“Trying to make sense of everything happening around you when almost none of it made any sense. It was the theme of his newest song.”

Owen Lach’s latest YA book Jack’s On Fire is a beautiful whirlwind of a young man coming to terms with his newly-outed sexuality as he stumbles into himself, along the way developing a loving relationship and making true friendships. Jack Martin is only 16 years old when his ex-boyfriend ruthlessly outs him, and must face the daunting choice of leaving his hometown to move in with his older brother in San Francisco or to stay and be sent to a conversion camp. While the start of Jack’s story is lifechanging choice that he’s forced into by someone he thought he could trust, the life and person he becomes is a joyful and heartwarming journey where queerness is celebrated through his budding relationship with JV soccer captain and personal math tutor Damon. In the chaos of the move Jack at first doesn’t notice that life in California is going almost too smoothly; he soon realizes that growing into yourself can make life become a literal fairy tale.

This story was a magical time spent learning about, and growing with a young queer man coming to terms with his upended life. My favorite part of Jack’s On Fire is the progression of Jack’s character as seen through his relationship with Damon. When romance is central to a story where the main character is actively growing, a discussion will arise of whether individual growth should be done separate from the relationship. Damon and Jack’s transition from classmates, to friends, to partners shows that having a non-judgmental support system is often crucial to discovering yourself.

Jack hasn’t even finished high school yet, and has already faced the harsh reality of his family not accepting him, and he chooses the safest option to leave behind his entire life, a situation that many young queer people find themselves in. Despite Jack’s hardships his relationship with Damon develops into a sweet pairing where the two balance each other out – from Jack’s very internal and musical life to Damon’s boisterous and calming presence. His new life is going so well that, about halfway through the book, Jack recognizes that there is another level of magic helping him along. I connected with Lach’s interpretation of a “fairytale” so much because it showed that coming into yourself as a queer teen can be a wholesome and loving expereince. Jack’s adventures in California are so wonderfully happy, loving, and supportive that it made my heart soar as a queer reader, and I would absolutely recommend Jack’s On Fire to anyone looking for a wholesome and magical take on young queer love.

Jack’s On Fire is about Jack, a queer musician who gets outed by his vengeful ex-boyfriend after their breakup. And now his world is being flipped upside down, shipped off after he’s gotten into one too many altercations with the school bully.

Now we’re on a bus from Minnesota to San Fransisco California -- somewhere Jack's brother thinks will be more welcoming. A new school, a new friend group, and a potential new love interest all blossom fast, as Jack finds his place amongst like-minded individuals. It’s crazy how the right environment can truly enable someone to thrive.

I thought Issac — Jack’s brother was a great addition to this story, and really found him to coax Jack past some of the endured trauma of the past, and got him to open up about things happening and how to overcome them, which really dialed down the majority of the teenage angst and problems that I typically find overbearing in YA books.

I found this to be a cute book full of friendships, hope, new beginnings, and how sometimes the most important family members are the ones we choose. Overall, the inclusion and wide array of characters made this book a welcoming and enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Jetspace Studio for providing an advance copy of this book for me to enjoy. As always, this book was read and reviewed voluntarily, and the above opinions are entirely my own.

In a YA queer romance market filled with variations on a theme Jack’s On Fire bucks the trend to go warm and lo-fi.

A cute, engaging, young queer romance that highlights the highs over the lows featuring a broadly diverse cast including two boys of color as the lead characters. I adored how Lach revived the fairy tale format with a thoroughly modern, deeply queer story about love, friendship, and joy. I wanted to wrap myself in Jack and Damon's chemistry like a blanket. And there are so many engaging supporting characters it's hard to decide on my favorites.

I wasn't a huge fan of this book. Some of the plot elements felt really out of left field (I'm refraining from detailing for spoiler reasons, but anyone who's read it probably knows what I'm talking about), and the aggressive use of "babe" was really distracting. I also think the dialogue was a bit unrealistic and clunky at times. It's a cute romance, but not something I would recommend.

Having lived in San Francisco for 12 years, I absolutely adored how the this story's vivid descriptions of the City took me right back to my time there.

As the story began, Jack was being badly bullied in his Minneapolis high school, with his awful, religious mother blaming him for the beatings.

So with things only going to get worse for Jack, when his brother, Isaac, suggested that Jack move to SF mid-semester to live with him, Jack and his (godawful) mother jumped at the idea, which gave Jack a chance to not only heal, but also flourish.

I really enjoyed seeing Jack go from being an outcast at his old school to him finally finding his tribe and being recognized and valued by those around him.

It was also entertaining to witness Damon going from "the hot delivery guy at the pizza joint" to Jack's tutor to them becoming a happy, functional couple, which they both so desperately needed.

