I think I may have gone into this with the wrong expectations. It's being pitched as a best-friends-to-lovers romance, and it is....but it leans hard into being a general coming of age story with the romance as more of a side plot. This is kind of like the difference between adult romance and women's fiction where the latter is mostly contemporary fiction, with a strong romantic subplot. That's what you get here. And there's nothing wrong with that, but it wasn't what I expected and that might have contributed to me finding parts of the book very slow to get through.

I love that there are geeky elements, found family, pining, and a joyful celebration of gay boys of color. All of that is wonderful. I do wish we had spent more time on the actual relationship though because they really only get together at the very end of the book because of a love triangle and lack of communication. And given how much the description talks about them trying to get badges to this comic con, I was really hoping they would actually get to go and we would get some convention scenes! Alas, no dice. Though we do get a lot of content about the comic the main character is obsessed with. Isaac is painfully shy and probably has social anxiety, so we see him pushed out of his comfort zone as new people come into his life when all he wanted was to spend the summer before college with his best friend Diego.

I think there are readers who could LOVE this and feel really seen by it. Isaac is Afro-Latinx which is great to see represented and I loved how much his family and their cultural food was represented in the story. I loved that we have a gay MC with two bisexual love interests. Basically I love a lot of what this was doing and if I was a bigger fan of general contemporary YA stories, I might have enjoyed my time with it a lot more. So I want to set expectations for readers. That said, if you know going in, you may be very charmed by the romance! I received an advance copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

DNF

I said this last time too, but I mean it this time, this time i really mean it I won’t read another Julien Winters book. I liked Running with Lions. But all his books since then are pretty much same and boring. It not a terrible book so don’t think its worthy of one star, but I found it bland and so repetitive of his past books

4.25 Stars

Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for an arc of this book.

Isaac wants to spend his whole summer break hanging out with his best friend, going to cons and pride, before he goes off to college next year and his friend stays home. But they are torn apart by a crush and a mistake and have to find ways to reconcile what's happening. And then there is love.

This was so cute! Honestly the whole time I was begging the narrator to see what was right in front of him, but I guess that is part of the trope. I liked the character development but what I really loved was the focus on cons and comics and video games and queer inclusive spaces and found family and ALL OF THAT!

Honestly was really jealous of the teen pride event though, like...I wish I had had that when I was a teen.

I felt like not all of the tension between the two characters was resolved at the end of the book and that was upsetting for me. Like I feel like more apologies/recognition of wrongdoing would have gone a long way for me at the end!
I also felt like....not enough was happening for most of the book, and then everything got crowded into one little chunk of space? I don't know. Don't get me wrong, I really loved lots of aspects of this book! But those were a few of my thoughts.

Pub date: March 15, 2022

Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Mental illness
Minor: Homophobia and Racism

Wow wow wow, this book is SO GOOD???? I don’t even know where to start.

What about the fact that this is friends-to-lovers EXCELLENCE?? The pining, the obliviousness (not a painful amount, the perfect amount), everything about it was crafted to absolute perfection. This seriously might be my favorite execution of the friends-to-lover trope, like, ever.

And what would friends-to-lovers be without vibrant characters? Isaac is such a strong main character and I loved following him in all of his geekery. But y’all, it isn’t just Isaac who come alive through these pages, it is literally every character.

From Diego to Isaac’s family, to the new friends and budding relationships along the way, every single character has their moment to shine and I am totally here for it. Throughout the book, these relationships grow and we dive into Isaac’s dynamic with each of them. The family dynamics definitely have their moments in the sun, but so do the friendships. Seriously, big friend groups are just my favorite thing to see in books. But quite honestly, I think one of my favorite parts of the friendships in Right Where I Left You is how unabashedly queer and nerdy the entire friendgroup is.

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Above all, this book just made me so happy to read. I was totally smiling like an idiot as I devoured it in one day. I mean… Summer vibes! Geekery to the extreme! Amazing voice! Everything! LOVE IT!

