m glad I get to see our youth today growing up with these stories now).

Jordan and Elliot are lab partners and when sparks fly between them, you start to see Elliott blossom.

This story of first love is meaningful and inspirational. Give me more stories like this any day!

My response will go live on my site tomorrow at 12:30 pm EST (geoffwhaley.com).

What this books needs more than anything, is a good editor: there were continuity errors, there were issues with over description and there were issues with dialogue. And the saddest part is the story and characters were solid enough, but the editing really let it down.

I requested a copy of this book from NetGalley based on the blurb and the cover.* I mean cute cover, adorable blurb about high school first romance, who wouldn't want to read it right?

What I didn't realize was that Wattpad Books is apparently a direct feeder from Wattpad, a site where you can self-publish stories in a dizzying number of genres, and that was on me not doing my research properly, so I'm going to review the book first and then go into my thoughts on the publisher. Unfortunately, I think a lot of my issues with the book are intricately intertwined on how I'm perceiving the publisher operates.

What was great about the novel? I adored Elliot's obliviousness and selflessness and Jordan's confidence-bordering-on-cockiness and the chemistry was really well balanced (pun[s?] intended). Montgomery may have leaned a little heavily into the bullying, self-acceptance, closet case tropes and she even acknowledges on her site that she had many clichéd ideas (go <a href="https://www.moramontgomery.com/bio" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a> and click "Evolution"), but a lot of them really worked in her favor. I felt the supporting characters were believable for the most part with the exception of the bullies, who were cookie cutter and their motivations were also pretty cookie cutter, but for a debut novel they weren't the worst I've read.

I also, thoroughly enjoyed Montgomery's inclusion of an asexual/aromantic character, Elliot's twin sister Eleanor, and the talk she gave to Elliot was perfection:
<blockquote>"Take me for example. It took a long time for me to figure this out, but I identify as asexual. And aromantic, if we're being technical . . . That could change at some point—this stuff is all fluid. That's the thing about sexualities: they aren't set in stone. By identifying one way or another, you aren't signing a contract that says this is who you are or have to be for the rest of your life. I identify as asexual now, but there may come a day when I meet somebody and fall in love with them and want to explore my sexuality. And that's okay. Sexualities change as people do. All I know for certain is that this is the way I feel now." (113-4)</blockquote>
However, I wish she would've connected it to Elliot a little more in that allegedly he'd never thought about boys or girls sexually or romantically and if that was the case he should've been googling that shit. I mean unless there's a time shift that I missed and this is set in the past and not present day, I can't think of any teenagers (the Amish maybe?) who don't question, explore, google, hypothesize, their sexuality and when it comes to teen boys, come-on. So by maybe having Elliott acknowledge his own "previously-non-existent-but-still-blushes-at-sexual-innuendos" sexuality with an "oh that could've been me" would've solved this little plot hole and made the ending a little less well that's awkward as hell

Overall, I felt Montgomery did a good job of pacing the story until the last 20-25 pages or so, it seemed to lean into the romance genre trope of happily-ever-after-here's-a-bow-goodnight rather than the young adult teen angst will-they-won't-they-what-happens-when-they-graduate-omg-it's-first-love-will-it-last-forever WTF-ness at the end.

What wasn't so great was the over-descriptions (second quote below) and the stilted (internal) dialogue (first and third quote below).
<blockquote>"The minute hand of the clock hanging on the wall to my right ticked slowly; it was fitting—sitting in science class feeling the actual, physical pressure of time." (9)

"Sighing, I got up off the couch and made my way upstairs to find my charger. In my room, I flopped stomach-down on my mattress and reached for the charging cord, which was plugged into an outlet on the far side of the bed. Finding the end of it, I plugged in my phone and left it on my night stand..." (11)

"I didn't have much reason to come north in my day-to-day life, but on occasion, my mother would take us school shopping at the mall up in Cooper Creek." (175)</blockquote>
These three were pretty cringe worthy and there were a few more, but I had to stop highlighting because I didn't want it to bog down my experience. I won't lie though, I had to take a break after the first 15-20 pages to really think whether I wanted to power through because of these. Ultimately, it felt like the author was trying to write a slightly awkward character and that the poor editing exacerbated it making it a harder read than it should've been. I mean both of these examples above are internal dialogue, but unless you put on a fake posh British accent (no clue where that came from) and you use really formal language when you have your internal dialogue (maybe the author doesn't and that's why it's slightly stilted), who talks like this to themselves?!

