I have read a lot of romance and a lot of YA and this book was the best of both of these things. The characters are relatable and go through realistic struggles which caused a deep investment in the books. It brings up the question of who we really are or does it depend on who we are with, are the most important people the ones we are the best versions of ourselves with. The book is deep but not too intense, while remaining incredibly readable. I was so invested in the characters and their story that I finished in less than a day. A 5/5 star read for me!

Seb and Sandro, my beloveds, they did so well
All around the sweetest boys<3
first things first, i still don't think Sandro's family get a pass because I'm a petty little shit (but it did seem like his mom was trying so points to her yay!)
Del, who absolutely means the world to me, because i adore good dads as they feel like unicorns to me
Luce, a treasure <3
Matty, idk how to feel honest so yea good character i guess
Lastly, SEB AND SANDRO you meant the entire world to me, for a few days you made me forget how miserable i was!

A charming coming of age tale where two boys fall in love with each other, and with themselves. Bash and Sandro are perfect for each other and they deserve the world. In contemporary romance, I don’t usually finish the book and think hmmmm I’d be interested in a sequel—Even though The Long Run has a satisfying ending, Bash and Sandro have a lot more story to tell and I’d like to see what happens next for them.

For the first third or so, things are very surface level. There’s not a lot of emotional depth, but then the boys start opening up to each other, and then we really get to experience life with them. This book tackles some difficult themes such as grief and loss of a parent, parental neglect, and bullying, but it’s not overwhelming. Their experiences feel familiar and it’s comforting to see them overcome that adversity.

I am concerned with the gratuitous underage drinking. I get it—Teens drink and I think it is fine and necessary to explore alcohol in YA, but The Long Run missed a couple marks for me. Bash and Sandro both claim that they don’t like alcohol very much but drink anyway because of (presumably) peer pressure, and that is extremely common for teens. But neither of them ever turned down alcohol, and they drink it when they are by themselves with no one to pressure them. Drinking is depicted as cool and fun and helps them loosen up when they are nervous. They drink before their first kiss and before they are intimate for the first time, which I think could blur some lines and expectations for teen readers.
Also, they drink and drive. One of the beginning chapters they are at a party then go into the woods to talk and hang out. They want to get food and Bash says he’s fine to drive and “you think a beer and a half’s gonna mess me up?” But he had been drinking in the party and says “he feels good” outside and it’s because of the alcohol. They kiss and immediately drive home. If we’re going to have teen characters drink in YA, we shouldn’t make it seem completely normal and safe to drive.

I really enjoyed the alternating POV between Bash and Sandro. We get to know them both, and it makes their relationship so much sweeter. I’m always happy to see more books with queer joy, and The Long Run delivered.

The Long Run is a great book that accurately represents the LGBTQ+ community. It showed many aspects of Bash and Sandro’s lives that were important to the story. I loved how it showed Bash’s initial feelings on Sandro. It explained that he felt like he couldn’t like boys since he liked girls. Then, he came to terms with being bisexual. I already posted my review on Goodreads, and I will be posting a few videos on my Tik Tok (@innominate.books). I will post the first video on October 22nd. From then, I will try to post a video on the 22nd of every month until the release date.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow... this one was surprisingly dark. I do not think the blurb really described what was in it. You get into the action very quickly, and I did love the character's struggles of coming out and being honest with themselves, but their inner dialogue at the beginning made it very hard to connect. I think this was also geared more to an audience who was younger than me, but even so, some of the dialogue felt very "hello fellow kids" and forced (but then again, I may just be too old myself.)

I'd give this a solid three stars. It kept me hooked after the 50% mark, and was fun overall.

for some reason, i just couldn't get into this one. i tried reading it like three different times and it just wasn't working. the premise and the characters seem fairly interesting, though, and and i'm sure another reader would enjoy this one.