5 I have absolutely zero complaints about this book, it is absolute brilliance. The pacing is smooth, the characters are vibrant, and my mind is utterly consumed with the absolute glory that unfurls. It is the sort of book that will have you grinning along and nodding your head to all the geeky joy within.

FIRST READ OF 2022! WOOOO! I don't have the right words to describe this book. All I can say is this book had so much heart weaved into every word, every page, and every character. It was hard for me to get into, but about halfway through, I got really invested. The level of complexity in this perfectly mirrored messy yet beautiful teenage friends-to-lovers. There are so many tiny little aspects to this book that made me smile along the way. I can't wait for everyone to read about Isaac and Diego and love them as much as I did. I'm so happy this was my first read of the new year.

<p><strong>Thoughts and Themes: </strong>When I first heard of this book and when I first started reading I thought it was going to be a romance book but I was pleasantly surprised. This book is about love but not just about a romantic relationship, it covers romantic love, familial love, and love between friends. There are a few easter eggs in this book from other LGBTQ+ books which I really enjoyed when I stumbled across the ones that were familiar to me.

Something that I really enjoyed about this book was the way that familial relationships were handled throughout this book. I think the author did a great job depicting how difficult change can be, and how hard navigating emotions can be when you don't share those with others. I liked that a lot of the issues between Isaac and others came down to him learning how to communicate his feelings and asking questions rather than assuming the worst. I really did enjoy that this book included the way that Isaac's social anxiety was impacting his relationships with others without directly telling you that this is what was going on. I was able to relate to a lot in this book because of how his social anxiety was manifesting itself.

I highly recommend reading this one if you liked Encanto since I got a lot of similar vibes from this book in terms of familial love and relationships. The minute I read the first few pages of this book I said "this is me, this story is just me." and it is rare that I find a book where I feel the author just gets me.

<strong>Characters:</strong> In this book, you are introduced to several characters and at first I thought it was going to be too many to remember them all but I winded up loving each and every one of them. You get to meet Isaac's family members and friends, as well as some of Diego's family members.

I loved getting to meet Diego's mom, dad, and brother, Ollie. I loved seeing the relationship that Isaac had with each of Diego's family members and how they served as a support system to him as well. I also really enjoyed the contrast that we get to see between Diego's parents and Isaac's parents, and how it isn't only the reader noticing this but also Isaac pointing it out.

Then we also get to meet several of Isaac's family members. I liked how Isaac had a different relationship with each of his family members and how that changed throughout the story. I really liked getting to learn more about Isaac's family and why he has certain images of different people. I liked the moments that we get to see Isaac interact with Iggy and see those two finally opening up to each other. I really liked that we got to see Iggy explain why certain things happened the way they did and realize how he was just trying to protect the family just like Isaac was trying to protect his mom.

Then there are all of Diego's friends who wind up becoming Isaac's friends as well and their main friend group. I loved each of those characters and how unique each one of them is. I was so intrigued by them and loved each minute that we got to learn a little more about them. I liked how awkward Isaac was around this friend group yet how accepting they were of him. I really liked that this friend group was the first time that Isaac felt he was being included in conversations and they went out of their way to try and make sure he felt included.

Last but definitely not least, I loved the relationship between Diego and Isaac, both when they were friends and even after. I liked that throughout the whole book we get to see these characters be affectionate with each other as just friends. I feel that we oftentimes don't see boys show affection towards each other and especially not queer boys of color unless they are in a romantic relationship. I was yelling at both of them to tell each other their feelings throughout this whole book because it was so obvious to the outside parties but not to them. I liked the amount of time it took for them to become a romantic pair though because it allowed this book to be much more than just about them.

<strong>Writing Style: </strong>This story is told in the first person through the perspective of Isaac. I liked that we get to see this story through his perspective because we get to feel all of his emotions as they are happening. I liked that this book lets each of the characters have feelings and be messy without always needing a solution immediately.

Julian is such an amazing writer. This book really solidifies him as a new addition to my auto-buy list of authors. The stories he is telling are important and beautiful.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group and Viking Books for Young Readers, for giving the chance to read and review one of my most anticipated reads in 2022 in exchange of an honest review!

