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punkrockromance's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
the_argumentative_bong's review against another edition
5.0
4.5⭐ (rounded off)
Such a touching, poignant NA book about finding love, and finding the strength to stand up for oneself even against a loved one.
I just wish the end wasn't so rushed, with the epilogue chronicling the events of many years in a series of flashes. A couple of more chapters would have been perfect, in my opinion.
I'm beginning to love this author's works...the stories are so different in character and writing style, but so emotionally charged. Absolutely beautiful.
Such a touching, poignant NA book about finding love, and finding the strength to stand up for oneself even against a loved one.
I just wish the end wasn't so rushed, with the epilogue chronicling the events of many years in a series of flashes. A couple of more chapters would have been perfect, in my opinion.
I'm beginning to love this author's works...the stories are so different in character and writing style, but so emotionally charged. Absolutely beautiful.
kiki124's review against another edition
3.0
Felt a little flat.
Sweet boys, but I didn’t care
about their problems.
Sweet boys, but I didn’t care
about their problems.
nachtsternlachen's review against another edition
4.0
What a beautiful and unforgettable story full of angst and even more love.
zabeishumanish's review
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
4.75
I adore this book! It made me feel all the things. I do think this book has the opportunity to be very polarizing though. The voice of the book is incredibly unique and the sense of double sided yearning is incredibly compelling. There are elements of this book though that I can only describe as “artsy”, like highbrow speculative fiction meets romantic poetry. The first time this happens is early in the book when a section of the book is told from Jay’s mom Sofia’s perspective. The second is the epilogue. While those passages should be incredibly out of place they were actually incredibly grounding explanations for the high intensity forbidden romance of the book. The high brow fiction thing shouldn’t work, but the fact that Marina makes it work here makes me love the book so much more.
This book is pinnacle grumpy x sunshine down to sunshine Jay’s ADHD and grumpy Logan’s hidden family trauma and insecurities. The multiple POVs in this book were necessary for my soul to function. I love how Logan and Jay looked at each other and described their views even without knowing the other was just as obsessed. It does take many many chapters before we get Logan’s POV so just expect Jay’s uncertainty for a little while.
I think I experienced every possible human emotion while reading this book, I will never be over how good it is.
My only complaint is that despite Logan’s mom’s emotional abuse at the end of the book Logan still believes that she is demonstrating an acceptable form of love. While he forms boundaries, it hurt that he never acknowledged her abusive parenting as abuse.
This book is pinnacle grumpy x sunshine down to sunshine Jay’s ADHD and grumpy Logan’s hidden family trauma and insecurities. The multiple POVs in this book were necessary for my soul to function. I love how Logan and Jay looked at each other and described their views even without knowing the other was just as obsessed. It does take many many chapters before we get Logan’s POV so just expect Jay’s uncertainty for a little while.
I think I experienced every possible human emotion while reading this book, I will never be over how good it is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Gaslighting
pam_h's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars
I forgot how deeply Marina Vivancos makes me FEEL. These two read a little younger than I was expecting -- they're 20, but still live at home, and each has been sheltered in different ways. This isn't a problem, I just wasn't in the mood for YA, so it threw me off at first. Technically it's NA, but maybe go into it prepared for young NA/older YA.
The artistic storyline with Jay was really nice. I enjoyed all of those details. They made for a really nice throughline to balance out the angstier bits.
Logan's family situation is one I struggle to empathize with because it's so hard for me to relate to. I would have been deep into rebellion by his age, not killing myself slowly just to conform. My heart still broke for him, though.
And I appreciated MV's ability to avoid the cliches with it. In most m/m, there would have been some homophobia thrown in for good measure, and there's none of that here. Shitty parents come in more than one flavor, authors!
I forgot how deeply Marina Vivancos makes me FEEL. These two read a little younger than I was expecting -- they're 20, but still live at home, and each has been sheltered in different ways. This isn't a problem, I just wasn't in the mood for YA, so it threw me off at first. Technically it's NA, but maybe go into it prepared for young NA/older YA.
The artistic storyline with Jay was really nice. I enjoyed all of those details. They made for a really nice throughline to balance out the angstier bits.
Logan's family situation is one I struggle to empathize with because it's so hard for me to relate to. I would have been deep into rebellion by his age, not killing myself slowly just to conform. My heart still broke for him, though.
And I appreciated MV's ability to avoid the cliches with it. In most m/m, there would have been some homophobia thrown in for good measure, and there's none of that here. Shitty parents come in more than one flavor, authors!
malicemomo's review
5.0
8At lot of times when I start books, I can be swayed by a smaller page count. This book isn't huge, longer then a novella but not quite as long as most novels. I was pretty confident I could knock it out in an afternoon anyway.
By page 20, I was just really sad that it wasn't longer. It's so beautiful, it's emotionally wrenching in a way that is so rare. It doesn't rely on drama for its emotional impact even though there IS drama. The conflicts are so jarring against the calm cityscape of feels that Vivancos pains. And I mean that in a very good way! The love is so bright that it shines through everything, it's never absent. I was hesitant to read something about graffiti because I'm former vandal-turned-sticker artist and I kept on waiting for the inevitable moment when I had to say, "It's OK that this isn't quite true to the subculture" but that moment never came! It was such a striking character in its own right and even the way Jay made sure Logan knew he did murals he wasn't a tagger -- made me snort. Sooo true to life. Viviancos curated the vibes so well that even when there was a moment of "Oh, that's different" I was so throughly in the world of Jay and Logan that I accepted it all happily.
Everything was described so well, I was instantly transported to their world.
This book is going to hurt you, but it's going to hurt you in a healing way.
Instantly a favorite. 6/5, will re read, Highly reccomend
By page 20, I was just really sad that it wasn't longer. It's so beautiful, it's emotionally wrenching in a way that is so rare. It doesn't rely on drama for its emotional impact even though there IS drama. The conflicts are so jarring against the calm cityscape of feels that Vivancos pains. And I mean that in a very good way! The love is so bright that it shines through everything, it's never absent. I was hesitant to read something about graffiti because I'm former vandal-turned-sticker artist and I kept on waiting for the inevitable moment when I had to say, "It's OK that this isn't quite true to the subculture" but that moment never came! It was such a striking character in its own right and even the way Jay made sure Logan knew he did murals he wasn't a tagger -- made me snort. Sooo true to life. Viviancos curated the vibes so well that even when there was a moment of "Oh, that's different" I was so throughly in the world of Jay and Logan that I accepted it all happily.
Everything was described so well, I was instantly transported to their world.
This book is going to hurt you, but it's going to hurt you in a healing way.
Instantly a favorite. 6/5, will re read, Highly reccomend
evil_jj's review
3.0
3.5 stars
This was a sweet, comforting read without too much angst, but I found myself itching for more plot.
This was a sweet, comforting read without too much angst, but I found myself itching for more plot.
tepidgirlsummer's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
This wasn't as fluffy as the bondmate story I enjoyed so much, but Vivancos is great at capturing feelings and putting them into words. The dialogue is very realistically written, and some people might not be into that since the protagonists are 20 and youths generally pepper their sentences with "like" and "um" and "..." and don't always know how to say what they want to say.
This wasn't as fluffy as the bondmate story I enjoyed so much, but Vivancos is great at capturing feelings and putting them into words. The dialogue is very realistically written, and some people might not be into that since the protagonists are 20 and youths generally pepper their sentences with "like" and "um" and "..." and don't always know how to say what they want to say.