Only Mostly Devastated

By Sophie Gonzales

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Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales

Released: March 23, 2020

Pages: 288

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Overall: 5/5

Plot: 4/5

Characters: 5/5

Setting & World-building: 3/5

Emotional Investment: 5/5

"It occurred to me that my feelings for Brussel sprouts bordered on sexual"

Oh my god, this was the cutest book ever. My heart probably exploded 15 times from pure joy (and the occasional anger) that this book invoked. Sophie Gonzales has brilliantly once again created a funny, queer, emotional masterpiece.

Quick Summary: Will was just supposed to be a summer fling for Ollie. But when Ollie's family decides to stay in that town for the rest of the year and Ollie gets enrolled in the same school as Will shouldn't he be excited? Not exactly, because Will is a jock, closeted, and a jerk. Ollie now has to decide if he's going to continue pining for someone who might not be ready for a relationship or put his trust in Will.

First of all, Ollie is the funniest character ever. His inner dialogue and pop culture references had me laughing along quite loudly. He goes through a lot in the duration of this book from family issues, to friendship problems, Will giving him the close shoulder, and to top it all off moving to a new school. He copes well but you can clearly see that when he finally breaks it was meant to happen.

Will on the other hand was a character I had to grow to like. I understood how difficult it must be to see Ollie again but some of the attitudes were unnecessary. I did hold out hope for him and he totally delivered and stepped up. They were just the cutest couple too with their inside jokes and absolute devotion to each other.

The supporting characters also added a lot of dimension to the main characters. Juliette, Lara, and Niamh were such a support for Ollie after they got over the initial awkwardness. Lara was unseemingly rude at the beginning, which was upsetting because I know for a fact if someone talked to me that way I would get pissed. But Ollie stuck it out and they actually got quite close. Matt and Darren were also clearly important to Will, despite their blatant homophobic jokes. It was later explained how they really didn't mean harm and they did apologize profusely. If they didn't I would hate them.

This did take place in a more conservative part of the US, which explained how hesitant Will was to come out. It was also because he didn't know how people were going to react and didn't want to cause chaos. Through all of this family played a very prominent role. Will's family had certain expectations for him, but the ultimate support he got from his parents when he did come out got me slightly tear-eyed. His parents say that they both love him and I think it was the sweetest thing ever. I felt super bad for Will because of the sheer amount of pressure he faced every day having to hide who he truly loves.

This was just such a great book with such an epic romance. I was fully committed to finishing this book, but by the last 50 pages I was trying to read as slow as possible so I wouldn't finish it. I would recommend this to everyone who just wants to laugh and watch two people who love each other but suck at communication find their way back to each other.

Quotes

"Sorry I stopped texting you because my precise strain of "gay" was only temporary. Kind of like salmonella"

"Pot, kettle," I said, even airier. So airy it was approaching helium"

"And maybe Happy 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"

"And life was too short to play chicken with something as important as the person you love"