Isaac Martin is ready to start his last summer before heading off to college in the fall, where he will be without his best friend Diego and where, despite his social anxiety, he will have to make friends on his own. So he planned the summer: he will get two badges for an epic convention, Legends Con and attend his first Teen Pride ever with Diego. But when he's distracted by his crush Davi and he loses the chance to buy the tickets, all his plans are ruined. Hanging out with Diego's gamers' friends wasn't part of the plan either, but maybe hanging out with Davi could be a nice alternative. But when Diego finds out why Isaac couldn't get the badges their friendship start to crack and change. Will they be able to fix and maybe change it in something more?

I loved reading this brilliant and geeky best-friends-to-lovers story and it made my heart swell and sing and I'm so happy to have read this book.
First of all, I absolutely and without a question LOVED the relationship between Isaac and Diego. It's impossible to explain how much I enjoyed reading about their interactions, how they understood, helped, supported and were there for one other always, without even asking or talking, how they cutely acted around each other, basically acting like a couple without even being one (yet).
As a geek, this book truly spoke to me and I was so involved in this story, in their hangouts, comics and games, in Isaac's love and passion for Charm and Reverb, whose quotes and adventures and slow burn romance were an important part of the story, since Isaac saw himself so much in them and in their relationship. (Is this comic real? No? Someone need to write it, because I truly need it.)
Besides, I was over the moon reading all The princess Bride quotes, because it's a wonderful and unforgettable movie!

I think the author did an outstanding job writing about the complexities of relationships, between family members, old and new friends, their intricacies and how difficult can be growing up, realizing an accepting things, forgiving and moving on. I found Isaac, with his anxiety, very relatable and skillfully written and I saw myself so much in him, in his shyness and struggles of accepting and making new friends, or sharing his best friends with others, having to change plans, going out and so much more. I loved the way the author talked about relationships, crushes, loves and discoveries, the anxiety in growing up and facing new things, new friends on your own and the fear that usually comes with anything new and untested. I loved his relationship with his mother, Abuelito and his sister Bella, too and how he grows to be more open with his brother Iggy and Diego's gamer's friends, but mostly I loved the relationship between Diego.
It's an intense slow burn best-friends-to-lovers and I enjoyed every single page of it.

4 Stars ⭐

I loved Issac and Diego's dynamic in the story and I really enjoyed watching their relationship unfold. This is such a good friends to lovers story

I think I will have to check out more from this author in the future, I definitely reccomend this one if you need a good friends to lovers but not too YA

This was my first LGBTQ+ book and I devoured it!! It was such an amazing read. I loved the queer-ness and geekiness of this entire book. Julian Winters delivered a stunning story of a beautiful couple.

I went in not entirely knowing what to expect being as this was my first LGBTQ+ book as well as my first read of a Julian Winters book, but neither disappointed AT ALL!

I’m pretty biased because friends to lovers is my absolute favorite trope, but I pretty much loved everything about this book. I’ve read all of Julian’s previous books and his writing has improved so much over the years.

Both Diego and Isaac are super lovable and I found myself rooting for both of them together and separately throughout the book.

My favorite part was all the little references to other books that Winters fit in. Those were fun to see and having read most of those books, I was able to understand all the references.

My only complaint is that I wish we got to see a little more of Diego and Isaac’s relationship developing into something more than friendship. That felt very abrupt and I wish we got to see more of them exploring those changes.

Right Where I Left You is perfect for fans of Felix Ever After.

Thanks to PenguinTeen for this ARC.

Release date: March 15, 2022

Right Where I Left You hits all of the stops for the perfect YA novel. With love triangles, an amazing friend group that goes on late-night adventures, a beautiful friendship, heartwarming moments with family, and more, this book blew me away. Even though I am not well versed in comics or gaming, two things that drive the plot forward. The beginning was a bit slow-- I had to stop and start reading a couple of times before I could become invested in the story, but I am so glad I kept reading. I got so much joy from reading about this wonderful queer group of teens as they strive to have the best summer ever despite various obstacles. The love triangle between three queer boys of color was another highlight-- it is rare to see that much representation in one novel and Julian Winters did so in such an artful way. The Young Adult easter eggs hidden throughout the book were another highlight! Reading this tested my knowledge of other YA books such as What If It’s Us, You Should See Me in A Crown, Felix Ever After, and more. Between the immense amounts of platonic, familial, and romantic love, I found myself crying tears of joy at the end of this heartfelt story.