Now, for where I had REAL issues with the book was with the editing and I'm blaming the publisher for this one. In general I like the idea of Wattpad's approach:
<blockquote>Through an innovative, data-driven approach not yet seen in the industry, Wattpad Books is poised to disrupt traditional publishing by harnessing data to unleash the most groundbreaking stories from Wattpad directly onto bookshelves.</blockquote>
But if they miss out on some pretty basic industry standards, I'm going to need them to revisit said approach. Maybe, they're banking on the 6 million readers of Montgomery's story as she wrote it, but that's not great for attracting new readers.

Not only could a good editor have helped Montgomery with the dialogue issues above and the over-descriptive passages, but a good copy editor could've caught some of the basic continuity errors and confusing instances where one or two words (like "I said", or "I mumbled" would've provided a lot of clarity. The one example that really stood out was Jordan's apparent ability to visit the same place (aka Elliot's house) for the first time TWICE. Okay, maybe you can explain this away by the extenuating circumstances on the first visit, but I call bullshit and say blame the copy editor! On page 94 Elliot explicitly states: "I was sitting on the edge of the sink in the upstairs bathroom of my house as Jordan assessed my injuries." and then, just over 100 pages later we get this gem from Elliot on page 188: "This was his first time inside [my house], and I couldn't help but become immediately self-conscious about every little thing." Now there are a million <em>other reasons</em> Elliot should be worried about this second visit, so I can imagine why he's anxious but come on copy editor, visiting again for the first time is NOT one of them.

UGH. But at that point I was invested enough in the story that I was finishing come hell or high water and I did, until I regretted it again during the birthday party scene that's the penultimate scene of the book, see aforementioned teen sexuality comments.

<strong>Recommendation:</strong> Overall, this was a decent read for a debut novel. I enjoyed the story and characters, but overall the poor editing brought the story down for me. I'd recommend to the author (and/or the publisher) to hire a set of good editors who could've cleaned up a lot of these mistakes or made strategic suggestions and easily pushed this from a decent 3-ish star read to a definite 4-4.5 star read.

*I received a copy of <em>Lab Partners </em>from the publisher via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.

An okay high school story of male friendship that may possible become more. I thought it sweet and something that needs to be written for representation, but overall the story was not too exciting.

This was cute and I enjoyed how it talked about sexuality and discovering yourself, as well as bullying and personal circumstances/reasoning of some of the action of the characters.

I'm not sure that I've had the personal experience to comment on the accuracy of the emotion and events that happen.

But overall it was a good story and I'm happy I read it, however, and maybe this is just me, but sometimes it didn't really feel like we were dealing with HS seniors. I felt a lot of the time like I was reading about 14-15 years old, not necessarily 17-18 years.

** spoiler alert ** I received this eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @60%

I have really tried to give all of the ARCs I have received up until now a fair chance and read them in their entirety. But I just couldn't do this. I could have read this fully, but that wouldn't have changed my opinions, which were pretty well solidified around the 100-page mark.

First of all, the writing. First-person, quite simple, easy to read. However, I just got incredibly annoyed by each and every action that was described. Every gesture is penned down. Every step in the process of making pasta and how exactly our MC grabs a pot, every step in a chemistry experiment, including measurements and names of ingrediënts. I felt as if the author wanted to reach a word count goal.

Secondly, I was assuming, when I started reading this story, that we were following middle school students. In my head I was following a boy who was about the same age as Percy Jackson. Not that soon after, I figured out these were 17-year olds. They way these characters speak and behave is really reminiscent of 13-year olds. It just didn't fit.

And lastly, I was really not on board with this relationship, and the way our main character, Elliot, was coming to terms with whatever he was feeling. This all starts with Elliot expressing that it doesn't matter who people love, because people are people and love is love. Jordan, our love interest, apparently thinks that a person advocating for queer rights is, in fact, a queer person himself and decides that this might be a good moment to kiss Elliot. Elliot, as is pretty understandable, is shocked and doesn't know what to do.

