AHHHHHHHH GAY PANIC I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH! at first i didn't know what to expect, then i started guessing, then i was COMPLETLY wrong. but at the end it left me with a smile on my face, and thats all i can ask for. I loved watching each boy grow and transform over the summer, especially Gabriel. I will be SHOUTING ABOUT THIS BOOK FROM THE ROOFTOPS. ALSO- i really appreaciated the authors use of the F-slur. most use it willy nilly or to cause pain, but this wasnt the case.

I've posted several reviews for this on my tiktok, and am linking the long one here.

Golden Boys by Phil Stamper follows Gabriel, Reese, Sal, and Heath. They are best friends with big dreams in their small town. They have a bond because of their queerness. It is the summer before senior year of high school, and the boys have big plans. Reese will go to design school in Paris. Gabriel will volunteer with an environmental nonprofit in Boston. Sal will intern on Capitol Hill for a U.S. Senator. Heath will go to Daytona Beach to help his aunt at the beachfront arcade.

I liked the focus on friendship and coming of age in this book. It is a super quick read.

I honestly just found this boring. None of the characters interested me and there stories weren't exciting. The one thing that kept me reading was the writing quality.

And I do wish there was some more diversity in the main cast, all 4 of the boys were cis, gay, and white. I wish there was a bit more in terms of their identities and giving them more differences.

I've looked forward to Golden Boys since it was first teased online, I've read Phil Stamper's previous two books and enjoyed them immensely. Golden Boys did not disappoint. I loved the intertwined stories and the desire each character had for new, distinct experiences outside their close friend group and their small town.
This is a heartfelt book with strong characters and friendships and their stories both together and apart were engaging and felt lived-in and real. I look forward to reading the second book and seeing how they all fare when they're back together after the summer.
My only criticism in the story is the inclusion of Covid, which I know part of life now, but it is mentioned briefly as a catalyst for why they have a picnic in the park (social distancing) and then as something that triggers anxiety about the summer jobs, but then it's never mentioned again. I don't think it needs to be there, there was plenty of anxiety without it and since there was no follow-up about how it impacted their summer plans, it could easily be any other reason for a picnic and anxiety without naming it.

4.5 stars.

This book is excellent! Four queer teenagers have found each other in their small town in Ohio and have long been best friends. Each of the four, Gabriel, Sal, Reese, and Heath, is a good student with big dreams for the future. For years, they have been inseparable. This summer, though, they each have plans that will take them, separately, across the country and even the world. They are for the most part excited, but wonder what the separation and new experiences will mean for their friendships. As they spend time in Boston, DC, Paris, and beachside Florida, each has experiences much different than they could have expected -- meeting new people, learning more about their interests, and even reconsidering their futures, all while wondering what will mean for their previously unbreakable bond when they return to Ohio for their senior year.

I was a huge fan of the author's previous books, and this one may be the best yet. Each of the characters is compelling in their own way, and it is terrific to get on their journeys, individually and together. Very strongly recommended!

I'm a huge fan of Phil Stamper and his first 2 novels and this was probably his best yet. Weaving together 4 separate yet interconnecting plotlines, I thought it might get messy but each protagonist was well defined and distinctive enough that I was never confused, and each story was engaging on its own merit. I loved all 4 main characters and I'm so happy this is a duopoly- bring on the sequel ASAP!

This book was everything I expect from a Phil Stamper book. It was sweet, and real, and made me smile, laugh, and tear up.

Golden Boys is a 2022 release by Phil Stamper. It's a story about four friends, all learning more about themselves over the course of a summer.

There's Gabriel, who is insecure and feeds off the confidence of his closest friend (and sometime friend with benefits), Sal. Sal is confident, but is starting to question what he wants to do after graduation. Reese has an eye for design and spends the summer in France, away from his best friend (and crush), Heath. Heath is forced to go to Daytona for the summer as his parents work through their divorce.

First of all, I really did love all of these characters. Each chapter was told through a different character's point of view. At first, it was a little confusing to keep the boys' story lines straight because they were all introduced in the first four chapters. But, once the stories got going, and really once each boy went to his summer destination, it was so easy to keep track of their stories. I devoured this book. I loved reading how each boy essentially found they really wanted to do with their lives.

While there was mention of love and romance, there wasn't a big focus on that, and it was perfect! I'm really happy that the focus was mainly on the boys' coming of age, so to speak.

I also loved that the boys had completely different destinations and plans for the summer. Since they are such a close group of friends, it would be really easy for them to do the same thing, just in different places. They all needed to learn how to be themselves away from the group.

