Book Review: Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales

**Disclaimer: I received a free electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Genre: LGBT, YA, Contemporary
Release Date: March 3, 2020  
Description:

" Summer love...gone so fast.

Ollie and Will were meant to be a summer fling—casual, fun, and done. But when Ollie’s aunt's health takes a turn for the worse and his family decides to stay in North Carolina to take care of her, Ollie lets himself hope this fling can grow to something more. Dreams that are crushed when he sees Will at a school party and finds that the sweet and affectionate (and comfortably queer) guy he knew from summer isn’t the same one attending Collinswood High.

Will is more than a little shocked to see Ollie the evening of that first day of school. While his summer was spent being very much himself, back at school he’s simply known as one of the varsity basketball guys. Now Will is faced with the biggest challenge of his life: follow his heart and risk his friendships, or stay firmly in the closet and lose what he loves most."

I went through this pretty fast. I've never actually seen "Grease" (though I'm familiar with its general story), but it's apparently based on it. The gist of the story is that a boy had met another boy over the summer and they reunite at school after one of them gets ghosted by the other. 

Something that's good about this story was that it wasn't solely focused on the obvious angsty romance between Ollie and Will, but it also incorporates other issues that occur around Ollie. We see how Ollie and his family is struggling with his sick aunt, and his issue with Lara, a girl among his new group of friends who treats him with a cold shoulder. 

Although this was a pretty quick read, I wasn't in love with the story. Ollie was a pretty good character, a guy who is comfortable with his sexuality and is not afraid to point out people's flaws/issues/wrongdoings. On the other hand, Will is someone who is very much in the closet and seems to act differently when he is around his basketball friends than when he's with Ollie. This aspect did bother me because he didn't really treat people the best when he's with his friends and apologizing later to Ollie for his behavior doesn't really solve this problem, which Ollie thankfully points out. Lara is another interesting character because she has quite the attitude, but is also struggling in coming to terms with her sexuality, as she has unrequited feelings for another girl who has a boyfriend. Overall, these three are the only characters that really stood out among the cast of characters. 

Overall, it was a pretty good read, not amazing, just pretty good. 

Overall rating:  3.5/5