He ends up speaking with his sister, who explains that people and sexuality is complicated, that people change and sexuality can be flued. She mentions some "labels" (I didn't know which word to use) that some people identify as. This (as far as I can tell as a cishet woman) is quite alright, actually. But. There's a but. But she also asks him 'How do you know that you're not gay?', which could be a quite innocent and genuine question, but phrasing it like:

<< 'Have you ever been with a guy before?' 'No.' 'Have you ever been with a girl before?' 'No.' 'Ever given either one a remote chance?' 'Not really.' 'Then how do you know?'
causes my skin to itch a little. Some people don't have to 'be' with someone before knowing what label they feel most comfortable with. This "scene" might not even be intended in the way I critisised it, but it just didn't sit right with me. >>

But then! Jordan wants to speak to Elliot and actually forces/drags him outside, where our main character's absolutely not comfortable with.

<< "A string of curse words started to form in my mind and I immediately wanted to give in to my instincts to run as far away as my feet would carry me. Unfortunately, Jordan's grip on my arm kept me from doing that, so instead, I did my best to force down any signs of panic." >>

And then Jordan tries to "convince" him... that he is, in fact, gay? has feelings for Jordan?

<< "You just have to say the words, Eli," he breathed, leaning closer, motioning like he was going to kiss me again. "W-What are you doing?" I stuttered, placing my hands on his chest to keep him where he was. "Convincing you," he said, softly caressing my cheek with his fingers. >>

Basically, this dude harasses him.

<< He was taller than me, so I straightened my spine and looked him straight in the eye. In a surprisingly steady voice, I said, flat out, "I'm. Not. Gay." A deep chuckle resonated in his chest. He leaned in close to my ear. My breath caught in my throat once more as his lips brushed the base of my jaw. I didn't move. I couldn't. "And yet..." he whispered before backing away, exiting the dugout, and disappearing altogether, leaving me standing there alone, confused, and a little flustered. >>

So yeah, this was about the point where I'd had enough and decided that, no matter how amazing the rest of the book could be in some universe, I wasn't going to change my opinions on this book.

First of all, thanks to NetGalley and Wattpad Books for approving my request and sending me an eARC in exchange for a honest review.
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.


Actual rating: 3,5 stars.


TRIGGER WARNING: bullying, violence, homophobia, homophobic language, internalized homophobia, depression (hints).


Elliot Goldman is a senior and he doesn't know what to do with his future. His father works with investments, his mother is a mechanical engineer and his twin sister Eleanor is so smart she's already going to community college collecting credits while she awaits the right time to start college with her peers.
Elliot doesn't have a passion for science or economy like his family - he simply likes to cook.

Pinecrest is a very small town where everyone knows each other and Elliot is the bullies' target since forever because he can't help to intervene when someone else is harassed - he thinks it's better if Morgan, Nate and Cole pick on him rather than someone else. But he knows he can count on Holly, his only friend at school and in life since she's friend with his sister - the catch is he wants to deal himself with the bullying.

When the chemistry teacher decides to switch the lab partners, Elliot meets Jordan Hughes, a new kid recently moved from New Hampshire.

Jordan is kind, funny and despises bullies - especially when he learn about the abuse Elliot is forced to endure lately. They become friends and they spend time together outside school - it's the first time Elliot has someone to hang out with aside from his sister and Holly.
That peaceful routine gets broken after a brutal beating and after hearing what Morgan, Nate and Cole told Elliot, Jordan kisses him but Elliot goes into a panic. He isn't gay, is he?


"Lab Partners" has an easy and simple writing, almost basic - you read it fast, but the downside is in its lacking of psychological in-depth so you never get over the surface with the majority of characters: the only bully I found interesting is Cole because he was the only one with a different shade in his personality every time we meet him.

I found in this book the same flaws I found in "I Knew Him" by Abigail de Niverville last year: you don't know exactly how much time passes, but you realize is very little and too much is told when it was supposed to be shown. We read Elliot and Jordan hanged out outside of school and became friends, but we don't get to see it so it tastes a lot like instalove and the reader can't help the distance he perceives.