The romance was extremely slow burn until the scene on the roof, but I never found myself losing interest, mainly because so much was continually going on around Jack and Damon.

And although this was a YA/NA story, the melodrama was kept (mostly) to a minimum, even if Jack's Teenage Feelings™ and anxiety did make pretty frequent appearances on page. Just not annoyingly so.

What I think helped a lot in that respect was the fact that Jack's brother, Isaac, frequently encouraged Jack to open up about things that might have been bothering him, without ever making any demands that he do so. Isaac was a great brother and support system, making him one of my favorite side-characters in the story.

To avoid getting all spoilery, I'll stop there, but if you're looking for an entertaining, steam-free, YA/NA story with the beginnings of an HEA, lots of representation, and sensitivity editing GALORE (sometimes it felt like a *lot* of egg shell-walking, TBH), I'd definitely recommend this book.

4.25 stars.

I am all for a queer love story, but this one didn’t seem to have a point. The plot was such a jumble of thoughts it was hard to discern what the main goal of the story was.

I love that this story featured a queer boy thriving after moving and getting his HEA, but the story seemed too go on far too long that I lost interest after a while.

I was given an ARC by NetGalley and Jetspace Studio. All opinions are my own.

Jack Martin’s life isn’t great right now. He’s being bullied at school by homophobes, lives with a parent who is at the end of her tether and hardly supportive, he’s full of talent but struggling to get by. Things change when Jack’s mum sends him away to San Francisco to live with his older brother. New city, new school, new people. Maybe all Jack needed was a fresh start?

Writer Owen Lach describes Jack’s on Fire as a “modern queer fairy tale”, but that doesn’t mean fairy godmothers and magical twists, instead Jack’s new world is very real, but also almost too good to be true. Accepted into a prestigious, artistic school, Jack has left the homophobic world behind to be embraced by a new, open society where it’s hard to tell if the cute boys are flirting or simply being friendly, and Jack’s musical skills bring him into the celebrity sphere.

This abundance of goodness doesn’t mean it’s all smooth sailing for Jack. High school is still high school and being a midterm transfer he has some catching up to do. A handsome jock tutor named Damon certainly doesn’t hurt, but is the school hero really into Jack, or is it all just wishful thinking? Jack may be in a better place but he’s still dealing with the experiences that led him here (being outed by his closeted, religious ex, being bullied and effectively abandoned by his mother). He’s got some healing to do before he can leap into this new reality.

Don’t come to Jack’s on Fire looking for big dramatic swings, there aren’t any. This is a gentle, sweet read. Most of the drama is internal and the story moves at a gradual pace. Things generally go Jack’s way. On landing in San Francisco he manages to score a hot tutor, be universally praised for his music, get a job and get an introduction to his favourite band within a few days. This really is a fairy tale. But just like any teenager, Jack can turn a molehill into a mountain by over-analyzing things.

The relative lack of dramatic stakes and languid pace make Jack’s on Fire a slow burn, and that will divide some readers I’m sure. You’ll either love taking your time with these characters, or struggle to feel the urgency to read on. Lach takes time to spell things out and clarify moments. No micro-aggression goes uncommented on, from the mispronunciation of his surname (pronounced as the Hispanic ‘Mar-teen’, not the Anglicized ‘Mar-tin’) to the use, or lack of, personal pronouns in introductions, to the point where it can start to feel like a lecture. This idealized setting can pull you out of the reality of the emotions at times. Thankfully the characters are so damn nice to be around that you’ll forgive the moments of exposition.

Jack’s On Fire is a charming “hang out” novel set in an idealized world. Light on plot, but filled with lovely characters you’d like to meet in real life. If you like Jack, you’ll love spending time with this book. In a YA queer romance market filled with variations on a theme (blame Red, White & Royal Blue for half of them) Jack’s On Fire bucks the trend to go warm and lo-fi.

The blurb describes Jack’s on Fire as a heartwarming, modern, queer fairy tale, and that’s exactly what it was. Don’t look for a lot of tension or plot twists here. Reading the book felt like a long, comforting hug. It’s full of diverse, enjoyable, supportive characters I would’ve loved to have surrounding me as a teen. I saw a lot of myself in the main character Jack, a young boy of color who has to deal with all the problems of being brown and queer. He’s got a religious mother who doesn’t understand or accept his queerness. He’s got a last name that everyone mispronounces. He lives in a world that continuously discounts or ignores him because of his appearance. It felt so good to see how much Jack thrived when he was allowed to be himself. And it was so relatable when Jack’s experience and anxiety prevented him from outright accepting things were going well. I especially appreciated the author’s inclusion of gentle but honest discussions of real-world issues like bullying, homophobia, racism, misogyny, and death, even in the idealized world of Jack’s on Fire. The author does a lot of handholding here, but it felt right to me. This isn’t a story where the characters get thrown to the wolves. It’s evident that the author cared about these characters as much as I do.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher/author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

The story centers around 16 year old gay high schooler Jack , who has been outed at school by his ex boyfriend. This leads to him being bullied and getting into fights. His mother isn’t very supportive or loving and pretty much blames him for the fighting and hates that he’s gay. While she wants to ship him off to a conversion camp, he decides to move to California with his older brother so he doesn’t get expelled. He is gifted in music and writing and is accepted into a prestigious school for his musical abilities. He meets hot pizza delivery boy Damon who is captain of the soccer team and happens to be his geometry tutor.

