Very interesting writing and style. The overall tone was intriguing and left me wanting to explore more of the characters.

Teenagers are teenagers who make good and bad decisions, but I can't abide by boring characters. Very little chemistry between Matt and Jason, to the point where I was questioning whether or not they were actually supposed to be the two love interests (lol speaking of, Dietrich's book The Love Interest was actually pretty good).

There's a theme in Dietrich's books about feeling trapped, either by expectations of others or by society. In The Friend Scheme, Matt feels trapped by his family, but his family isn't all that bad? Like, there's plenty of family members outside of their little mafia circle and he could genuinely live the life he wants and they'd probably be okay with it? Idk.

Not sure what the trope is but I'm all for this one. Concealed identity with a dash of enemies to lovers? Whatever the case, this queer YA thriller is an exciting book from Cale Dietrich and one that thriller and romance readers alike should read.

To put it simply, The Friend Scheme is a Romeo and Juliet esque romance between two sons of mobsters on opposite ends of a turf war.

Matt and Jason had such wonderful chemistry and banter - I loved them together and seeing them try to develop such a strong friendship first before romance, and how that foundation meant so much to the both of them was wonderful to see.

My only real issue was the ending and how it wasn't explored throughly enough. Leaving with a 3 star read that I would have a hard time recommending.

I'm not sure why it says I never dowloaded this book. I promise I read it. It was a fantastic book! I really hope more people read this book.

(i received an e-arc from the publisher and netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)

this book drew me in completely. filled with all-time favorite tropes and a wonderfully queer storyline, it is unforgettable.

Part thriller, part romance, this book is such a fun twisty read, I couldn't put it down once i started.

Though I enjoyed this book, I feel as though I might not have been the target audience.

I found the characters to be incredibly intriguing, however, I felt as though they weren't as well-rounded as they could have been. Admittedly, though, I am a primarily character driven reader.

I really enjoyed this. The characters felt really real. I felt that this was a step up from Dietrich's last book, The Love Interest, as I had felt as if the pacing was off in that book and it made it hard to connect to the characters.

All in all, this was a really fun book. I liked that then ending focused on Matt's identity outside of his family and his relationships. I was glad that he and Jason ended up together, but also that Matt had a year to really live his life on his own terms first.

Cale always has brilliant concepts and ideas! This was no exception, this was such a unique idea that made for an interesting story.

The Friend Scheme by Cale Dietrich was interesting enough while I was reading but ultimately mostly forgettable and I skim read most of it. I do want to give this book another try when I'm not in a reading slump though, as it seemed really cute, especially as I loved this author's previous book.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed are my own.

I held onto this book for a good while--way too long, honestly. The description immediately reminded me of Nora Sakavic's The Foxhole Court/All for the Game series. (I ADORE that series, but it checks off every single trigger warning imaginable like it's a competition.) I thought this might be a lighter version of that that I could actually recommend, since the characters were in high school instead of troubled college students. And that cover!!

So, as you can imagine, going up against one of my two favorite series didn't go too well. It definitely wasn't terrible and I would maybe read it again and probably even recommend it.

I personally detest first-person point of view. Especially when they're written from the point of view of younger people. That usually leads to either very "high school" writing, or mini-adults tossed into a world of kids.

I'll wrap up before this turns into a review of The Foxhole Court: This book is like This Savage Song and The Foxhole Court had a baby. If it'd been written in third-person, it would have been practically perfect. The characters are ones you love to follow and the story is definitely good. It just needs a *bit* more development of plot/relationships...and to be written in third person.

*I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

Okay, a shorter review because it has been so long since I read this one (whoops!).
There were funny moments starting right from the beginning. It was easy for me to feel for Matt and want to cheer for him. The relationship seemed a bit quick and easy too me, especially since Matt should know to be more cautious and suspicious. The characters are great though! I did find some of the writing to be awkward and the conclusion felt, again, easy and quick.
I expected drama, action, and intrigue, but this is more slice-of-life of a mobster's son who doesn't want to follow the family's business.

It isn't a bad book, it just isn't what I hyped myself to hope for.
Will I recommend this? Yes, and I have, but more for someone wants a sweet romance, with secrets and angst.

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

This is a Romeo and Juliet inspired story/retelling. That right there should have told me I would end up hating this...but alas do I listen to? No. I kept waiting for it to be better but honestly I liked nothing about this. The characters were flat and one-dimensional and the writing was so stilted and mediocre. The plot was ridiculous and predictable. Pass.
I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The best I can say about this is that it was a really quick read. And it had its cute moments too, but overall it was just a waste of potential. The whole Romeo and Juliet, falling in love with your mob family's enemy kind of thing could have been SO good, yet this book was completely and utterly... bland. There could have been DRAMA. There could have been YEARNING. Yet we got the most wooden dialogues, the most choppy writing, these kids calling each other "dude" and "man" so often I wanted to slam my head into a wall. Yeah, I'm disappointed.

Dietrich did well to show us the struggles of Matt, who doesn't enjoy committing crimes like his family and feels alienated from his relatives because of that, but also from being a closeted gay kid. His relationship with his love interest was interesting to read and it was nice that he did kind of grow and stand up for himself to his family.

