Only Mostly Devastated: Sophie Gonzales

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Another great aspect was Ollie's family. Specifically Aunt Linda. Though there were some distant relatives and a grandfather who I never knew who passed away from cancer, I've been fortunate enough to not be affected by it. This book painted an emotional and real picture of dealing with cancer and loved ones who have it. And maybe Happily Ever Afters weren’t a singular event. Maybe they were something you had to work at, and build, and never give up on, as long as they were something you still wanted.” I did really love the importance Sophie placed on family. The world today is so individualist and what can people do for you that it was nice to read about a family who dropped everything to be there for each other. I loved that Ollie was not once upset about the sacrifices he had to make to help out.

Like, okay. Yes, if I sent another it’d be three in a row. Yes that was semi-stalker level. But I could rationalize this. The first message he’d ignored was in response to his own text on Saturday night. He’d said good night, and I’d said good night. End of conversation. He wasn’t required to respond. So I could barely even count that. Only Mostly Devastated is the kind of book I wish existed when my kids were younger—a charming, funny, laugh-out-loud teen romance that reminds all readers love comes in a multitude of flavors, and they are ALL sweet.” —Jodi Picoult, New York Times–bestselling author of Small Great Things and A Spark of Light OHMYGOSH. Goodreads Choice Award Nominees are up and My Reaction Video is too! Don't forget to vote! Ollie, our main character, is one of these characters I want to protect and hug and just wonderful. He’s kind and yet socially awkward a tiny little bit, he’s caring and just so relatable in the way he views things and life. He makes mistakes and assumptions and is really far from perfect, but despite his flaws, you just want him to be okay and happy. I really wanted him to be happy. Yeah, fine as a man who's been gently corrected on the internet," Lara said, crossing one leg over the other.}

Let me just start off by saying that, although I tried to lower them, my excitement and expectations for this book were very high. I mean look at that cover and that blurb! How could my expectations not be high! While this read was enjoyable and cute it, didn't quite do it for me like I was hoping. Ollie makes friends with a circle of girls, each with their own challenges to deal with. Will is torn between wanting to spend time with Ollie and overcompensating whenever one of his friends from the basketball team comes by and could possibly suspect the truth about Will. It gets to the point where Ollie is tired of being treated like dirt by Will, tired of being jerked around so Will can maintain his reputation. Meanwhile, as things with Ollie's family get tougher and tougher to deal with, Will's on-again, off-again feelings become a challenge for Ollie, too. He understands what it's like not to be ready to share your sexuality with others, but Ollie doesn't deserve to be an afterthought. But how many times can he be the butt of a joke from Will's friends or, worse, Will himself? How can he stand by and watch as Will pretends to be someone he's not at Ollie's expense? Which is apparently, like, a cultural phenomenon? A Thing that people are into? That they squee over? That makes them want to read this book, because, wow, Grease!?? If so, I feel weirdly unqualified to write a review, because I saw the movie when it was first released, and that was, shall we say, a long time ago. Also, I hated it, so I've never thought about it again in all the years since.