I’ll start with the things I really liked about this book. It’s very cute. I loved how supportive and accepting everyone was here. There seemed to be a great community for Jack in California. His older brother and his brother’s gf are sweet. He’s able to make a lot of good friends and connections through his friends. I appreciated this book being about too boys of color as well. It’s nice to get a romance that isn’t all about white folks. We also got some non-binary rep in there. There was also the difficult discussions of racism, homophobia, and bullying which is good for books like this. I also like how they deal with a lot of different types of death both parental and of a friend. That can be hard for anyone to process.

Now I’ll talk about the other things. This book happened so fast. I was blown away when Jack said he had only been friends with Damon for 2 weeks before they started dating. 2 weeks?! It felt like it was going on forever. I also felt like Jack was too perfect. He was gifted in every single thing he did and even when he was bad at geometry Damon showed him how to improve and he took to it like a fish to water. Damon wasn’t far off with being perfect either. Actually everyone seemed way too perfect to me. There’s no just average joe in this universe? Also this was so cheesy. I don’t mind that but it felt like a lot sometimes. The bad things that happen to Jack and Damon felt like they came out of nowhere just to move the plot along. Also if I see the word “babe” one more time I’m going to bite someone.

I can see how this was set like a fairy tale story. This was very cute and full of wonderful characters you really want to like and get attached to. I genuinely wanted everyone to be happy at the end. Definitely an adorable easy read. I noticed a lot of people saying their review was a 3.5 rounded up and I’m going to have to piggyback mine as well.

A modern fairy tale is the perfect way to describe this book, because it's (prince) charming as hell. There are plenty of things to like about this book, and really only a few minor flaws that might not even be flaws to certain readers.

The characters are wonderful, and the simmering romance is palpable through the entire book. Jack is adorable, Damon is a heartthrob, and everyone lives happily ever after. The book is, maybe surprisingly, low stakes. There is the element of bullying and homophobia, but once Jack moves his life completely turns around and the things he has to deal with pale in comparison.

That may be a deal breaker for some people though, and I can see someone not enjoying this if they need a high amount of angst in the things that they read. I love some good angst, but it was honestly refreshing to just see two dudes just be...happy. They have problems, things go wrong, but they're not devastating and they're not piled upon with darkness. I caught myself thinking "this is entirely unrealistic" about halfway through the book, and then I realized that was the point.

It's a fairy tale. It was in the title.

It's like the happy version of don't open, dead dove inside.

My biggest complaint is that maybe it was slightly too long, I think probably fifty or so pages could have been trimmed out or cut down in some way, but in the end that's not enough to even put a dent in any score I'd give this book.

It's fun, it's cute, and it's delightfully happy. I fully recommend.

3.5 rounded up (although it could be rounded down).

When I think fairy tale, I think giant pumpkins, beanstalks, and peas. With the tagline "A Modern Queer Fairy Tale," you would expect Jack's On Fire by Owen Lach to feature shoes that force you to dance or a wicked stepmother or sister at the very least. Yet it really doesn't have that... or does it? A brief summary: Jack, who has experienced one too many homophobic beatings at school and general disregard from his single mother, moves in with his older brother in San Francisco and starts to fall for his geometry tutor-slash-captain of the soccer team, Damon. Shenanigans occur.

So yeah, I found myself curious about what to expect from this book; and while reading it, I spent a lot of time just thinking, "Geez, what a complete and utter Gary Stu." Upon arriving in San Francisco, Jack is basically perfect and everything in his life goes swimmingly well. Issues are resolved quickly; he is successful and happy and flourishing in this new world. Gross. It took me until about the 75% mark in the book to realize that that's the point.

Let me explain. If we were to distill traditional fairy tales to their most basic conceit, it's that a minor - or major - change leads to an unexpected ending: sometimes good, sometimes bad, typically depending on who you are as a person; and along the way good and bad things may occur. So in a modern queer fairy tale, a change in your life can lead to success and happiness. That's pretty heartening and extremely queer, and I instantly like the book that much more for possessing such a meaningful message.