Elliot, to his own admission, never thought about a relationship with anyone - female or male whatever it was - so it's pretty normal for Elliot to be confused after the kiss.
I liked Jordan, on a general thought: he's sweet and protective with Elliot. But there was something I didn't like: even if he left Elliot his own space to figure out his feelings, once or twice he told Elliot he would have convinced him to be gay because that confusion was something Jordan experienced himself when he was going through the same thing. That I didn't like - you can't convince someone to be the person you want them to be when maybe they're not at all.
Anyway, their scenes together are really cute, sweet and tender.

What I liked the most is the speech Ellie gives to Elliot about sexuality: how sexuality is something fluid that can change because it's not set in stone, how many orientations exists out there, how Elliot being gay or attracted only to Jordan wouldn't have change anything about the way they loved him.

"Lab Partners" has certainly some flaws, but it's a good story about discovering your own sexual identity, dealing with your own fears and taking a stand against the bullies, about the pressure when you're eighteen and you're supposed to know what to do with your life, about boosting your self-esteem up even when it seems you're getting left behind - it's a pity we get only hints about the depression suffered from Elliot.

That said, "Lab Partners" is a nice reading when you don't want to deal with something more demanding and you still need something to cheer you up.

I requested this book because I thought it sounded really cute and it was, in some ways. The story itself had a lot of "x did this, then did this, after x saw this" type of writing. It was jarring and definitely took me out of the story. There were things that were put into detail that had absolutely no weight on the story. You are literally walked through how to make a pizza in painstakingly detailed instructions. It was like reading subtitles on a cooking video. I really liked Holly and Jordan as characters. I liked both Elliot (the main character) and Jordan's families. I did not feel though as if the bullying were very realistic. No administration would allow bullying to get to that point. No parent (and I speak that as a parent) would ever allow their child to come home from school with a broken nose and just let it go, teenager or not. There seemed to be a lot of detail in the physical romance, which is fine by me, but also strange in the context of the book because I felt it was the best written part. There's a little instalove in there as well. So all-in-all, it was an okay book. The characters were pretty good. The overall story was okay and I don't hate it.

Do I want to read a story about bullying, way too many unecessary details and descriptions and homophobia? The answer is no. DNF at 52%
Also "this guy's been bullying me for years but my sister refused to go out with him so I guess I sympathise with him now" like seriously???

This was a great book. I think the author did a really good job of covering a wide range of issues from sexuality to alcoholism to bullying, in a way that didn't feel forced. i really enjoyed the setting and our main characters. There were some elements that I would have liked to have been handled a bit differently, but it was an enjoyable and fun read.

Well I'm going to be honest with you, this is one of those books where my normal give it 100 pages rule wouldn't have saved it, were it not a ARC which I always try to power through. Makes me think I should change my rule to 150 pages because it certainly picked up just after 100-125 pages, in my opinion. So if you can power through all the background building for Elliot, the set up of the school scene and how Elliot has almost always been bullied and some awkward conversations that don't sound like any conversation I have ever heard out of a teenager's mouth and the friendship building, you golden and the book gets quite entertaining.

Just stick with it and you'll be giggling like a school girl reading this book. I know I certainly was. The 2nd half of the book is ridiculously entertaining. Jordan has to be one of the most confident teenage boys on the planet, and he's completely right about Elliot just being adorable. Holiday, Elliot's friend, may be my new fictional hero.

I cannot fathom what the non-existent supervision schedule of their school must look like. Where are the teachers during lunch? Where are the adults in general during the school hours?!?!?! Yes, bully does unfortunately happen even with adults roaming the place, but this book has it in excess. I'm pretty sure if there was an adult roaming the cafeteria they would zone in on a kid dumping milk over another kid's head. Never mind all the things that happen in the hallway, bathrooms, locker room and outside the school doors. Seriously.

But suspending my disbelief of the lack of adults in favor of a good story did not disappoint! I was just here for a good story with a good message and this is a good story with a good message. Definitely delivered!

Totally recommending this to friends.