CW: anxiety
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RIGHT WHERE I LEFT YOU follows socially anxious Isaac Martin as he’s about to spend his last summer with his best friend Diego before the inseparable pair are separated. With Isaac off the college and Diego staying home to work on pursuing his dream career in gaming, the boys plan on spending all of their free time together, including big plans for their very first pride and attending a convention where they will meet their idols. Except things don’t go as planned— Isaac gets distracted by a past crush and loses their shot at tickets to the convention, and suddenly Diego is spending most of his time with his gaming buddies and acting distant. Everything that can go wrong, goes wrong.
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I don’t know what more to say other than “I loved this story.” This book was exactly what I needed right now: lgbt kids finding their people and growing and healing. My heart is so full. Isaac’s anxiety was relatable to me, and seeing him overcome his fears and start to reconnect with his brother and having a moment with his father was wonderful. It’s not all picture perfect by the end of the story, but it is a work in progress, which is all you can ask for.
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I enjoyed all of the little easter eggs from other LGBT+ YA books mentioned (Felix Ever After, Darius the Great, Love Simon, They Both Die At the End, etc). It was so fun to catch them, and I’m sure I missed a few.
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I just loved this book. I want to see more of these two as a couple and I’d love to see fluff with their friend group. I’ll think of these characters often. And you know what, I’d love to read Disaster Academy. 😜
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4.5 stars, RIGHT WHERE I LEFT YOU by Julian Winters is available March 15, 2022!
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Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for sending me an eARC to review.

*Spoiler free, 4.5 stars*

I have heard such amazing things about Julian Winters books, and I've been so eager to read them. I will admit that I was drawn in by the cover of this one. I mean, look at it. It's just so happy and so full of joy. It also sounded amazingly geeky, and I knew it was going to be queer, so I was really, really looking forward to reading it.

There are some books that fill up your chest with something you didn't know you needed. This book is one of those. It is so wonderful. It hit close to home in a lot of personal ways, and I hold so much love for it.

This book lets every character be so fully themselves, mess and all. Everything about them is presented just as it is. Sometimes it is messy, and sometimes it is painful, but that's how life is, that's how people are. There's nothing about them that is hidden or tucked away; it's all there and it is one of my favorite parts of this book.

The friendships was another thing I loved, especially since Isaac has a hard time making friends. Social interaction is almost painful at times for him, and oh my gosh did I get that haha. He's awkward and doesn't quite know how to carry on with the conversation and how he just doesn't quite know how to people sometimes. But sometimes the best friendships come out of that. The people who sort of just let you in, awkwardness and all. Plus, I loved the friend group. Every single one of them was awesome, and I was not expecting to love them all as much as I did. But I did end up adoring them.

This book is also super freaking queer. I know that is probably obvious, but I feel like it is worth mentioning. Because it is super freaking queer and it is super freaking awesome. It's about owning your queerness, becoming comfortable in it, exploring it, wanting to experience more of it, and wanting to see it reflected in stories.

That's another thing I loved. I loved the comics that Isaac is obsessed with. I honestly wish they were real so I could read them myself, because dang, I love them so much. And I love the love Isaac has for them, and a whole bunch of other things that involve spoilers.

This book also deals with a lot of messy emotions. And they're allowed to be messy, and sometimes the solution is messy and sometimes emotions just exist. Just, everything emotional about this book was so, so wonderfully done.

And the romantic storyline, oh yes, it is so amazing. Everything about it is very spoilerly, so I'm just going to say I love it and that it is spectacular.

This book is full of joy and messy emotions and friendship and love and so much more. It's characters are so full, and I love them all. It's such a good book.