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Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets Clueless in this boy-meets-boy spin on Grease.
Will Tavares is the dream summer fling―he's fun, affectionate, kind―but just when Ollie thinks he's found his Happily Ever After, summer vacation ends and Will stops texting Ollie back. Now Ollie is one prince short of his fairytale ending, and to complicate the fairytale further, a family emergency sees Ollie uprooted and enrolled at a new school across the country. Which he minds a little less when he realizes it's the same school Will goes to...except Ollie finds that the sweet, comfortably queer guy he knew from summer isn't the same one attending Collinswood High. This Will is a class clown, closeted―and, to be honest, a bit of a jerk.
Ollie has no intention of pining after a guy who clearly isn't ready for a relationship, especially since this new, bro-y jock version of Will seems to go from hot to cold every other week. But then Will starts "coincidentally" popping up in every area of Ollie's life, from music class to the lunch table, and Ollie finds his resolve weakening.
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? Right.
"Narrator Ollie is deeply sympathetic, but both teens' feelings—love, hate, lust, grief, and, for Will, insecurity about coming out—are convincing, as are conversations about the different dynamics of being out in San Jose and small-town North Carolina." - Publishers Weekly
"The diverse supporting cast—particularly Ollie's new trio of female friends—is so richly characterized that readers will swear they bump into these girls in the halls every day...Sweet and tart in equal measure, this novel reminds us that legalizing gay marriage didn't necessarily make coming out in America any easier...Poignant, piquant, and not to be missed." - Kirkus Reviews
"The power of this fun Grease retelling is that it normalizes the spectrum of sexual orientations. Recommended for all teens." - School Library Journal
"Sweet and earnest....A worthwhile romance for any collection." - Booklist
"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, NYT bestselling author of Small Great Things and A Spark of Light
"A delight! This heartfelt, queer update on Grease features a diverse cast of teen characters and a charmingly earnest protagonist in Ollie. Gonzales handily balances lively banter with somber issues, and the compelling will they/won't they storyline warmly illustrates a timeless truth: love is love is love." - Jenn Bennett, author of Alex, Approximately
"Wry but earnest, sweet but irreverent, heartbreaking but hopeful. With wit and authenticity, Only Mostly Devastated tells the story of what happens to a summer romance after summer is over. You'll be rooting for Ollie and his messy, wonderful friends from the first page to the last." - Hannah Capin, author of The Dead Queens Club and Foul Is Fair
This information about Only Mostly Devastated was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
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.
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