Now, I do want to clarify that this book has its flaws. First of all, it could be a solid 50-100 pages shorter; the book spends a lot of time meandering through every single little action when a lot of that could have been edited out. Second, the timeline is absolutely insane - most of the action happens in what, two, three weeks? I guess that makes sense for a fairy tale, but it doesn't seem very realistic in the real world. Third, the entire romance between Jack and Damon confuses me? Like, I know that it's meant to fulfill this fairy tale conceit, but... they're teenagers. Some of what happens just strikes me as very unrealistic and kind of weird. I dunno. Maybe that's just me.

All together, this is actually a pretty solid solid book and I actually appreciate it a lot for what it is. Is it for everyone? Probably not. But it hit the right place for me. Recommended if you like books with very good representation; books that tackle topics like bullying, racism, homophobia, and misogyny; books that heavily revolve around music; and very supportive friend groups.

Thank you to NetGalley and Jetspace Studio for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Owen Lach’s Jack’s on Fire is a charming, triumphant tale of a queer boy’s journey to find acceptance, community, and love.

I immediately fell in love with Jack Martin, the story’s eponymous main character. Jack’s biting wit and tendency toward hyperawareness, products of his trauma and possible neurodivergence, spoke to me so profoundly that I wondered if Lach had somehow climbed into my head when he crafted this tale. I appreciated that Lach mostly left Jack’s experiences of trauma off the page. Jack is hurt, but the story isn’t about that. It’s about how he recovers to eventually thrive and shine. The blurb’s description of the book as a “modern queer fairytale” is entirely accurate.

Lach thoughtfully depicted Jack’s anxiety and the struggles he faces in coming to terms with his new environment. Then he surrounded Jack with a delightful set of characters, including his loving older brother to his funny, supportive new friends Frankie and Red. But, beyond Jack, Lach saves the most love for Damon (pun intended,) Jack’s seemingly too-good-to-be-true love interest. Damon is such a grounded, down-to-earth character, showcasing an enlightened depiction of modern masculinity and tenderness. The sweetness of Jack and Damon’s relationship dynamic melted my heart more than once. And the will they or won’t they tension in the slow-burn romance is delicious.

By focusing on queer love and joy, Lach has created a wonderfully hopeful story that any questioning or newly-out queer teen will almost certainly want to read.

This book contains light descriptions of racism, homophobia, physical violence, verbal abuse, loss of a parent, and mild, age-appropriate teen sexuality.

This was such a sweet and adorable teen gay romance (although a bit too cheesy at times), but also a story about dealing with bullying and homophobia, absent and abusive parents and learning to trust others again after being rejected and told that you’re not good enough as you are.

Jack’s On Fire follows teenage musician Jack who gets bullied and abused at his homophobic high school after being outed by his vengeful ex, and whose religious, bigotry and evil mother is threatening to send him to correction camp. Luckily though, his older brother offers him to move in with him in California and Jack gets the chance to start a new life with new friends and the freedom to be himself. Things are getting even better when Jack gets invited to the varsity band, and when his Geometry tutor turns out to be the hot captain of the JV soccer team, Damon. But not only is he out of Jack’s league, he’s also straight. Right?

There were so many wonderful characters in this book! Jack’s brother was such a sweetheart and I loved his sassy girlfriend, as well as the fun and witty friends Jack made in Red and Sarge. I also really loved both Jack and Damon as main characters and how sweet they were together. Some parts were a bit too cheesy though, and it got quite annoying with the repetitive use of the word “babe” between them as well as the use of “bro” in every sentence when Jack talked to his brother.

The pace was a bit slow of and on, and I think the story would have benefitted from not being quite so full of all details about exactly what they did and when.

But all in all, Jack’s On Fire was the heartwarming, modern, queer fairy tale the blurb promised. It was such a sweet and hopeful coming of age story with great character development, amazing friends and an adorable teen romance showing how everyone can find their happy ever after where they least expect it.

3.5 stars rounding up to 4.

Thanks you NetGalley and Jetspace Studio for this eARC, these opinions are my own. This was a cute book! I enjoyed Jack’s journey through his trauma and I liked that Jack continues to struggle with anxiety throughout as well. As someone with anxiety it was very realistic and relatable! Jack, after getting in another fight at school and not having the support of his mother, leaves his Midwest town to go live with his brother in San Francisco. Once there he meets a variety of people, who show him the world can be way more accepting then he’s used to and that he can live life as an out gay kid with no one really caring. Once of these people is his tutoring Damon as Jack finds himself falling for Damon he struggles with know if Dame returns those feelings. Can he figure it out? Is he meant for a happy ever after? This story had a lot of cute moments and I loved Jack trying to figure out where Damon was at! One thing I will say with the book is that sometimes I got dragged down by the details. Some details throughout the story just felt unnecessary. That said the bulk of the story was really sweet and charming and I throughly enjoyed reading about Jack and the gang! I’m excited to read this again when it comes out!