Obviously, it’s mostly visible in regard to Will (his love interest). See, the boys were a summer fling and then it turned out they go to the same school this year. And that fact didn’t make things easier for them, exactly. What it boils down to is that Ollie is out and Will isn’t, and Ollie tries to deal with that but not always in the best ways. Note to self: carry bass around everywhere and break into impromptu solo whenever anyone tries to force you into conversation." Ollie and his parents moved to North Carolina from California for the summer when his aunt becomes ill. He spends most of his summer at the beach, taking care of his young cousins. There he meets Will—handsome, kind, athletic, and fun—and it's not too long before the two have completely fallen for one another. But after Will leaves the beach to head home, Ollie never hears from him again—no calls, texts, nothing. Alone in here, I could be any of that. I could feel every negative, terrible, aching feeling at once, and I didn't have to be self-conscious about it or try to put on a mask so someone else didn't feel dragged down.” I've got to question the marketing of this one, though: it's being billed as Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets Clueless in this boy-meets-boy spin on Grease. The only similarity I see between any of those and the book is when Will's new friends realize that the boy he's been talking about is someone from their own school—a slight parallel to that scenario in the movie Grease.It'll get easier. That's the beautiful thing about the universe. It puts you through trials, but it never gives you anything you can't handle. We grow from these things.” Sophie also doesn’t shy away from death as a theme, which is pretty rare in a book that’s marketed as a YA contemporary romance. The book is set into motion because Ollie’s Aunt Linda has cancer and his family moves to North Carolina to help out and be there for her, and there are times when things get heavy. My grandpa passed away because of leukemia when I was 11 years old, and I remember being scared out of my mind when my grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer years later because of that, even though we knew at the time that she was going to be completely fine. I loved the fact that Only Mostly Devastated, while it shows exactly the kinds of complicated, messy politics that teenagers have to face every day in school, also shows the heavy stuff they have to face when they get home. And I’m really glad that it does. La última novela contemporánea LGTB que me hizo sentir así fue Con amor, Simon. ¡Hace ya un tiempo! Son muy similares en cierto sentido: instituto, personajes secundarios dinámicos y fuertes, un protagonista que narra los hechos con humor… Es un cúmulo de cosas que hacen que Only Mostly Devastating sea una bomba.

So maybe a little bit of clinginess from me was justified. As long as it didn’t come across as clingy, of course. But " Clueless" was extremely funny, which this book had its moments, but I didn't personally feel that humor played much of a role here. At least not constantly, like in " Clueless". Can I confess something?” Hearing those words come out of Lara’s mouth felt odd. Like a vegetarian asking you to pass the meatballs, or a mermaid asking to borrow your shoes. Guilt + Lara = system error.” Gonzales turns in a witty, smart, credible, and irreverent contemporary romance that handles all these elements skillfully and with heart.... The power of this fun Grease retelling is that it normalizes the spectrum of sexual orientations. Recommended for all teens.” — School Library Journal Sophie Gonzales is a YA contemporary author. She graduated from the University of Adelaide and lives in Melbourne, Australia, where she currently works as a psychologist. When she isn't writing, she can be found ice skating, performing in musical theatre, and practicing the piano. She is also the author of The Law of Inertia.Los personajes secundarios, para mí, son los que han hecho que la novela me haya llegado tanto, aparte de la evolución de Ollie y su relación con Will. Por ejemplo, Lara pasa de ser tHaT bItCh a ser THAT BIIIIITCH! y su desarrollo, uff… no tengo palabras, QUÉ MARAVILLA. Sin duda mi personaje favorito. ¿Will? I don’t know her. El resto de secundarios como Juliette o incluso Matt también muestran desarrollo, y aunque se queden en un segundo plano, son tramas también importantes que hacen que todo el conjunto brille. And " Grease"? Ummm, I didn't really feel that many Grease-like moments, but I'm not completely obsessed with that movie in the same adoring way that my hubby is. The boy has a problem, I'm telling you. heh Y BUENO! La trama romántica, por favor. Al inicio vislumbramos más similitudes con Grease, pero una vez la historia comienza a rodar, tiene vida y voz propia. La trama es un tira y afloja constante, pero no es tóxico (como se podría intuir en un principio). Se tratan temas que en pocas novelas he visto: el espacio personal, las prioridades con la pareja, el interesarte en sus cosas, el apoyo etc. Y son temas que se hablan directamente, cara a cara, siendo totalmente transparentes el uno con el otro. Bueno, si es que Will lo permite… Much like the band TLC I will fully admit I ain’t too proud to beg either and did everything in my power to acquire an early copy of this one. And as soon as Ollie started his new school only to run into his summer lovin’ Will who totally pulled a Danny Zuko with his popular basketball buddies by saying he spent his summer just . . . . .