Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales

Maybe my favourite film is Grease. No...Or is it? No.

Ollie and Will were a summer fling; now they're classmates. But only one of them is out...

It was the very last Wednesday of August when I realized Disney had been lying to me about Happily Ever Afters. Because, you see, I was four days into mine, and my prince was nowhere to be found.

"Please don't lose contact. I need to see you again," he'd said. So why was I here, banging my head against a metaphorical wall, weighing up the pros and cons of sending another message? This wasn't a big deal. It was just a guy texting another guy. A guy who knew all my biggest secrets, and had Seen. Me. Naked™. A guy who'd convinced me he really, really liked me. A guy who'd better have been abducted by goddamn aliens...

When Ollie meets Will over the summer break, he thinks he's found his Happily Ever After. But once summer's ended, Will stops texting him back, and Ollie finds himself short of his fairy-tale ending.

A family emergency sees Ollie uprooted and enrolled at a new school across the country - Will's school - and Ollie finds that the sweet, affectionate and comfortably queer guy he knew from summer isn't the same one attending Collinswood High. This Will is a class clown, a basketball jock and, well, a bit of a jerk.

Ollie isn't going to pine after a guy who isn't ready for a relationship. But as school life repeatedly throws them together, from music class to the lunch table, Ollie finds his resolve weakening.

With the noisy drama of their friends as the backdrop - from ambitious Juliette and frosty Lara, to big-hearted Darnell and king-jock Matt - Ollie has a decision to make.

The last time he gave Will his heart, Will handed it back to him trampled and battered. Ollie would have to be an idiot to trust him with it again. Right?


This was sold as a Queer Modern Retelling of Grease and it is. I think ten years ago, it probably would it been sold as High School Musical. Maybe that's just that the Love interest, Will is a basketball player. Oliver isn't a science quiz genius or anything. He does like music and is in a band. I guess basketball is just the modern equal of a bad boy car-obsessed gang. Yeah, that's not a thing anymore, probably because cars are not a novelty anymore.

I do like that we have Queer character outside the main romantic pairing. Queer people are friends with other Queer people even when we not out. We find each other completely on accident.

This novel is completely told in Oliver's POV, which I was slightly disappointed about, cause in my mind a Grease retelling should duo-protagonists, so you think the same it doesn't. This is Oliver's story more than Will's.

Will is not out to anyone, is major factor in how their relationship plays out. I think this was done well, consideration from both points of view, with both feelings been taken into account. Obviously, no one should be forced out but Will does go overboard in an attempt to hid their relationship.

This does deal with causal homophobia, by a causal, I mean making gay jokes while not intending target a gay or Queer person. Just to mock your friend because Straight boys think being gay is funny for some reason. I blame the patriarchy. This was a major problem when I was youngling and going off the teen barter I overhear its still a problem. Hopefully, this will not be a problem anymore in the future. I think its dealt with well and realistically.

This book deals with grief and the threat of grief. Knowing that you are likely to lose someone you love soon. This was done okay. The thing is I very recently read a 5/5 star book that had someone lose their Aunt to cancer. This book felt more about the romance than anything, so I didn't like it as much. I read romance heavy contemporaries but I'm Ace so I'm not all about that. There is a lot of romantic pairing going on, it's all very cute.

Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars for Rosegold Roses. This is cute romance with attempt at depth. It's perfect for people who like cute but want something more going on than just romance. T|he relationships between all the characters were done nicely.  I will read Gonzales again, her next book sounds interesting.

Read: 3/3/20199
Reviewed: 3/03/2020
Published Date: 5th March 2020
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Source: Netgalley
Content Warning: Cancer, Terminal Illness, Death of Love One, Homophobia, Being Outed (this not a big deal, but does happen technically twice), Diet and comments about eating,

Disclaimer: I received e-arc of this off the Publisher for review. My reviews are always honest.

Book Review: The Truth About Keeping Secrets by Savannah Brown

The Truth about Keeping a review schedule, it's really hard for me.

A stunning coming-of-age tale from poet and writer Savannah Brown.

Sydney's dad is the only psychiatrist for miles around in their small Ohio town.

He is also unexpectedly dead.

Sydney believes the crash was anything but an accident. And when the threatening texts begin, and June Copeland - homecoming queen and golden child - appears at his funeral out of nowhere, she's sure of it.

But through Sydney's newfound relationship with June, she's given a glimpse of a life without the darkness of an unresolved grief and the chance, just maybe, of a fresh start.

Until it's clear that the secrets won't go away, and the truth might bring everything crashing down...

Imperfect friendships, the shadow of grief and the sweet pain of romance - this is a poetic, thrilling ode to being human

I first heard about this book when Savannah Brown did a video announcing it but I can't actually remember how much she said about it in that video, but I've been keeping a lookout since.

The main character Sidney is gay and has a Queer friend. This is an established fact at the start of the novel and is just a fact about the character. Homophobia is a topic of the book and the character was previously outed. This is not a major part of the book but also is, like real life. I mean, yes the character is gay and that affects the way people treat her but that's not the story. It does have a Queer romance. You know what I mean. Hopefully.

This novel's plot does have thriller elements and it could be written as a thriller. The main reason I wouldn't classify it as a thriller due to pacing and that's not where the emphasis is. It reminds me of Cat Clarke's book (which are I love and are also often Queer), in its dark contemporary dealing with real things and a bit of mystery but has more focused on character development.

I really liked the writing style of this book, it's pretty sometimes without being too much. It's told in first-person and works great for the story.

Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars for Noises in the Night. I really like this book and I wish I was a better reviewer. I mean I'm literally reviewing when I should have reviewed it last year, but you can still buy it now.

Read: 5/3/2019 to 17/3/2019
Reviewed: 20/03/2019 - 26/02/2020
Published Date: 7th March 2019
Publisher: Penguin
Source: Netgalley/Owned
Content Warning for Book: Death; Death of a Parent; Domestic Abuse (Mostly off-page); Homophobia; Harsementl Stalking; Life endangerment; Being Outed; Forced Outed;
Content Warnings are given by the author. I also have trigger warnings and things this book contains in my tags as always (my old system).

Disclaimier: I received e-arc of this book from NetGalley and the Publisher. I also brought it before I finished reading it and I late with my review again as this came out on 7th March 2019.