I thought this book would be an adorable YA coming-of-age tale. Plus, the cover was cute. The actual contents of the book? Not so much, honestly. It pains me to leave a review like this, and if I hadn't received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley, I would have left this one alone without comment.

I couldn't force myself to read any further than I managed to get, and, after reading other reviews, I'm confident I made the right choice to put this one down. The minute detail in which activities are described was painful:

"After washing my hands, I stooped down to look through the pots and pans. I had to shift some things around a bit, but eventually I was able to pull out a large pot for the pasta and a smaller one with a matching lid for the sauce. I held the larger pot in the sink and turned on the water. The pot grew heavier under the running faucet. I watched as the surface of the water inched higher and higher, all the while trying to estimate how much I would need to boil two packages of angel hair pasta."

The description of making spaghetti continued for another two paragraphs. The whole thing read like it was a recipe in narrative form. Kind of like those books teenagers can buy to learn vocabulary words before taking the SAT.

And then we get to hear about someone heating up the spaghetti on square plates that don't fit in a microwave. It was at this point that I started skimming because I just couldn't anymore.

I'll stop writing now before this review becomes as cumbersome and tedious to read as the book itself.

<i>Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and I'd like to thank them in letting me read a copy of Lab Partners by Mora Montgomery.</i>

I enjoyed this book a lot, especially for the characters’ love of science. The two main characters are such sweethearts and you just want everything to go well. Since this was an advance reader’s copy, there were some grammatical errors, including the need for commas or semicolons, but other than that, the writing style is very easy to read and to immerse yourself in the story. <spoiler> Although great, there were some aspects of the book worth mentioning. I found it a bit weird that the last name of the coach at Pinecrest (the school) was Hanover, while it mentions Hanover High in New Hampshire. I feel like there should have been another name used, or if it was on purpose, give the reader some reason as to why. Additionally, I would have liked to see a mention of Elliot getting his clothes the next day after they’ve dried. Also, when Jordan kissed Elliot after he had been bruised, all I could think about was how much that would have hurt. Jordan kept making moves on Elliot, and it doesn’t sit right with me. There was a scene when Jordan picked Elliot up, and wouldn’t put him down until Elliot said he would kiss him (Jordan). If Elliot really didn’t want to do anything, I feel like Jordan would have probably let him down because of his character, but still; personally, I’d have a problem with that. Lastly, Elliot just went out to dinner with Jordan, and I think that he should have just sent a quick message to one of his parents where he was going. </spoiler> It was a quick read, and definitely worth checking out.

I will always give a LGBTQ+ a try so this was no different. I'm glad I gave this a try, I really do love friends to lovers stories.

While the start of the book was pretty slow and was giving a play by play of every day, there were some good parts. I really enjoyed the friendship that started between the two boys and how we don't get romance from the start. I liked how we got to know the boy's families and lives outside of each other a little. I enjoyed how these boys didn't have romantic feelings for each other from the start and how they were friends first. I liked watching their friendship develop over time and seeing them get to know each other. I loved that they still were getting to know each other as their relationship went on.

The discussion that Elliot has with his sister regarding sexuality seems out of place and something out of a textbook. The whole thing just doesn't flow and him just kind of accepting himself seems strange when just a few seconds ago he was freaking out. I spent some time thinking about it and realized it's very similar to when I realized I was into girls, all it took was someone putting the thought into my head. I think while it reads strangely for some teenagers it really just kind of clicks the way it does for Elliot.

A lot of things kind of were skimmed over or just taken foregranted through the story and just felt out of place. I felt that some of the moments that should've taken more time were rushed through leaving little room for the reader to feel anything. I wanted there to be more room for Elliot to process things that were happening to him.

The ending just kind of infuriates me, I feel that there was a better way to deal with these bullies. I keep seeing YA books that deal with bullying in a similar manner, where the adults are useless so they seek revenge. I'm not a fan of this being the way to deal with things and the revenge sought in this book is a bit distasteful. I felt that the third thing they did was the only thing that should've been done and the rest was too much.

Once the problem of bullying is resolved the book kind of quickly speeds through. Each chapter is pretty short and reads like a slice of Elliot's life rather than the ending of a book. The ending really made me not enjoy the book as I wanted it to have more of a closing.