One thing I would have like more of would have been a bit of diversity. I understand the boys live in a small town in Ohio and some towns just aren't as diverse as other, but I think it could have possibly been done. Three of the boys all had the same background (white, possibly middle to upper class). I assume their socioeconomic status based on the fact that one knows a local politician with connections to Washington DC and another can afford a study abroad program in Paris.

Overall, I LOVED this book. I would love to see what happens to the boys in their senior year of high school and beyond.

If you enjoy friendships, coming of age stories, LGBTQ+ stories, or young adult books, this book is for you!

Thank you to Netgalley, Bloomsbury USA Children's Books, and Phil Stamper for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest opition.

Golden Boys is a contemporary novel about a group of queer friends as they start their first summer without each other in different parts of the world. I loved this book. Phil’s Stampers way of storytelling is very interesting to me. I found myself caring for all the characters and love the ways they each find themselves meeting new people without their friends. There’s romance and found family, and a really sweet story about friendship and finding your purpose in life.

The Golden Boys is an endearing tale of adventure from the perspective of four gay boys as they embark on summer adventures: their first long separation in their friend group's history.

I loved how each of the four characters in this novel were so endearing and clearly had self-discovery to do. Often a friend group as close as their can warp into co-dependency, which you can see small hints of here, but the whole point of the book is for them to leave that bubble and experience life individually. Phil Stamper has been on my watch list ever since I loved Gravity of Us, and this book did not disappoint!

I really enjoyed the plots of all 4 of these characters: they individually overcame struggles while juggling some romance, although romance isn't the main concern of any of them which is great. I did love the dynamics between Gabe and Sal as well as Reese and Heath: two very different relationships which provided great insight into their characters. I especially loved reading how the relationship between Gabe and Sal played out, and I can't wait to see how things develop with all 4 of these boys over book 2.

2 gripes with the character writing: while each boy had a distinct career/interest path that drove their story forward and separated them from the other boys, the actual writing voices were not that different. If you omitted what their summer activity was from a chunk of text as well as signifiers of their setting, they would all sound the same narratively. Each perspective was different, but no character had certain personality quirks that made them distinguishable.

My other gripe being: for a friend group of 4 boys with very different trajectories, the group was not very diverse. First of all, issues of race weren't really explored at all, so while I'm not 100% sure if every character was white, the lack of racial discussion from any of their POVs was a pretty good indicator of white privilege. 3/4 boys also came from an affluent background where they weren't really worrying about money--they had connections and privileges to enjoy certain things the average 16 year old wouldn't have the opportunity to do. I really enjoyed Heath's perspective as the only character who had a less affluent background, and there's one scene where he talks about how his friends are more privileged than him. This lack of diversity isn't something I would dock from my rating for, persay, but this lack of diversity within the friend group really contributed to the overall homogeneity feeling of the friend group personalities that I referred to in the previous paragraph.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. I read it all in just a couple of days, absolutely addicted to the storylines and the drama of the boys. I would definitely recommend this to anybody looking for a nice YA read about friendship and individualism.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Golden Boys was such a fun book to read. Although, the texting parts between everyone did hurt my head (sort of). I think it's just the format of the ARC, my phone, and everything else because I honestly had no idea who was saying what within the chats. Mentally, I wanted to skim through or skip those parts all together just because of the mess but I didn't.

Other than that, I really enjoyed getting to meet Gabe, Sal, Reese, and Heath. They have been best friends since basically coming out of the womb. So when they start to do grown up things, like moving to different parts of the country or world.. well, communication started to drop slowly. It was very realistic since that tends to happen all the time. Life gets in the way.

So I'll also admit that it made me sad to watch it happen. I feel like it's always bittersweet to see it happen or to have it actually happen to you. There's always hope that everything will click back into place with a little reunion or two.. but that doesn't always happen.

Luckily, these guys definitely reconnected and everything changed for the better. They branched out and found new friends and possible loves. It just made me happy overall and the ending was just really cute too. I'm definitely happy that I got the chance to jump into this beautiful book and I can't wait for it to be published.

4.5 stars

This was such a fun read! There are four main characters so the story bounces around and keeps things moving all the time. I also liked the different settings, Paris, Boston, D.C., and Daytona Beach. Each place has it's own culture and vibe and watching the guys settle in and grow a bit over the summer was sweet and kept my interest.

Gabe, Sal, Reese, and Heath are best friends that are going in different directions for the summer. They're the only out guys at school and have leaned on each other for a long time, so it's hard for them to be separated. At first it's kind of sad that they're not talking much, but each of them starts relying on themselves to make new friends and explore possibilities for their futures.

