This was cute, but I wanted more out of it. I love that tgere are so many queer books available to YA now.

Unfortunately this book has gone in my DNF pile. It just wasn't engaging me like it would have years ago when I first requested it. My reading tastes have changed a lot over the years as I've gotten older and unfortunately some of the books requested years ago have been affected by my reading tastes and the fact that a lot of books for younger audiences haven't been grasping my attention as of late. I thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you so much to net galley for sending me this book. I love this author and I was so excited to read this book but I ended up being disappointed with this book.

I'm really glad that this was less triangle-y than I'd expected (let alone feared), but it was still kind of an underwhelming read. And that bad traits list reminded me of Friends, in a predictable trainwreck way.

This book is exactly what I was hoping it would be: a quick, fun and heartfelt read. I love best friends to lovers stories, and Gideon & Kyle was no different.

I loved the friendship the two of them had with each other, despite not being a Tolkien fan, I can definitely identify with their bond over it. I was actually expecting things to be a bit different then they were, but there were some nice little surprises.

I went in (based on the blurb) expecting that:

- Kyle would be straight, or at least think he was until realizing he wasn't later on. I loved that this wasn't the case, and that he was a somewhat confident bisexual without falling into a bad stereotype.


- Gideon would know he was gay and have had an unrequited crush on Kyle for quite a while now. Meanwhile, Gideon figured out his feelings for Kyle in the story, and in a way that felt completely natural. Sharing Gideon's "Oh shit, I have a crush" panic was great, and made the book that much more realistic for me.


- Despite having some misunderstandings and keeping some things to themselves, they were honest with each other. They still had private lives, but they made sure to try to include each other, and didn't want to hurt anyone, especially each other. I was expecting them to be jerks and go behind Ruby's back about a relationship, but I love that they were completely honest and did the right thing with their relationships.


- Kyle broke the "dumb jock" stereotype. He was quiet, chill and not a jerk which was refreshing. And (view spoiler)[ despite the fact that he didn't read, he had a legitimate reason for it, a learning disability. That just made me SO happy to see a MC discover a learning disability and not have that be the center focus of the story.

However, on a more negative note, I really wish that Ruby hadn't been as much of a jealous girlfriend stereotype. I was hoping she'd be a bit less of an ass as she came across. I understand she had her own problems and reasons, but she didn't have to take it out unnecessarily on Gideon.

The misunderstandings and drama at the end with the list getting passed around via text message seemed a little out dated to me (I'm like 90% sure everyone in HS uses Twitter & Snapchat from what I see at work), but it also really seemed like something that could have happened. As someone who was randomly involved in drama I had virtually nothing to do with via texting while in high school, I could completely see how this got out of hand, and it made it much more realistic to me because of that (especially since it was over dating, since my high school drama was pretty much all because of that).

All in all this was a perfect read for me. I loved the characters, the story and how it was a quick fun read.

Gideon has a plan for everything, especially college and his future. When he realizes that he is in love with his best friend Kyle, a bi basketball player who is dating a cheerleader, he must come to terms with his feelings and maybe find true love with his best friend.

Really cute read.