This definitely didn't make it to my favorites because I felt that the characters could have been developed and fleshed out more. They felt one dimensional which led to the dialogue feeling stunted as well. Some parts felt kind of immature and just like they didn't fit with the tone of the story.

Despite that, I didn't read the final finished work, so I might one day pick up the final version from my library and see if the things I didn't care for were done differently. I definitely encourage readers curious about this title to try it for themselves if they feel called to do so.

DNF @ 40%

I am not one to not finish books, but I just couldn’t force myself to get through The Friend Scheme.

The Friend Scheme by Cale Dietrich follows our two main characters, Matt and Jason. Matt’s father is a mob-boss with high hopes that his son will follow in his footsteps. But, Matt has a different vision for his life. Jason is the son of the town sheriff, who befriends Matt. Matt doesn’t know exactly who Jason is - or more importantly, who his father is - but, Matt does know that he’s quickly forming an all-consuming crush on Jason. The two boys must unravel their feelings for each other from the expectations of their families - and figure out how to come clean.

So, my major problem with this book is that I felt like I was reading someone’s first draft. The writing felt clunky and unedited, there was a glaring lack of world-building and setting-descriptions, and the dialogue was very unnatural - things no one would actually say aloud. I’m not sure if the final copy will have more edits, but the e-arc received from netgalley was highly unpolished.

Then, because of the poor writing, I found it difficult to care about the characters. They didn’t become more than words on a page for me. The plot was also confusing and unrealistic - we were just missing a lot of description and plot construction to make the story believable. And, while I was being told that a romance was unfolding between the two boys, I didn’t feel it or, frankly, care.

I am very sad because I really wanted to like this one. The cover and concept are both beautiful and amazing. And, of course, I appreciate the queer representation. But, the book was really lacking in execution. So much so that I ended up not being able to push through to the end.

The cover for The Friend Scheme has to be one of my favourites of the year! It gives off this film noir, LGBTQ+, forbidden love vibe. I pictured gang meetings in smoky bars, secret meetings between the lovers, maybe even a bit of the injured trope. I absolutely had to get my hands on it! While reading The Friend Scheme, I did get the LGBTQ+, forbidden love, and meetings in smoky bars vibes. There were also meetings between the lovers...but all of this was not delivered to me the way I expected—and hoped—that it would.

There was a lot of dialogue in this book, and I found that, as well as the characters, to be less mature than what I'd expected. There were also definitely some gang stuff in The Friend Scheme since the MC's dad is a mobster, but not as I'd hoped there would be.

I'm glad that I forgot about the synopsis by the time I read this book, because one of the things revealed in there was a secret to me, and that's the only part of the plot that I saw to be an interesting twist. There also wasn't much depth to the plot or the characters (they felt flat to me and I didn't feel myself caring for any of them), and in order to avoid spoiling anything,  I'll try to be vague and just sat that the ending felt forced to me.

All that aside, after writing this review, I persued Goodreads and found that some readers really enjoyed this one! So please don't let my review discourage you if you're intrigued by this title!

In The Friend Scheme by Cale Dietrich, Matt is just a regular High School kid who wants to survive. Except his version of surviving is a little different than everyone else’s. As the son of a mobster, Matt can’t come out to his father and family, and is expected to help take over the family business of being a mobster once his time comes. But Matt wants none of that, especially the whole killing people to make sure his family stays in control of the city.

I got some pretty strong Romeo and Juliet vibes from the beginning of the book, with a gay twist. There’s two families that are at war over control of the city. There’s the whole, don’t trust anyone you meet because they could be the enemy, ordeal going on. But Matt ends up meeting Jason at a family bar and Jason seems a bit of a mystery and doesn’t want to talk about any of the family matters with Matt. I found myself curious as to who Jason was but also a bit wary that I had the secret discovered so soon. I was wrong. The book delivers some pretty strong twists that made me close the book and have to take a breather. I honestly did not see them coming and was ecstatic that I was caught off guard.

The writing flowed pretty well which helped it becoming a page turner with a pretty fast pace. And the story itself was interesting enough to keep me engaged. I enjoyed the romance aspect of it and the mob storyline especially. I did feel like it could’ve been a bit darker with the mob scenes, but they were pretty great. I liked seeing the family aspect behind the mob scene, especially with the father. I did have a slight problem with a few things though.

The language of some of the characters threw me off, perhaps because I live in an urban environment. I’m not used to people saying “golly” in real life and it made me disconnect a bit at times. There was also a time towards the end of the book when the MC, Matt, seemed to act out of character. I understood the effect it tried to had but I felt like it would’ve been better had it been a slower build to it, instead of his multiple character changes that took me away from the story.

And like the first book the author wrote, The Love Interest, I felt like the beginning and middle of the story were super fleshed out and then the ending was a bit rushed. I would’ve loved to read a bit more about the journey to that point instead of it happening all at once. But most of the problems were pretty minor and didn’t really take away from my enjoyment of the story.

Aside from the romance aspect, I really enjoyed Matt’s connections with everyone else. Especially with him not being out, his interactions with his family is pretty nerve-wrecking that a lot of us have gone through and still do. Scenes with him and his father, especially towards the end were really good and added depth to the entire book. I also really loved the ending and wouldn’t mind reading a sequel about it all. I am also excited to see what else Cale Dietrich has to offer us in the future and how he evolves as an author.