There are a couple cute romances in this that I adored, especially one within the friend group. I'm glad that romance wasn't the main feature though and most of the focus was on the guys coming of age and making adult decisions. Each character had their own personal issues to deal with and I enjoyed the individual plots.

I think this could have used a bit more diversity, as at least three of the boys are white and most are middle to upper middle class. I did have a good time reading it and this is definitely a feel good book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions are my own. Thank you to Bloomsbury USA Childrens and NetGalley for the copy.

I got this ARC of Netgalley and these opinions are my own. I really enjoyed this book! I don’t know best how to describe this book other then to say it felt lite. Heath, Reese, Sal, and Gabe are all dealing with struggles and some homophobia but for the
most part they’re accepted and comfortable in their queerness! Which was refreshing! It was nice to read about 4 queer characters who were each struggle with aspects of themselves but none of them struggled with the fact that they are queer! This reminded me a lot of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, without the pants being shared between them, oh and they were boys. But I love a book about strong friendships that test people but ultimately the friendships are what get them through the tough times! And nice thing about them all being queer is you get the romantic aspect as well! I loved all four of them! I think the one I connected to the most is Gabe as a lot of the things that he dealt with, his social struggles, are things that I deal with as well! I enjoyed following along as these boys grew! I really enjoyed this story and can’t wait to get my hands on the physical copy! Phil Stamper does an amazing job with this one!

This might be Phil Stamper’s best thus far! Four boys on the cusp of adulthood, friends since forever, all queer, spreading their wings, even if it means letting go.

Do you know that feeling? A warmth that starts glowing in your chest while reading. And then you find yourself musing after a few pages, reading again, and lingering on a page. Wanting to read more, and at the same time wanting to slow down and take it all in. Maybe even getting a bit melancholic. That’s what happened to me. In the middle, that feeling waned a bit, but in the end, it all came tumbling back. Hard! It made me smile and my eyes prickle with tears.

Golden Boys starts with two boys in bed together. Oh, yeah! From that very first page, this story held my attention. It’s written from multiple points of view, and the boys’ voices were all so distinctive: Gabriel, the anxious one, delicate, afraid he wouldn’t make friends in the summer. Sal, the confident one, flamboyant, always having his guards up. Reese, the artsy one, structured, secretly in love with his best friend. And Heath, the masculine one, an anchor, desperately longing for a warm family.

Golden Boys is about friendship, looking forward to new opportunities while leaving your regular life behind. A story about meeting new people and at the same time wanting to hold on to the ones you’ve always relied on. But most of all, it’s a story about personal growth and finding yourself. Phil Stamper did a marvelous job making those Golden Boys step outside their comfort zones and overcome hurdles. I wanted each of them to grow and bloom, and oh boy, bloom they did! Gabe, Sal, Reese, and Heath, I loved you all and can’t wait to read the Golden Boys sequel!

Actual rating 4.5 stars, rounded up to five because after finishing the book, I still have that warm feeling in my chest.

My review will be posted on Goodreads on January 8, 2022.

I tried reading it, but it really wasn't my forte. I just couldn't get into it. I usually reading about the lgbtq+ experience, but had a difficult time getting into the main character. Not that it was a bad book, but not one I would enjoy reading.

Do you ever reach the end of a book and want to start it all over again?

That’s how I felt about Phil Stamper’s Golden Boys. This was a fantastic read about four queer friends from a small village called Gracemont in Ohio.

The characters are likeable and the writing shines bright in this deeply moving coming of age novel about love, life, and friendships.

The book starts at the beginning of summer, when the four friends are getting ready to say their bittersweet goodbyes to one another before jetting off on their separate ways for the season.

Sal is leaving for an internship with a senator on Capital Hill, Gabe is off to save the trees and advocate about climate change in Boston, Reese is headed to Paris for design school, and Heath is taking a trip to Daytona Beach to escape his parent's divorce and work at his aunt’s arcade on the boardwalk.

The boys have been together since preschool, and are tightly bound by their years of friendship. Sal and Gabe's relationship is special and Heath and Reese's love for one another is palpable.

The book transitions smoothly from one chapter and one character to the next. I loved the alternating points of view, which gives the reader a glimpse into what each of the characters are thinking throughout.

It was beautiful to see the characters develop and overcome hurdles as they each stepped outside of their comfort zones and found their footing in their new cities.

I was really touched by this novel, since it reminded me of graduating from high school and leaving my friends to spend the summer interning in New York, then later leaving for Paris. I also saw a part of myself in each of the characters in this book.

All in all, this is a stunning novel with a great cast of characters. I can’t recommend it enough.