This book was amazing. I LOVED it so much. Eli and Jordon are such great characters and I liked the plot of the story. This book however does contain trigger warnings for bullying and being bullied because you are gay. I liked how this book dealt with topics of sexuality and bullying. That even though bullying is NOT OKAY but it tackles the subject why people do bully. What makes them do it. The main character Eli has been bullied by the same guys since middle school and it kept getting worse then he meets Jordon who is a new kid plus his new lab partner. A great friendship builds between them. I loved how the book ended and plus there are times when this book made me laugh and times when I feel sorry for Eli and hope he gets the courage he needs.

It was adorable! Honestly, there isn’t much for me to say in terms of negatives. If I’m being really specific, I did find it slightly weird that Eli was so much of an outcast that he had no friends other than Holly (mainly his sister’s friend) and Jordan. I read books where similar things happen a lot, but I’ve never seen that happen in real life, so it’s a bit strange.

Other than that, it was perfect. The writing is amazing and the whole time I really felt like I was in the mind of a teenage boy. And I absolutely Ellie. She’s a lot like my older sister and she really is important to the story. I love that she wasn’t just thrown in there to have more characters. She’s amazing and sweet and caring; exactly what a sister should be.

Overall, this book gets a million stars. Seriously, I read it in one sitting. Lab Partners is one of the best ARCs I’ve ever gotten to read. Pick it up March 10, 2020!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ three stars
*
Thank you @netgalley and Wattpad Books for the arc in exchange for an honest review. Publication day : March 10th 2020.
*
Simply put, this book was cute. I think fans of To All The Boys I Loved Before and similar stories, will like this book. Lab Partners was an easy and quick read. Over all it’s was... fine?
*
Similar to other contemporary books, it didn’t have the courage to explore deeper themes. Why bring up the topics of homophobia, bullying and depression if you aren’t going to flesh them out? Let those topics breath life and meaning into the book...because what we were stuck with was a cookie cutter after-school special. Which is sad, this book had so much potential.

Yeah, I didn't really like this book. The romance just happened to quickly and didn't get developed at all. I also just didn't like the love interest. I think in the beginning of their relationship he just pushed himself on the main character and it made me feel icky. The characters were also very one dimensional. They all just felt so cookie cutter. I didn't like how the bullies were dealt with either. You don't fight fire with fire, especially not like this. I also just wasn't a fan of the writing. The book would just go on and on about things that didn't matter. I don't need to know every single detail about the chemistry experiment the main character is doing in class. It just dragged the story for a bit. I honestly think you could have cut this book down to novella size and miss absolutely nothing. It was a very quick read though, so it has that going for it I guess.

3.5/5⭐

Lab Partners tells the story of high school senior Elliot Goldman. Like most high schoolers he's worried about making a decision on college and is just trying to survive his final year of high school. He's the victim of bullying but his motto is 'better him than someone else'. However, his days are about to change when he is assigned a new lab partner. Jordan Hughes, the new kid in school and also Elliot's new lab partner quickly becomes a friend. Then Jordan kisses him and makes Elliot question everything he thought he knew about himself. Now Elliot has to figure out his feelings on top of everything else in his teenage life.

Lab Partners has an enjoyable plot line with likable characters. Elliot was an incredible character who put himself in the way of a group of violent bullies to keep other kids off their radar. It hurt that he felt so isolated when in reality he had some strong support in his family if only he reached out for it. Jordan's character didn't fully sit well with me, at times I felt like he came on way to strong with Elliot and forced him to confront his feelings in a way I found off-putting. The writing itself was decent. I felt in the beginning it was a bit rigid and instructional but as the story progressed it seemed to read more fluidly.

Overall, this young adult contemporary novel had good LGBT representation and a realistic approach to the dark reality of bullying. I wouldn't mind reading more from author Mora Montgomery in the future.

They start spending more time together outside of school and Elliot realizes he’s never met anyone quite like Jordan. And then everything changes one night when Jordan kisses him, making Elliot question everything about their relationship and about himself. The butterflies start to make sense―the trouble is, right now, nothing else does.